Chapter 110

At least that’s what I think it is. Again the concept of a mother tree wasn’t really wide known even on earth, who knows if the concept of one even holds true here. I mean this place has weird sentient flora and if I include myself and the pain mushroom, weird and sentient fungi.

As I rummage through my discordant thoughts the tree asks me, “How old are you guardian? I was alerted by your activities twenty one cycles ago, but I assume you are older than that.”

Three weeks ago? What did I do three weeks ago that it alerted the tree. … I think I started exchanging water for nutrients in the hub around that time. But that’s truly just a guess. I was keeping track of time but I wasn’t really contextualizing my actions based on mushroom growths.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Anyway how the fuck am I supposed to answer the elder’s question? I can’t exactly give it my age from when I was human but giving it my age as a mushroom could equally be a problem. What if I’m too young to be this intelligent? It’s met my kind before, but it’s always killed them the moment they started depleting the habitat of its nutrients. Presumably they too were young when they started ruining their environment. What if it just decides it’s not worth trying to figure me out and decides to wipe me out?

I could just say I don’t know, which is the truth. I figured out that I’m at least two months old as a mushroom, but I know I’m older than that. I just don’t know by how much.

Just as I’m about to answer the elder says, “Guardian? If you do not wish to answer it is alright.”

Considering how it’s been acting after it’s apology, I finally decide to just tell it the truth and let the chips for where they may. In fact depending on how it responds will tell me a lot.

“No it’s not that it’s just that I don’t know exactly how old I am. But I do know I’m at least forty two cycles old.”

Silence is all get back.