“Why do I have to stay here?”
“Because, those assholes could have gone to the police. We need to be sure that you aren’t wanted in town. If not then you can go back into town next time we need something.”
“But if I am wanted then they will question you about my location. So why do you get to go into town? Why can’t John just go by himself?”
“I get to go in town because Myc can change my appearance enough that people won’t recognize me.”
“So why can’t Myc do that for me.”
“Because I said so. While John is going into town because no one knows him and I am going to need help carrying all the stuff back.” I turned to see John still fumbling with the shirt I had made. We needed to go into town for supplies. Even though we had all become accustomed to living outdoors, there were some things we couldn’t make yet. Whether it was because we didn’t know how to make them or just physically couldn’t yet.
The main problem being the lack of information on other types of non-native plants. Myc didn’t seem to really have a limit except for knowledge of unique plant abilities and how they worked. So we planned on getting a few botany and dendrology to study some new plants and trees.
The other problem being our inability to use metals, alloys, and electrical materials to advance natural technology. Myc seemed adamant about not building smelters or mining minerals, which made sense. If we started doing that I doubt we would stop, we would just be falling back into the same pattern as the society we were trying to escape from.
Those mixed with being stuck in one place with the same three people was getting on my nerves. It was difficult being the only woman around here with just John and Nate being the only ones around. I wanted more people to talk to, although the main problem was the lack of other women. So I wanted to set up some things to hopefully see if other people were willing to join our little place.
I do not see why other women would help you adjust to this life anymore than other men. I hope to eventually rule out the need for genders all together.
“What? What does that mean?” I was still not really getting Myc’s version of a utopia, where my idea was peaceful and pleasant. All people would live together in harmony, being able to be themselves no matter race, sexual orientation, or gender.
Myc on the other hand, was more looking forward to a world where everyone was a human-fungus hybrid. Without gender or sex, reporducing asexually, and not really having any major distinctions unless they were wanted.
It means that when the world is united under a single species, we will be a single united mind. There will be empathy between all, and while people may still wish for differences in looks or preferences. Most people will live lives of bliss and the desires of the flesh will be meaningless. Although I am willing to allow your kind to proliferate however they wish for now.
“I don’t even know why I ask sometimes. John, are you ready, can we go now?”
“What? Yeah, just give me a minute.” The guy had been walking around shirtless for months, the only other thing he wore was a pair of pants strapped to his waist by an old leather belt. Myc had changed most of his skin cells to produce a dyed chlorophyll allowing him to absorb sunlight and nutrients. So more exposed skin meant more nutrients and less food that we needed. Although I was pretty sure he just liked going shirtless, granted he could pull off the whole half-naked mountain man thing.
You know John is more attuned with me than you two are. He can clearly hear your thoughts as easily as I can.
“Shit. I keep forgetting about it.” It was embarrassing but I was trying to get over the fact that everyone knew everything about me. It was hard sometimes, everytime I remembered something embarrassing I did. It became that much worse since now everyone else knew what I had done, like if I couldn’t stop shouting all my secrets. I knew they felt the same, I had seen enough of Nate’s nasty habits and John’s private actions for a lifetime.
“Alright let’s go then.” I slapped John’s hand as he went to adjust his collar for the umpteenth time. We headed out along the trail, it was early in the morning it would take at least a few hours to get to town. “That should be long enough to change my appearance right.”
Yes, that will be plenty. Although I am unsure of how you want it to be changed.
“Hmmm, I don’t know. What would be the easiest things to change?”
Well hair would be simple adding oils and changing density, while pigment is another relatively simple process. I can change vocal chords for your voice, height, weight, waist and breast size. If you prefer I can even change you into a male, although that would take more nutrients than necessary to make you less recognizable.
“Okay, so you can change everything about me. The only bad choice would be to turn me into a guy, great. I don’t know. What do you think, John?”
“I don’t know.”
“That is super unhelpful. Just whatever you want Myc.”
Very well.
The changes were rather slowly made, although I did trip a couple of times adjusting to my slightly increased height. Myc changed my normally straight black hair into a curly dark brown mess. My skin lightened slightly, my boobs got bigger, and I got several freckles over my cheeks and shoulders. It wasn’t a mild change but it felt more like I was putting on a costume and makeup rather than artificially adjusting the characteristics of my body. The only real change that I had to adjust to was the height and increased weight on my chest.
“So what made you come up with this change, Myc?”
The characteristics are based on an approximation of combined genetic characteristics of both you and John.
“That is beyond weird.” I turned to see if John was as weirded out as I was, except he was focused on the trail in front of him. It was hard to focus on the guy too much after the accident, the combined effects of healing and Myc’s alterations made him seem barely alive.
He barely breathed since the combination of photosynthesis and human respiration essentially used and reused the CO₂ and O₂. The slow blinks and heightened senses meant he barely needed to look where he was going. I wasn’t sure if it was the brain damage or repair but now he barely even talked to Myc aloud. Their connection grew and it made John seem less human, which I guess was kinda the point. Although the evolution of humans I was imagining was something not so machine-like, maybe more colorful and expressive.
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Unfortunately, John’s connection with me is what allows me to experiment so freely with his DNA. I have grown abundant in his system so fortunately I can change many aspects of him without endangering his life. It means that until a more perfect general form is achieved John will sadly be the test subject for many experiments until our numbers increase.
I looked over to John, he could hear us talking and thinking but still his expression didn’t change. The continued walking stone faced along the same trail to town. It was sad, like watching an old dog walk into the woods to die.
We are almost there. We should try to pick up books on architecture, we will need to be able to build something bigger than log cabins, for the future.
“Alright, come on John we gotta go to the library.” Hopefully we could get a kindle or something with a solar charger, stacking books in the woods would just be a waste of money. Then picking up seeds, fertilizer, insect repellant, sprinklers, pumps…”
No. The only thing we need is seeds, a small amount of them will allow me to study and replicate them. I can alter their structures and use simple nutrients to copy a large amount of them. I can make them sweeter, nutritious, denser, hardier, and just generally more efficient. We do not need human made products, I will create better, more efficient use as soon as I figure out how to exist outside of these human bonds.
“Uhh, you are so prideful. It is going to be our downfall if you aren’t capable of accepting advancements that humans have already made. If other aggressive species are willing to use human technology and any natural advantages they have, we could be wiped out before we even get a chance to truly bloom.”
We will not sacrifice our ideals simply out of fear. If another species is aggressive enough to attempt to wipe us out for our simple existence. Then I will put them out of everyone else's misery. John and I have already let a guilty man continue to exist because I was afraid of the consequences. Now that there are more of us, I won’t allow another chance to wipe the world of the cruelty that is the humans.
“Intense man. Fine. We won’t grab farming supplies, although I am grabbing a kindle or something if I see one. Having books out there is essentially burning money or drowning it.” We had been walking around town discussing plans, when we reached the library. The doors opened to reveal the quiet and cool shelves of books, the smell of decaying paper was always strangely nostalgic.
“What the hell is that thing?” John pointed at the librarian, an older man. The was hunched over, wearing a thick sweater over a long sleeve shirt. The hat he was wearing was long covering his entire forehead and down past his neck. The thick glasses over his face and the mask on his face while his head leaned down into whatever book he was reading, made him look like an ordinary old man.
“What? What are you talking about? The old guy?” Looking closer revealed nothing. He looked like an old librarian that was reading a book during his shift.
“You don’t see the feathers all over his head and chest?”
“I have no idea what you are talking about?” We walked past the librarian hunched over a book on falcons. He was nibbling on jerky from a plastic bag and humming to himself. Looking at his face and chest revealed tiny green looking feathers coming out by his forehead, just above his eyebrows and soft blue hairs on his chest. “Damn, your vision is ridiculous.”
I would be happy to improve yours as well. Nate has already allowed me to adjust his, although to a lesser extent that will take time for his brain to adjust.
We continued past the librarian over to the computers, trying to see if a digital farming, botany, and other plant books were easy enough to get. “You think that is a new species?”
It is likely some avian based species. Although finding it in the same town that we settled in seems less than likely. Try not to give away our position, if his species is anything like Earth’s avians hopefully eyesight is his most major scent. You both have mild visual appearance changes, so as long as there isn’t any special attribute we should stay hidden. We can find out more about him later, if he is a gentler species we may be able to compare notes of origin.
“Alright. Let’s get what we need then head over to the gardening store.” Searching through the online libraries we found nearly 50 books with enough information. They were filled with unique species of plants and trees, a few animal and insect books. We also found a few basic construction manuals, the main problem was the materials. If we had to make everything out of wood or natural resources it wouldn’t be all that useful.
Getting what we needed, we decided to head out the back entrance. Trying to avoid any continued gaze by the old feathered librarian.
“Shit. He knows.”
Looking at the entrance the old librarian was sitting there waiting, his hat loose around his head. When we approached he pulled off the hat and took off his mask.
“Hello, I am .” His face was strange and disfigured. His eyes seemed normal enough, but covering his mouth weren’t lips but strange finger-like appendages that clicked and moved whenever he breathed. A small beak-like piece came down from his nose, with two small nostrils, covering the gap left by the strange ‘lips’. The green feathers on his forehead were actually huge feathers that were nearly two feet tall and slicked back. The feathers on his chest were fluffy looking down feathers. It was hard to tell with the thick coat and jacket but it didn't look like he could have wings for flight.
“Hello, it is nice to meet another species.” John’s eyes lit up, seeing the strange form of the old man before us. I remembered his meeting with the rock creature Tony in Ohio, how scared and worried they were at the time. There was none of that here, just a genuine curiosity for seeing a new possibly friendly species.
“Yes, after finding my capsule I questioned the reasoning for my existence. Unfortunately it doesn’t seem like a single alien species attempting to convert humans to more of their own kind.” That is what Myc had hoped for too, just being a single cog in a large machine took off the pressure. Possibly having others to help shoulder the burden, however it seems unlikely that any of the capsules held two of the same type.
“Yes, it seems there may be many new kinds of creatures roaming this planet. So, what are you doing here? This seems less than likely to meet another species purely by coincidence.” The curious gaze from John’s eyes turned hard for a second, whether it was paranoia or just caution he was ready for a fight.
“Well I suppose so. Although I truthfully thought you may have been tracking me, I have always been a mover. I had a successful streak on wall street back in the day, sold it and have several homes all over the country. I never used to stay in a state for more than a few years, although ever since the ‘transformation’ I get fidgety being in one place for more than a week or two. I believe my original species was a nomadic or migratory type, perhaps them being birds has something to do with that.” He smirked at the thought of flying from town to town, following wherever the wind took him. “I come into town, volunteer at the library for a couple weeks then head out again, truthfully I am surprised it has taken this long to find another.”
“Yes, well you don’t seem anxious to find your origins. I also question if you have already spread yourself through the local populations.” I wasn’t sure why John and Myc were so on guard. This was the second species they have met and neither of them have been hostile. The only time that they were attacked at all was due to intervening with human affairs.
“Oh no. I have kids and they uhhh, well lets just say it is for the best my wife died when she did.” He chuckled at his own dark humor, although you could see the sadness in his eyes. Thinking of his failures and losses.
“Very well, it seems that you plan to just live your life. If that is the case we wish to have the small capsule that you found. We believe it may contain a coded message about our origins.”
“Very well come with me.” The man took us back to his camper, although it was more like a mobile house. The thing took up a good six parking spaces and looked comfier than my old apartment. It was decked out with a full fridge and freezer, stoves, a king size bed, full bath.
“Damn this thing is impressive.” It was hard not to be impressed, it was fancy without being gaudy. It just looked comfortable, like sitting down in a familiar place after going away for a while.
“Thank you, here you go.” He reached into a little compartment in the freezer and pulled out a water bottle holder. The capsules that John had kept in his cooler looked nearly identical to this one. Supposedly the scratch marks looked like a pattern to them, although I couldn’t see it. They just looked like scratch marks. This one looked nearly identical although the break in the casing looked slightly more controlled than the other two.
“Hey what was in that capsule when you found it.” Myc’s capsule was filled with his own fungus, Tony’s we weren’t sure but probably rocks. That would have been a good question to ask at the time although wrong time right place kinda deals.
“Hmm, oh I am not sure. It was empty when I found it actually. I almost left it there, until a few days after I started growing feathers. I was planning on changing states soon so I took it, although there wasn’t anything when I grabbed it. Unless someone else took it, although then why would they leave the capsule. Hmm, I am not sure.”
“Well that is fine, we will take this thank you. If you ever find more species or capsules, or simply wish to find us. We will be here, we plan to build a little place near here. Although we wish for you to be discreet to other species, even if they are kind to you without knowing our purpose here. We wish to keep anonymous until more questions are answered. We favor caution.”
“Very well. Although I am not sure how much longer I will be here. This species seems to age more rapidly than even humans. I am only 60 years old but it feels like I have aged 10 years in the six months I have been affected.”
“Okay, well maybe you’ll have time to make it back here. We would love to tell you anything new that we have found.”
“Perhaps, perhaps. Well I should get back to the library, my break is almost over anyway.”
“It was a pleasure to meet you.”
“Goodbye.” Watching the old man lock up his mobile home and throwing the old hat and mask back on to cover up. He walked back to the library, it was strange that it all happened so fast. It feels like meeting a new species should change everything but, the world kept spinning, people went about their days oblivious.
“I suppose we should finish our shopping.” I looked to see John staring at the door to the library that the old bird walked through. He gripped the small capsule in its container, a worried look painted his face.
I apologize, it seems that the more species we meet. The less likely it is that we even have a true purpose here. I mean what purpose could there be for infecting so many people with this change. Only for some of them to die out before they even understand what they are doing here. I just wish to fully analyze all the capsules, we should finish this shopping trip quickly.
“Yes, let's finish this and go home.”