“There has to be some way of bonding with this tree.” I was talking to everyone, we had all gathered around the tree in the center of the plot. It was the tree Myc had picked out when John first got here.

“I don’t know what to tell you Niki. We have tried everything we could think of, from seeds, to spores, to Myc’s moss, and even blood. Nothing seems to allow Myc to bond with the tree.” Cat was pretty sure that this was just an old instinct of Myc’s trying to surface. I originally thought that as well, however after seeing what happened when Myc first landed here. It seems it may be possible to do.

“Actually, we never tried to rebond you with the tree back in New York.” It seemed Myc’s species had some original tree that they bonded and evolved with. The constant want for a ‘Mother Tree’ seemed to be something that was bonded in his DNA. Likely something that never left his species even when they did whatever they did to send Myc here.

That is true, although traveling all the way back to New York to attempt that theory is a major investment of time and money.

“I can always go, my sister has got a little plane.” Rein was nearly as quiet as John most of the time. While me and him never really got along that well, I didn’t hate the guy. Although to be fair I did look into his memories the least, even compared to Nate who shared a decent chunk of his with Cat’s.

“That may work, but the problem then becomes how do we get a massive ash tree half way across the country.”

“Do we need the whole tree?” Nate asked as he continued to flicker his scales. They glowed in strange colors, although usually he left them as a Chroma Flair style. Similar to the cars that never looked the same color from different angles.

“If you are able to bond with it, we could transport a simple branch for replanting here. Then you can either keep the tree in New York or attempt to cut the connection entirely.” We all questioned what would happen if someone joined the group and didn’t share many of our ideals. Or if one day something happened and we were cut from the connection. I didn’t want to think about not being able to have all these memories at my disposal or worse having to guess what everyone was thinking again.

Hmm, cutting the connection may be difficult, possibly even painful for all parties involved.

“Yes, but we should know what happens if it does. Also it may be difficult but moving an ash tree across state borders is even more difficult and illegal.” Apparently there was a beetle infestation that was endangering the ash tree. Even moving firewood made from ash trees too far was illegal. So moving the entire tree was pretty far out of the question, sure the odds of someone knowing and catching us was small. But the story would get attention and that would be bad.

Very well, I will attempt to bond with the ash tree again. If I am able we will take a branch home to replant. I will attempt to break my bond with the tree once the new one is planted here.

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“The connection will be fine while I am in New York, right?” Rein was nervous, he tried to crack his knuckles. Apparently it became a habit, it had only gotten worse for a germaphobe living in the woods.

I am not sure, the only time I traveled, I was only connected to John. Hmmm, this will be a way to test what allows my connection.

“Well if the connection is instant across vast distances, it either has to be electromagnetic waves transferring info. Or maybe quantum entanglement, allowing the ability to connect your cells on a quantum level.” I had thought about the question since before I was infected. I mean there had to be some connection allowing the movement of info between Myc’s cells. It was strange and seemingly impossible but I could read John’s and everyone's thoughts so it had to be something.

“Maybe they connect our souls.”

“That is stupid Scarlette.” I knew she was joking, she didn’t believe in God either. Although she wasn’t as closed off to the belief that there was something out there, whether it was a spirit or soul or something. It seemed she just never found an answer that she liked and made sense, so she just kept looking.

“Will you be fine going by yourself?” John asked in the same monotone voice, although he seemed worried to be letting someone leave the group. It was probably Myc’s sedentary desires rubbing off, I mean I used to want to travel around the world. Now the thought made me anxious to be away from everyone for so long.

“Yeah, I mean as long as my sister is willing to go. We can fly basically straight there and back, it should only take me a couple days at most. I’ll tell her it is part of an environmental preservation thing, she won’t even know what is going on.” It was far for a little plane, we would probably have to pay for the fuel. But if it let Myc do even half of what he thought, it would make life here a hundred times easier.

Minor watering for the plants, cleaning the lake, paths made from roots, allowing the forests and gardens to grow bigger and healthier. Myc wouldn’t be able to do everything as even growing wood to cover the paths would take months and a lot of nutrients from the soil. Myc didn’t want to suck the soil dry every other week just because we didn’t feel like opening the floodgates or building more cabins.

“Very well, but be careful that is still the crash site of a meteorite. If another species is looking for them, you would not want to attract unwanted attention. Perhaps I should go with you.” John wanted to be the protector of our little clan, and I suppose he kind of was. I mean the rest of us were stronger and faster than your average guy. But John was on another level, the advanced augmentation made him strong and tough enough to beat basically any normal person hand to hand.

“Then who will protect the rest of us here?” I tried not to say it aloud. Everyone knew that I kinda had a thing for John, it was weird I know. However, in my defense, shut up.

“Kinda?” Scarlette liked to stay connected to someone, she had taken to Cat more than I had initially thought she would. However, Cat’s calm motherly nature made Scarlette feel safe, like when she and her mom worked in their little garden back in Hawaii.

“Hmmm, I don’t like that we will be so far apart. The other species have been quiet, no major news has been reported of them. Hopefully that would mean they are dull or at the very least quiet. The worst case, they could be an intelligent and violent species gathering resources to prepare for an attack.”

“Well from the two species that we have seen, they both don’t seem very threatening. It seems that you and Myc are being paranoid, the only problems we have had is with the humans.” I thought that John’s paranoia was rubbing off on Myc, but maybe I had it the opposite way around.

We still knew very little about Myc’s species, where they came from or what they did naturally on their home planet. It could be possible that Myc’s species were the hostile paranoid creatures that wiped out other species to protect themselves. Although that was as much speculation as them being benevolent God-like entities.

Maybe we are being paranoid. We will let Rein go alone, as long as he is cautious and no one else seems to be inspecting the crash site. Then all should be fine, it doesn’t seem that other species are making any big waves. Perhaps we are the only ones building up to spread across the world. Other species may not even be able to procreate or multiply their species. That would be preferable.

“Alright, I’ll head closer to town and call my sister. We’ll set it up and hopefully this will be an easy fetch quest.” It seemed bad to say anything more and risk jinxing Rein or ourselves. So we all agreed to let Rein head to New York, while the rest of us would continue working on expanding the camp.