King of All I Survey

Rafael put the spoon back into the empty bowl as swallowed the final bite of mango. "I've got to get to work, love. I've got to build our new house today, after all." He raised his eyebrows with the promise that implied.

Maribel smiled, "Go build our house, Rafi. Take your little team of explorers and go have fun. I'll keep things running smoothly here, where the real work happens."

They grinned at each other. Her comment was made in jest, but they both knew there was some truth to it. Rafael chafed under the day to day work of analyzing results and looking at ledgers. He could do it, and he was good at it. He just found it boring compared to standing on the front line of discovery and exploration, with the emotional edge of the unknown and potential danger making every sense sharper.

They kissed once more before he headed to the main assembly hall where those assigned to work with the canopy exploration team where to meet. The group contained many of the same members as the previous day, with minor changes. The group today was larger, with no immediate threats observed, and the immediate area around the canopy entrance already sampled.

Today, the focus would be on observing and understanding the relationships between the different plants and animals of the area. If they colonists destroyed a plant that was toxic to humans, how would it affect the other plants and animals in the immediate area, for example. While the immediate temptation and Rafael's personal preference, was to simply eradicate everything that might be harmful to humans or Earth-based biochemistry, they wanted to be mindful of interdependencies. The colony needed to be sure that wiping out the local version of poison ivy wouldn't cause the eventual failure of the trees and the canopy itself through some complex web of chain reactions.

Likewise, if the local 'poison ivy' had properties that offered commercial value in the greater galactic community, it might be worth the inconvenience of having to be extra careful in areas where it grew.

The bulldozers lead the way down the paved pathway to the canopy. Their field-edged blades cutting any vegetation that encroached upon the pathway, while pushing plant seeds, small insect-like creatures, and the other debris that fell overnight as the air cooled rapidly after sunset. The team followed behind with personal shields fully engaged. This time, small hovering platforms followed along. The live traps that had been set the night before would be loaded onto the small platforms for transport back to the research labs. Any contents would be scanned and examined inside the closed fields of the cages which would prevent anything other than CO2, Methane, or other waste gases produced by the creatures from escaping the containment. The field filters were set to allow only those recognized molecules to pass from inside to outside.

Going in the opposite direction, only those atmospheric components used up by the respiration of the creatures inside would be allowed to enter the cages and the atmospheric concentration of the area in which the creature was captured would be maintained inside the cage. Likewise, humidity and temperature would be controlled by the cages to match the presumably native habitat of whatever animals were captured.

The fabricator had kept working long after yesterday's expedition team was safely back inside the large buildings they had brought from Earth. It didn't take a break when they ate dinner. It kept working while they slept that night. As a result, the next morning found the entire roadway to the forest paved, as well as the 60 feet of pathway inside. The building pad for the first house to be built inside the canopy was also completed.

The pathway thinned to one third of its width as it entered the canopy. The team had done a good job of clearing away any vegetation that might have filled in the opening, but as they approached, they saw a new tree trunk on the left side of the opening. It was smaller than the others, measuring perhaps one inch in diameter. It was about eight inches away from the edge of the carbon-nanotube sheet 'paving' pf the pathway, located just inside the curtain wail of the canopy. It was the first young tree trunk the team had seen. It stood about ten feet tall, and its fronds were still tightly wrapped around the top of the trunk.

"Did anybody see any sign of a tree here yesterday?" Rafael asked the group as they stood in the entryway.

"I worked in that area for a while. It wasn't there yesterday. Not even a seedling," one of the researchers answered. "It looks like the forest is reacting to the opening, trying to fill it with a new tree."

Rafael nodded. "Yes, perhaps the light or temperature wakes seeds, or triggers a root to send up a new shoot. Drone: subsurface scan. Are the roots of this tree connected to the other trunks?"

The drone answered audibly, "In this area, it appears that all the trees share a common root system, including this new one. Evidence of new root growth outward from the new trunk extending beyond the canopy. It appears that a failed trunk shoot contacted the carbon sheeting of the pathway but was unable to penetrate or lift the roadway. It appears to have then stopped growing in favor of the new shoot."

"Hmmm," Rafael commented, "It tried to put the new trunk right in the middle of the opening." He looked up at the existing canopy, then back at the opening, "I'd say it's not only trying to repair the hole we made but expanding the canopy outward as well, based on the other trunk spacing. The mature fronds from this new tree would extend at least ten feet further than the old canopy wall before touching down to the ground."

"First things, first." He called out to the team, "Check the traps. Get photos of any footprints or tracks leading up to them, then load them up to send them back to the labs."

The team members who had set up the traps the day before went to check the ones they had set. A few seconds later, the results started to come back.

"Nothing here."

"Empty."

"They're all empty."

Rafael shrugged. "Not surprising. We didn't bait them, just hoped that something would wander in. Not even a bug, though. Either they're avoiding the traps, or the population density is low."

Rafael looked around at one of the traps near the opening. "OK, let's try this." He took his machete out of its scabbard and walked right up to the edge of the opening. He carefully sliced a piece of the frond off from the edge. As the thick, clear sap welled out of the fresh cut, he used the blade of the tool to scoop up a generous portion. He walked back to one of the traps and thrust the machete inside, scraping the sap off on the bottom of the trap's interior. "Let's see if one of the slugs finds this, or if refuses to go into the cage."

Celina stood nearby watching. She looked around at the vegetation and the canopy, seeming to study them carefully. "There's no evidence of any insects or animals having eaten any of the vegetation. No damaged leaves, no frayed branch tips. If nothing is damaging the canopy or the tree fronds, then why are there slugs around ready to come eat the sap at moment's notice? It doesn't seem like a reliable food source to support a large population."

"Maybe they normally eat something else and the sap is just a special treat for them? Something they rarely get but are quick to take advantage of because it's packed full of nutrients, as we noticed yesterday." Celina suggested.

Rafael nodded his approval of the suggestion and saw a hint of a smile cross Celina's face.

"Here they come!" Someone called.

Three of the flat slugs crawled from the thick underbrush, one toward the spot on the ground where the sap had spilled after Rafael had taken his sample and the other directly toward the trap. The third appeared to be headed toward Rafael.

"They must be using scent to locate it," Celina offered. "They can smell it still on the machete, Rafael."

Rafael walked a few paces away putting him out of the line of travel of any of the slugs. As soon as he started moving, the slug that had been moving toward his previous position changed course and followed him. He tilted his head, then walked back toward the opening and continued outside stopping five feet outside the perimeter of the canopy curtain wall. The slug turned to follow but stopped abruptly as it reached the edge. It waited as if trying to determine whether the moving bit of sap would return to the canopy where it could again follow.

The quiet hum of a field change pulled the attention of some of the nearer researchers away as the trap that Rafael had smeared with sap closed around the slug that went after that bit of sap. The second one was covering the sap that had spilled out on the ground and apparently eating or absorbing it from underneath its body.

Rafael suddenly made a throwing motion, and the machete flew from his hand sinking point first into the dirt past the edge of the paved roadway. At least half a dozen insect-like creatures changed directions away from him and headed for the machete. A small flying creature got there first and began eating. Its mouthparts seemed to be on its underside as well. It climbed onto the machete positioning its body over the sap them settled itself down lower until it's lower body rested on the sap covered blade. It withdrew its wings and legs into it semi-globular carapace. Leaving it with the appearance of a white miniature golf ball, without the dimples. It was about a half inch in diameter. The carapace seemed to have numerous small straight lines on its surface. These were the tiny fissures into which the legs and wings had retracted once it landed.

"It's a defensive posture," Rafael declared, "It expects to be attacked while it's eating."

As soon as he said the words, a second flying 'insect' landed on another exposed portion of the sap covered blade and repeated the same preparations. Then a small creature that could best be compared to a centipede crawled up the blade and wrapped its body around the edge of one of the gold ball insects. It settled itself against the sappy portion of the blade and tucked its many legs underneath its body.

Then, more species of creepy-crawly things reached the machete. Each vying for an unoccupied section of the smeared sap.