Dragon in the Dark (Kindred Tales)

Their scent permeated the air—not heavy or cloying but light and fresh and faintly sweet. There was something otherworldly about it—a unique spice that was undoubtedly alien. Any perfume company on Earth would probably pay millions to get their hands on it, Iyanna thought.

It was going to be interesting to sleep in that bed with those softly glowing blossoms above her—like sleeping in a fairy glade. She wondered if there was a way to “turn them down.” They weren’t extremely bright, but she preferred to sleep in total darkness.

“I see,” she said, nodding and getting back to the matter at hand. “What about a water source? Do the structures that sprout from the growth mat just get enough moisture from the air?”

Commander Rarev shook his head.

“No, we have an underground river system that circulates through the entire ship. The roots reach deep to tap into it.”

“Amazing!” Iyanna looked at him with new interest. “It sounds like your ship has its own ecosystem!”

“It has several,” he said mildly. “Here on the Light Side of the ship, we have a temperate zone of sorts. The Dark Side of the ship tends to be more…shall we say, inhospitable.”

“Isn’t that where the upright glow blossoms are?” Iyanna asked him. She especially wanted to study these plants, which supposedly made unique phosphorescent chemicals and glowed much more brightly than their hanging cousins.

“It is where they grow, yes.” The Monstrum commander nodded. “But I must ask that you not go to the Dark Side of the ship without a guide. It could be…dangerous.”

“Why?” Iyanna asked curiously. “Are some of the plants over there poisonous? Because I assure you, Commander Rarev, I can handle myself around dangerous flora. I’ve got a PhD in Botany and exotic plant species are my specialty.”

“It is not only plants that you have to beware of on the Dark Side of the Monstrum Mother Ship,” he rumbled mysteriously. “As I said, there are some Monstrum that live there that most humans have no idea about…and that is how we prefer to keep it for now.”

“Are they dangerous?” Iyanna asked, frowning.

“They are…different,” the Monstrum commander said evasively. “Anyway, they need not concern you, since you are only here to study our plants, correct?”

“I suppose…” Iyanna wasn’t very happy with his answers, but she sensed that the Monstrum commander wouldn’t welcome further prying. Also, she was a guest on this ship, so she’d better “mind her Ps and Qs” as her Granny liked to say.

“Good.” Rarev clasped his large hands together. “Then let’s continue on into the fresher—I think you’re going to like it.”

They stepped into the ensuite bathroom and Iyanna drew in a deep breath—the scene before her was enchanting.

In the center of the room was an enormous pool of crystal clear, deep blue water. A structure at one end of it supported a kind of waterfall that came down from the ceiling and made the water bubble and foam.

At the other end was a more tranquil scenario. A lovely tree was rooted on the edge of the pool. It looked like a cross between a cherry tree and a weeping willow to Iyanna, because it had long, thin, dangling branches covered in pale pink blossoms. These trailed in the water, forming a kind of curtain around part of the pool, like a secret bower.

There was other flora around the pool, too. As well as the ubiquitous hanging glow blossoms which were everywhere on the Monstrum Mother Ship, the pool was ringed with vines that were such a dark purple they were almost black. Growing from these at intervals were some strange looking flowers.

The strange flowers had extremely long, waxy blossoms, which were oval in shape and ranged in size from the length of her hand to almost a meter long, Iyanna estimated. Most of them were dark blue but a few were crimson red—those were the longer ones with a wider girth.

At the end of the long, red blossoms was a set of moist-looking petals that looked almost like lips of some kind. These fleshy appendages made soft kissing sounds when Iyanna leaned down to touch one experimentally with her finger.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, when the blossom turned towards her touch, almost as though it was seeking the source of its stimulation. “What in the world are these? I’ve never seen anything like them!”

“These are what we Monstrum call ‘pleasure blooms,’” Rarev told her. “Our warriors use them when they have no mates. For the release of, er, sexual tension,” he added and cleared his throat. “The female crimson blooms exert a kind of suction on anything that enters them…if you see what I mean.”

Iyanna was fascinated. Here was another use for plants she never would have dreamed of—maybe because she wasn’t a horny male Monstrum, she thought dryly.

“Really? And have they been specially adapted for that?” she asked.