Diversion To Urasha
Chapter 9

Furleaves. That was what Crystaline had spotted. Not a dangerous creature, but an ideal place to rest. The furleaves got their name because, well, they looked like leaves. Furry, magenta gigantic leaves, which hung from the tree trunks like hammocks. Crystaline had spotted a whole cluster of them and had concluded that this was going to be tonight’s resting spot.

As usual, Phil had expressed his usual form of hesitancy, this time, wondering if the bed-sized leaves would be able to support his weight. Crystaline was quick to point out that the leaves should be more than capable, however, she would gather vines to strengthen the leaves, and would later show everyone how to tie them.

James had watched as an apprehensive Phil had dragged Zach with him to test the strength of the furleaves, sitting on one of the leaves gingerly as it swayed back and forth under his and Zach’s weight. To tell the truth, James felt mortified. Crystaline knew a lot more about this forest than Phil did. Yet the man would not stop questioning every action or decision she made.

Not wanting to look at his captain anymore, James turned his head to Crystaline, watching as she gathered dead plant materials, whilst the other three Urashans planted the ganzar plants. Once Crystaline’s hands were filled, she crawled on her knees to a central point on the ground and placed her pile on top of it.

Tentatively, James walked over to Crystaline, feeling his heartbeat quickening as he knelt opposite her. “Hey er, you need a hand?”

Crystaline’s eyebrows furrowed as she removed her sworsha from her pocket. “No thanks. I’m perfectly capable of starting a fire.”

“How do you guys make fire? Back on Earth, we have several different methods of making f-” Before James could even finish his sentence, Crystaline had activated her sworsha, resting the blue electrical current over the foliage pile. In less than a nanosecond, the pile had been engulfed, deep within a superb purple flame.

“That’s how,” Crystaline finally answered, deactivating her weapon.

“Wow!” James beamed, excited by the quirky looking fire. “A purple flame, huh? You know, back home, we have orange flames. But then when the fire gets super hot, it can go blue too.”

Crystaline’s eyebrows furrowed even further. She seemed completely disinterested in what James had to say to her. “Really? That’s nice. Why don’t you go and join your friends? I just need to feed the flame a little more, then we can all eat.”

As much as a part of James had yearned to stay with Crystaline, to get to know her a little further, he was no fool. James knew when his company wasn’t wanted, and so, he had done what Crystaline had suggested, leaving her for Phil and Zach.

As James sat on his very own furleave, he could feel the thing swaying precariously back and forth. Okay, so maybe Phil had a valid point regarding these things after all? To be fair though, if it wasn’t for the constant swaying, these leaves would actually be quite comfy. It was a good job that Crystaline was going to show everyone how to secure these leaves. Maybe then their only element of discomfort would dissipate away into the dark nighty air.

With the trees all around him, James could see little of the Urashan night sky. If he looked hard enough, he could just about make out the glints of some of the stars, or the redness of planet Anscus. If he was out in the open, James knew he’d have been witnessing some incredible views right now. Not that today had been short of stunning views. In fact, it had been quite the contrary. The Urashan forest was a magical place, literally. James had never ever seen such vast array of gorgeous, bright glowing plants. He had never seen such beautiful alien creatures. For some reason, this forest reminded James of a dream. It was a surreal place, not like anything he had ever seen before. James thought of Lottie, and of his mother. They would both love this place. It was such a shame that Lottie was stuck in the city. James missed Lottie, he missed her lots.

Breaking James away from his musings, Phil’s annoying monotone voice grumbled. “How are you replaceing your first day out in the Urashan wilderness, James?”

“Good,” James answered, not trying to sound too enthusiastic around Phil. “It’s not what I expected.”

Zach shook his head. “I was expecting trouble. I’m surprised we haven’t encountered anything nasty yet.”

Phil raised his left eyebrow. “Don’t speak too soon, Zach. There’s plenty of time for that.”

It was quite a relief to James to eventually be invited over to the fire. As usual, Crystos had appeared nervous, un-talkative, only speaking when necessary. He had been like this all day. Not like his sister who had led throughout the entire day.

As James joined the circle around the purple flame, he could feel his stomach ravenously growling, waiting to devour what ever fruit was in that supply bag.

Taking the opposite-most place to James, Crystaline was the last to join the circle, placing both supply bags on the ground between her and Crystos. She advised cooking the lusciously sweet fruit on top of the purple flame in front of her. No one complained, even Morcees and Borcees were happier to have their fruit warm.

As James held the sticky warm piece of glowing goodness in his hands, he wondered how different the fruit would taste all heated up like this. James didn’t have to wonder for long. His mouth was soon wrapped around that fruit, the juicy-sugary taste bursting into his mouth. James preferred the fruit warm. It was softer, sweeter, and easier to get his teeth into.

Once he’d munched his way through his second piece of fruit, James washed the sugariness away with some of that river water which Crystaline had collected earlier. For some unfathomable reason, the water tasted better, fresher than any other water which James had ever tasted.

“Mmmm,” Zach began, his voice all sloshy as he continued to gobble up his last section of fruit. “I love this stuff! I mean seriously, your fruit puts our fruit to shame. But tell me, will this fruit give us what we need?”

Crystaline cocked her head to one side. “What do you mean? You mean nutrition wise?”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I mean. I mean, don’t get me wrong, this stuff’s great. But where I’m from, we can’t exactly just live off fruit. We need protein, carbohydrates, calcium, fat...all sorts.”

“There are other foods.”

“Like meat,” Morcees intervened, arousing surreptitious cackles from Borcees.

Crystaline’s face hardened. “No, not meat. That’s just barbaric. We don’t eat meat here.”

Morcees scoffed, “you might not, but some of us manage it.”

“Heartless delinquent fools like you, yes. As for the law-abiding citizens of Urasha, we do not consume meat.”

“At all?” Zach had stopped chewing his food. The man looked genuinely surprised.

“At all,” Crystaline confirmed, as if it were no biggie. “I mean don’t get me wrong, we get what we need. We have sources of food other than fruit. Certain fruits contain more nutrients than others. Other foods have the proteins, the whatever-you-call-its. The energy you need.”

“And will we encounter any of that stuff? Out here?”

“Yes,” Crystaline promised, turning tenderly to her brother. “There is bruc out here isn’t there, Crystos?”

Crystos appeared reluctant to accept his invite into the conversation. However, he agreed with his sister, taking the step to explain the bruc a little further. “Yes, bruc is plentiful if you know how to replace it. It’s a very resourceful food. One of the only foods which contains all of the nutrients we need.”

“What does it taste like?” inquired Zach.

“You’ll replace out,” Crystos answered him.

For a further few moments, all was silent around the fire, as the remaining pieces of fruit were demolished. James found his eyes flitting constantly over to Crystaline. She looked beautiful tonight, with her golden irises glinting away against that purple flame. As he thought of Crystaline, of her knowledge, her experience, her elation at just being here in this forest, a question popped into his brain. “So, you’ve been here before? In this forest?”

Crystaline’s eyes gazed upon James’ own. It was as if his question had caught her a little off guard. “Yes, I’ve been here before. We all have.”

“And is that how you guys produce your food? Or gather it?”

Crystaline shook her head, readying herself to answer James’ question. Surprisingly, Phil beat her to it. “No, James, the Urashan people have farms in the city. They grow what they need.”

James looked back over to Crystaline, waiting for her to add to Phil’s brief answer. James received no sound. Instead he perceived Crystaline’s stare, her cold, piercing death stare aimed right into a seemingly unaware Phil, as he continued to babble on.

“It’s like us, we have farms, don’t we? We don’t need to take a trek into the wilderness every time we need a bit of food. We produce our own.”

James’ eyes flickered over to Crystaline again. If looks could kill, seriously. Phil would be dead right now, murdered by Crystaline’s frostbiting glare. It was only when Phil finally stopped talking that Crystaline removed her eyes away from him, giving her own explanation to James’ question.

“Before we were born, our Ancestors gathered what they could. They would come out here regularly to forage around for any source of food which they could replace. Any source that wasn’t a living creature, of course. With all the food which had been gathered, our people were able to create a large farm within the city. A farm which now provides us with all the food and water we need.” Crystaline paused, glowering at Phil. “However,” she continued, “occasionally, some of our people will still come out here into these wild lands to look for new sources of food, or other materials which could prove beneficial to our kind. So, Phil, your explanation was not entirely correct. My people do still come out here to gather food or other useful materials.”

“How many times have you been out here?” James asked, trying to ease the palpable tension.

Crystaline’s gaze moved to James. “I’ve been out here enough times to know what’s what.”

James looked up above him, pointing to the patches of sky above. “And space, have you ever been up there?”

Crystaline slowly shook her head left and right, not breaking her questioning stare. No, she had not been to space before.

“Would you like to go?” James inquired further, not feeling intimidated by Crystaline’s stalking eyes.

Crystaline took a few seconds to answer James’ question, as if discreetly mulling over how best to cover up her real thoughts. As she whispered out her response, Crystaline looked straight through James’ pupils, her face rigid and impassive. “Why would I want to go to space?”

James shook his head disbelievingly. “Why wouldn’t you?” he rhetorically challenged her. “I mean, there is so much to see and learn. It’s what I live and breathe for, what I’ve spent most of my life working towards.” James paused, looking down at the pile of burning foliage. What he was thinking of brought him pain, longing. However, James was not one to keep his thoughts to himself. No matter how painful they might be. He smiled tenderly, thinking of his mother. “You know, a very wise woman reminded me of something recently. She explained how humans once were, none of us believing in the possibility of space travel, or even life on other planets. In one single day, that all changed. The Universe taught us to believe in the impossible. How can you not want to explore such an incredible place? One that’s filled with such endless possibilities?”

Crystaline was still staring at James intently. Only this time, her eyes had broken away from her face’s rigidity, beginning to show such a turbulent storm of emotions deep inside her.

James delicately continued, forgetting all about the other listening ears around him. This was for Crystaline. “Thinking about all those endless possibilities gets me wondering. What if the one’s we’ve loved and lost are still out there? Looking down on us somewhere? Or even living a whole new life in some new realm elsewhere? Nothing is impossible, is it?”

At that moment, Crystaline’s breath hitched, no longer able keep her emotions restrained. She had a hurricane of emotion going on inside her now, James could tell.

Eventually, Crystaline’s lips parted, forcing out her shaky words. “It’s getting late. I need to show you all how to secure your furleaves.”

Securing the furleaves had been no hard task. James had helped to gather up what long purple vines he could, and then he had used two of the vines to secure his own selected furleave. As far as he was concerned, he was good to go, ready to at least try and attempt some sleep.

As he lay with his back on the furleave, James could still feel the thing swaying underneath his weight. Unfortunately, the furleaves were all clumped together in one big cluster, and James could see Phil swaying uncomfortably on his furleave at the corner of his eye. Sleeping literally right next to Phil was certainly less than ideal. At least Morcees and Borcees weren’t too close.

James sighed, staring at the vibrant scene all around him. The air was so dark, embellished by the many multi-coloured plants all around him. The fire was still crackling away, though its warmth could not be felt from this leaf.

James thought of that meal around the fire, of the conversation which had taken place. Crystaline was a character, to say the least. Her complexity was second to none. Crystaline had definitely wanted out of the conversation as soon as it had reached a certain level of depth. Yet at the very same time, James knew that his words had somehow reached her. He thought of Crystaline’s mother, or the lack of the woman who had given birth to Crystaline and her brother. Where was the queen? James could only assume the very worst: that Crystaline’s mother was no longer alive. James felt his throat constricting. He couldn’t work out if the pain was associated with his own loss of his father, or if it was out of sheer empathy for Crystaline and her brother.

James placed his palm over his chest, noting the absence of his father’s green jewel. This forest was so tranquil, so serene right now, a complete juxtaposition of what he was feeling inside.

A few more moments of silence passed, and then James heard it, the sudden snapping noise emanating from right beside him. The noise was soon replaced by groaning, Zach’s groaning as he lay on the floor, covered by his fallen furleave.

Just as James raised, Phil raised too.

“Zach, are you okay?” Phil whispered.

“My leaf!” Zach moaned, throwing off his furleave and inspecting the new grazes on his arms.

James heard Crystaline sighing as she left her own furleave to inspect Zach’s. Morcees and Borcees would not stop cackling.

“What’s going on?” Crystaline whispered.

“My leaf...it broke!”

Crystaline inspected both the furleave and the trees it had fallen off. “You idiot, you only used two vines, didn’t you?”

Zach gulped, “That’s all I thought was needed?”

“No, you needed two for the top of your furleave, and then two for the bottom. You needed four vines.”

James gulped, the realisation suddenly hitting him. He had only used two vines as well, one for each end, oops. Quickly, James scanned the forest floor underneath his furleave, desperately looking for any sign of any vines. He did not want to make a fool of himself just as Zach had. To James’ relief, he spotted one vine just an arm’s stretch away. One plant would give the furleave that extra bit of support that it would need, surely? Surreptitiously, James lay belly down on his leaf, extending his arm out to reach for the vine. He’d got it! Now he just had to fasten it without Crystaline noticing. Luckily, she was still preoccupied with Zach.

“Where am I gonna sleep now?” Zach whined. “I have no furleave.”

“Yes, you do.” Crystaline raised to her feet, pointing to an empty furleave nearby. “This is the only spare furleave we have, so try not to break this one too, okay?”

As Crystaline searched the camping space for four more vines to secure Zach’s furleave, James used this time as an opportunity to strengthen his very own leaf. How had he been so stupid? As James tied the vine to the top end of his furleave, he remembered how his mind had been preoccupied, still thinking of the conversation he’d just had with Crystaline around the fire. He’d not taken in her instructions anywhere near as thoroughly as he’d thought. Never mind, all was good now. James’ furleave was secure, or secure enough at least.

Crystaline soon returned to Zach, armed with four more vines. Deftly, she secured Zach’s new furleave. “There,” she whispered. “That should do the trick. Just relax instead of tossing and turning around every five minutes, okay?”

As Zach clambered onto his replacement furleave, Crystaline turned to James, raising her left eyebrow wryly. “And don’t worry, Zach, you weren’t the only one,” she continued, raising her voice so that James could hear her. “Let’s just hope that three vines should be enough shall we, James?”

Crap! James winced. How did she know? Did she have eyes on the back of her head? Maybe that wasn’t such an impossibility. Crystaline was an alien, after all. For some reason, that thought alone was slightly unsettling. James didn’t know why.

As James lay back down on his furleave, he heard Zach shyly thanking Crystaline, and then all was quiet, everything back to that dreamy serenity.

James placed his hand across his chest once again, thinking of one person in particular: Lottie.

Lottie lay alone and awake on top of her room’s huge round bed. She hadn’t even bothered to get undressed yet. Instead, she just lay there on her back, thinking about James and the others. Were they all okay? Was James okay?

Lottie gently caressed the bright green jewel of the necklace which James had lent her. It felt warm, warm where it had been resting gently on her chest. Lottie clasped the green jewel in her hand, embracing its warmth. The warmth reminded her of James. Her best friend, the warmest, kindest person she had ever met in her entire life. Lottie sighed, oh how she missed him! Oh, how she missed the others: Phil, Zach, home.

Lottie wanted off this planet. She did not trust the Urashans at all. Lottie promised herself that she would keep an eye on the Urashans, ensuring that they fixed the Earthship. Lottie had a feeling that she would uncover something menacingly sinister. Lottie was an intuitive woman, her impulses rarely wrong.