Humans are Weird - Headache
The slightly green light of the local sun was just easing to a less intense angle when the human staggered into the garden space. Shifts Under Observation had been processing a deep analysis of the rocky substrate under this garden space in order to prepare a report for the colony agricultural research board. Of all of the seeded garden spaces on the otherwise barren world only this one had truly thrived. The trees had sent down deep roots and were happily murmuring to each other along the robust fungal networks. Despite not one of the trees being old enough to seed they were already making sound mortality judgments and the lower shrubs fruited plentifully under their notice. It was only natural for the more motile species which depended on the fruiting bodies of the ecosystems for nutrients to want to know what factors made this garden space thrive so well. It was also normal for the tree loving humans to come in simply to bask in the murmuring of the life around them. However, Shifts Under Observation felt doubts crawl over every fiber that mere basking was the goal of this human.
A humans double tread was normally chaotic enough, but the nearly random vibrations this one was sending into the ground spoke of potential injury and this impression was not lessened when the steps staggered to a halt and ended with a thump that indicated a mass as large as the largest trees falling to the ground in stages. Shifts Under Observation let attention drift up and tap into the trees. The cluster of four trees that between them boasted the densest canopy were responding to an increased in carbon dioxide and pressure on their roots. Slowly vision added itself to Shifts Under Observation’s awareness as the leaves caught the light reflected off of the human.
It was one of the local females, physically at breeding mass, having a mate, but not yet reproductive. Shifts Under Observation stimulated a cluster of memory nodes and found that her name had unfortunately corrupted along with much of the local population information. Shifts Under Observation felt concerned at that. The information had been time consuming to gather and now must be gathered again. Then there was the question of how the corruption had occurred. The nodes were oddly high in nitrogen and a chemical burn was possible, but such a burn should have been noted long before it got bad enough to corrupt memory. Shifts Under Observation took a few moments to debate how much attention each issue required before deciding that the possibly injured human had a higher priority.
It was fairly easy to extend motile fibers into the trees that had been grown with access in mind. It was also fairly easy to give the leaves a gentle shake to warn the defensive mammal of the presence of another awareness. Therefore the human was prepared when Shifts Under Observation spoke.
“Are you in need of medical assistance Human Female Currently Laying Under the Densest Canopy?”
The human emitted a grunt and what was visible of her face contorted into what the textbooks listed as an expression of amusement.
“Did’ja forget my name?” she asked. “Or is this, like, a thing where you got your memories somewhere else?”
“I am afraid much of my memory is corrupted,” Shifts Under Observation responded. “Do you need medical assistance?”
“Corrupted how?” the human female asked. “Did one of the diggers grind over you somewhere important?”
Shifts Under Observation had no qualms with sharing relevant medical information with the local human population. Especially when such information impacted their collective ability to communicate, however the idea that this human was avoiding the question posed did occur to Shifts Under Observation and suggested a more imperative topic. Shifts Under Observation increased the volume of the projected voice.
“Do you need medical attention?”
The human experienced a full body movement, a wince, the corrupted nodes offered up, and Shifts Under Observation felt a flicker of hope that not all was lost.
“I don’t need no medical attention,” the human grumbled, shifting her hands to cover her face.
“So you do need some medical attention?” Shifts Under Observation pressed.
The human broke into laughter and let her hands drop from her face to her chest as she stared up at the canopy above her. She drew in a deep breath and flexed her body.
“I am in pain,” she said in slow clear tones. “I have already taken the necessary chemical steps to treat the pain but it is mostly,” she hesitated, and seemed to root around in her memory for the next word. “It’s my emotions see?” She said waving one hand in the air. “My stupid little brother did some stupid little brother thing and I got all mad and that made this part of my head hurt and my other brother told me to go calm down so I yelled and him and took some pain killers and came here to calm down. See?”
Her hands dropped back down to cover her eyes and Shifts Under Observation pondered the statements while simultaneously teasing information fragments out of the corrupted nodes. This situation called for more information than was currently available and the lack was causing confusing gaps in understanding.
“Your younger male sibling,” Shifts Under Observation said, carefully stringing memory fragments together, “who lives four townships to the east, has taken action to aggravate you?”
“Well, not yet,” the female admitted. “He’s gonna though.”
Shifts Under Observation pondered the situation.
“Your younger male sibling may be going to do something that would aggravate you,” Shifts Under Observation said slowly, “so in anticipation of the event your emotional reaction is causing you crippling pain.”
The human released a long exhale of carbon dioxide to the delight of the trees over her.
“Sounds kinda stupid when you put it like that,” she said quietly, but she was smiling.
“I merely observe and try to understand,” Shifts Under Observation assured her.
“Yeah, s’why I came here,” she said with a yawn. “The trees don’t judge you when you’re kinda stupid. Makes it easier to calm down.”
Shifts Under Observation remained quiet, listening to the trees observations, and judgments of the mammal who had flung herself down at their roots. Disrupting a belief in another sapient species was always a delicate matter, even more so if that belief was currently aiding some healing state as this one clearly was. Perhaps the fact that the judgment had nothing to do with her emotional state, and was generally positive – this species of tree considered large mammals mostly symbiotic – would make the judgment palatable to the human, but Shifts Under Observation decided that it would be bet to not challenge the human on it until the corrupted memories had either been restored or replaced with a better understanding.
A humans double tread was normally chaotic enough, but the nearly random vibrations this one was sending into the ground spoke of potential injury and this impression was not lessened when the steps staggered to a halt and ended with a thump that indicated a mass as large as the largest trees falling to the ground in stages. Shifts Under Observation let attention drift up and tap into the trees. The cluster of four trees that between them boasted the densest canopy were responding to an increased in carbon dioxide and pressure on their roots. Slowly vision added itself to Shifts Under Observation’s awareness as the leaves caught the light reflected off of the human.
It was one of the local females, physically at breeding mass, having a mate, but not yet reproductive. Shifts Under Observation stimulated a cluster of memory nodes and found that her name had unfortunately corrupted along with much of the local population information. Shifts Under Observation felt concerned at that. The information had been time consuming to gather and now must be gathered again. Then there was the question of how the corruption had occurred. The nodes were oddly high in nitrogen and a chemical burn was possible, but such a burn should have been noted long before it got bad enough to corrupt memory. Shifts Under Observation took a few moments to debate how much attention each issue required before deciding that the possibly injured human had a higher priority.
It was fairly easy to extend motile fibers into the trees that had been grown with access in mind. It was also fairly easy to give the leaves a gentle shake to warn the defensive mammal of the presence of another awareness. Therefore the human was prepared when Shifts Under Observation spoke.
“Are you in need of medical assistance Human Female Currently Laying Under the Densest Canopy?”
The human emitted a grunt and what was visible of her face contorted into what the textbooks listed as an expression of amusement.
“Did’ja forget my name?” she asked. “Or is this, like, a thing where you got your memories somewhere else?”
“I am afraid much of my memory is corrupted,” Shifts Under Observation responded. “Do you need medical assistance?”
“Corrupted how?” the human female asked. “Did one of the diggers grind over you somewhere important?”
Shifts Under Observation had no qualms with sharing relevant medical information with the local human population. Especially when such information impacted their collective ability to communicate, however the idea that this human was avoiding the question posed did occur to Shifts Under Observation and suggested a more imperative topic. Shifts Under Observation increased the volume of the projected voice.
“Do you need medical attention?”
The human experienced a full body movement, a wince, the corrupted nodes offered up, and Shifts Under Observation felt a flicker of hope that not all was lost.
“I don’t need no medical attention,” the human grumbled, shifting her hands to cover her face.
“So you do need some medical attention?” Shifts Under Observation pressed.
The human broke into laughter and let her hands drop from her face to her chest as she stared up at the canopy above her. She drew in a deep breath and flexed her body.
“I am in pain,” she said in slow clear tones. “I have already taken the necessary chemical steps to treat the pain but it is mostly,” she hesitated, and seemed to root around in her memory for the next word. “It’s my emotions see?” She said waving one hand in the air. “My stupid little brother did some stupid little brother thing and I got all mad and that made this part of my head hurt and my other brother told me to go calm down so I yelled and him and took some pain killers and came here to calm down. See?”
Her hands dropped back down to cover her eyes and Shifts Under Observation pondered the statements while simultaneously teasing information fragments out of the corrupted nodes. This situation called for more information than was currently available and the lack was causing confusing gaps in understanding.
“Your younger male sibling,” Shifts Under Observation said, carefully stringing memory fragments together, “who lives four townships to the east, has taken action to aggravate you?”
“Well, not yet,” the female admitted. “He’s gonna though.”
Shifts Under Observation pondered the situation.
“Your younger male sibling may be going to do something that would aggravate you,” Shifts Under Observation said slowly, “so in anticipation of the event your emotional reaction is causing you crippling pain.”
The human released a long exhale of carbon dioxide to the delight of the trees over her.
“Sounds kinda stupid when you put it like that,” she said quietly, but she was smiling.
“I merely observe and try to understand,” Shifts Under Observation assured her.
“Yeah, s’why I came here,” she said with a yawn. “The trees don’t judge you when you’re kinda stupid. Makes it easier to calm down.”
Shifts Under Observation remained quiet, listening to the trees observations, and judgments of the mammal who had flung herself down at their roots. Disrupting a belief in another sapient species was always a delicate matter, even more so if that belief was currently aiding some healing state as this one clearly was. Perhaps the fact that the judgment had nothing to do with her emotional state, and was generally positive – this species of tree considered large mammals mostly symbiotic – would make the judgment palatable to the human, but Shifts Under Observation decided that it would be bet to not challenge the human on it until the corrupted memories had either been restored or replaced with a better understanding.
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