Ascending - James Alan Gardner [143]
Instead, I moved to the nearest mini-chili tree and plucked a low-lying fruit from its branches. Taking great care not to squeeze the little chili, I went back to the fountain and tossed the small fruit into the basin, very near the pool that was filling out from the center. The fruit landed neatly with its pointy end aiming inward toward the middle of the bowl. Bit by bit as liquid continued to flow, the level of the fluid rose and its edge inched up the stone toward the chili’s tip.
“What’s happening in there?” Festina called.
“I am performing an experiment. I am exposing an organic object to the influence of a sinister alien liquid.”
“The organic object wouldn’t be your hand, would it, missy?”
That, of course, was Uclod. “No,” I told him, “I am not such a fool as to use myself for an experimental subject.”
“Oh yeah? Then why are you in there, when we’re all out here?”
One had to admit he had a point. But one did not have to admit it out loud, and anyway, the edge of the liquid was almost touching the chili’s bottom tip. I held my breath in anticipation, hoping perhaps the small yellow fruit would burst into flame when the liquid made contact; but the result was more interesting than mere fire. As the fluid nudged the chili’s surface, the fruit’s yellow skin slowly changed color—not to red, as you might think, but to a dark purple. Even more intriguing, the chili’s waxy texture grew puffy, bulging and bloating with purplish glee…until the sharp tip of the chili had turned to an ill-defined blob of purple jelly.
I stepped back several paces from the fountain. Several long paces. Taking care not to let my voice quaver, I called to the others, “Um. You will be pleased to learn my experiment has had a Result. Perhaps it would be useful if some independent observer were to witness this Result, so I may believe my own eyes.”
Festina was inside the room even before I stopped speaking. She came quickly forward, close enough to the fountain that she could see the chili lying half-in, half-out of the clear crimson liquid. The top of the fruit was still recognizable as a chili; the bottom was equally recognizable as a dollop of purple gloop.
“Holy shit,” Festina whispered.
“The holiest,” I agreed.
Gray Foam, Purple Goo
I quickly explained what had happened. All the while, the liquid continued to rise in the basin, turning more and more of the chili into quivering gel. When I finished my tale, I asked Festina, “So…is the chili changing into a Fuentes? And if it is, is it now intelligent and lying there listening to us?”
Festina gave a little laugh. “I doubt that a fruit can become sentient just from getting dowsed with liquid. More likely, the fluid is breaking down the chili’s cell structure—like the Modig powder back on Hemlock. With Modig, biologicals always decay into gray foam, whether you start with data circuits or human fingers. With whatever’s in that fountain…I suppose it rips the shit out of something in living cells, and the result is purplish guck.”
“If the Fuentes are also purplish guck, they must have used this fluid to rip up their own cells. Why would they do that?” “Presumably it was the only way to reach the next level of evolution. Maybe you can’t transcend the limitations of physical form unless you break down your body structure. That could be the only way to free your consciousness.” Festina shook her head. “Or I could be full of crap. It’s not like I understand this any better than you do.”
She turned her gaze to the mutating chili. The little fruit was almost entirely covered with fluid by now…which meant it was almost entirely converted to goo. Festina stared at it a moment, then shivered.
I was feeling the shivers myself. “Perhaps I am just an un-civilized one, but I would not wish to turn into jelly. Not even if I became a million