She, Herself
Short fiction
A request for massive numbers of enzymes was pushed out through the mycelial network, to be delivered and concentrated at the base of Mother Tree. A substrate of material and biologics was laid, a small conglomeration of amino acids at first, but it quickly grew. Metabolism increased exponentially. Resources, at the bequest of Mother Tree, poured in across the network — water, nitrates and meta-instructions that became building blocks. Some of the forest creatures were temporarily slaved by airborne chemicals and pheromones the Mother had designed and distributed through her leaves and along the mycelial network. It wasn’t an ideal solution to slave the forest inhabitants, but haste was necessary. Ants and bees delivered needed materials per her design. Arachnids contributed sections of DNA in the immediate while two sparrows searched for simian feces to provide the additional architecture she desired.
In just minutes the amorphous lump at the base of the tree grew and took shape, covered with mucus for no more than a minute as it scaled the base of the tree, then smoothed into a shimmering exterior that reflected light like oil on water, a shifting rainbow across its surface. Development continued until the newly formed creature stood before Herself, independent and capable, connected to the world through the chemicals all around, though the connection felt flimsy compared to what she normally experienced.
She was pleased with the work and retracted the obligations of the forest creatures, releasing pheromones that gave them a few moments of pleasure. She was them, and they her, but she valued their independence and the odd ways they developed when left to their lives. Anything more she needed, at this point, could be designed internally. She was complete.
She breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly, flexed her limbs and let her mind stretch through the forest.
The time had come to deal with the aliens.
As she walked the forest floor she fashioned a layer of clothing, similar to that of the aliens. Information was still incoming through chemical agents along the mycelial network and additional data was passed along the birdsong matrix. The aliens, the crows informed her, were playing a card game at the edge of Aokigahara Forest, one of her protected areas.
As she approached, a sample of alien DNA was processed and analyzed. She peered through their evolutionary history and understood that their development was similar to her humans.
The creature facing her direction stood and snapped to attention as she approached and it leveled a weapon at her. It vocalized a command that the network translated roughly, having only a few minutes of conversation to observe while they had been playing cards. The others sprang to their feet as well and one of them also raised its weapon. The third regarded her and made the observation that she wasn’t like the others on the planet.
“You are correct,” she smiled. “I am . . . different.”
“How can you speak our language?”
“I speak all languages.” She hoped her pronunciation was accurate. “What do you want here?”
The two with weapons laughed. The other said, “Want? Everything, of course. We will mine this planet for its resources, including its people.”
“That is not acceptable. You must leave immediately.”
The aliens laughed.
“And if we don’t?”
“That would be unfortunate for you.”
“Child with the magical tongue, accept your fate and leave us. We have things to do.”
She had finished her analysis of the alien DNA and their brain structure. It was simple, really, what she needed to do. And it would keep within the myth and folklore that had developed of the Aokigahara Forest, known to her humans as Suicide Forest.
She reached out through the magnetosphere to profile the vessel that orbited the planet. It was a small crew, relatively speaking, perhaps a scout vehicle, though heavily armed. The alien vessel was technologically advanced — magic to her humans, who hadn’t yet developed flight, let alone space travel.
She pushed a surge through the magnetosphere that disrupted the ship’s electronics and altered its course, dragging it into the atmosphere.
Radio chatter caused the aliens to look up as she released a stream of psychedelics and pheromones designed to elicit fear based upon the alien physiology. The psychedelics, implanted with a simple death meme, were immediately effective. Screams of their comrades came over their comms while they burned up in the atmosphere. The aliens saw a streak of fire across the sky. They screamed, the hallucinations horrifying, loved ones gone in the blaze.
“What have you done!”
The pheromones kicked in then, causing anguish and a sense of hopelessness and despair beyond imagining. The weight of what had happened crushed them and they felt responsible for the demise of their families and compatriots. A second set of pheromones turned them suicidal. They were single-minded then, their attention focused on nothing else but the desire to end their lives. But just before they committed the act she subdued them and they collapsed on the spot and lay still on the forest floor.
She waited for several minutes. The radio chatter continued with the aliens believing they were in peril. She then rendered those on the ship unconscious and pushed the vessel back into orbit. A few moments later she released counter-acting pheromones and woke the aliens from the coma she had put them in.
They eyed her with trepidation, the horrors still alive in their minds.
“I could have easily killed you and those aboard your ship. Leave now and don’t return.”
“Who are you?”
“I am, what more is there?”
“But our ship . . .”
“You will find it still in orbit. Now leave.”
She turned and walked through the forest as the aliens made a hasty getaway. She released more pheromones through the flora in the region to make certain none of the humans who might have been in the area remembered the aliens or their ship. Slowly, the made body she inhabited lost molecular cohesion and atoms scattered to the earth on the eddies of its movements, like pollen on the breeze. Satisfied the danger had been averted, she traveled the mycelial network toward Mother Tree, watchful, always watchful.
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The Aokigahara Forest, in Japan, is known as the Sea Of Trees and as Suicide Forest.