Of Mycelium and Men: A Space Colony Exploration Series (The Biomass Conflux Book 1) by William C. Tracy

Author:William C. Tracy
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Tags: colonization, fungus, hard sci-fi, LGBTQ+, mycelium, queer, Science Fiction
Publisher: Space Wizard Science Fantasy
Published: 2022-09-19T16:00:00+00:00

PART EIGHT

Reaching

1 year after landing

Anderson held his E-Vapor while he took another swig from the mug of vile stuff gripped in his prosthetic hand. One of the Generationals had given it to him for the year celebration. Supposedly derived from the biomass, and it tasted like it. Kicked like a mule, too.

“You can almost ignore what’s outside the walls,” he said to Noce, who was staring up thirty meters of solid nanotanium, a mug of the same horrible brew in their hand.

“Almost,” Noce said, letting out a puff from their own E-Vapor. They’d dyed their hair purple in celebration—not within the regulations they followed before the fleet left Earth, but then no one called them on it. “I’ll still feel better when it’s completed, and the biomass is locked out of Alpha.”

“It’ll happen, muux,” Anderson assured. His implant was silent for the first time in months. He was hoping it was too busy neutralizing his drink to focus his attention. The buzz was pleasantly foggy.

He gestured expansively to the buildings around them, yells and fireworks echoing off the nanotanium and steelcrete. Everyone was out, and even the Vagal higher-ups had let down their hair for the year-end party. Nothing was as tall as the ships had been when they landed, but the newest buildings soared ten or twelve stories, greenery hanging over their top edges. Lights shone from most of the windows, now the sun had set.

“Cora,” he said.

“What?”

“I’m naming my implant,” Anderson said. Noce just looked at him. “Do you know any other Vagals who’ve done that?”

“Not any who were willing to publicly mention it,” Noce replied. “It’s not even a thing. It’s just a collection of signal-response algorithms.”

“That’s a terrible thing to say about your implant. Mine’s saved my life multiple times already.”

“Still just a program,” Noce muttered into their drink.

“Ah, well. I’m sure it will catch on,” Anderson said, watching the sun set. “Time to get your partying in before the lights go out, muux.” The batteries weren’t great at holding a charge from the solar array, so by an unspoken rule, everyone ran whatever they wanted until they went to sleep, draining the energy that would be lost anyway overnight. Tonight especially, a riot of color shone from the Admin building, a rainbow of metallic reflections coating the nearby structures. Someone ran past, holding hands with another person, cast in shadow. “You have anyone to party with?”

He just caught Noce’s head shaking in the semi-darkness. His commanding officer was a terse one, never giving out an unneeded word. They had been awake for several shifts in the fleet, he knew, though they never talked about it.

“Not tonight, Anderson,” Noce finally said. “Had enough Vagals to take care of for the past year, and not much time for frivolities.” They took a deep swig from their mug. “Maybe ask again after I’ve had two or three more mugs of this shit.” Anderson caught a steely gray gleam from Noce’s eye as they turned their head just slightly.

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