Better Gardening 20 (Patreon)

Commissioned by Kejmur

Better Gardening

Chapter 20

-VB-

Valdis. Obviously, it wasn’t the name gave itself. Whatever this “On Clay” was, they were the ones behind its intelligence. 

“Well, if tasty things are there, then why are you here, Valdis?” I asked the creature. 

It hesitated to answer me. It looked warily at Umma, my guardian elephant, and then up at me. 

“On Clay” was scientifically advanced enough to instill intelligence. This meant that they were highly likely to have the technology to create artificial life like Umma. Could that be why Valdis was wary about Umma? Or simply because Umma was threateningly large? 

“Because me help … family.”

“Family? There are more of you.”

It looked at me before nodding slowly. “Yes. Me one of many. Family needs food. Needs metal. Family sucks at finding metal, so me go find metal. At least until family get better at finding metal.”

So it was simple gathering it was partaking in. It may explain why it wasn’t in an area with better food prospects. 

“... Tell me, how is life around these parts?” I asked as I slipped down from my guardian. I knew that I was needlessly risking myself, but I was very interested in Valdis and his family. Even if they weren’t a fit for my planet, who said I couldn’t employ them for myself? Guardians were good and all, but my space station was awfully big, you know?

But only if these creatures were amenable. For all I knew, it and its kin were as evil as it looked, and this “On Clay” was just it speaking gibberish.

“Life hard,” Valdis grunted. “But me do what me can. For family.”

We talked a bit more after that. He told me about “On Clay” and his life. I told him about what I did, collecting things. He seemed to understand that, even if what I collected didn’t make sense to him, the act of collecting did. And since he and his family weren’t on my list to collect, he seemed happy to let me know some more things. Like who was his mom, who was the leader, how many there were, and et cetera. 

The more I heard, however, the less I became about their chances of survival. He told me how there were more like him and his family, but none of them were smart. While my scanner did show that Valdis was nearly supernaturally tough and resilient, this didn’t apply to his genetics. From what I saw, its genetics weren’t modified for stability and any intrabreeding among its family would sooner or later result in genetic damages that would be impossible to ignore. 

The question then was if the intelligent members could breed with unintelligent individuals to breed intelligent members. If not, then I would need to provide intervention. But how was I supposed to convey that I wanted to help with the same tools that made them? They were very likely to turn hostile very quickly even if communication was not a problem.

If Valdis was the average of his family, then I didn’t have high hopes for an effective communication carrying me through any offer of help. But I still wanted to try.

“Alright, can you take me to the place where there are more food? In exchange, I’ll give you some metal.”

“Metal? Good metal or bad metal?” 

“Good metal. Good steel.”

“Ooh, steel. Steel good. Steel good for walls.”

Metal for walls? I mean…

I looked around. 

Trees were far and few between where I was. I supposed that steel was as good a metal for shelter when there was a scarcity of wood. 

-VB-

This entire world was a barren hell. 

I saw it all before I met Valdis and saw more of it following him up to where “good food” was. 

And what I found? 

It was a small river coming down from the Sierra Nevada mountains, and there were mutated fish in it. 

A quick scan showed me that they were just very sick mountain whitefish, a very common fish in this area of Earth. There was a giant scorpion hiding from us, which was something I could and would snatch a few specimen of. 

“Okay. I show you good hunting spot. Metal now,” Valdis huffed. 

I smiled at the larger creature and then opened a portal. 

The portal scared Valdis and he immediately backed off. 

But then stopped when he saw that I was pulling metal out. Specifically, I was pulling out half centimeter thin  and roughly three meter wide and long square sheets of hard steel good for wall reinforcement, and there were a dozen such sheets.

I closed the portal and looked back at him. 

“Do you think you can carry all of this back?” I asked, and he looked both startled and worried. 

“... Will be hard,” Valdis grunted. 

“Would you like my help carrying it back home?”

He looked even more worried. I could almost hear his thoughts. Was he getting baited? Was this a trap to find his family? 

“If not, I can just leave it here and leave. I still have other things to collect.”

He nodded slowly. “Me carry on me terms.”

“Then this is where we part ways for now,” I smiled and gave him a nod. Then I got back on Umma’s back, and I steered her away from him and deeper into the mountains.