Ch2 Spruce Onions: A Trojan Horse

[Spruce Onions chapter 1 can be found here]

Vera Caepe, First Bloom [she/it] anxiously writhed her vines around her core. She had short, green, leafy ‘hair’ and a pair of antennae that were essentially just green onions protruding from her head. Its mostly-humanoid face featured two metallic eyes where a Terran’s would be, plus two more slightly smaller metallic eyes above those and closer together. Vera’s body mainly just consisted of deep green vines expertly weaved and tied into a humanoid body. It had a ‘dress’ that fell past her fake knees, but it was just an extension of her own planty body. There were a few miscellaneous flowers scattered about her form, but not many were visible.

Everyone in the meeting room was solemn - even the sleepy floret, who presumably sensed the unease in their Affini's biorhythm, seemed a little off-put.

Sitting to its left, Fractalia Caepe, Second Bloom [any pronouns] was quietly tapping some of her leaves on the table as he typed away on their tablet. His antennae stalks were thinner but featured floofy poofs of fluff on them that made them appear much larger than Vera’s. Her hairs were thin blades of reddish-violet grass much more akin to a human’s hairs than Vera’s, and their face only had two metallic eyes. Dotting their body like polka dots were a number of soft, round flowers; most were a similar reddish-violet to its hair, but he also had some of various other colours.

Sitting to its right, Carrot Evergreen, twelfth bloom [xey/xem/xeir] kept an eye on xeir tablet at all times. Xey were monitoring Talia and Niamh remotely lest an emergency arise. "The poor dear is still sobbing." Xey said quietly.

Any doubt that Niamh was safe to leave alone with a floret had been swiftly erased once they had the chance to speak to her - Carrot wouldn't have left Talia alone with her otherwise. Still, Xey always got antsy leaving xeir cotyledon without an Affini present. But Talia's wheelchair could be remotely operated from Carrot's tablet, so even if Niamh was somehow a danger, Talia could be easily swept away from harm. The wheelchair could also deliver a dose of sedatives in the absolute worst case scenario, but xey knew in xeir core that wouldn’t be necessary.

Carrot - much like xeir name would suggest - looked like a gigantic carrot. Xeir vines were all orange, and xey had styled some of the green leaves on xeir head into a tall, messy hairstyle. There was a bit of brown bark on xeir body too, which was mainly used to create a pseudo ball-gown outfit.

"Poor Niamh…" Fray muttered, leaning over to watch Carrot's tablet. Vera followed suit.

Stars, Talia was such a pure sophont. Watching her comforting and cuddling Niamh like this was corewarming - or heartwarming, as Terrans would say. Vera would make sure Talia was treated to something extra-special for being such a good bean, and she knew Fray and Carrot were thinking the same.

Niamh had been assigned to Vera and Fractalia as their ward since they had found her, and of course, were willing to be her caretakers. But even if they weren't, they'd both still be invested in Niamh's wellbeing.

Unfortunately, they were newly assigned to the Abiegnis and didn't even have a hab of their own to call home yet. They would have been quicker to make the necessary arrangements had they not stayed over in their close friend Carrot's hab at first, but it was no matter. Carrot was of course more than happy to house another sophont for a bit, especially one in such desperate need of care. Still, Fractalia was currently messaging Helix Helios, Fifth Bloom [he/him] asking for their hab’s construction to be expedited so they could give Niamh - and quite possibly Linna too, soon enough - a less-temporary home.

‘Less-temporary’. Hopefully-permanent, more like. Vera and Fractalia had always heard stories from their elders about special sophonts dropping into their lives and changing everything. They both had their doubts it would happen as suddenly as that, but now, Niamh had literally fallen into their lives and become a vascular thief… No, roots, that wasn’t the saying…

Aha, yes! She had ‘stolen their hearts’!

Vera wanted to make that poor, abused sophont happy. She began to fantasise about all the ways she and Fray could make that happen. It lingered on the idea of pressing a soft, sweet flower to Niamh’s face, administering a soothing, stimulating mix of xenodrugs; watching Niamh get all sleepy and dopey in her loving arms; feeling Niamh softly but needily grasping onto its vines as she curled up between Fray and herself…

It took a moment for Vera to realise Carrot was staring smugly at her. And that she was stimming by gently flapping some of its vines. …And that one of her flowers was slowly leaking gaseous xenodrugs into the air. She froze.

“Mhmm hmm hmm~” Carrot giggled. “Thinking about something, darling?~”

Vera curled its vines inward in embarrassment. “...Niamh. Specifically… adopting her.”

“I figured as much~”

A few of Fractalia’s vines slithered into Vera’s weave of plant matter, which she reciprocated warmly. Fray interlocked more of his vines, then Vera followed suit. It wasn’t long before both Affini abandoned their individual humanoid shapes and assembled themselves into a larger, merged humanoid form. They both gently pressed their most intimate vines into the other’s core, linking their nervous systems and allowing their minds to work together as one.

Veralia Caepe, Mixed Bloom [they/them, when in this state] was an amalgamation of Vera and Fractalia on both a physical and mental level. Their hairs were Fractalia’s long blades of grass, which were all covered in a ‘bandana’ made of Vera’s hair. Their antennae wrapped around each other’s, leaving them with a pair of double-helixed, floofy-onion antennae. Veralia’s face featured all of their eyes: the lower pair were Vera’s larger eyes; the middle pair were Fractalia’s eyes, the same size as those below them; and the top pair were Vera’s smaller eyes. Their body looked as though it was encased in a tight, planty green catsuit so densely-woven that one would have to pay close attention to notice it was really a lattice of vines. Fractalia’s reddish-violet flowers were organised into racing stripes along the arms and legs of Veralia’s pseudo catsuit.

Veralia loved merging with each other. It just felt so cozy and intimate being so together with a loved one. Plus, now Fray and Vera could share in each other’s fantasies about adopting Niamh!

Holding Niamh and Linna together in their vines… Just the thought sent shivers through Veralia’s cores. Though they didn’t know anything about Linna, the fact she was so evidently important to Niamh hinted that the two Terrans were likely pinnates.

Pinnates were two or more sophonts so attached to each other that they cannot ethically be kept from each other. If Linna was even half as attached to Niamh as Niamh was to her, Veralia would do everything in their power to make sure they were together every moment they both wanted to be.

“Sorry I’m late, everyone.” A deep, low voice echoed from the doorway. Cutis Sucus, Sixty-Seventh Bloom [he/him] rushed to his seat and plonked an oversized - even by Affini standards - tablet in front of him. He was just a bush, from outer appearances; the only visible part of him were his many purple and black leaves. If he was taking a humanoid or other such form underneath, none could tell.

"It's fine, Cutis." Palma Tropica, Fourth Bloom [she/her] said as she continued to pet her human floret on her lap: Gray Tropica, Second Floret [he/they]. The humanoid Affini lady’s hair was an explosion of lush palm leaves, and she wore a soft fabric dress that matched her floret’s floral, tropical vacation shirt.

“Have the reconnaissance thorns been activated properly?” The captain of the Abiegnis, Jo Lilac, Eighteenth Bloom [he/she/it], asked Cutis. Its form resembled that of a great serpent with her green and red vines coiled into a long and graceful body. He was rather fond of how the Xa'a-ackétøth - a species of aquatic snake-like sophonts - appeared, and preferred to exist in a shape that mimicked theirs.

“Yes, they’ve all been firmly lodged into the Terran ship’s hull and are operating nominally.” Cutis replied, tapping his tablet and bringing up a bunch of data on the meeting room’s gigantic display.

Reconnaissance thorns were a technology developed for situations such as this, where the Affini had to allow a sophont ship’s escape for those cuties’ own safety. They were tiny computers encased in little slivers of space-grade wood, about three centimeters long by one centimeter in diameter at their largest. They could transmit location data in what was essentially real-time over great distances - distances much further than any Terran ship could ever hope to jump. Additionally, they allowed for visual and audio monitoring of the ship’s interior and could even autonomously gain access to the ship’s computers.

Cutis was one of the Affini who built and developed reconnaissance thorns as a technology. As a specialist with their operation, he had been temporarily transferred aboard the Abiegnis given the dire situation.

Schematics of the God-Given Right’s floor plans had been compiled by the reconnaissance thorns and were on the monitor now. “It appears as though the ship is normally segregated by economic class, but at the moment, the hostages are being held at gunpoint by the upper class bodyguards in some sort of middeck closet.” Cutis Described, using a laser pointer to draw attention to the room in question.

“I believe that’s a storehouse.” Iremia Okeanos, Ninety-Third Bloom [they/them] added. Their body was formed like that of a beeple - a species of bee people originating from the same planet as the Affini. They had two pairs of arms and the outlines of bee wings created by wrapped vines sprouting from their back.

“Really? But it’s so small…” Cutis’ leaves rustled in confusion.

“Terrans are small, and doubly-so for their cute lil fishies!” Carrot piped up. “Or, their ‘ships’ if you want to use the boring name for them…”

Gray, who had just had a boost of class-E xenodrugs to help him relax, was intently following the red dot from the laser pointer and dopily reaching out to grab it. Palma squee’d in delight at her floret’s adorableness and smothered him in pets and kisses.

Then, an Affini’s voice spoke from all corners of the room. "Analysing the data Cutis has provided, it is likely the Terrans suspect they are being monitored." The voice belonged to Abiegnis Actual [she/it], the Affini consciousness who resided in the Abiegnis. Well, not 'resided' in the same way as all the other Affini; Actual was the ship, and the ship was Actual. "Armed weapons have been aimed at at least one hostage at all moments since contact was established - even when there is no need to. Further, verbal threats against the hostages have been made by the captors even when alone in an otherwise unoccupied room aboard the God-Given Right. These are likely deliberate acts of defiance intended to dissuade us from pursuing."

"So they know we refuse to allow sophonts to come to harm…" Jo pondered aloud. "The captors know our true intentions. If they thoughtlessly believed the common free Terranist propaganda against the Compact, this plan of theirs would make no sense."

"Then why are they doing this!? If they know what we're like, why run? Why take hostages for Everbloom's sake!?" Borealis Asteria, Fifth Bloom [ve/vim/vis] cried, vis leaves rustling in bewilderment.

Iremia answered. "Because they're more than just free Terranists. They're capitalists."

Everyone in the room squirmed uncomfortably in their own way. Cutis compressed into a denser ball of leaves from just having to hear the word 'capitalism'. Carrot and Iremia practically froze into motionless statues. Veralia used their vines to caringly massage each other's cores, and Palma squeezed Gray tight.

"...It gets worse." Cutis continued. "Even among free Terranists, it's overwhelmingly common to be displeased - at the very least - with capitalism. These are no ordinary feralists. These are corporate executives."

"This room here…" Cutis used his laser pointer again. "...is a vault."

"According to the God-Given Right's computer systems, there are exactly two quintillion, nine-hundred forty-seven quadrillion, eight-hundred twelve trillion, thirty-three billion, five-hundred nineteen million, sixty-six thousand, one-hundred and three decimal five-seven Terran Accord credits aboard." Actual stated.

"By the Everbloom…" Iremia shuddered.

"Yeah…" Cutis muttered.

All Affini present understood what this meant: the God-Given Right was a megayacht full of quadrillionaires making a run for the metaphorical hills with their riches. Their pointless, valueless riches.

“They’re the ones who dictate what free Terranists thoughtlessly believe…” Iremia muttered. “And they’re running away while so many sophonts endanger themselves at their greedy behest…”

By the Terran calendar, the date was September 2557. The Terran Protectorate - the post-scarcity society created in the wake of the simply horrific, capitalist hellscape of the old Terran Accord - had been in place for over three Earth years. Humanity was doing very well overall in their transition to a better way of life. The Free Terranist Rebellion had all but ended, with only a handful of stragglers left scattered beyond the Protectorate's borders.

There was nowhere to run to, nowhere where Terran credits held any value at all. Veralia had wondered why the remaining hold-outs hadn't surrendered yet, but they supposed this was why; there were still (formerly) ultra-powerful capitalists out there calling the shots.

"The God-Given Right sent out orders for reinforcements, and three rebellion ships responded to their call." Cutis continued. "One of them, the Vengeful Cobra, was intercepted almost three hours ago by the Trojan Horse."

"Excuse me, the what!?" Carrot gave an exasperated chuckle.

"The Trojan Horse. It was supposedly renamed to that after its captain's floret mentioned an old Terran myth about cuties hiding in a wooden horse."

Carrot erupted in laughter, puzzling everyone else in the room. "Ohhh, I needed a good laugh… Alright, what's it really called?"

"...The Trojan Horse."

"..."

"..."

"...you do know a horse is a sex organ, right?" Carrot asked, xeir voice completely serious.

Iremia melted into a puddle of vines, just a writhing mass of flustered plampt spaghetti.

"What!? Care-Bear, we love you, but sometimes you say the most astonishingly incorrect things." Veralia's leaves hummed in a cacophony of rumbling giggles.

"But, but-!! Trojans are a known Terran contraceptive! And horses are-!! W-well, you know…!" Carrot squished a few vines together embarrassedly.

"Come on Carrot, surely you must know horses are creatures in and of themselves, not body parts!" Cutis replied. "You know, the ones with the gills, the big long trunks, the big flappy wings on their heads-"

"Cutis, that's an elephant." Iremia said deadpan. "And they're wrinkles and ears, not gills and head wings."

"...But if horses aren't a kind of genitals, why do I keep hearing so much about horsecock!?" Carrot said, still completely seriously.

At this, the whole room exploded in unrestrained laughter.

"Carrot dear, I can say with 97.935% certainty that horses are not a kind of genitals!" Actual said as it laughed.

As all the Affini were making a fuss about Horses, Gray gently tugged at one of his owner's vines and tapped his own head. At that, Palma lightly poked her floret with a xenodrug counteragent so Gray could think and speak more clearly. They muttered some things to Palma, causing her rippling, metallic turquoise eyes to open wide.

"Everyone, excuse me please!" Plama called the meeting back to attention. "My smart, wonderful, darling Gray just had a magnificent idea! They too know the story of the Trojan Horse, and believes that that could be the plan we need!" Over half of Palma's vines were vigorously petting Gray, rewarding him for his contribution. "If the God-Given Right is still expecting three rebel ships to come to their aid, then perhaps we should load the Vengeful Cobra with a rescue team posing as reinforcements!"

Everyone around the room lit up at the idea. Iremia immediately lunged over next to Palma and joined her in stroking Gray senseless.

"Preliminary simulations suggest Gray's plan has high odds of success!" Actual chimed, having run hundreds of simulations in the brief moments after Palma spoke.

"Why didn't we think of this!?" Borealis asked rhetorically.

Nonetheless, Cutis replied with a serious answer. "Because we usually don't need such covert action to protect sophonts in need."

“Actual, contact the Trojan Horse and route the call through the meeting room, then set a course for their location.” Jo ordered her ship excitedly. “We’ve got plans to set!”

—

When Niamh awoke, she discovered she was curled up in bed facing Talia, who was peacefully asleep maybe a meter or so away from her. She was grasping something round and almost featureless in a close hug, presumably one of the plushies she’d seen on the bedside the night before; though, the plushie was apparently a glow-in-the-dark toy since it emanated a very faint light. It Also seemed Talia had decided to stay nearby while keeping a respectable distance, which was honestly a bit surprising.

Everything she had seen about florets - from propaganda on both sides - suggested that they would cuddle anyone they could at almost any opportunity. The Affini portrayed this in a positive light, showing how comforting and loving everyone was for each other. The Terran Accord, though, deemed it to be “touchy-feely nonsense” and therefore a sign of weakness, familiality (beyond blood relations), and codependence - which, of course, were all considered reprehensible to the highest order among Free Terranists. It wasn’t often opposing propaganda agreed on stuff, but the constant cuddling was one such thing.

Niamh never truly understood the hardcore Terranist philosophy valuing personal strength and absolute independence above all else. It boggled her how the fascists had managed to weave such beliefs into the fabric of their species for centuries considering humans were, evolutionarily, a very social species. How such a fundamental aspect of humanity had successfully been fought for so long was almost beyond belief.

Before she could sink deeper in though, a slight movement under the covers brought Niamh’s attention back to her surroundings. Talia was too far away to have inadvertently bumped her. There was more subtle movement, this time gently sliding around her ankle. She tried pulling her foot away but whatever was lurking in the sheets had other ideas: the unknown entity coiled tighter around Niamh’s leg.

And then she noticed it.

All around her, and even underneath her, was an intricate tangle of roots, vines, and leaves taking up almost all of the space in the bed. Niamh moved to peel off the covers, but found her wrist, too, had been caught in a knot of admittedly soft plant matter.

Then, without warning, the world around her convulsed and twisted into dizzying swirls of motion. The vines on her body shifted and writhed as new shapes formed around her. What had caused- oh. Oh. She was screaming again.

She was also squirming as she tried to break free of the Affini surrounding her. Thankfully, the plant matter quickly withdrew from her, leaving her panting on her hands and knees on the soft bed.

“It’s alright! You’re safe, little one, I promise.” A recognisable, inhuman voice seemingly spoke from every direction, reverberating through the leaves and botanical chords all around her.

“Don’t worry flower, nothing can hurt you here.” Another inhuman voice echoed, also from everywhere at once.

Soon enough, the plant matter had split into three distinct bushes surrounding the pair of humans, then rearranged themselves further into their more humanoid forms. Both the plushie and Talia were lifted up and inside the ‘torso’ of the orange Affini, where a cosy little nook had been formed for her to rest. Talia was now wide awake and looked startled, but the countless vines massaging her body seemed to be calming her down.

“Did you have a nightmare, darling?” Vera asked with what sounded like genuine concern in her voice.

Niamh simply gasped heavily, trying to regain her breath. A soft light flicked on, revealing Vera, Fractalia, and Carrot all in bed with her and Talia.

“S-something g-grabbed me…” Niamh whimpered as tears ran down her face.

Vera and Fractalia shared a startled look. “Oh stars, flower, we’re so sorry!” Vera apologised earnestly - Niamh could somehow feel the sincerity radiating off the plants as if it were tangible. “We must have been holding you in our sleep…”

“We’re sorry darling…” Fractalia added just as sincerely.

“Wh-where’s T-Talia!?” Niamh asked breathlessly, looking to Carrot but unable to see any sign on the human through xeir vines.

“She’s safe, she’s right here.” Carrot assured, opening herself up again to place her cotyledon and the odd plushie right beside Niamh.

A little relief washed through Niamh. Talia offered a hand, which Niamh slowly accepted. The other human squeezed a little, a gesture Niamh returned in kind. This seemed to get a reaction out of the three plantfolk present, as they all musically hummed in harmony with each other.

Now that she could see the plushie in a better light, calling it a plushie at all seemed inaccurate; it held a soft orange glow and featured Carrot’s orange vines sprouting out from within. As her eyes traced those vines out, they all connected and intertwined with Carrot’s body.

“Ah, I see you’ve noticed my core, little one!” Carrot said warmly. “All Affini have one of these. Or, rather, a better way of putting it is ‘we are our cores.’ To compare to Terran physiology, our cores act sort of like a brain, a heart, a liver, a horse- no, I suppose not a horse… My point is that all the important stuff is right here in one soft, huggable orb! My dear Talia does so enjoy cuddling my core~ Hee hee!~”

Niamh’s mind caught for a moment on the horse comment, but quickly disregarded it entirely.

“While true, that probably isn’t the most pressing topic at foot right now.” Vera tried gently redirecting the conversation.

“I believe the Terran expression is ‘at hand’, Vera dear.” Fractalia corrected quietly.

“Ah, yes.” Vera whispered back, then returned to a more audible - but still incredibly gentle - speaking voice. “Would you like some xenodrugs to help calm your nerves?” Vera lowered a cute green flower from its own body in front of Niamh for her to inspect.

The panicked sophont’s immediate response was to cower away a little, but eventually she untensed her muscles and simply looked at it. She had a vague recollection of a similar flower being pressed to her face, so she guessed the flower would somehow drug her.

Unlike in her vague memory, however, Niamh was now given a choice in the matter. Should she accept? Should she ask what effects it will have? If she shows interest now, will the Affini interpret it as permission to push more drugs on her in the future? Perhaps that last question was a bit unfair. Free Terranist propaganda pushed the notion that the Affini forcefully drugged humans to keep them subservient at best and brainwashed at worst. But Vera was waiting for Niamh's permission, so… why would she do that? 'It's a trick to gain your trust!,' a rebel might say, but Niamh knew that made no sense. If the Affini used drugs for subservience and brainwashing, they'd have no need to gain her trust in the first place.

"Flower?" Vera asked with a little concern.

“S-sorry, um… Wh-what side effects would this have?”

“Ah, of course you would wonder about that. Terran ‘medicine’ is rather awful for its adverse effects, after all. Our xenodrugs are entirely safe, I promise you.” Vera informed truthfully. Niamh still couldn’t understand how she could tell, but it was like she could read the Affini’s heart like a book and knew Vera was being honest. Well, at the very least, Vera believed what it was saying was the truth…

“Oh. What… regular effects, then?”

“This flower produces a mix of class-E and class-F xenodrugs. This blend takes away intrusive thoughts, prevents your mind from spiralling, drastically reduces anxiety and panic responses, and relieves physical symptoms and pain - especially those caused by anxiety, such as tightness in the chest, shortness of breath, nausea, dizziness, and many others.”

Tightness in the chest… That’s something Linna often struggled with. She’d often say her heart felt like it was in a vise.

Oh stars, Linna! Niamh’s heart sank and, funny enough, her chest felt compressed now too. Her breath picked up as well and she could hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears.

“P-please…” Niamh nodded rapidly, and Vera’s flower was over her face in the blink of an eye.

“Breathe deeply for me, little one…” Vera cooed protectively. “It will all be alright, flower. We’re right here for you, and the xenodrugs will take effect in just a moment.”

Niamh soon learned the Affini wasn’t kidding: she could already feel a difference after just one breath. Her mind began to clear and her panic was nipped at the bud. She could still think about Linna, and was still worried as hell for her safety, but it wasn’t causing emotional and physical agony anymore - or at least, far less of it. For good measure, she took another deep breath before the flower was gently pulled back.

“Are you feeling a bit better now?” Fractalia asked concernedly.

Niamh simply nodded slowly.

“I’m glad~” Fractalia smiled, followed soon by everyone else present too.

“It’s just about time when we normally wake up, so I don’t see much point in sending you back to sleep.” Carrot commented. “How about I go prepare you cuties some breakfast, then if you’re still tired, you can have another nap?”

“Yes please, Miss Carrot!” Talia agreed warmly.

“You can stay here in bed while I whip something up! Do you have any requests, cutie?” Carrot asked Niamh.

Niamh just shook her head a little. “I d-don’t need any food…” She lied.

“Oh, flower…” Vera pouted. “You’re severely malnourished. I can only guess what you must have been through on that horrid ship, but you deserve only the best. We’ll look after you, alright?”

“And it’s all free. Like we said before, we don’t have currency or bartering systems here. We just know that sophonts need care, and we provide it.” Fractalia added.

Niamh let out a quiet moan of acknowledgement, which the Affini seemed to understand.

“We’ll have food ready in a giffy!” Vera smiled, then the three plants made their way out of the enormous bedroom.

On their way out, Fractalia added to Vera “I think it’s ‘ready in a jiffy’, darling”, before vanishing from sight in the next room.

Talia, meanwhile, scooted over to Niamh. “Would you like to cuddle for a bit?”

The recently-rescued Terran nodded again and lied down, letting Talia get even closer to wrap her up in a strong, caring hug. The pair simply appreciated each other’s company for a bit as the Affini were off preparing breakfast.