One fruit had continued to grow on Qwortar despite the virus spreading planet wide: the fuzzbite. In fact, thanks to the cultivation of those worshiping The Hand, it had flourished. Yet scientists had unanimously recommended this fruit not be crossbred with any of the Earthen produce.
So Jatydid found themselves in a tiny conference room, sitting across from the other Qwortarian, follower of The Hand, Sesom. Their eye was glossy, and their body filled the whole seat of the hover chair they were sitting in.
"Thanks for agreeing to meet." Sesom's words slurred together.
"You're welcome." Jatydid glanced again at the report about the dangers of fuzzbites.
Long term fuzzbite consumption can cause numbness, blurred vision, slurred words, brittle skin, softened beak, dissolving tongue, memory loss, hallucinations, and loss of shifting abilities.
"I'm not sure why you wanted to speak with me, I'm sure one of the scientists would be better able to explain their report." Jatydid waved their tentacle to the side if their head.
"They will not listen, blind to the gifts, from The Hand." While Jatydid just blinked at them Sesom continued. "And you are a scientist are you not? Your lab is your green house, the flowerbeds your beakers, the dirt your experimental medium.”
“I mean, I guess I’m a scientist of sorts, when you put it like that.” Jatydid pointed to the report in front of them before sliding it across the table towards Sesom. “My specialty is the plants themselves, not the effects they have on us when eating them. If you just read-”
“The exaggerations in that report are not fit for belief.”
“What?” It was the only thing Jatydid could even think of saying.
“What the fuzzbites give us is no worse than any of the other foods which were once common on Qwortarian plates. They claim these fruit lead to an early death, but think,” Sesom raised their tentacles up weakly, pointing to their throbbing brain, “think about everything else we eat, drink, and do. Everything is just part of the great cwm carefully laid out for us by The Hand.”
Jatydid started to twist their beak, quickly stopping with a long sigh. “That may be, but these are the kinds of risks we don’t want mass produced for those of us who have survived the famine. That is why we are not looking to create hybrid plants with fuzzbites.”
“Yet, the fuzzbites are the one plant which already has a healthy population, while other native plants you have to regrow.”
“With the supplies from Earth, and our technology everything will work out just fine.” Jatydid assured Sesom. “And without acute symptoms the fuzzbites will bring. And nothing you say to me will change my mind about what we should use in this new farming initiative.”
“That is a shame.” With their glassy eye, Jatydid couldn’t tell if they were being watched as they left the room, but it didn’t matter either way.
Word count: 492
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