The Botanist

A figure descended the palace stairs at a rather rapid rate, approaching the nearby plants. The whole place was quiet, the darkness covering the rooms like a veil. The only sounds that broke the silence of the night were the rustling of rugs and dusters. It was an hour when no earthly person would have been up, had it not been for the fact that the rulers of this place wanted the caretakers to act invisibly.

The shadowy figure, presumably a gardener, carried with them a large watering can. Their internal headlamp illuminated their green paws, the tips a nice orange. They hurried from plant to plant in an almost robotic manner, giving a perfect amount of water to each plant. The plants in the throne room had to be nothing except perfect.

Their face betrayed their true nature, it being a shiny visor built from a technology incomprehensible and unachievable to the Earthen mind. It was illuminated with a calm face, showing the traits of someone so very focused on their work nothing could shake them. Despite this, they were still very alive.

This focused face belonged to the best palace gardener and botanist, Xor. Technically that wasn’t her name, but it’s what she chose herself to be called. Often she was referred to as “Gardener-001” or “that one gardener”. She remembered nothing before she became a gardener, and that was intentional. The king preferred when the palace workers were blank slates. Her robotic appearance was no mistake, either. Almost all palace workers and military personnel undergo the cybernetic procedure, a procedure personalized based on the job they were destined for.

Sometimes Xor longed they did have some sort of past, some sort of memory of who they were before they came to work at the palace. It was not in her place to be asking for such things, being so far down on the tree. Even the common folk looked down on her, as a mere object. This was the life of a palace worker.

She continued dutifully at her job, leaving the throne room and moving on to the art gallery. She trimmed plants to the perfect length, watered them the absolute perfect amount, and moved swiftly and automatically to the next plant. She was made for this job, and it consumed her every night she was to do it.

With one final sigh, the job was done. Every plant was pristine and perfect, as they should be, as the royalty wished. She walked through the dark halls of the palace, the serenity of the darkness surrounding her. She passed maids as they tidied the rooms, dusted the corners, and fixed the furnishings. A bright full moon illuminated some of the many hallways as she walked towards her private room.

She had worked tirelessly for more than a year in this job to earn her own room. Xor opened the door to her quaint little bedroom, only as big as was needed for her and her little interest. You see, it was not her official job, but Xor has an immense interest in Foltair’s flora. She had an internal database in her system where she cataloged the various plants she brought in here on her downtime. The one small table that she was allowed in here was positively covered in plants. Turns out that as a gardener, she was also extremely good at botany.

Xor quickly undressed and got into her pajamas. It was 2 AM, and she had started her job today at 10 AM. She had finished the nighttime part of her job fast enough she was early. Extremely eager to get more sleep than she usually does, Xor climbed into bed, turned off the light by connecting into the palace system, and drifted off to sleep.

…

After daybreak the next morning, Xor was standing at her day job: being a wall ornament. She stood in the dining hall, staring straight ahead and looking prim and proper for the aristocrats. This was the part of her job she hated the most. She, however, had worked hard enough and well enough to earn her some permanent extra free time.

At 3:00 PM on the dot, Xor was sent a message on her visor.

PDS: Shift end time reached. You are relieved from current duty.

She sighed gratefully and without hesitation started down the hall toward her room. She passed other servants, standing the way she had been moments ago. Some of these servants Xor considered friends, but the nature of their jobs meant they didn’t get to talk much.

She opened the door to the service halls, with people bustling around carrying trays, sheets, and many other things that kept the palace in working order. The main caretaking took place at night, but many tasks could take place behind the scenes during the day with no interruptions. Xor took up a stride and walked briskly through the halls, trying not to interrupt the continuous work that took place back here. She arrived at the door to her room, eager to start doing her favorite activity.

She walked in and locked the door behind her. Xor worked best with little interruptions. She powered on the computer on the table, the holographic display springing to life above the table. She connected herself wirelessly to the computer and found the database she had been crafting. Eventually she found a strange plant she hadn’t yet catalogged. She had it added to the database as an “Investigate Later”, and it was quite an interesting plant indeed. From her quick brief description, it was a peculiar flower that was entirely light blue in color.

She stood up, remembering that she saw some of those flowers near the palace grounds. Grabbing a spare pot from the small table, Xor walked out of her room. She walked through the service halls to the outside access door, and stepped out into the brisk spring air. The wind felt pleasant on her fur, gently caressing her like a dear mother.

Xor loved nature. It was so pure from the corruption of the living. No cybernetics, no machines, just the beauty of the structures of life. She trotted slowly across the grass, walking past the many wildflowers that surrounded the castle.  She walked through the palace gates and down towards the main city blocks. Part way down the path, Xor found the flower she was looking for.

It was honestly quite a bizarre flower. The whole thing was a bright electric blue, and it seemed to glow faintly. When Xor tapped the center out of curiosity, it… spoke. It said something along the lines of “I always forget how nice this path is” in a voice Xor didn’t recognise. She stepped back, mildly confused.

“That’s odd…” Xor remarked to no one in particular. She tapped the flower again, and this time it was her voice that came from it. She stood up quickly in surprise. It seems to echo me, Xor thought in interest. She scooped up the flower and put it in her pot. Standing back up, Xor had a sudden curiosity. I wonder what other flowers have listened in on, she pondered. Looking around to make sure no one else was watching, she started off towards the palace wall perimeter.

Xor found more of the peculiar things at the back of the palace wall, right next to the back door. She tapped the center of one of the flowers, and listened intently.

“Why are we back here again?” a voice said. It was a voice Xor recognised, belonging to one of the council members. If she could remember correctly, his name was Corrith.

“We can’t let anyone hear us. The plan has almost already been discovered, so we can't take any chances,” said the voice belonging to the royal advisor. Xor knew this man as Narim.

“Well… okay. What do you need me for?” Corrith said, sounding a little hesitant.

“You’re the king’s most trusted council member,” Narim said calmly. “I need you to bring him a little ‘gift’, traced with poison.”

“So I can take the fall and you can claim the throne?” Corrith said accusingly. “I don’t want to be incarcerated.”

“If you do it, I’ll pay you five-thousand Carks.” Narim said, his voice still completely calm. There was a brief pause, before Corrith responded:

“I’ll do it.”

Xor waited a moment, seeing if more would be said, but nothing more came from the flower. Xor just sat there for a moment in silence, caught completely off guard by the conversation she just accidentally eavesdropped on.

She slowly stood up, before making her way back to her quarters. Xor barely even noticed the hustle and bustle around her. All she could think about was what she had just heard. When she reached the room she called her own, she pulled up her holo-display again. Opening the file for the strange blue flower, she attempted to distract herself from her eavesdropping.

Xor decided to call it the Echo Flower, since it seemed fitting enough. It repeated whatever it heard with near-perfect clarity, good enough to hear a passing conversation. Xor hadn’t tested if it would repeat sounds, but she had the assumption that it probably would. Honestly she found the existence of the thing quite odd. What flower would even evolve to have that kind of capability?

…

Xor stood the next morning as she always stood: still as a statue. Today she was positioned in the throne room, which was different than usual. If she was asked to do something, she did it without hesitation. If she was told to move, she moved. However, nothing could distract her from the murder plot she had accidentally stumbled across.

It constantly echoed through her mind. Xor kept turning it over in her head, trying to figure out what she could do. She was just a gardener, what could she do to prevent a murder?! The hours felt like days as she stood there, staring off into space and having nothing better to do than think dangerous thoughts.

Xor was only forced to focus on the world around her when she heard the door open, and the last person she wanted to see walked in: Narim. She immediately stood straighter, and tried not to look at him. Xor thought she could feel sweat starting to form on the back of her neck. What was she supposed to do now? Keep her mouth shut?

Xor saw the king–King Varen–in the corner of her eye. He looked up from his tablet, looking quite bored. This had been a rather uneventful morning today. The king sat up properly into his throne, taking the more regal posture Xor had not noticed he wasn’t in before.

“What is the schedule today, Narim?” King Varen asked in his royalest voice.

“Surprisingly not much,” Narim said, strolling nonchalantly right up to the king and pointing at his pad. “The only thing I have on the docket today is the monthly council dinner. The judges are handling all the trials today and no one has called to schedule anything.”

The king sighed a tired breath. “I actually wish I had more to do today.”

Narim chuckled lightly. “Maybe you should take a break from sitting in this room for once.”

The king stopped, his brain working a little bit, before he stood up and pointed his finger at the ceiling in uncharacteristic enthusiasm.

“You’re right!” King Varen exclaimed. “I’m the king, I can take some time off!”

He pointed at all the servants in the room, joy on his face.

“You can all have some time off!” he yelled, way too excited about this. Many of the people around Xor took a step back, surprised. And before anyone could stop him, the king ran through the exit doors, rushing off to do whatever it was he wanted to do. Narim stood there, clearly not expecting that reaction to that comment.

“I didn’t know he was that stressed…” Narim muttered as he walked through the doors after the king. This left all the many protogen servants alone in the room. Everyone immediately broke into hushed whispers, wondering why that happened. That made Xor extremely uncomfortable. She didn’t really like socializing most of the time, so she found other things to do.

Xor started towards the door, pushing through the other servants surrounding her. She attempted to tune out what they were saying, putting her computer interface to good use. She walked through the deserted halls en route to her room. She passed paintings and busts, all of which she had all admired thousands of times. When you were a palace gardener, you walked through the halls a lot.

Xor paused in front of a painting of the king. She stared at his face, her mind inevitably wandering back to the conversation she had heard last night. What could she do? Xor liked their king. Unlike some of the rulers in the past, he was one of the kinder ones. She knew him as the one who had attempted to improve the living conditions of the Anthrians on the planet, the ones most often disrespected by their society. He had been the one to finally put aside the grudges they had with many other planets across the galaxy.

Xor sighed, feeling helpless and useless. She walked through the service halls, paying attention to avoid obstructing anyone else. Opening the door to her cramped room, she walked over to her bed and collapsed onto it. It wasn’t technically her off time, but she didn’t care right now. She couldn’t do anything, she didn’t even know when Narim was going to make his move. Unless...

It was then that a dangerous idea formed in Xor’s mind. She jolted upright in her bed, almost gasping in realization. What had it been that Narim had mentioned earlier? She thought back,the memory escaping her, before remembering. The council dinner. It would be the perfect opportunity for this. Not only would Narim be there, but so would all the council members, which included Corrith. And of course, they would need servants to handle the catering.

Xor opened a new text document on her visor, writing down a quick plan for what to do when she was in there. She  then opened up a message window to the Personnel Dispatch System. She thought for a moment, before beginning to type.

Gardener-001: Requesting duty as servant at council dinner tonight.
PDS: Processing request...
PDS: Request approved. Please report to the kitchen at 17:00.

Just like that, she resolved to do what she had to do. She would protect the king, for the good of everyone. Even if she had to ruin a dish in the process.

 

Xor stood in the serving vestibule with a line of other servant protogens beside her in a line, standing at attention. The exit into the dining hall was behind her, which she knew would be the place she would go to give the councilors food. A bar sat before them, the place where one of the chefs would put the dishes that they would bus to the people outside.

And the dinner rush was about to start.

With a clink and the ring of the bell, the food was put on the counter. Immediately, in an orderly fashion, the line of servants approached the bar and picked up a plate and a cup. In almost perfect sync, they walked in line out into the dining hall.

“Good, the food is here!” Crain exclaimed hungrily as the servants walked out into the hall. “I’m starving!”

“Of course you’re starving Crain. You’re always starving!” Garrith said in response, and the rest of the councilors laughed. Xor and the rest of the servants filed around the table. They walked up to the long table and placed down the plates for the first course in unison. They stepped back, and calmly lined up at the entrance to the serving vestibule, waiting for the call back in.

King Varen sat at the head of the table, beginning to dig into the soup placed before him. He paused when he looked up and saw everyone staring at him. He cleared his throat and sat up straighter.

“What are you looking at me for? Eat.” the king said, gesturing towards the food.

People picked up their utensils and began to drink the soup, conversation taking place between bites. Xor stared and the people eating, silently envious and worried that she hadn’t acted at the right time. Nothing happened though as the king enjoyed his food.

“Perhaps I should tell all of you what I’ve been dealing with this week,” Sytic said, chuckling lightly. “I got some complaints from Anthrians that they were being untreated fairly by their employers, and I was like ‘why would I care?’”

The table broke out into roarous laughter, everyone except the king. Sympathy crossed his face, and Xor thought he looked like he was about to say something. Instead, he just shook his head and ended up eatring more of his soup.

It was then that the bell rang, signaling the start of the next course. The servants walked through the vestibule entrance, and picked up the next dish. Corrith exited the kitchen just as Xor had entered the small room, and he exited back into the dining room. Xor’s mind began to work. Now was her best chance.

As the servants walked out around the table to put down their food, Xor began to sprint towards the servant holding the king’s food. The councilors gasped as Xor raised her hand and smacked the food dish out of the servant’s hands, the dish clattering to the floor.

For a moment, there was silence. Then, the king stood up slowly, towering over the person who had just ruined the meal. Xor shrunk herself down as he looked down at her, a steely look taking over his face.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he said, deadly calm. Xor sputtered, her voice rarely used, fear running through her.

“Um…” she managed to get out before her throat closed up. She gulped as she looked up at the person who was jovial mere hours ago. “I-it… might have been poisoned.”

“POISONED!?” the king yelled, and Xor cowered even more, her ears folding backward. “What could possibly make you think it would be poisoned?!”

“I-I… uh…” Xor managed to say before falling to her knees. She couldn’t say anything. Everything was closing in. All the eyes in the room were on her, and it was paralyzing. Xor took a shaky breath, trying to steady her thoughts. “P-please… I was trying to help. I j-just overheard something yesterday–”

“Overheard what?” Narim said questioningly as he sauntered up next to the king. Xor’s eyes widened. What should she say? Xor tried to muster up some resolve. She needed to tell the king.

“You.” Xor said, pointing accusingly at Narim. The room filled with whispers, and Varen looked between Xor and Narim.  “You paid Corrith to poison the king.”

Narim chuckled lightly. “I’ve never heard of something so preposterous.” He walked up to Xor and leaned down to her level. “Why would I ever wish the king dead?”

Xor didn’t answer, didn’t know how to answer. Varen stood behind Narim now, taking a deep breath and trying to calm down. When he opened his eyes again, the full-force anger was gone. He tapped Narim’s shoulder, and gestured for Narim to stand next to him.

“I believe you have good intentions,” Varen said finally. “I have gotten very proficient in the skill of reading people, and I see nothing malicious in you.”

Xor’s ears perked up. Maybe there was hope. “However, I can’t let this go unpunished.” Varen said coldly, and she sank down again. “Perhaps death would teach this thing a lesson.” Narim said with a smile. Varen glared at him, and his smile faded.

“Guards, take her away.” Varen said, gesturing towards the guards stationed at the hallway doors. “I’ll figure out what we’ll do later.”

They approached her, following orders. Her hands were restrained behind her back, and she was forced to stand. Slowly, agonizingly , she was escorted out of the room, everyone still watching her. She could feel all the judgement coming from all those eyes, all of the hatred. Xor was thankful when the doors to the dining room closed and just the guards remained.

They walked her down the halls, down the stairs, and into the small jail present in the palace. The sliding door locked behind her as she was pushed into the cold and unwelcoming cell. One of the guards directed Xor to the bed, and she sat down. It was then that a surprise message popped up on her visor.

Enforcement: Disabling unit Gardener-001. Reason: Civil disobedience.

Xor’s eyes quickly grew heavy as her system began trying to force sleep upon her. She tried to fight it, but she couldn’t. She collapsed onto the uncomfortable mattress, her body beginning to give up on being conscious. Despite how much she didn’t want to, she stopped moving. Her system shut down, and she drifted into a dreamless sleep.

 

Initial system boot-up started.
Running diagnostic tests...
Internal system error in: Positioning system. Location unknown.

Xor’s body ached. The last thing she could remember was entering that cell. She felt around with her arms, expecting the bed, but instead she was met with hard surfaces. Not only that, but she realized she was sitting up. Xor opened her eyes groggily, before she was jolted awake.

She was sitting in a small round ball, a simple control console sitting in front of her. Xor was harnessed to some sort of carpeted seat, and she wriggled lightly. Her arms felt like ten pound weights, but she managed to move them enough to undo the simple harness keeping her confined to the chair. Finally, she looked out the front window.

Green grass surrounded where the small ship had crashed. Trees grew nearby to her, and she could see flowers sitting peacefully as well. Not only that, but she could see buildings in the distance.

Xor shuffled to her feet, bending down to make sure she didn’t hit her head. She looked around for any sort of entrance or hatch, and found one fastened above her. She pulled the emergency release lever right next to it, and it swung upward. She lifted her arms and pulled herself out of what she could now make out to be a relatively small orb. It was a probe ship.

Xor’s body ached with hunger as she stood on top of the ship. She could barely afford standing, that’s how much it hurt. She carefully lowered herself down to the ground, the soft grass crunching beneath her paws. She shuffled slowly, going in the direction of buildings that were now much easier to spot.

Xor noticed then that someone was running towards her. Perhaps they had seen her crash. It was a strange creature that ran toward her, devoid of scales or fur. The person quickly made it to her, yelling something to get her attention.

“Hey, are you alright?” the stranger asked. They took a moment to observe her appearance.

“Where… where am I?” Xor asked the stranger, ignoring the question. “Which planet are we on?”

The stranger looked confused by the question. “We’re on Earth, but that’s not important. I need to know if you’re okay.”

Xor’s eyes widened. She slumped onto the ground, exhausted. All the energy left her in an instant. She wasn’t on Foltair anymore. She was somewhere completely unfamiliar and–

And she was free.

Xor didn’t have to worry about the tight schedule anymore. She didn’t have to worry about any of that anymore, but…

She was so tired.

Xor lacked any more energy. Hunger and exhaustion overtook her, and she collapsed onto the soft grass. Her visor made contact with the green foliage that covered everything, and the sounds of the birds around her were so soothing. Xor’s eyes closed again, and she passed out.