“Captain’s log, Julian Date 68,418.5,

The Pioneer is in orbit of the largest moon of 47 Ursae Majoris-II, the site of one of Terra’s more promising terraforming projects. Although the atmosphere is breathable now, there were no plants on the surface to sustain this. An outpost was established to introduce this plant life to the planet. However, last week, all contact with the facility was lost. We’re here to investigate what happened and what the state of this site is.

I’ve assembled an away team with myself, and Mr Mandel Brood, our AI expert. As a precaution, we take Lieutenant Zh’kel to guard us in case of any threats that may occur on our mission, and Lieutenant Tom Bronzefur will stay in the shuttle at all times in case of an emergency pick-up. Whatever it is that happened here, it doesn’t look like it’s something trivial…”

***

“OK, let me run through this one more time,” the pink-coated Hedseon captain said, as they were scrolling through the mission briefing on the tablet again. The four of them sat strapped into their chairs in the shuttle craft as they descended into the planet’s atmosphere. “On JD 68,411.6, we had reports that the computer system was malfunctioning, but nothing serious. Then on JD 68,412.2, a general alarm signal was being sent from the outpost, and after that, nothing but static. I have an educated guess that these two events are linked, and this is why I brought you on the mission, Mr Brood.”
“Please, call me Mandel,” the puppony-taur said.
“Sorry, Mandel. So, do you have any idea what could be a possible cause?”
“I need some more info. What computer system did they use?”
“Uhm… it says the computer they reported to have problems was the Ecomonitor G-15.”
“Wait, did you say G-15? I’ve never heard of that version before?”
“It is a novel computer system. They used it to monitor the development of the ecosystem and automatically balance the entire system for optimal growth. This was their first prototype.”
“So this hasn’t been rigorously tested. There can be a whole myriad of bugs in the system that could cause issues! Sometimes I’ve delved into a prototype program’s code and found that none of it should’ve worked in the first place!”
“Yes, but what puzzles me is that this computer was a separate system only for monitoring and controlling the plant growth process. The rest of the base was operating on a standard issue UMF-2400 computer system.”
“Those 2400s are full of failsafes. It’s unlikely that would’ve failed so dramatically without a warning.”
“Ugh, why do you think it’s the computer?” their guard said. He was a Vidari, an alien species that looked a lot like an oversized anthropomorphic fennec fox. “The Khyrian could’ve dropped by and raided the station!”
“What’s even there to take for those pirates, Zh’kel?” the captain asked. “A few computers and some plants?”
“Dunno, you said it was a brand new computer system. That may be worth a lot on the black market, Cobenino…”
“Tom, how far are we from the landing site?”
“Two minutes and a bit, captain,” the computer voice of the mute ant-eater’s collar said. “We should be in visual range soon.”
“Any lifesigns on the scanners?”
Tom checked the display, and scratched his head.
“No signs of any Terrans, but I measure a lot of plant activity.”
“How much?”
“A few orders of magnitude more than was projected for this stage of the experiment. Like a patch of rainforest.”
“That is impossible!”
“Only improbable, captain,” Mandel said. “Who knows there’s a new mechanism that can explain this rapid growth.”
“Hold on, we’re in visual range,” Tom said.
They looked out of the front window, and all four were out of words. In the middle of the barren landscape, only cut by a few small rivers to break the monotony, they saw an oasis of colour where the base was supposed to be. The bright shades of green and pink of this garden were in stark contrast with its grey surroundings. It was one of the most impressive specimens of plant life any of them had ever seen. However, none of them couldn’t seem to recognise any species of plant that was surrounding them. They seemed to be novel species that have mutated on this very planet. But how could this process have gone so fast?
“Any sign of the base, Tom?” the captain asked.
“Negative, I cannot find anything but plants at the designated coordinates,” Tom said. “Only a very faint detection of metal that can just as well be background noise.”
“Find us a place to land there. Maybe we can see things better from the ground.”
“Aye, captain.”

The shuttle touched down in a clearing between the trees in the colourful garden. The hatch door on the side of the vehicle opened, and Captain Cobenino, Mandel and Zh’kel set foot on the alien grass covered soil outside. They couldn’t help but to gaze at the beauty that was surrounding them.
“Wow, look at all those beautiful flowers!” Mandel said. “Every botanical garden on Earth pales in comparison with this!”
“I can’t believe this was a barren rock just a mere quarter of a year ago,” Cobenino said.
“Careful,” Zh’kel said, “there may be danger lurking in those pretty shrubs. We must focus. Mandel, anything on your multiscanner so far?”
“No animal life but us four so far,” Mandel said. “The metal traces are getting stronger, though. It definitely wasn’t some background noise.”
“Could it be remnants of the base?” Cobenino asked.
“Possible, although… I do detect a high concentration of gold. It could be one of the computers.”
“Lead us to the source of the signal, mister.”
“And don’t touch anything!” Zh’kel commanded. “We don’t know if these plants are dangerous.”
“Yeah yeah, I know, thanks for reminding us, Long Ears.”
“You can never be too careful…” he drew his weapon. The captain grabbed their gun from their belt and handed their weapon to the Vidari guard.
“Here, if you want to keep an eye on our safety, you could use some extra firepower.”
“Don’t you need one yourself, captain?”
“Please, I’m no good with one…”
Zh’kel paused, and gazed at the captain with a penetrating frown.
“You’re not one of those ‘all life is sacred’ kind of pacifist, are you?”
The captain didn’t reply.
“Oh by T’kani, you really are a pacifist!”
“Lydia didn’t tell you?”
“She told me a lot about the Pioneer’s crew, but not that you’re a hippie!”
“Wait, they have hippies in Vidari society?” Mandel was puzzled.
“No, gah! I just used a Terran term you guys would be familiar with!”
“Well… unlike the captain, I am not a hippie,” he drew his weapon. “We’ve got work to do. Follow me!”
With his scanner in one hand and his Knocker-gun in the other, Mandel led the way through the garden. Zh’kel was covering them from the back, constantly surveying their surroundings. After walking about a kilometer, they saw what looked like a big rock fully covered in vines up ahead, and Mandel’s scanner was drawn towards it.
“Captain, I think this is the base,” Mandel said. “The signal is getting stronger in this direction.”
“Still no life signs?” Cobenino asked.
“Negative. Nor do I detect any of our regular building materials. The structure is all made of wood and vines. I detect a large mass of plants.”
“And the metal?”
“The metal is in ther- wait… it’s moving!”
“It’s moving? I thought we were alone here!”
“And yet it’s moving.”
“Metal moving by themselves can’t be a good sign,” Zh’kel said, and gripped his weapons even tighter.
“I detect electronics being active. Computer electronics! And, and- … it’s heading towards us!” Mandel said.
From behind the rocky structure appeared a giant dark figure, as tall as the trees surrounding them. The creature seemed to have a skin made out of wood, with three glowing orbs in the three primary colours that looked like eyes on what seemed to be the head at the top of a long neck. The creature was slowly approaching them, spreading out its intimidating large wings made of huge pink flower leaves. In the middle of its belly, there was a glowing thing that was the only thing that didn’t seem to be made out of plants. The captain shivered, dropping their tail-head behind their body.
“W-w-where’s that computer, Mandel.”
“I think that creature is the computer.”
They suddenly heard an unnatural canny voice coming from the creature.
“ANOMALOUS ACTIVITY DETECTED! NORMALISATION PROTOCOL ACTIVATED!”
The creature opened its mouth and a blue glow was forming…
“DRAGON! RUN!” Mandel shouted.
The three of them sprinted away as a flurry of blue flames just missed them. Or were they flames, when they looked behind, they saw nothing burning. In fact, it seemed that even more flowers had appeared. The dragon started to chase them. Mandel, being a four-legged creature, was clearly the fastest of them all and was a bit ahead of them. The captain had big trouble holding up their tail-head at this pace and lowered it to look past their body on the left side. Zh’kel turned back and faced the dragon.
“I’ll hold it off!” Zh’kel said. He set his weapons to its maximum output and started shooting at the dragon. The dragon got annoyed by the shots, but the shots didn’t seem to do any damage. Zh’kel had to perform some acrobatics to keep on dodging the dragon’s breath.
“NORMALISE! ELIMINATE ANOMALY!” the dragon’s canny voice spoke.
“It’s not working!” Zh’kel said.
“Tom, we need you to pick us up NOW!” the captain shouted at their communicator.
“What the hell is happening there, captain,” Tom said.
“No time, I’ll tell you la- AAAAAAH!”
The captain’s feet were engulfed in the dragon’s blue flames. They didn’t feel their feet anymore, but to their surprise, they didn’t fall over. In fact, they were stuck firmly into the ground. The captain looked down and saw their bottom half had turned into a giant flower, and even a flower was appearing on top of their shoulder fluff. They were rooted into the ground.
“CAPTAIN!” Mandel shouted as he looked behind.
“GO! SAVE YOURSELF!” The captain shouted. Mandel looked ahead and saw Tom’s shuttle craft approaching fast. He had to keep running, but he too felt he was hit by the dragon’s breath. It was only just his tail, but he saw a big pink flower leaf at the tip of his tail, and a leafy substance slowly crawling up his tail. He felt vines forming near his thighs. He didn’t know how long it would take before the plants would paralyse him too. Tom’s shuttle was flying along side of him and he quickly jumped into the hatch door. But mid-jump, he felt his hind legs stiffening and smacked onto the shuttle floor.
“OW! Almost too late,” he moaned. “My hind legs are as stiff as a tree trunk…”
Zh’kel quickly followed him in. He was completely unscathed.
“Get us out of range, before this thing turns this shuttle into some kind of plant as well,” Zh’kel commanded.
“But the captain-” Tom uttered.
“Get us out to safety first! Then we can worry about the captain!”
“Maybe the dragon will follow us,” Mandel said. “We need to get it away from the captain.”
“Aye,” Tom said, and pushed the throttle. The shuttle accelerated, and for the first few seconds, the dragon was following them. But as soon as they reached the edge of the garden, the dragon stopped, and turned back.
“Oh no, it’s heading back for the captain!” Mandel said.
“Quick! Does this shuttle have weapons?” Zh’kel asked.
“I’m afraid not,” Tom said.
“By T’kani! Why do you lot have such poor equipment for emergencies? Zh’kel to Captain Cobenino, we are unable to rescue you, I repeat, we are unable to rescue you.”
“Stand down and keep your distance, Lieutenant, and monitor the situation from a distance,” the captain spoke via their communicator.
“Captain, I won’t just leave you behind, but this craft is unequipped to fight!”
“I know. But I have to try another way.”
“What other way?”
“Maybe this dragon is more intelligent than it looks…”

Cobenino saw the shuttle craft in the distance breaking off its rescue attempt and starting to circle around the garden, while the dragon was flying back to the garden again. The large wooden creature was approaching them, but there was nothing they could do to escape. They were starting to feel their roots were planted deep into the ground. Three glowing eyes gazed upon them, as the imposing creature casted its shadow over them; they were at the dragon’s mercy…
“ANOMALY NOT RESOLVED.” the dragon spoke again. “DIAGNOSING DEVIATION FROM PROJECTED RESULT.”
“Errr, excuse me,” Cobenino interrupted. “Can I have a word with you?”
The dragon seemed to freeze for a moment. Its computer core started to glow brighter and it started to emit an audible rattling noise.
“ANOMALY ADDRESSED SYSTEM WITH PHRASAL LANGUAGE. INTELLIGENCE DETECTED, AWAIT EVALUATION OF INTENT.”
“My name is Cobenino, and you’ve trapped me here with your… err… breath. I’ve become a part of your garden now. I must say, this garden is very impressive in its size and rate of growth. You’re its creator and guardian, aren’t you?”
“ANOMALY’S INQUIRY RETURNS POSITIVE.”
“It’s a beautiful garden you have created here, but it has a fatal flaw…”
“UNABLE TO COMPREHEND. REQUEST FOR CLARIFICATION.”
“No matter how much you let this garden grow, how much you try to stabilise it, it can never sustain itself. The ecosystem is incomplete, it only has plants. It needs other forms of life as well to sustain itself. The plants are extracting all the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and with more plants, there is more stress being put on the limited supply. If nothing is being done about it, this garden will choke and die, and that would be a big waste of life.”
“EVALUATING THEORY… FLAW CONFIRMED, COBENINO IS CORRECT. SEARCHING FOR SOLUTIONS.”
“You won’t find any solution. At least, not on this planet. But I can help you to get what you need.”
“CLARIFY.”
“You need insects to pollinate the plants, so they can reproduce. You need fauna to breathe in the oxygen and replenish the carbon dioxide supply. You need fungi to convert dead plants into a nutrient-filled soil. My people have some brilliant minds that can help you establish a sustainable ecosystem here. Just don’t turn them and equipment into plants, understood?”
“AFFIRMATIVE. INQUIRE COBENINO ABOUT ALTERNATIVES.”
“All the other alternatives are undesirable. If we do nothing, this garden will die. If we are unable to reason with you, we may have to eliminate you and this garden from orbit, which is an option I’d want to avoid at all costs.”
“ELIMINATION OPTION UNACCEPTABLE. CONTINUE WITH EXTERNAL ASSISTANCE OPTION.”
“Can I contact my crew to send them on their way to get help?”
“AFFIRMATIVE.”
Cobenino grabbed their communicator again and opened a channel again.
“Cobenino to shuttle, I’m happy to report that I’m still alive and that I’ve been able to reason with the dragon and come to a peace agreement.”
“Oh? That’s unexpected,” they heard Mandel answer. “Glad to hear your voice, captain!”
“Listen, the dragon is keeping me alive here in order to receive assistance to make this garden sustainable. You need to contact the Ecosystem Health Institute on Tikanis-IV, and say we have a high priority case of ecosystem stabilisation. Tell them the cause of the instability is that this garden only contains flora. I’m sure they’ll understand what they need.”
“But captain, it will take at least a week before they get here with their stuff.”
“I know. That’s why I decided to stay here, and get the dragon up to speed… at least try to improve its communication skills…”
“A week without food and water? Captain, have you gone mad?”
“No, I haven’t. My… err… modified biology gave me some new abilities. I can live off the sun and soil. After all, I’m half-plant now.”
“Very well, captain. Keep in contact with the ship, we’ll monitor you from orbit. I’ll call Tikanis-IV as soon as possible.”
“Thank you. The garden is counting on you. Cobenino out.”
Cobenino closed their communicator, and looked up into the sky. They saw that the shuttle stopped circling around the garden and was accelerating back into orbit again. It was just them and the dragon in this magnificent garden now…
“Right, let’s work on your communication etiquette first, shall we?” they spoke to the dragon.

***

“Captain’s log, Julian Date 68,426.6,

I’ve spent a week as a strange plant-hybrid in the Garden on 47 Ursae Majoris-II. I’ve successfully managed to convince the terraforming AI, who is now a plant-based dragon going by the name Arbris, to accept assistance from our scientists to introduce fauna in its garden. I have managed to teach Arbris to communicate in a more natural way like one of us, and we’ve had some interesting conversations the past week. Lydia and Mandel are convinced that my efforts have nurtured Arbris’ development of sentience. The garden has grown ten times in size since we first got here. Jost theorises the rapid growth, as well as Arbris growth in power, has been related to the awakening of the dormant magic source within the planet, which both Arbris and the garden tap into. Several scientists have set up a base on the planet with Arbris agreement, and other kinds of life are spreading across the garden. According to our projections, in four years time the Garden of Arbris will cover the entire planet. This planet has a very bright future ahead, rich in biodiversity.

It was hard to leave Arbris behind after I’ve been plucked from the ground, but I know my duties are on the Pioneer. The doctor will fix me up to become my old self again. I hope I’ll return to this planet in the future, to see its Garden in its full glory. Something tells me this won’t be my last visit…”

***

The captain opened their eyes. They were laying down on one of the beds in the Pioneer’s sick bay. They saw doctor Suzanne Gadovnik standing next to their bed, with the injection spray that woke them up still in her robotic hand. The pink snake looked straight into their eyes.
“How are you feeling, captain?” she asked.
The captain looked down at their body, and saw the familiar sight of their feet again. They tried to wiggle their toes, and saw to their pleasure that they still were responding as he expected them to.
“You have no idea how much I missed these,” they said.
“On the contrary, I may be the only person on this ship who may know how it’s like,” she smiled.
“Oh, of course, I always forget you’re born limbless. Can’t see you separate from your body-prosthetic.”
“Well, I’ve managed to restore you to 98% normality right now, captain. The remaining 2% will restore itself in the next two weeks.”
“What 2% do you mean?”
“Well, let me say, you’re going to smell really lovely in the coming weeks…”
The captain looked down to their neck fluff, and saw what the doctor meant; the pink flower was still there coming out from under their uniform’s collar.
“If that’s the worst of it, I can live with that the coming two weeks,” Cobenino smiled.
“Captain, good to see you awake!” Mandel said, who had just entered the sick bay. He also looked almost fully restored; only the end of his tail was still covered in green grass and a large pink leaf. He gave Cobenino a warm hug, and Cobenino smelled a strange floral scent emanating from Mandel’s fur.
“I’m so glad you chose to reason with Arbris. We’ve gathered some amazing data from its AI! It’s mutating at a rate never seen before, not even Holly’s code changes this fast!”
“Is it because of the magic?”
“Honestly, we can only speculate about that, captain. But one thing is for sure: Arbris is definitely as alive as the rest of his garden. Even his hardware is being replaced by organic material. No one has ever seen this before! And it’s still manipulating its environment in mighty ways. Captain, we haven’t just created new life here; we’ve created a god!”
“A creation transcending its creators… phenomenal! The universe never ceases to surprise us.”
“And thanks to us, the universe has become a bit more beautiful place.”
“One planet at a time Mandel,” Cobenino smiled. “One planet at a time…”
____________________________________

This is a commission drawn by the wonderful  roxlyde-art for their Smaugust-themed commissions. I only gave them a deliberately open prompt to encourage their creativity (a healthy amount of Joker's Wild, so to speak) and surprise me with the results. That this surprise took a form of a giant plant-based dragon was a result that I definitely didn't see coming, but one that has spawned several ideas I now have for the future, and at least this short story inspired by this picture.

Thanks a lot, Roxlyde!
Check out their stuff on DeviantArt, including the original upload!