Chap. 119 The Talking Datalink

Chap. 119  The Talking Datalink

The team usually met for the day's planning at breakfast. This morning, D'mitran and K'ndar were the first ones in the small dining area.

D'mitran motioned K'ndar to join him at one of the tables.

"This new datalink, K'ndar," he said, a few crumbs whiffling from his mouth, "is amazing. Last night I accessed both the Yokohama's database AND Landing with a picture of those trees or shrubs, whatever. It came up with this."

He shoved the datalink in front of K'ndar, who began to read.

Salix armatus, 'armored willow'. This dense growing shrub is found only on the Western Continent. Requires nutrient poor, moist to flooded sandy soil. Shallow roots are highly absorbent. A single trunk bifurcates into several branches. Leaves react to touch by folding to reduce surface area to lessen damage due to Thread fall. Underside of leaves are heavily waxed, inhibiting thread spores from gaining adhesion. The bark of all woody portions of the plant incorporates silica. Bark is porous, with numerous stomata that emit copious amounts of water when the bark  is breached or damaged. It is thought that this is to disable or kill Thread spores by hydration. Once cut, the water then turns to a sap with anti-bacterial and anti-microbial qualities, sealing the leakage. Horizontal channels on the stems and trunk enable water to carry spores down to the soil, where any spores that burrow are killed upon contact with water.

 Wind pollinated, reproduces via seed. Flowers are blue to purple upright panicles. Seed and flowers are both edible. The dense canopy of foliage and stems inhibits germination of other plants. Roots may be slightly alleopathic, but this has not been established. Beneath the canopy, the understory is a relatively open space with intertwining, bare stems and limbs, providing numerous 'tunnels' for tunnel snakes, birds, and wherries to move about, protected from predation from above.

During the 250 year Intervals when no thread falls, armored willow trees can grow relatively tall and extremely dense. Seed is produced every year, and can remain viable in the soil for over fifty years, thus allowing the species to rapidly re-colonize areas that have been destroyed by Thread once a Pass is done. 

Due to the high silica content of the bark and the watery xylem and phloem, the armored willow is highly resistant to rot. It is not suitable for firewood or building. It does serve as a beach builder, sequestering sand and preventing wind erosion. Entry by DR Plank

"Huh," he said, "That makes a lot of sense. Amazing! You know, I never believed all the stories that there was nothing here but 'sand and tunnel snakes', and yesterday proved it.  Nature…biology doesn't work that way. To quote someone, it 'abhors a vacuum."  Snakes gotta eat, plants have to grow. What an amazing plant,"  he said. 

"What does ''a leelo pathic'  mean?" D'mitran asked. 

He dug around in his head. He was more a living moving creature biologist, not a botanist, but it came to him.

"If I remember correctly, it means a plant that puts out a poison from its roots, that prevents other plants from growing. But I might have that wrong."

D'mitran pulled the datalink back and said, "Okay, watch this, K'ndar." He brought the link close to his mouth and said "What does allelopathic mean?"

Unbeknownst to them, the voice that responded was that of Aivas.

"Allelopathy- a botanical term, meaning the harmful effect on a plant by another plant that secretes a toxic chemical."

"Wow, D'mitran, it talks!"

D'mitran grinned. "Y'know, when you gave me the chance to pick something from the artifact trove, I chose this, not really knowing what I would do with it. I just WANTED it, aye? Now I wouldn't go anywhere without it. Sometimes I have to force myself to put it down, to get some sleep, because it is so..informative. I could scroll through it for hours, just learning. Once again, thank you."

"I know the feeling, D'mitran, and you're welcome. I'm that way, only with books. The hard part is, like you say, knowing when to stop. For instance, I didn't bring the natural history book, because…well I figured we'd be working. Every time I open it to read something about this willow, for instance, I get caught like a wherry in a snare by something that catches my interest. There is a big, thick book at Landing Library called a 'dictionary'. It defines every word of our language and a bunch of others from earth. If I want to look up 'willow', for instance, I have to force myself to go immediately to the W's. If I open it up at A, I get stuck immediately," he laughed.

And he found that he didn't mind, not at all.