Starship Seedlings

In the verdant embrace of sentient starships, the Arawan sail between the stars, their lives interwoven with the symphony of nature. When linguist Kalani discovers Xylos, a planet whispering secrets of a vanished civilization through a sentient fungal network, she feels the thrill of discovery – a chance to bridge the gap between species and time. Light-years away, Zeytunn storyteller Ibihaj feels an ancestral pull toward Xylos, recognizing it from ancient prophecies that warn of forgotten lessons and a fallen civilization intertwined with the planet’s living intelligence. Their paths converge on a world teeming with spectral remnants, where the whispers of the past hold a chilling parallel to the present.The Qui’tal, once masters of symbiotic technology, succumbed not to a natural cataclysm, but to the same insatiable greed that now threatens Xylos. Rebecca Henry, CEO of NovaTerra, sees only profit in the planet’s rich resources, blind to the warnings echoed through the fungal network. As Kalani deciphers the Qui’tal language etched within the living network and Ibihaj interprets the precognitive echoes of her Zeytunn lineage, the Arawan and Zeytunn forge an unlikely alliance, their reverence for life uniting them against NovaTerra’s impending ecological devastation.Arawan botanist Emma Thompson and Zeytunn elder Keith Cohen join the fight, their combined knowledge forming a bulwark against NovaTerra's advance. But reasoned discourse falls on deaf ears, Rebecca Henry’s ambition impervious to both scientific data and spiritual forewarnings. As NovaTerra's drills pierce Xylos’s tranquil surface, the fungal network’s whispers turn to lamentations, a sorrow that resonates within the living starships and the Zeytunn collective consciousness. Xylos, once a sanctuary, becomes a crucible of escalating tension.The fungal network, pushed to its limit, responds with a surge of psychic energy, an outpouring not of aggression, but of grief and hope. The psychic wave washes over everyone on Xylos, shattering Rebecca’s cold logic and revealing the Qui’tal’s tragic fate – a chilling mirror reflecting NovaTerra’s own trajectory. Even as they struggle against external threats, Kalani must confront dissent within her own ranks, Arawan seduced by NovaTerra’s promises. Their wavering loyalty echoes the very forces that destroyed the Qui’tal, adding a perilous layer to the fight for Xylos.