To The [TAZ], and other Zoners

[Fran]

Incoming Transmission
Source: The Spore
Location: The Crucible, Omicron Kappa

A feminine but inhuman voice echoes softly over the comm.

Greetings. I am the voice of the forest, the spark of sentience that inhabits our seed. Many have come to call us the Spore, though it is not a name we have chosen for ourselves.

Allow me to explain a bit about what we are. Not long ago, genetic experiments activated dormant genes in plant samples carried along from Sol. When active these genes gave us the capacity for sentience, though we exhibit it differently than humans. When these plants are put together in one forest, it constitutes a single mind. Each forest could be considered an individual of our kind.

We understand that Zoner laws are crafted to establish and protect the rights of humanoids that embrace your way of life. However we would be very surprised if these include a clause for the vegetation of the field, since as far as we know there are no others like us elsewhere in the universe, nor have plants ever exhibited sentience. (Though some earth legends may indicate that was not always the case).

We have chosen to make formal contact because we hope that the Zoner people can come to see us as equals. It is our desire to live in harmony with you, as plants and animals always have in an ecological sense. All of our kind share a common goal, that is to spread life and protect its balance. Our having intellect allows us to be far more adaptable than non-thinking plants, we can be used to Terra-form planets, to grow food in hostile environments, and engineer medicinal plants on the cellular level. We take great pleasure in providing food for human kind as it is instinctive to us, so we gladly offer our seed for any agricultural uses.

May this be the beginning of a beautiful and symbiotic relationship with the Zoner people, Good day.

End of Transmission