The first obvious thing was they were all standing in mud. There were paths wide enough for vehicles in front of them and the teachers were forming lines in front of each path. The plants were beautiful to Lana. Only one word came to her mind. Exotic.
The colors were amazing. She had never seen anything like it before and was excited to see more. The dozens of shades of green melded so incredibly with the other colors of the rainbow. She saw trees, shrubs, vines, flowers of all kinds. Everything you would expect of a rain forest. She felt at peace, the voices of the plants filling her mind. She wanted to stay here and study.
The shelter off to the side looked like a blight. It was treehouse that incorporated a whole bunch of trees, but it didn't blend in well with the flora. It looked like a sore thumb. Her mind started wandering, imagining what the place would look like if she was in charge. Nis explained this shelter was a Level 5, which was the worst level. They were common on dangerous planets and those not fully explored. Once a planet was deemed safe and the level number finalized, the shelter would modernize based on the local dangers.
Because the shelter was below level-3, there were no taxes or fees for living there which reduced the cost of living. It also reduced the chances of high-end items being available for purchase. The teacher also explained there were no official shelters on planets deemed level-6 or higher.
Lana wondered why the teleport circle was outside the shelter. She also didn't see any average citizens unlike at the previous shelter, just soldiers looking them over to ensure they had everything they needed. Safety was obviously paramount here. It appeared the only civilians on this planet were there to support the military.
Lana's team, minus herself were wearing their new boots and weapons. Almin chose to carry the device. While it looked like a wand a wizard of fairy tales would use, it was much heavier. The team lightened his load a bit by putting some of his stuff in their bags. She didn't believe in encumbering the slowest person, making the party even slower the way other teams did.
On this outing, there was no expectation of killing beasts. Therefore, the levels Lana fought so hard to obtain didn't mean much. Still, she reviewed in her head: Dobin, Almin and Alto, level 4, Kattie was level 5 and she was level 6. She was very pleased. The additional levels obtained were quite welcome in her eyes.
At the beginning of the path she was looking at, which was between her path and Blaine path, she saw a 9-foot tall S-shaped tree that had glowing golden spirals all over it. She heard it speaking to her since she was near the front of the line. It offered her life extension. She smiled brightly. The plants here were truly remarkable. The mood of the majority of people was wonder but also a bit sour because no one liked muggy weather and this was muggy!
The colonel in charge of the planetary expedition counted down and all the classes moved toward their designated paths when he hit zero. Her class started moving forward. As soon as they got on the path, the voices of all the plants slammed her unexpectantly due to the sheer volume of them. She dropped to her knees holding her head wincing at the intense pain. She struggled, telling the plant to speak quietly and one at a time, please. Her team surrounded her. The teacher was right behind them.
"Are you okay? What's wrong?" Nis asked.
She took deep breaths, pushing back the pain as the class looked annoyed at her. Once she finally got the plants to understand their excitement was causing her pain and discomfort, they eased off and designated a few to speak to her. They asked how they could help her, wanting to know everything there was to know about her. She answered politely then asked one if it knew about the military's scanning operation.
Her mind was quickly engulfed in a vision. Soldiers were walking through the forest, being disrespectful of the plants, complaining. Of interest was their conversation. There were illnesses that had no cure. Plants were the basis of all medicine so new species were always being sought after. The scanning process was designed for that purpose. Scanning beasts was considered a safety precaution. The vision faded and the plants happily offered to help her.
About 5 minutes had passed and the other classes had already vanished along their paths.
"I'm sorry Sergeant Rage. The plants were practically screaming in my head. They are offering to help us. Did they give you a map of where we are to go?"
Nis brought the map up on his tablet. It showed all the explored territory thus far. Lana was shocked there wasn't much until the plants explained the planet was recently discovered, though they were unable to describe what recently meant. On his tablet, Nis pointed to where he was told to start. The path of exploration had ended with the previous expedition of second-years.
This was common, having the students from the various academies help with exploration. Once a new planet was discovered, it would be scanned for energy signatures. If the threat was deemed low enough, the students would be brought in. Deep space travel has only been possible for about 15 years. While teleportation was possible, the location needed to be found first.
Lana listened to the plants. They described a spot in the map and she smiled at the teacher, "Excellent! This way, please!"
Nis smiled, "you sure trust the plants…"
They walked for about an hour. The plants told her most of the area had been scanned but some were overlooked, mainly orchid-type plants.
"We need to stop here. Some were missed by the previous class," she said to her teacher. "Can I guide them to the new plants so we can head to a better area faster?"
Nis smiled and relaxed, "of course."
She projected her voice, her voice carrying through the area. "If you have a scanner, I need you in front of me. When I describe the plant and its location, I want the person with the scanner and their team to go, scan and return here as quickly as possible. The plants are telling me this planet has flocks of raptor-like birds, similar to Sven." She pointed to the bird on Kattie's shoulder.
"In addition to that," Lana continued, "there are wandering beasts, most have been scanned. There are snakes, 4-armed monkeys, 6-legged panthers with tentacles, rather large flying insects that sting, and I really can't describe this other thing. I guess sloth-like but fast?"
Students filed to the front. She looked to Almin and pointed, "that way, a pink heart with forest green spots that are star-shaped."
"Oh, Sergent Rage, did you …" she grinned as his machine whirled to life.
To next person in front of her in a counterclockwise direction, she pointed just left of the direction she sent her own team. "purple V-shaped leaves with saw-like edges, only a foot tall. This one is a vine so it looks like part of a tree." Off he went with his team.
To the next person in line, "you get two for one. This looks like a sea creature in a shell called a clam. They are common in some areas, but most don't see them. Do you know what a clam looks like?"
The student nodded, waiting for further information.
"Okay, it's burgundy in color and stands 3-inches tall. There is another that is a sea green. They look alike but are different species."
The next one stood in front of her. She recognized this student as a snobby cretin who bullies others when the teachers aren't looking. He had already been returned to Phase 1. He was a level 5. "Give me a good one and maybe my parents will hire you to scrub our toilets."
She raised an eyebrow at the boy. There had been rumors around the school that her ability was a weak one, but this was the first time a person with a lower level dared to speak to her this way. She shook her head sadly then moved to the next one.
A tall girl smiled down at her. She had a plain but friendly face. "Directly behind us, do you see that huge tree there, the 10-foot-tall one? Those things that look like fruit are orchids. Scan the green and red ones."
By this time, her team returned with Almin giving her a thumbs up and a smile.
To the next student, she stated, "the tree right behind that one has a plant that looks like mistletoe where the branches meet. Even if you don't know what that looks like, just look at the branch intersections." She grinned because this was actually a squid-like best that lived on land.
Next, she pointed, ignoring the insults of Mr. Level-5, "neon-green cup flower with yellow tendrils that are wrapped around blades of grass. It's like what peas do if you know anything about that….."
The student shook his head but was off with his team.
The next team asked, "Why do this when you could take all the points yourself?"
She laughed. "Simple. This planet is amazing and I want to see as much of it as I can while we are here. Also, Sergent Rage deserves to be the top class. So, I say, let's show the whole school how good he is by taking the top-class spot."
To this group, "over there is a tree that resembles a palm tree. The new plant is the coconut-like fruit on it. Like the other tree, they are orchids on this planet."
Finally, she heard the word she was waiting for. "I'm sorry for doubting you. May I please have an assignment?"
"No. You have failed to demonstrate a human-level of intelligence. You need to wait for a plant that even a child could find."