Elder Cultivator

Though Anton was being sneaky, he didn’t really intend to trick anyone or anything. He was just curious and trying to confirm his suspicions. It didn’t seem like any harm would come if he ignored it, but this was also another avenue to move things forward.

Thus it was that Anton left his little garden once more. It wouldn’t suddenly fall apart if it wasn’t tended to for a few days or a month, but he was the sort who provided daily care, especially when dealing with the new plants who didn’t exactly fit in the climates he had created- or might belong in one of the other categories.

Anton made sure to stay away long enough to have some results, then returned to find his garden a little bit more grown than he’d left it, but just as well cared for. He was quite eager to see the video.

Searching through for activity- aside from the growth of the plants, which was actually quite something to watch in fast motion- he finally came to what he was looking for. Nobody showed up to help his plants grow, but that didn’t mean that nothing was actually happening.

The camera recorded energy impressions, but it barely revealed any change. Just a slight ripple in the flow of the system’s natural energy, forming into a form solid enough to interact with things.

The only energy in the system came from its source, the star Maheg. And unlike the handshakes, it seemed to have gotten down the ability to be gentle. Or perhaps that was a product of being at a much further distance, combined with some amount of practice.

Strands of energy held clippers, very carefully cutting off dead leaves and unwanted shoots. Clearly, it had been paying great attention to Anton and those he’d had taking care of things for him. He wouldn’t say it was perfect- it clearly didn’t understand why it was doing what it did- but it was careful.

Next floated the watering can. It was actually an enchanted object, containing a vast amount of water. Actually producing material was more difficult than just storing it. Anton had neither the infrastructure nor the desire to have automatic sprinklers nor even a garden hose. The watering can was good enough for his purposes.

He watched as precise amounts of water were poured out- any extra instantly evaporated by strands of solar energy. It was more or less the correct result, but once again lacking true understanding. A repetition of actions taken with care regardless of the reasons.

Various attempts had been made to communicate with Maheg. It had emotions of some sort, but no real concept of language. It seemed to understand the greeting handshake, but otherwise projected only a general friendliness and curiosity.

Anton took his time to plan out another set of plots, including the necessary space and materials for the formations. He also placed an order for more tools, which would be delivered at significant expense. Someone was going to see more of the galaxy than they had probably bargained for, but the payment and experience of travel should be valuable. Besides, it would only be a couple of months with a fast ship.

Though Anton wanted to prepare the soil, he stopped himself. Instead, he simply made a mound of dirt. Now that he was aware of Maheg’s interest, he realized he was pretty much constantly being watched. That wasn’t unexpected, as any cultivator did the same for everything within the range of their natural senses- Anton just hadn’t realized that all of the flow of energy Maheg produced was part of that. It didn’t return to the star, but that was for the best as it was needed for the system to have more life in the future. Plus, trying to contain its power might actually be terrible for the star.

Ultimately, Anton set up the area of a plot, but did none of the work beyond the formations- simple as they were, they were probably too complex for the star to understand their importance. It might not even be able to tell a difference in temperature except in quantities of thousands of degrees.

Once he was done, Anton took a sack of seeds and the tools, holding them up to the sky. He reached out, offering them to Maheg. He tried to give that impression with his energy, but he wasn’t sure if he was understood. When he set them down, nothing happened for a full day.

Perhaps that was the time it took the star to process a new idea, or a reasonable response time for something of its size. Finally, energy began to concentrate at the second set of plots- while other energy carefully watched Anton’s response. He nodded encouragingly, still uncertain if his gestures would convey what he needed. But he did nothing to disrupt the energy, while doing his best to make it clear he recognized something was happening.

Then the bag of seeds went up in flames. There was a sudden wave of panic, followed by the instant withdrawal of all of the star’s energy. The scientists would absolutely be having a field day with that data. It wasn’t long before the skies went pitch black, and it was a good thing that everyone in the system had their own habitations that could keep them warm.

For his part, Anton replicated the effects of a sun on a much smaller scale. He provided light and warmth for his fields, making sure that his efforts would be felt even by Maheg’s withdrawn senses. Heat was not something that was bad, but a necessary feature. It was simply too much that was a problem. Anton should have realized that the enchantments on the tools had made them more durable, and the living plants had been untouched. The star’s energy was quite condensed, but it wasn’t crazy for there to be an aura of heat beyond it.

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Anton was patient, but he was beginning to consider drastic measures to get Maheg to return to normal. Fortunately, he didn’t have to go through with any of that because about a month later Maheg finally allowed itself to return to its normal output. It slowly reached out towards Anton, watching.

He had spare seeds and some other things he didn’t mind destroying, so Anton decided to demonstrate flammability. He produced a certain amount of heat, showing how it didn’t damage the tools but did damage the crops. And how more heat would destroy pretty much anything. Maheg seemed to naturally understand that, but the important part was the relatively ‘minute’ differences. On the stellar scale, of course.

Maheg had far more power than Anton could draw upon at once- it was power. Not quite a giant star, but a bright blue. Anton could only call upon the tiniest fraction of his stars, even if he was next to one and wielding something like a solar flare. Maheg, meanwhile, was the energy. Though it would likely be dangerous to do too much with its own energy, Anton supposed.

Once Anton thought Maheg should have had sufficient examples, he provided a number of things for it once more. Materials of variable flammability so it could practice control. He provided them from most durable first, laying them out in order.

It still took Maheg a week to work up the courage to try. Then several months before it could avoid burning solid wood. After it managed to constrain its energy to the proper heat while grasping things, it managed to pick up a seed, which it immediately stuck in the native dirt of the moon and watered.

Maheg was, unsurprisingly, very patient. However, after another month of nothing it seemed to realize something was wrong even with regular sunlight and watering. The seed had barely sprouted. Anton spent his time giving various hints, adding new soil and compost into his garden during that time.

From there, Maheg dug up the soil, replacing it with what Anton had provided. It was hilarious to watch it work with a garden trowel to dig an acre a half meter down, but it did it. It probably helped that it was tireless, though Maheg didn’t seem to understand extending the shape of tools to go beyond them. After a week Anton gave Maheg a bigger shovel. Big projects needed big tools.

It could have probably scooped away all of the soil in a single moment, if it understood how. Or even burned it away, but it was even gentle with the soil. To the extent the star could be, at least.

Anton felt genuine excitement when seeds began to sprout. Then a wave of fear and concern washed over him. Anton felt his energy drawn into Maheg, swirling around.

Flashes of emotion. Suddenly, the world existed. An awareness of self and other. The largest objects were tiny compared to it, and even smaller upon it were things moving around. But in what seemed like mere moments, they slowed. Many stopped, one at a time, until all of them did. Slowly, they became nothing and everything was… boring.

Anton understood he had gotten an extremely abbreviated version of things, of course. The feelings didn’t represent vision or even how he would interpret his own energy senses, but there had clearly been months or years of activity. However, he was able to comprehend that Maheg’s consciousness had come nearly in tandem with the burst of solar energy that had wiped out the local populace.

Which triggered the other was unclear. Anton was glad to confirm that Maheg hadn’t maliciously attacked anyone- though he’d been fairly certain of that from the beginning. It might not even have been at fault at all. Though based on the resonant emotions, Maheg wasn’t quite convinced of that. He offered a sense of comfort. He drew Maheg’s attention to the life it was helping to sustain. That seemed to be sufficient.

It soon became clear there were significant differences between Anton’s garden and Maheg’s. Anton did his best to demonstrate why, but it was a thousand small things that could only be learned with time. And preferably, understanding of what the goal was.

When Anton first ate a fruit from a tree he’d finally gotten to grow, Maheg was horrified. But Anton revealed the seeds. Fruits were basically made to be eaten- some were meant as nutrients for the seed, but many more were meant to attract the right sorts of animals to distribute it further. Or at least that is how the balance had ended up.

Sadly, there were no such animals here. All Anton had were bacteria to help things decompose, though he was considering importing insects. That could rapidly lead to escalation, and he didn’t know if he should be maintaining a whole ecosystem. Then again, he kind of wanted to. Everheart had managed it, with a bit of cheating with formations. The man was intelligent, but he wasn’t a disciple of nature. The balance had been maintained with a bit of brute force, or there would have been nothing left on the moon.

The moon Anton’s gardens were on currently did not have a proper atmosphere. He wondered if he could change that. Maybe Paradise would be helpful? He’d done wonders elsewhere. And the turtle wouldn’t mind in general, though this was quite some distance from his normal path.

Anton thought it was unnecessary to terraform a whole planet himself. But he didn’t want to steal the atmosphere of the other planets either. Perhaps he should be content with a smaller garden, a fun experiment.

Maheg soon learned to multitask. That had resulted in more than a few accidental burnings as its concentration wavered, but Maheg was learning to take the damage in stride. Anton hadn’t been able to explain it, but ultimately these plants didn’t have thoughts or feelings. Not that Anton would say that for the universe in general, because it wasn’t unreasonable with everything else he’d seen.

With the ultimate result being the recreations of local plants growing to be more and more, a little damage here and there didn’t matter. It was better to be safe, but that might be the biggest reason Maheg focused its efforts around Anton. It was clear it would find it more difficult to accidentally harm him.

The world was now a better place. And they had learned more about both the history of the system and what the plants might have looked like. Recreating local animals was much further beyond Anton’s skill, but he was sure the plants were wrong anyway. If he ever got to it, he’d just pick whatever seemed compatible and not worry about being correct.

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