Kaarlye and Miiri led teams of volunteers in the harvesting of the sap. They brought containers, of course, but all the really needed was their own footwear and gloves, which collected plenty of the sticky substance as the people plowed through the vines.
Technicians carefully placed the drones that would transmit signals to lure the Khieevi away from the Niruans. These would be overlaid with holograms of Linyaari ships and pavilions being projected by other technicians while the programmed Linyaari holos began milling around among the holo-structures like so many ghosts.
Acorna found it quite startling -when she parted the vines with a small gesture to face herself on the other side of them, a self apparently kneeling to collect sap and murmuring oddsounding words. Acorna retreated two careful steps and the vines closed back over the projection.
“Hmmm,” she said to herself, and returned to where the ships that had brought the technicians, scientists, and equipment were almost totally wrapped in vines.
“Captain, I think I may have learned something about these plants,” she began.
“Yeah, well, save it, Princess. We got us a situation here. Most of the holos are being hidden by the vines. Except for the projections we can make from above, of the tents and the ships, and only the tops of them are showing, this is still looking pretty much like -what it is, a vine world. It’s going to take either some earthmoving machines or some heavy machete work to clear spaces for the holos and then these things have a way of growing back. The only good thing about it is that mowing a few of them down will produce more sap. But how it’s going to work for a decoy, I dunno.” He scratched his mustache in a thoughtful way.
“Wait, Captain. Perhaps that won’t be necessary. Perhaps we can communicate with them.”
The Captain looked at her as if she were insane. “Acorna. Darling. Sweetie. Princess. Honey. Excuse me. You’re a real bright kid, but they are plants. You eat them. You