King of All I Survey-Chapter 219: Joe’s Deception?

Joe shrugged noncommittally.

I sighed, deciding I could put off that decision for now. "We'll start with lesser animals. But what about the animals on Ri Ja that already eat the sap when they can? What's their behavior like. You said they only get it when it leaks naturally from damage to the tree, so most of the time they eat other things, right? Is their behavior twisted somehow, or do they seem to just treat it like a lucky break then go about their business as usual when its gone?"

"An interesting point," Joe conceded, "They don't seem to be making any serious effort to acquire the Ceiba sap when it isn't present. They don't hang around the tree line just waiting for it. If they smell it, they try to go get it, but once it's gone, they don't seem to act any different than one would expect. On the other hand, they get it rarely, and they don't have the intelligence to gather it from undamaged trees."

"So, we can have Rafael set up some controlled experiments with local animals. Feed them exclusively on the sap for a while and see what happens. Any issues with that?"

"No, that seems pretty reasonable, in conjunction with the experiments we run here," Joe agreed.

"OK, figure out the best way to conduct the experiments and how to monitor behavior changes, then send that to Rafael."

"Acknowledged. The trees also have some other interesting properties, that I should mention."

I looked at him dubiously, "What else?"

"Well, as I mentioned, when the tree is damaged, all sorts of animals come running to eat the sap. The tree itself, however, also rushes to eat the sap."

I blinked my eyes in confusion and shook my head. "Are they trees? I mean rooted to the ground, how can they rush anywhere to do anything?" 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Well, that's the interesting part. I think the best way to explain it is to show you. Look at the display screen."

In front of me, a display popped-up on the clear wall. The sky was green. No, not the sky, that must be the canopy layer from the Ceiba trees. As a result of the light coming through the leaves, everything was tinted green. The tree trunks seemed to be spaced regularly, almost as if someone had measured out the distance and planted each one according to some preplanned grid pattern. They stretched into the distance as far as I could see in the dim light.

A voice starting speaking, narrating the view. It was unnaturally, high-pitched. It wasn't a woman's voice, it still had the roughness of male speech, but it sounded cartoonish. I realized it was the atmospheric helium causing the change, not quite as high as if someone inhaled from a helium balloon here on Earth, but still quite noticeable and unnatural sounding. "This is the underworld of Ri Ja where we will live. The canopy traps heat and keeps the temperature at a more constant level. Outside the high helium content pulls heat away from body much more efficiently than Earth's atmosphere making hypothermia a risk even in what we would consider moderate temperatures. It's deceptive, because it seems warm enough, especially when one looks at a thermometer reading. You can feel the chill on the skin all the time, though, as if a unfelt wind were pulling the heat away. We're working on a Ri Jan equivalent to the wind-chill factor conversion used on Earth to let us describe the effective or perceived temperature for the human body." Only after hearing this much, did I realize that the voice speaking was Rafael's. His cadence and the accent from his native Guatemalan Spanish still came through although his English was excellent. This must be a report he prepared for us, for me specifically since I'm in charge.

"The night-time temperatures outside get dangerously cold, but under the canopy the night is survivable without shelter or shields. The air also has a higher moisture content here, and a slightly lower helium content. We didn't realize that at first, when we cut a hole through the outer canopy wall to enter, of course, the air flowed freely between the inside and the outside, equalizing the air's make-up locally. It was only when we took samples much further away from the opening, and then later when we built the enclosed tunnel resealing our entrance that we were able to measure the difference."

"While our initial reports told us the atmosphere of Ri Ja was breathable by humans, that turned out to be incorrect." The tone of Rafael's voice shifted lower somehow, although it was still ridiculously high-pitched. It made his words sound a bit like a cartoon villain, as if he were holding back anger, but still trying to make it clear to the audience that he was angry like a stage actor. I knew he was aware of the way he sounded. He rarely let any emotion show through his expression or his voice unless he intended it to show for some purpose. He wanted me to know he was angry. "The troublesome part is the carbon dioxide content. It was low enough to fall in the mix of trace gases that combined for just a one percent concentration of the total atmospheric content, but looking at the detail, the CO2 measures out to 6500 parts per million half a percent of the atmosphere. While most people can tolerate that for a short time, it tends to leave most people breathing too fast as the body tries to get rid of the excess. It causes headaches and interferes with brain function, reducing decision-making abilities, causing extreme fatigue" So, I thought, maybe Rafael has reason to be angry. I paused the report with a thought directed at the display.

"Joe," I demanded, "how did that escape the initial reports? Ri Ja shouldn't have been a candidate for final consideration in selecting a colony world if the atmosphere is poisonous to humans." I realized I was more than a little angry, too. That could not have escaped Joe's notice, yet it hadn't been mentioned.

"The analysis of the atmosphere was presented as an averaging of sampled locations," Joe replied matter-of-factly. "The overall make-up was acceptable, though some locations were more suitable than others. Perhaps, I should have made that more clear, but it did factor into the choice of the colony's starting location. I think, if you let the report continue, this will become more evident…" He trailed off with a rising intonation, a clear suggestion to continue listening and watching. I raised an eyebrow.

"Don't let anything like this happen again, Joe." Internally, I was confused. Joe had to know, and he had to know that it would be important to us. He had deliberately omitted the fact that the atmosphere was not survivable… It troubled me greatly, and the nearly forgotten suspicions of his motivations resurfaced. I took a deep calming breath, "OK, continue."

Rafael's tone had shifted from angry to something that struck me as more dangerous despite the funny high-pitch. Again, I thought, that is probably intentional for my benefit. "For longer-term exposure, the respiratory rate can drop allowing the CO2 to accumulate to higher levels in the bloodstream. The strain on the heart, kidneys, and other organs leads to serious and even fatal consequences, but long before that, we'd be too tired and stupid to realize the problem. The AI must have known all this before we chose this place. We could breathe the air here, but only for a short time and even that would cause serious issues. On a new world, reduced cognitive and decision-making capability can be fatal not just for the individual affected but for the whole colony if one person makes a bad choice. The reports before we selected Ri Ja showed an average of 1700 ppm of CO2, a high, but marginally acceptable number." He paused to let that sink in. "With the shields active, of course, there is no problem. They will only pass an Earth normal level of CO2, about 400 parts per million. We would have to rely on the shields to live here, forever slaves to the technology and the royalty payments to use it."

Rafael's voice shifted again, this time, back to a more relaxed, neutral tone, though still comically high-pitched. "Under the canopy, however, the atmospheric concentrations are somewhat altered as I mentioned. CO2 is lower, nitrogen is higher. CO2 here under the Cieba tree's biodome is only 1300 ppm. Higher than we'd like, but livable, even long-term."

"The planet's lower nitrogen concentration than Earth's present a problem for plants, especially Earth plants like those food crops we brought with us. This could be offset with the application of high nitrogen fertilizers. Under the canopy, nitrogen rises to over 70 percent concentration. That is still low compared to the roughly 78 percent nitrogen content of Earth's atmosphere, but better than the 66 percent we find outside the canopy. The increased nitrogen is replacing the CO2 and some of the helium."

"To summarize, as far we know right now, humans could live here under the Ceiba tree canopy without personal shielding. There are some toxic plants in certain areas, but these are analogous to really bad poison ivy on Earth – manageable. Furthermore, we believe that we can grow food plants here under the canopy. We may need to make some genetic modifications to optimize them of the conditions, but we think there are some good candidates. We'll be starting active experimentation on this within the next two weeks." Rafael paused again. "However, there may be a ready food source already existing here on Ri Ja. The sap of the Ceiba tree itself appears to provide a complete nutritional profile for human beings. We still have further testing to conduct, but it may be that these trees not only provide us the atmosphere, temperature regulation, and moisture retention we need to live here on Ri Ja, but also a food that will sustain us indefinitely, even in the absence of any synthesizers or imported Earth crops."

The blade of a machete appeared in the lower part of the display, and the view spun around to face the trunk of a ceiba tree directly, just a foot or two away from the camera. Apparently, it was either a head mounted camera or a feed directly from Rafael's visual system. "The sap of the Ceiba tree seems to be highly sought after by most of the animals here on Ri Ja. If it is spilled outside or near an opening in the canopy, insect-like small animals are instantly drawn to it, presumably by smell. They consume it until it is gone, each competing, even fighting for their share. Inside the canopy, there are fewer animals in general, and those present seem less attracted to the sap, though they will come for it if it persists long enough. The tree, however, sees to it that spilled sap doesn't stay spilled for long." Rafael's machete pulled back then slashed across the Ceiba tree trunk directly in front of the camera. A thick clear liquid began welling out of the cut. "Watch this." Rafael said, then stood back.