Part Six
'Shrooms
by The Preve
Thanks to Todger 65 for the edit.
Interlude: Hansen's World, construction period, 2
nd
Age, 2217.08.10.
"Here, put this on."
"Filters? Why?"
"For this."
"Whoa! Are those . . .?"
"Yep, Galatean mushrooms, heh!"
"But . . . but those are illegal! We could get sent up for this! The spores are the most powerful hallucinogens in recorded history; makes LSD look like talcum powder. The authorities are going to flip their brains. They're not paying me enough for five years on a prison planet."
"The authorities in Humanspace are going to flip their brains. We're outside jurisdiction, remember? And any Interpol who shows up'll get their brains flipped and fried 'cause they'll be huffing the spores, just like those senators and social moralists showing up for the opening."
"I just thought of something. Galatean 'shrooms are environmentally sensitive. You think they'll survive on this planet?"
"The Boss built a special greenhouse for 'em and," the worker leaned close and whispered, "scuttlebutt says the geneheads fiddled around and mixed other DNA into 'em to make 'em more adaptable."
"That . . . doesn't seem smart."
"Hey, I don't judge or ask questions. I get paid good bit. So they mixed up some genes. Anything goes wrong, we'll be far away from here. Whatever shit happens won't splash on us."
"Good point."
****
"Goddamn! Look at this place. It's a fuckin' forest!"
Mike and Mandy gazed around, awestruck.
The Great Mushroom Forest of Psychedelic Bacchanalia
was its title.
"I'd heard Galatean mushrooms grew large but not this big," Mandy whispered.
"Yeah, you think maybe Hansen fiddled around with some genes?"
Mike's face was sour. He'd cleaned more than his share of gene fuck-ups. Gene manipulation was a commonplace practice, centuries old.
The couple had giggled and whispered their way from the cafeteria to the cab bay. The cab who'd served as their tour guide,
Cum Dump no. 312,
suggested the forest. "A giant forest of Galatean mushrooms," it said. "Terrific hallucinogenic spores, extremely potent and enhanced with sexual stimulants. A truly mind-changing experience and all perfectly safe. No medical effects at all."
The Galatean mushrooms, while not too large, were still impressive. The sizes ranged from small bushes to Terran oaks. Mike knew these Shrooms, the popular term used, were only minor examples. He'd been to Galatea. The Shrooms there could reach the size of Sequoias.
It wasn't so much the impressive size. Galatean Shrooms sported two features enormously fascinating to Mike and Mandy, and the early explorers who'd discovered the planet.
The first were the bright, iridescent colors characterizing most of the species, some of them luminescent at night. The second were the powerful hallucinogens and aphrodisiacs found in the spores.