The Green Just Isn't So Very Green Around Here (A Tale of Earth 52.5)

Gabriel looked to the ground

Hoping to see signs of life in the imported soil

Some tiny green fingers reaching for the sun’s rays

Parting their granular prisons to spread leaves of greenery

Sadly there seemed to be no activity from seed batch 433v

Which was made up of a strain of grain from India

And fertilized with a specific mixture of nutrients

In hopes of mimicking the taste of Earth for the nascent seeds

Looking around the yellowish haze that seemed to hang in the humid air

The lizard part of his brain still refused to accept that things from Earth didn’t want to grow here

Where the sun was X times brighter than on their home planet

And moisture was in abundance

But the science part of his brain squashed the lizard with facts

The ones that pointed out that the native soil was harsh and acidic in comparison to what was ‘normal’

And the much brighter light was filtered through the Venusian haze in such a way that much of the ultraviolet spectrum was blocked  

Not to mention the visible coloring of everything here……

The few plants that had made the journey from Earth to Venus

Were perfectly normal ones

Where back home their leaves had that lovely green color that humans love so much

But in this damned place they took on a blackish color

Making everyone think more of death than life

Then there had been the early suicides………..

Gabriel’s train of thought was interrupted by the appearance of Lina
Accompanied by one of the Venues

They appeared far down my straight line furrow
Where their approach had been hidden by the irrigators with their long appendages folded up tightly to cylindrical bodies
And began walking towards me while looking around
Probably as hopeful as I had been to see some growth activity

The Venu was glarking away in his own language with the accompanying hand gestures for precision emphasis
Lina's pendant near her breastbone chattered quietly providing relayed translation from Momma
Though the computer voice was getting louder by the moment
Which was when I realized the Momma had started piping the translation to me as well
In a steadily increasing volume as the pair grew closer to me

What I heard concerned me