The Amee looked on as The Jane made the sounds again.  Unsure what they meant, The Amee could see that The Jane had made The Glowey and was moving in a way it had never seen before.  Maybe The Jane was a happy The Jane so it made noise.  The Amee didn’t know why, but it didn’t matter.  The Amee was happy that The Jane was a Happy The Jane.  Moving up, The Amee patted The Jane, and got patted in return.  The Jane began looking around, bending down, standing up.  The Amee didn’t know what The Jane was hunting for, but The Amee was a good hunter, and The Amee decided to help The Jane.  It started looking for Something Interesting.

Januasai was looking for some hidden catch or latch, seeing as there was no touchpad or keycard slot.  There had to be a way to open the door short of busting it down, which she was loath to do.  Hearing movement behind her, she turned and looked.  Amee was doing something, keeping her nose close to the wall and floor and moving in circles, sniffing.  Januasai wasn’t sure what she was doing, and then it dawned on her.  Amee was copying her!!!  Amee was searching!!  Laughing, Januasai swept the girl into a big hug.  “Amee!! Good girl!!!”, she exclaimed, laughing and ruffling her hair.  Or tried to, since her vines got stuck in the matted tangled mess that was Amees hair.  'Bath.  Long bath.  A barrel of detangler and conditioner.  LOONG BATH', she thought as she pulled them free.  She laughed and hugged the girl, getting a squeak in return, the cutest squeak ever, and petted her.  Rubbing her back, Januasai looked at her.  "Good girl!!"

The Amee only had a moment to squeak before it was picked up.  It recognized The Jane by feel and smell and taste, so it wasn't scared.  The Jane made more sounds and squeezed it.  A dim memory began to surface, more a feeling like The Amee knew this feeling, but it never understood why.  Or from where.  Then The Jane began to rub it and make more sounds.  The same sounds over and over.  The Amee didn't know what the sounds meant, but The Jane was a good The Jane.  Maybe The Jane was being a good The Jane because The Amee had helped The Jane? So The Amee patted The Jane.

Januasai smiled, and put Amee down.  "Lets see if we can figure it out", she said.  After ten minutes, she had to admit defeat.  Maybe it WAS dependent on a keycard or swipe.  Regardless, she stood next to it and fit tiny vines into the space around the door.  Feeling around inside the space, she felt that there was a triple action locking mechanism, and she wasn’t sure if the door slid to the side, or what direction it moved in.  There was an inner track, that she could feel, but that was about it.  'Great.  So much noise…Amee is going to be scared of doors now', she thought as she prepared.  First she took a quick picture of the door.  Some of the decorations looked interesting.  Making the balls of wax again, she lifted Amee up, moving her further down the hall, and quickly stuffed them into Amee's ears again.  Amee reacted as she expected, spitting and hissing, swiping at her ears.  Januasai hoped she wouldn't scratch herself, but she had already started running at the door.

The Amee hated The Soft Thing in it.  The feel, the smell.  But it forgot all that as it looked up and saw The Jane moving towards The Interesting Thing.  Fast.  The Jane hit The Interesting Thing and bounced off.  The Amee didn't know what was supposed to happen, but The Jane started making more sounds.  Hurtey sounds.  Small sounds since The Soft Thing in its ears took some of its hearing away, and it didn’t like that.

"DIRT AND SHIT!!!!", Januasai swore as she glared at the door.  The locks were stronger than she had anticipated, and the only damage done was to her pride.  Looking back, she saw Amee staring and sighed.  "Sorry, Amee.  Just a bit frustrated", she said, blushing.  She fit her vines into the door, and noted something interesting.  The locks were all bolts that fit into loops set into the frame of the door.  On either side.  Whoever built this door had NOT wanted anyone to break in, so it was a shame that Januasai was going to disappoint them.  Maybe if she was able to force the bolts up, she’d be able to move the door.  AND she wouldn’t have to break the door down, which meant she could take the sap plugs from Amee’s ears.  Walking over to her, Januasai gently took her hands away from her ears.  Seeing streaks of blood on Amees skin, Januasai frowned, and after getting the solidified sap out, extruded a different sap.  This one would seal the wounds and help them heal.  Gently brushing the sap over the cuts on Amees ears and face, Januasai took her hands and looked at them carefully for the first time.  And wonder of wonders, Amee let her.  

Amee’s hands and forearms were stained a deep crimson, multiple scars and little cuts on them.  Her fingers were long, topped with nails that could be more accurately called claws.  Hard, sharp, and had Januasai not seen how effective they were, she wouldn't have believed it.  The same went for her toes, and Januasai was amazed at how wiry strong she was.  Still, when she tickled Amees palm with a vine, Amee squirmed and made some sort of laughing sound.  Januasai laughed, and did it again, even as she slathered more salve on the cuts.  “There.  I’m sorry about that, but I didn’t want the noise to…No, Amee, don’t lick that..No…No, don’t rub that off”, she said, her apology quickly morphing into something else as Amee started trying to eat the salve.

The Amee was confused.  First The Jane put The Soft Thing inside it.  Taking away its sound.  Then the Jane came and took The Soft Thing away, and held its claws.  Then the Wet Gooey Stuff got put on its claws, but when it tried to taste it, to see if it was The Tasty Wet, The Jane held its claws and didn’t let.  Looking up, The Amee saw that The Janes eyes sparkled.  Did a Wavy Thing where they were an Interesting Thing.  The Amee blinked, and tried to lick its arm and The Jane made more noises, holding its claws away.

“Oh..Amee…no”, Januasai said for the fourth time as Amee tried licking the salve off.  Giving up, she shrugged to herself and focused on the objective at hand.  The salve wouldn’t hurt her, but she’d thought that it didn’t taste good.  Clearly she was wrong.  She wondered how Amee had just ignored her gaze, since she’d never seen a Terran able to do that.  Another mystery.  Looking at the door, she slid her vines into the frame and then the space inside.  It was as she had felt before.  The pins held the door down, and the only question was how difficult would it be to get them out of the way.  Well, only one way to find out.  Focusing on the bottom most, she traced it, and frowned.  The metal didn’t feel like it had degraded.  Pulling out the vine after she rubbed it on the metal, she cursed again.  In Affni, which she was absolutely sure that Amee didn’t understand.  There was no oxidized metal on her vine, so the metal couldn't simply be snapped like before.  She was going to have to do this the hard way.

The Amee watched as The Jane began to make sounds again.  As the Amee watched, more The Rope-Things came out and went into The Interesting Thing.  The Jane was doing something, The Amee saw.  It had no idea what.  It jumped, yelping when a loud clunk came from The Interesting Thing.  The Jane turned and made more sounds, and then another clunk sounded.  Was The Jane making the sound?   Why was it doing that?  The Amee crept closer, but ready to run if needed.  The sounds came again, The Jane making more sounds.  But The Amee could tell that these were The Happy sounds.  Maybe The Jane was The Happy with the sound?  Amee didn’t know.

Januasai grinned as she felt and heard the last of the pins lift up and slide back into its spot.  She whooped with joy, and then turned to Amee.  "Well, little one.  Here we go!!  Hopefully it's everything that we need it to be."  Sliding vines into the space, Januasai grunted as she lifted the door slightly by pushing up on the loops that the pins had locked into.  Once she had some space, she slid her fingers under the bottom and lifted.  With a giant squeal, the door slid upwards.  Amee let out a terrified snarl and then ran, leaving a trail of urine as she moved faster than anything Januasai had seen.  She watched as Amee jumped, climbed a pipe and disappeared into a hole in the ceiling.

"FUCK MY LIFE!!!! DIRT!!!", Januasai swore as Amee ran away.  Clearly terrified.  "Amee, come back, it's ok!!", she said.  No answer.  Cursing, Januasai looked around, and then pulled two pegs out from where they had retracted.  Pulling them down, she gently set the door down, and after making sure that the door wouldn't fall (because that would scare Amee even worse, she figured), she walked over to the hole and looked up.  "Amee?  Amee, it's me.  It's Januasai.  Can you come down, please?"  There was no answer.

The Amee sat in The Dark Place, panting.  The Scary Loud had scared it and it didn't want to be anywhere near The Scary Loud.  Scary Loud was bad.  Scary Loud was dangerous.  The Big Four Legs Thing was Scary Loud.  It had found The Dark Place before and it stayed here when it was scared.  It heard The Jane making noise, making its name, but it didn't move.  It whimpered, letting out more wet, even as The Jane called it again.  And again.  Eventually, The Amee decided to go back down.  It looked down and saw The Jane standing there.  The Jane held up The Rope-Things and called its name.  The Amee cocked its head, and then watched as The Jane held up its arms.  The Amee didn't understand.  

"Amee, come down, little one.  It's ok, everything is fine.  I promise, it's all ok.  Come to me", she said as soothingly as she could.  She thought of using a Class-E, but that might make Amee move further away, or fall and hurt herself.  She decided to wait and try to calm Amee.  "Amee, my darling, come to me.  It's ok", and she began to sing.  It was an old song, so very old.  But once she'd heard it from a curator of Terran cinema on the Baiera, she'd fallen in love with it.

"Come feed the little birds, Show them you care

And you'll be glad if you do

Their young ones are hungry, their nests are so bare

All it takes is tuppence from you

Feed the birds, Tuppence a bag

Tuppence, Tuppence, Tuppence a bag

Feed the birds, that's what she cries

While overhead, her birds fill the skies

All around the Cathedral, the saints and apostles

Look down as she sells her wares

Although you can’t see it, you know they are smiling

Each time someone shows that they care.”

She kept singing, even as she snaked a few vines up into the hole.  Amee did nothing as she gently curled them around her limbs, staring at her.  Entranced by the singing.  So she kept singing as she gently lifted the little hunter and brought her down.  “There you are, safe within my vines, at peace here with me, for all of time”, she sang, changing the words.  She didn’t think that Amee understood her, but perhaps it was the tune.  She liked to think that Amee understood the intent.  Either way, Amee was down, and she gently snuggled the little terran, uncaring of the other things that got on her.  She’d bathe later.  AND bathe Amee, which should prove to be an interesting experience for them both.  

As she stopped singing, Amee blinked and then looked around.  She fussed for a moment, but after Januasai hugged her again, gently rubbing her back, she slowly stopped.  Trying something, Januasai made some gently rounded points on her fingertips and began to scratch Amees back.  The effects were instantaneous.  Amee stiffened, then relaxed and started to purr.  A deep rumble that Januasai could feel throughout her body, more than just a sound.  “Well, someone likes that”, she said, and gave her a few more gentle scratches before putting her down.  Amee blinked a few times, and then immediately sniffed, looking towards the door.  Intently.

The Amee had listened to The Nice Sounds that The Jane had made.  It didn’t understand them, but it was The Nice Sounds.  So nice that it didn’t notice when The Rope Things took it from The Dark Place.  It noticed when The Jane stopped making The Nice Sounds and began to do The Squeeze.  Which was A Nice Thing.  But then The Jane began to Scratch, and The Amee made the sound.  It was a Good Feel, like when The Amee Scratched itself on something hard.  But The Jane was better, moving all over.  When The Jane put it down, The Amee sniffed, looking around.  The Interesting Thing was up and The New Place was open, but The Amee could smell The New Smell.  It didn’t know what it was, but it was The New Smell.

Januasai watched as Amee began sniffing again, and crept towards the open door.  “Wait a moment, little one.  Let’s go together”, she said, and walked into the office, ducking under the open door.  The source of Amee’s hunt was immediately apparent.  There was carpeting in here, some sort of synthetic fiber, and as Januasai watched, Amee explored it with interest.  Sniffing, tasting, even scratching it with her claws.  She clearly didn’t know what to make of it, and her confusion deepened as she got her feet onto the carpet.  She looked confused, rubbing her feet on, looking at it and then her feet and then the carpet again.  Over and over.  “Oh..Amee, it’s carpet”, she said, and bent down.  Taking Amees hand, she gently rubbed her palm on the carpet, letting her feel it.  Amee made some sort of squeal, and began to rub her hands over the carpet.

The Amee was amazed.  The New Smell was a Good Feeling Thing!!!!  The Amee had no way to understand what it was feeling, but rubbing its footses made it want to make sound, and then The Jane rubbed its handses on The New Thing.  It made The Sound again, trying to understand what it was feeling.  It was feeling The Not Moving Food under its handses but it wasn’t The Not Moving Food.  It didn’t move or taste like The Not Moving Food.  It didn’t smell like The Not Moving Food.  But it felt like The Not Moving Food.

Januasai didn’t know why Amee was licking the carpet, but she was fairly certain that it wasn’t good for her.  “No, Amee, don’t do that”, she said, and tried to redirect her as she looked around.  There was more of the lichen in here, and she could see that there were two doors, one on the right and left walls. As she was looking around, she noticed that there was a dusty gun on the wall.  She took a closer look and saw that it was held up on brackets and locked in place with a clamp, sealed packages of what she assumed was ammunition underneath.  ‘A holdout weapon?”, she asked Amee, who looked up at her and blinked.  She left the weapon alone after satisfying herself that there was no way that Amee could get it and get hurt.  While she was doing that, Amee had walked over to the door on the left.  She sniffed around the base, whining and scratching at the door, but unable to open it.  Januasai, again, felt her heart break, since Amee didn't even try to turn the knob that was literally staring her in the face.  'She doesn't know how.'  She just scratched the door, leaving furrows in the wood, trying to get inside.

The Amee could hear The Moving Food behind The Thing and it scratched, wanting to get through.  Whining, it scratched again, and then The Jane did something to The Thing and it opened into The New Place.  The Amee moved in, seeing The Moving Food run away but even as The Amee chased The Moving Food, it knew it wouldn’t get there in time.  The Moving Food was quickety-quickety quick and The Thing had made noise.  The Amee looked around The New Place, seeing The Interesting Thing.  It jumped up, crouching on The Interesting Thing watching The Jane as The Jane came inside The New Place.  Maybe it would find The Interesting Thing?  Maybe The Shiny.  It looked around, seeing The Glowey stuff everywhere and the Slappey-Stingy.  It stayed up on The Interesting Thing, and then decided that it didn’t like The Glowey stuff so it moved.

Januasai walked though the open door labeled ‘Administration’, having checked the other door.  That one was labeled “Facility Administrator”, and Januasai figured that whoever had designed this place wanted the person in charge to have privacy.  Then she looked back at the door, and considered what she knew about Terrans.  She came to the conclusion that the designer had wanted this place to be a safe, secure area.  In case the complex was ever invaded, they would be able to hole up here.  And if there were weapons here, then that meant there was food, and possibly an escape exit as well.  She looked around the room, not seeing Amee, and then looked up.  There were cabinets mounted on the wall, and Amee was crouched on one, watching her.  “What are you doing up there, Amee?”, Januasai asked as she began to search the room.  She was fairly certain the computers were non-operative, a fact proven when she tried to turn one on and nothing happened.  She’d hoped it would be different, that the offices ran on a different power source than the rest of the facility.  “Too much to hope for, right?  That plus an exit would have been a horse in one.”  

A further search of the room found a stack of synthcubes and some empty water bottles.  After some consideration and looking at Amee, who had shifted into an even darker corner of the room, she took the synthcubes but kept them in her vines.  “You know, I’d prefer it if you just kept hunting and eating those cave rats.  You’re good at it, little one, and we know that they’ll keep you alive.  This crap…”, and she shrugged.  “I prefer the rats.  They have good taste, since not even the rats will eat this garbage.”  She found another firearm which she made sure was unloaded and secured, and then a series of manuals.  All of which were on small jump drives, none of which she could access.  BUT they were helpfully labeled, so that was useful.  “Perfect”, she groused to Amee who was staring at her, watching what she did.  “Just fucking perfect.  I’ll have to get us out of here so that I can read what is on here in the hopes that it’s gonna help get us out of here.”  She had to admit, listening to Terran Feralists curse had really opened up her repertoire of swear words in the best way.

Giving the office one more look, she spent some time looking around again, but didn’t find anything useful.  “Ok, come on, Amee”, she said, walking to the door.  Amee didn’t move, and then just as she was going to walk out, Amee climbed off the cabinet and moved towards her.  Januasai noticed that Amee was giving the ferns a wide berth and wondered why.  Then she remembered the rodent skeleton that she’d seen in the roots of the ferns back in that little chamber and she wondered if the ferns perhaps had tried to snare her Terran but couldn’t.  Another mystery involving her floret.  Crossing to the other doorway, Januasai stood in front of the door, hoping for the best.

Meanwhile on the surface

Glasha sighed as he stared at the communicator in his uppermost left hand.  Alduriana walked over.  “Trouble?”

“Not at all.  The heavy digging equipment is being assembled and should be here within four hours.  The Baeira is conducting a survey to see the best place to drill, considering there are two entrances to the complex within a mile of the city.  The one entrance that was inside the city was apparently demolished in an explosion, probably during the invasion.”  Some of his foliage was out of place, the leaves that made up his hair sticking out at weird angles.

“Well, that sounds like we have a plan and things are moving along.  Januasai is an Eighth Bloom, I’m sure she knows how to handle herself.  So what has you all worried, friend?”, Alduriana asked, weaving her vines into Glashas.  “Talk to me.  A trouble shared is halved, you know.”

“I…I just don’t know what's down there.  What happens if it’s some sort of  stockpile of Feralist weapons, like those nuclear weapons that we disposed of near Rigel Two?  Or what if something happened to Januasai and that’s why she’s not responding?  I don’t know, and that’s what has me all worried.”  He spoke with a pensive sigh, casting a downward glance, as if he could look through three hundred meters of rock and soil and see what was going on.

“When was the last time you had anything to eat?”, she asked him, and then nodded as he shrugged his shoulders.  “Come on”, she said, taking his hand and leading him towards one of the drop ships.  “Have you spoken to Laria?  Is everything ok?”

“Oh yes.  She’s ok.  Better than ok”, he said, smiling.  “She’s currently bouncing between Thephra and Gladialis’s hab, and spending time in the lobby with the other florets.    She keeps telling me that she’s going to ask someone out, but won’t tell me who because ‘You can’t keep secrets, Master, and I don't want her to know until I'm ready.’  She’s good.”  Just talking about his floret was enough to lift his spirits, his vines and leaves moving back into place.  “Yes, you’re right.  I shouldn't’ go borrowing trouble, as Laria always says.”  He nodded, and straightened.  “Let’s get that drink.  I hope Januasai is doing ok.”