Jamie gawked at the damage. "What did you do!"

Instead of looking excited or amazed, Roy only seemed...annoyed. "Are you guys trying to create indentured servitude here? Because I don't think this will help your bill..."

Yatgibi peered around the plant boxes, stared at me with an unreadable expression.

To my surprise, he said, more. I guess Qulpari are more accepting of property damage if it has a purpose.

Pabyeba clapped appreciatively.

The noises stirred Colzest from his slumber. When he took a look at my work, his eyes widened. It would have been nice if you could have demonstrated this talent on the moon!

"Sorry. I don't make a habit of growing...giant beanstalks out of things."

Roy's annoyance changed to astonished disbelief at the alien's reaction. "Wish I'd been able to play baseball here when I was a kid. Break a window and they probably would have given me a medal!"

I stuck my hands in the dirt next to the plant I'd 'enhanced', prepared to repeat the performance.

No. Outside, Yatgibi said. Come with me.

I did, of course.

Jamie tried to come with, but just got scolded and sent back to the milking stool.

The lower floor of the factory basically served as a barn for their three Boczura. Stalls, some sort of exotic hay, feeding and water troughs. It had windows, but they appeared to be reinforced, and had something like chicken wire running through them. You'd think it would be a dirty smelly place, infested with bugs, but the Qulparis' botanical projects demanded a lot of fertilizer, so the whitish mounds of what looked like oversized goose pellets got scooped up and stirred into potting soil the moment they hit the floor. Yatgibi mentioned that Jamie would have to do some of that once she had filled enough buckets with Orburot.

"Uh oh," Roy called after me. "Now you've done it! I bet you've got a lifetime of crop growing ahead of you, kid!"

Yatgibi led me out to an open air deck overlooking the jungles of Jufuceri,

Sprouts pushed through dirt in the planting station along the balcony more than a skyscraper's height above the ground, overshadowed by a decorative potted tree resembling a morel mushroom. A ramp curved upwards to a giant almond shaped wooden door, covered in arcane symbols. A cold chill ran down my back just looking at it.

As my sister, Charlie and Norenio joined me on the deck, I peered over the railing.

Below lay a vast lake, connected to a river and a waterfall. Large insect-like machines glowed in the water, shifting to different colors as the liquid lapped beneath them.

Norenio pointed to the strange objects. "They are multidirectional hydroelectric plants. Roy Neary tells me your people only build dam-turbines that go one way. Ours exploit all water motion."

"Neat."

Yatgibi directed me to the plant boxes, but the moment I had my hands in the soil, his 'employee' came out, directing me away from there.

The two aliens got into an argument about how I'd destroy the floor.

I moved my ear slug to my other ear and found them talking about doing the plant growing in the 'safe room,' that it had reinforced flooring. Something about pomegranates and chemicals. His associate argued that I and my companions couldn't be trusted in there, and they could always fix the deck.

Yatgibi disagreed, something about how everything was well hidden.

The other alien looked skeptical. I will hold you personally responsible for your decision. With that, he jumped off a plank at the end of the deck.

I gasped, staring over the rail in horror.

To my relief, I saw the alien's robe had popping open like a hang glider. He drifted safely onto a platform on an adjacent tree.

Gertie, apparently thinking the same thing, joined me at the rail. I pointed.

"Oh. He's got a flying squirrel suit."

Chuckling, Norenio tugged a ring on my costume, and a similar glider cape poofed out from under my armpit.

A shudder ran through me. "Why do I have this on my clothing? Did you actually expect me to...do that sometime?"

"Eventually."

"I'd...like to practice closer to the ground."

Norenio giggled. "You do not have to shuba today."

Come with me. Yatgibi led me down a ramp, into a vast chamber resembling a warehouse, big sealed metal containers all over the place, filled with I don't know what, maybe the stuff they made upstairs? Closed security doors led to...I'm not sure. I saw no pomegranates whatsoever, nor plants, for that matter.

Sometimes my ear slug translated things in my mind that sounded the same but mean something different. I usually got the gist of the idea, but not this time.

Yatgibi told me to wait there for a moment.

"Hey, what are we doing here?"

Instead of answering me, he waddled out the main gate, practically smashing my sister in the door as he telekinetically closed it on his way upstairs.

Once the door catch clanked shut, it got so dark I couldn't see my hand in front of my face.

"Elliott!" My sister cried. "Where are you? I'm scared!"

"Over here."

"I can't see you."

I didn't always glow for romantic reasons. This time, compassionate feelings for my sister, and worries about her caused my chest to illuminate. I opened the front of my outfit a little, and a glowing shape came running up to me.

Small arms wrapped around me. "What is this place? Why did they lock us in?"

"I... don't know. I thought they just didn't want me to blow up the floor. I don't even see the pomegranates they were talking about."

My sister stiffened. "Why would they store grenades in here?"

I shivered. "Grenades? What makes you think they have any of those?"

"Isn't that what you said?"

The words 'grenade' and 'grenadine' come from the pomegranate. It's French. Somehow my brain didn't immediately make the connection, but my sister's ear slug translated what I said into a logical, but much more disturbing word.

"...You think they're going to blow us up?"

I swallowed. "I hope not... honestly, I'm not sure I want to know what they intend to blow up."

On Earth, terrorism seemed like a far away threat, mostly limited to maybe one isolated incident at an airport or Olympic stadium. A nuclear attack by the Russians actually seemed more real. For this reason, I decided to play it safe and wait for actual evidence that Yatgibi actually possessed weapons before flying off the handle making accusations.

"Wait, Gertie. I may have misheard them. They could have been talking about something else, like actual fruit, or some alien thing we're not familiar with, like a Boczura."

"So you think they might not blow us up."

I absently rubbed her head. "I don't know. I kinda think they'd be wasting my newfound talent. Plus I didn't actually see...any weapons...or fruit."

"I hope you're right."

I considered again how the factory owners had talked in conspiratorial tones. Not something I expected legitimate business owners to do, but I thought maybe they had trade secrets they didn't want to leak out or something. I mean, people do put patents on chemicals, and sometimes argue about things like acceptable percentages of insects and rat feces in food products. "I hope so too."

After a few tense moments and a couple whispered prayers, the big door came back open, an assistant levitating lighting equipment and plant boxes into the room.

When Norenio joined us, Gertie shot me a questioning look.

I shook my head, guessing she intended to go blabbing about grenades in front of suspicious individuals, in a room that could possibly be filled with explosives, or something equally dangerous.

As the aliens set up their plant boxes, I thought about running away. Proof or no proof, these guys were sketchy, possibly terrorists.

Unfortunately, I couldn't. Jamie was legally bound to serve her Quarjabbe. Who knew what happened to people that skipped out on their sentencing?

I decided to humor them, to get through this 'public service' quicker.

Casting Gertie a nervous glance, I stuck my hands into the soil and tried my powers again, but my emotions got all tangled in knots. The idea of these 'peaceful' aliens having weapons unsettled me, made me less efficient at my task.

Another fearful question: What would happen to me if I failed?

More importantly, what would happen to Jamie and my sister?

Sometimes the fear of failure is what causes you to fail the most. And, of course, Jamie wasn't there.

What is wrong? Yatgibi growled. Must you always Grunspeke in places with weak flooring?

Norenio, who had joined us at this point, soothed the Qulpari's temper. "He is only a hatchling. He has not manifested these powers before. We must use care if we wish him to manifest them again."

Yatgibi crossed his arms. Then perhaps you should use care and coax this hatchling to make himself useful!

"What of that gaspumil he made? Is that not useful?"

I only wish for him to do it again. Norenio gave me an expectant look.

I locked eyes with my sister, posing a silent question I knew she'd understand without me saying anything.

"Do it, Elliott. They're just plants."

I gave her a grateful nod, focusing on the task more earnestly.

Still distracted. I couldn't make it work. "It's just no use. Jamie's not here."

"What were you thinking of when you did it last time? Maybe if you just kinda think the same thing..."

I tried. I really did. But it was like I had writers block.

"I'm here. Doesn't that count for something?"

I smiled, started thinking about how she was disappointed, maybe a little heartbroken, judging by the facial expression, like I didn't care about her. I wanted to impress her, make her not sad.

Still, it took awhile before something happened. I'd just about given up. "It's just no use. I think it's the absence of natural light-"

As I said this, my hands started glowing.

This time, not nearly as cannon like. The plant came lumbering in its growth like a groggy giant roused from slumber, sluggish but powerful as it swelled out of the confines of its container.

The giant plant reminded me of something from Jack and the Beanstalk, but purple, with a red pumpkin-like `blossom' at the top, as if a bell pepper and a Jack-O-Lantern had a baby. The floor remained unmarred.

Gertie clapped and grinned at me, which made me feel good. "See? I knew you could do it."

That's when I noticed my nose was bleeding.

Yatgibi didn't seem nearly as impressed as I thought he'd be. Instead, I felt like I'd become his cash cow, something to be used, like the girl in the Rumpelstiltskin tale.

He pointed to the plant at the end of the box, one not displaced by the first plant, instructing me to repeat the performance.

I actually made an honest attempt, but got a headache and had to stop. My hands were trembling, my nose dripping blood. I sat down, rubbing my forehead.

What is wrong! Yatgibi demanded. Why did you stop?

"I can't do it," I moaned. "That last one took a lot out of me."

Yatgibistared like he doubted my words, but I just rubbed my forehead and shook my head no.

With an impatient noise, he pointed to my sister. "Can your mate Grunspeke in your place?"

I reddened. "She's not my mate. She's my sister."

He didn't care. Can she do the task?

"I'll try." Gertie stuck her hands in the dirt, furrowing her brow in concentration.

After ten minutes of intense focus, she only managed a feeble imitation of what Yatgibi's assistant could already do.

Yatgibi rolled his eyes. I see that you need rest. We will try again tomorrow. I suppose we will make a fair profit from what you already grew. That's as close to a thank you that I'd ever get.

He led me back out to the deck, but instead of rejoining Jamie in the barn, he led me to that creepy looking door on the side of the tree.

Rather than being chiseled, the massive almond shaped door grew from the surrounding wood, its frame like a pair of gigantic swollen lips, as if a bough had broken off there. Heavy wooden vines grew across the part that resembled hinges, and what appeared to be a set of double doors. Yatgibi asked me to open it.

"I don't get it. If I use my power, wouldn't it make the thing close more?"

I do not know. But I suspect there is a way to make the impediments wither away.

I asked if I could get help from Colzest and Pabyeba, maybe get some advice from them, but he said they were inside, and I could speak to them as soon as I made the attempt.

I frowned. If caring, and positive emotions made things grow, what kind of horrible thoughts would be required to make something wither? And what would ET think of me doing such a thing? "I...don't think I can do that."

Try.

I glanced at my sister. Her eyes seemed to say `Don't.'

I looked to Norenio, but she didn't seem to reflect our unease, acting like the door, and my task, were nothing particularly unusual.

I turned away to think.

I placed my hands on the bark. I'll humor them, but not in the way they want.

I thought about Jamie and Gertie, ignoring nosebleeds and headaches as my hands began to glow.

As expected, the door tightened more securely, and even sprouted leaves and flowers.

Mudo! Yatgibi yelled. No! Stop!

He pushed me away, placing his own hands on the bark.

Crimson light glowed from his fingers, causing my pretty work to shrivel, brown and fall away like October had come.

Change thoughts! he snarled. Wither!

I took a deep breath. "No."

For nearly an entire minute, the Qulpari glared at me in silence, but then something terrible calmed within him.

If you open this door, I will release your mate from Quarjabbe, and will consider all debts paid.