Victor Alberto Bueno Marichal: A spore that came from outside

A spore that came from outside

“All of the experts agree, the fungus that appeared in Madagascar is not from this planet. Its arrival has already been traced to the city of Sbisal III, famous for its robo-tennis team and the university's faculty of life sciences”
“Before it jumped to Africa, no one worried much about the nearly meters, twenty kilos fungi that covered that island in two and a half years”
“Its repulsive odor, detectable from over two hundred meters away by a synthetic tobacco smoker, and its flesh, which is a potent poison and burns skin up close, forced the inhabitants, and the animals that could, to emigrate”
“I don't know if that fungus is hurt by being sprayed with Violet Agent and burned with napalm. The truth is, it dies like any tree: firm. That's also how it lives”
“Concrete, asphalt, glass, steel, earth, sand, anything, put it wherever you want; it will thrive, and it will send its spores for more"
"We already know it only needs air to feed"
Sam, the host bot in-the-central-room, turned the hologram of the planet and touched a red dot in Brisbane, Australia, with his index finger. He said:
"And regarding the peace negotiations between the three blocs of the World countries Organization (WOC), we will contact our team on-site."
The host bot on-site greeted and said:
“I'm with the representative of West Central Punjab to the WOC, who has a very important message"
--Using the five minutes of global broadcast allotted to my country this month, I have the pleasure of greeting all the inhabitants of this beautiful planet and congratulating our tracto-cricket team for once again winning the world championship. I will also deny the unfounded accusations, from a country not even worth mentioning, that we have shown no interest in the war against the invasive fungus. The lie indicator over my image will remain transparent when I deny them now that I'm going to say this:
--Our air force has participated in more than ten bombing operations against the invading fungus—then with a large medal in his hands, he added:
--Now pull me up because I'm going to pin the medal on the team captain.
A large crane began to raise the platform where the representative was standing.
The panda boy changed forums; he was bored, uninterested in the news, and he had just been waiting for papa panda to go to his workroom, which he called his "office".
In Intergalactic Conquest (IC), he was on level three. The decorations for objectives achieved gleamed on his avatar's uniform when they needed to be displayed, but now he was wearing the fighter pilot's spacesuit, and only his squadron insignia had some color on the black camouflage.
--Copilot—he asked—what do we have today?
On his helmet's visor, the long-range radar showed him the location of an enemy reconnaissance patrol, and the evasion, surveillance, and attack routes.
His retinas showed more interest in the attack route, and it zoomed in on every detail.
<<Percentages>> he thought.
--30% Success, here we have four fighters and a supply ship, but that's a thousand points, 42,706 points are left for level 4-- said his copilot.
<<Requesting authorization to engage>> anxiously thought panda boy.
On his visor, his squadron commander (whose dark circles under his eyes showed the exhaustion from the responsibility of his position) simply said:
--Hit those marauders hard—and before closing the communications, he added, raising his right thumb:
--Good hunting.
<<I'm going to use two escort drones and four attack drones>> thought the panda boy.
His score for level 4 increased to 43,306. On each side of him, two panda pilots greeted him from their drones raising their right thumbs.
He used his right thumb to press the red button above his command stick and mentally ordered <<!Fire!>>
All of their weapons hit their targets, including those of their attack drones. The marauders had launched two attack drones five milliseconds before he launched his, but they were neutralized by his escort drones.
An image of an invader transport ship appeared on the radar. He pressed the red button again, and the image disappeared.
His squadron commander filled his entire field of vision and said:
--Congratulations! You've earned two hundred additional points because those traitors attacked earlier, and because they weren't just marauders, but invaders.
<<Status>> thought the panda boy.
--41,606 points left until level 4. It's sad we lost the escort bots-- said the copilot bot.
--yes-- said the panda boy as he took off his Amplified Virtual Reality (AVSR) headset.
<<When I’ll reach level 4, I'll be able to use the intracranial interface to the AVSR, and the marauders will see how they'll gain a five millisecond advantage over me>> he thought as he went to the refrigerator to get something to eat.
---------------
The lights in the living room came on.
--Are you a terrorist from Animal Protection (AP) or the Anti-Bot League (AL)?--the boss asked me after She stopped applauding-- She added--Where's the training in camaraderie and teamwork between humans and bots?
--I'm going to make you cry-- I replied.
--With or without gas?"
--In the next chapter, panda boy is going to place his most valuable medal on the unknown bot's tombstone in gratitude for all the copilot and companion bots he have had.
--I'm going to cry, but of hunger. I want penguin soup, and my food synthesizer told me it can't make it with the materials it has—and She added, smiling—-Do you think yours can?
--If mine can't either, it's just a matter of adapting the template.
--Shall we?
--The old man, the crazy one, and I answered:
--Yes!

Li Tao
VABM Apr 24, 2025
https://riistas.wordpress.com/2025/04/26/a-spore-that-came-from-outside/
Download in PDF format