Ellie Quin - 04 - Ellie Quin in WonderLand by Alex Scarrow Read Free Book Online Page B

someone will have another go at Celestion.'
    They passed through wrought iron gates into a walkway lined with flower pots containing long stemmed plants with an assortment of apple-sized bright yellow, brown, and pink bulbs on the end.
    ‘And of course the entire Seventh Veil system is experiencing a protracted economic recession,’ said Shelby.‘Which doesn’t really help matters. I suppose though, the corporation is expecting that the cycle will eventually swing round to positive economic growth. Then, there will be enough demand in this system for a resort like this. So, they keep it quietly running with a skeleton crew of technicians.’
    Ellie stopped and cupped one of the bright yellow bulbs in her hand. ‘These are really beautiful plants. What are they?’
    ‘KandyBliss Bulbs.’
    Ellie nodded. ‘Nice name.’
    ‘Oh,’ Shelby rolled his eyes in an exaggerated loop. ‘They’re some geneticists idea of
fun
. I suppose I could show you. Watch…you’ve got to stroke the stem.’
    ‘Uh?’
    Shelby reached to the nearest plant, placed his fingers gently around the base of the plant’s stem and slowly ran his fingers up it. The KandyBliss bulb seemed to shudder slightly, then all of a sudden pink petals opened up and spread out like the head of a sunflower. A small stamen in the centre of the flower spurted out a cloud of pink smoke. It hung in the still air.
    ‘Ughh,’ Jez took a step backwards. ‘What did it do!?’
    ‘The microsporangium of these things contains sacks of infertile but flavoured pollen.’ Shelby leant forward and inhaled some of the pink cloud. ‘This one I believe is cotton candy flavoured. It also induces a mild but quite natural high.’ He nodded at Jez and Ellie. ‘Try it.’
    Ellie turned to the nearest bulb; brown. ‘Knowing my luck this one’s going to smell like crap.’
    Shelby looked at her sternly for a moment, then without warning shucked his shoulders and chortled. ‘Oh, my…that’s rather funny. Well done.’ He flapped his hand dismissively. ‘Obviously, it's not poop flavoured. Try it. I think you might like it.’
    She reached for the stem.
    ‘Lower down near the base…that’s it,’ he said, ‘now slide your hand gently upwards.’
    Her fingers felt coarse bristles down at the bottom. ‘My God, it’s all hairy!’
    ‘Hairy?’ Shelby sighed. ‘Those are tactile receptors, microfilium. You need to activate those with an upward stroking action for the bulb to be stimulated.’
    Ellie closed her fist lightly around the stem and slowly slid her hand up. She felt the plant gently shudder and twitch slightly, then the bulb swung open with the soft rustle of unfolding petals and a gentle
pffft
…as the stamen exhaled a small cloud of brown pollen spores into the air.
    ‘That's it,’ said Shelby impatiently. ‘Now, you should take a good sniff.’
    Cautiously Ellie leant forward and inhaled. And grinned.
    ‘Well?’ said Jez after a moment. ‘
Is
it poop flavoured then?’
    ‘Wow.’ Ellie shook her head. ‘Uh uh. What is that? It smells so yummy!’
    ‘Indeed.’ Shelby nodded. ‘I believe it's based on the flavour of an Old Earth confectionary. I think they called it
toffee
.’
    Jez stuck her head into the cloud, her nostrils flared as she inhaled deeply. ‘Oh, that’s soooo scrum-tastic. Crud! I’m all hungry now!’
    'So, there you go,' Shelby tapped his foot impatiently. ‘Come along. Enough sniffing. They're just frivolous novelty plants, anyway. There are far more interesting things you should see.’
    He led them down the walkway, out onto a large circular paved plaza.
    ‘This is…or would have been, the central mustering point for the guests. From here they could choose which world they would want to go and visit for the day.’
    Off the plaza, eight paths wound away through the narrow cobbled streets of the small village, down the lush grassy slopes of the hill on which it was perched, towards the very edge of the central biome.
    From