Grown from cells of both plant and human - this lovely experiment has gone awry some how. She escaped her creators not long ago, and has not been seen since.
With no mother or father to call her own, Ihrinnah bears some amount of ill will to her creators. They knew that the variety of genetics they were using to create her were collected from a number of highly awarded scientists, artists and innovators. It was no wonder to her that her mind blossomed long before her body did.
In fact, she became self aware within the cloning tube as a budding embryo. This notion would have terrified her creators, so she kept it from them, acting innocently and with curiosity when they pulled her from the vat.
Her body grows at a slow pace, matching that of a human being. However she has very different internal parts and her skin is able to take nourishment from the very sunlight - or water if it is clean.
Ihrinnah photosynthesizes and enjoys her time basking in the sunlight. She can eat human foods, but prefers not to. She feels it is barbaric to have to then excrete wastes when she is capable of giving off oxygen and other pure nutrients after synthesizing them.
She does feel quite superior to her creators. However she wonders - did they make her fertile? And with what can she breed? Humans both fascinate and repulse her - but she has not yet found a proper plant-based life form that actually has some form of intelligence to it. So she may be stuck with breeding with organic humanoids.
It is unknown what her lifespan will be. Some say she might be immortal.
When she heard the all clear from the bridge that they had gotten out of hyperspace and away from her home world, Ihrinnah stepped free of the container she'd hidden herself in. It was supposed to have a barrel of sap-syrup, yet another product of the world she was from. The rich kids on the worlds who could afford this delicacy would have to go without it.
The starship was large, newish, and crewed by a young bunch of pilots and staff. Not one of the humans aboard were older than 35, and as such not one of them had the presence of mind to make sure that there were no hitch hikers aboard.
Ihrinnah strode through the halls looking for an appropriate dorm. There were many, the ship was either understaffed or far too large for its own good. She found a place, and locked the door behind her.
The dorm was spartan but soon seemed to blossom with life. She gave off a whiff of perfume everywhere she went, an intoxicating smell indeed. She'd tried it out on the guards to her home cage, and it worked admirably. It would continue to work.
She sat at the console of the dorm's computer hook up, and glanced over the ship's logs. There were bound to be some iced areas, which she would easily be able to get around. Memorizing the layout of the craft took all of twenty minutes. Cargo holds and structural empty zones made up most of the place - it would be able to hold quite a lot more than it currently carried. The crew quarters took only a tiny portion, and there was a recreation room which she spied upon.
There were more than half the crew in it now, and only another eleven more on active duty - the scattered others were mostly asleep in their quarters. She disabled the computer's online warning system, and the optical contacts to the rec room. After making some minor calculations in her head, Ihrinnah strode down to the entertainment sector.
"Who's this?" Asked one of the crewmen. He stared at Ihrinnah like a puppy when she released a bit more orchid-grown scent.
"I'm Ihrinnah, your new commander." She stated. One or two of the farther away members of the crew tried to do something, clamboring to the scanners for a contact to the bridge- but Ihrinnah asked one of the already-entranced men to stop them, and they did.
"Now now, I'm not going to harm anyone, I just want to find a place to go. As long as it's far away from my cage on that wretched world, I will be quite happy."
"Well we do have a couple stops to make on our way to the trading center," said someone. "We could drop you off at one of them, if you think it's a nice world."
"I have looked over your manifest and logs, and I do not like any of the worlds we would be coming in contact with. I am afraid that I will have to divert your course."
"You'll make people wonder where we got to," someone else mentioned. Ihrinnah knew this, but didn't want to be reminded.
"Would you prevent me from having my own life?" Ihrinnah spat, and the crewman jerked back.
"No - no, that's not what I mean. You could wait, until after we reach our trading port. Then we could... get you where you want to be, and make a collection trip of it too."
Ihrinnah tilted her head, "you're clever. I like you. Come along, perhaps you will be of help convincing your captain of this."
***
And while it took a little work - the captian was a woman, who was largely immune to Ihrinnah's pheremone secretions - the crew were convinced that helping this odd green-skinned woman was their best option.
The captain didn't want to know what the girl would do, if given an unpleasant answer. She didn't look all that strong, but she was ... different. And they had encountered many species of alien life which was not what it seemed.
"We'll finish our work, and then perhaps hire out as an explorer vessel," the captain announced, "but there will be some rules you must follow, just like the rest of my crew. Do you understand?"
Ihrinnah narrowed her bright eyes, this wasn't what she expected. "I'm quite sick of other people's rules," she said.
"I am aware of that. Do you think you're the only one who's ever rebelled against her parents?"
"I have no parents," spat the plant-clone. "I'm unique."
"You may be, but you still rebelled, and look at where you might have wound up? You could be blasted away into space, you know. There's the security link," she pointed to it, "unless you've disabled that too."
Ihrinnah's eyes came back up to the captain. "I won't be held again. I'm ..."
The captain moved closer, Ihrinnah wanted to back away but there was precious little room in the small chamber where they spoke. "I am still willing to help you, don't get me wrong, Ihrinnah," the captain said, low. "But you are not an experienced trader, you are not a pilot, you aren't part of the crew - you're a stowaway or worse, a pirate. If you want to keep my good side showing, you'll think about the rules I'm going to give you, and you'll agree to them because it will be in your best interests. I'll not have a mutiny on my hands, I may be young, but I'm not a fool. You're smarter than you look, green girl," she warned, "but so am I."
Ihrinnah nodded. Though the woman was barely twice her age, Ihrinnah detected a sense of strength. She hadn't counted on that. But, it still stung that she was to be subject to more rules, so soon after her freedom.
But the rules weren't all that bad, it turned out. She was to release the thralls she'd made of half the men on board, turning off her pheremones and relying upon their actual good graces instead of her eerie abilities. She was to be helpful in any way she could be, but only at the request of a crew member - no "altering" things without permission. And, she was not to contact anyone outside the ship, until they had officially finished their current run.
All of those things seemed somewhat more reasonable than Ihrinnah originally thought. She was eventually quite glad to give her mind and body a work out when the time came to dock and get things sorted out. She helped out checking the manifest, and sent one man into sick bay - not because she damaged him, but because she could detect an illness he might spread to the rest of the ship's crew.
This went on for the next three months. It was an excrutiatingly long time at the start, but when the tour was over, at last, Ihrinnah found that she had come to enjoy the company of people again. People who treated her as an equal, not a subject.
The captain obviously noticed this feeling, in the girl. "Do you want to stay on with us, instead? It's more of a hassle than it's really worth, getting a permit for exploratory work. And there's more than enough supply runs out there to keep us busy for a while. Your home world isn't on the docket for another three years - other ships have that run now."
"I... I want to stay for a while." Ihrinnah announced, to the pleasure of the crew. The captain nodded, and made it official by awarding Ihrinnah a crewman's identification tag.
"We'll be headed out in two weeks then, if you want to use those powers of yours on the portside, I've got no objections to it. Just not on the crew."
Ihrinnah laughed, and gave a poorly practiced salute. "Yes ma'am!"
***
"I can't help but notice that you're looking a little yellowish," said one of the crewmen, "are you okay?"
Ihrinnah nudged her face into a scowl, and looked at him with a slow blink.
"I'm wilting..." she said, "I need some real sunlight. These lamps are okay," she indicated the rec-room's tanning chamber, "but they're not enough. I think we all need some sun."
It was true, the last run they were on was a long one, and they'd spent far too much time in deep space, drifting between planets that were just too close together to jump-dock, while they were still just too far apart to be a convienent trip. Jumping was expensive, and ships like this big cargo tanker drew an awful lot of energy doing it. They had more than adequate engines for in-space moves, but it just took a long time.
"You'd think that people would just ... live closer together or something," Ihrinnah said, groaning slightly as she turned over in the artificial light. "I'm so tired of this light..."
Fortunately for everyone the trip ended within five days, and their shore leave was welcomed by all. Ihrinnah looked up at the warm, yellow sun, and basked. Turning a deeper color green, within minutes, she decided that while the ship was fun, she did truly belong on a planet with a sun like this one. She was after all, a cholorophyll-user.
Back on the ship after their leave, the captain approached Ihrinnah. "I can see that wandering eye of yours..." She said.
"You ... you're right, I just can't keep this up for much longer. Not if we're going to be drifting like this time."
"It's unavoidable, you know." The captain said, "We're going to a colony world, it's got a darker sun but it's supposed to be fairly nice to live on. Planet named Pern."
"I thought that colony was dead?" Ihrinnah glanced at the shipboard information net.
"So did a lot of people, until the dragons started coming out of there."
"... Dragons?" Ihrinnah lifted an eyebrow. "Come on. I mean, yeah, I'm a plant girl, but ... dragons? They're myths!"
"Nope, they're genetically engineered, like you. Or can't myths be founded in reality?" The captain grinned broadly, and watched Ihrinnah's face change.
"Dragons... Hmn... Something as odd as me, that could be interesting. Indeed..."
"I'll let you think about that. It's next on the docket, so make your decision by the time we get there." The captain left the room, and Ihrinnah couldn't stop thinking about the dragons.
***
"I must stay here," Ihrinnah stated, as they unloaded the shuttle craft. "I simply must. This place is fantastic. Dragons - and these little spitty lizards, and everything... And the sun isn't darker, just older... Wow..."
Finally, the captain thought, something that actually made a dent in that girl's exterior.
"Well, then I hope you find your way here. We've... really enjoyed having you aboard." The captain stuck out her hand and Ihrinnah shook it, then hesitated, but shortly dragged herself close for a hug.
"You've been like a ... big sister to me, I think... I wouldn't know..." Ihrinnah gave off a little sob. "Thank you. I've left my quarters filled with plants. Make sure they don't all die."
"Oh, I don't think the guys will have a problem watering them. It's their way of remembering you. Now, off you go. This is Firestone Weyr, you see?" She waved her hand and someone else waved back, approaching. "You behave. Rules apply here too."
"I know..." She sighed, "But this time I'll have an easier time following them..."
LATER...
The beautiful glowing green of the eggs made Ihrinnah smile. There would be some interesting things from those eggs. And she could tell that one of them would be hers. She gravitated toward one egg when the candidates were allowed near them, she wanted to touch it but the green dams of the clutches weren't about to allow that.
Later on, though, only about a week, the hatching was announced. The thrumm of humming filled the air and as everyone filed in, the glowing eggs had begun to shake too.
Ihrinnah was so excited she could barely contain herself. She had to keep tabs on how much scent she was putting out - but when the first egg hatched she just forgot and squealed with amazement.
Someone else bellowed about how the dragon was wingless - that was rather tactless, but Ihrinnah didn't blame the little hatchling when she vanished in a sort of chamelon-ish way.
Then the egg which Ihrinnah had been wondering about hatched. The white headed green which came out broke the shell with her wings strongly, and showed that she had grey spines and glowed beautifully without her shell.
Because they had been taught to stand their ground while the hatchlings made their choices, Ihrinnah obeyed and didn't go running toward the hatchling. But instead, the green-white walked with purpose to her side.
I like your scent. I remember your voice. I am Uteneth!
"Her name is Uteneth!" Ihrinnah cried out, smiling broadly. Finally she had someone who would never leave her, and she'd never want to leave.
They went to find food - the least enjoyable part of the training was getting the meat cut up but this one time, the new bonds didn't have to worry about it, all their food was prepared already!
While the other young riders primarily had places to be and things to do, once their dragons had grown up, Ihrinnah was left with an odd feeling. She had no where to go.
I want to go see this place in your mind. The back of your mind.
"You want to go back to the lab?!" Ihrinnah gasped, "are you crazy? I can't go back there."
Why not? With me by your side they could hardly do anything bad to you.
"But they would try. And they would try it on you too."
You do not need to worry about that! Uteneth pulled herself up to her full height - and with her horns that was pretty impressive indeed.
Ihrinnah sat down on the ledge of their den, and worried. Maybe she ought to go back, just to show them who was boss? Or just to gloat? That she had survived on her own, had prospered without their 'help' in the wild... That was important. But she hardly wanted to express to these men and women that they'd done anything along the way to help her.
Yeah, they brought her into existence! But that was it! How could she bring herself to believe that they even deserved to see her again?
You were very brave to run away. You should be brave enough to go back and face them.
With that, Ihrinnah knew what she had to do.
