Dystopian Fruits

“Why are we here?” Rædis asked his friend Traveler as he stepped gracefully through the twisted wreckage of the rusted remains of what might have once been a refrigerator.

“Are you speaking literally or existentially?” Traveler replied. Rædis could see him smirking through the transparent faceplate of the powered exosuit he was wearing. The reason for the suit was the environment they were currently in was not pleasant nor safe for organic life.

“Literally, of course. This planet sucks.” the machine said with a roll of his silvery eyes.

Traveler used the enhanced strength the suit provided to push some more wreckage from his path.

“I’m looking for something. The thing is, it only thrives in very specific conditions. Conditions precisely like what we are in now.” he said. He looked at the large piece of sheet metal he had just tossed out of his way with little more effort than one would throw a frisbee. “This suit is awesome, Ræ. I love it.”

To further demonstrate this, he punted a rusty ball of metal a good hundred meters from where he stood. They both watched it arc through the air and land, raising a cloud of dust in the ruined turf.

“Nice kick. Glad you like it. What are we looking for, exactly?” the ever curious robot queried.

“It’s called by the locals well, the ones that remain, a ‘fall out fruit’. Apparently it is a very rare delicacy. A mutation of a fruit that used to be quite common on this world...” Traveler scanned the desolate horizon. ”...before all this happened.”

What had happened was a nuclear war of which this particular portion of the planet bore the brunt of. It cast the majority of the place into a nuclear winter that so far lasted for generations.

The sky over their current position was a bleak grey. Poisoned clouds drifted past a sun that cast a pale, flat light across a broken and desolate landscape. The remains of once towering buildings now sank into the horizon.

The networks of roads that spread out before them were all cracked, broken and littered with the remains of charred vehicles that were now crumbling to rust as they surrendered themselves to the effects of the corrosive snow that often fell and time.

“You would actually eat something that grows in such a hellscape? I mean, I know you’re daring with the things you ingest and allow to interact with your system but still... To eat something that mutated out of a post nuclear holocaust is extreme even for you.” said Rædis as he stepped gingerly around more decimated machinery.

Traveler, who merely waded through the various piles of junk or pushed it out of his way explained further.

“Well, ya can’t just find it and eat it. The fruit has to be very carefully prepared beforehand but I hear it’s absolutely exquisite. I want to make Lisa a fabulous and exotic meal. Something to show her I’m not just a super skilled racing driver, galactic explorer and time traveler.” said the power suited man.

“By serving her fruit from an irradiated swath of radioactive desolation? You’re the weirdest romantic in history.” Rædis said. His voice more than a tad sarcastic.

Traveler let the snarkiness of the remark bounce off his suit and responded positively.

“Thank you. And like I said, if it is properly prepared, the fruit is extraordinary. Or, so I’m told.”

Lisa Hole, the woman Traveler was referring to, was his one and only romantic interest. Their chosen lifestyles kept them from maintaining a steady relationship but when they did get the opportunity to spend time together, Traveler liked to go to unique extremes to impress and delight her.

In all their years together, Rædis never knew his friend to love or been loved by anyone else. Traveler deliberately avoided such attachments and commitments to females but there were many things about Lisa Hole that he found his friend powerless to resist. They walked on, scanning around for the prize they sought.

Most of what they saw out in the open was dusted with dirty, ashy grey snow.

“Man, this place got blasted pretty good. You sure you can find anything that grows around here leave alone these plants yer talkin’ about?” Rædis asked. Traveler didn’t answer for a minute. He merely looked around more. Finally he responded.

“The information I was able to gather about these ‘fallout fruits’ indicated that they grow as high up as possible in order to collect the most amount of sunlight possible. I suspect this is also to gain access to water before it becomes saturated with contaminants as it makes its way down to ground level.

They certainly do not sprout from the soil. I haven’t been looking at the ground to find the plants, I was looking for areas where the ground appears most stable.”

“Ah...I gotcha. When you factor in all the underground transportation systems and other structures beneath the city it would behoove us to watch our step, so to speak.” Rædis said as he got more into the search for these strange delicacies. He refocused his gaze on the remains of the shattered skyscrapers in the distance. “I think those would be a good place to search.”

He stretched out his arm and pointed to the buildings. Traveler smiled. Once Rædis got excited about something he became as enthusiastic as a child in an amusement park, eager to explore everywhere he could.

“That’s the spirit, Ræ. Good thinking.” Traveler squinted as he looked at the cloud shrouded structures of a once prosperous people. “We need to be better equipped to tackle terrain like that. Let’s go back to the ship. We can do a couple flybys, obtain some readings, topological and structural information, stuff like that and determine what kind of gear we’ll need to get into those hulking derelicts.” said Traveler.

They both turned to go. The craft they arrived in was only half a kilometer behind them. Traveler played some more with the power suit he was wearing. He tried to see how hard he could throw chunks of debris into larger chunks of debris. He even managed to knock down a cement wall with was once the engine block of a small vehicle.

“Wow! That was awesome. Again, great design, this suit.” said Traveler. He then tossed the vehicle’s battery at another wall. The result of its impact, however, sparked a small fire so he stopped doing things like that.

Halfway back a game of catch sprung up between the two friends using a brick as an impromptu football.

By the time they arrived at their ship they were laughing and excited to get on with their mission. They ingressed the airlock and once safely sealed inside were thoroughly detoxified, scrubbed free of pollutants and trace radiation. After Traveler crawled out of the power suit they could enter the ship proper.

Rædis, who had left the coveralls he was wearing outside the ship redressed himself in fashionable but durable clothing. He donned green cargo pants, thick soled black boots and a 20th century ‘M-1’ style bomber jacket.

Because he was a robotic life form he didn’t have to worry about radiation, chemical contamination or the other environmental conditions his human friend had to be weary of but he liked the look of action oriented apparel.

Traveler wore similar style clothing while in the power suit only with much more padding and protection in vital places. He took his seat in the forward section of the large craft and awaited Rædis to join him.

He took the opportunity to eat, hydrate and smoke. As he settled in for his snack he switched on the ship’s sound system and began playing some upbeat tunes inside and outside the ship with the thought that if anything alive out there could hear it they would appreciate something better than the dismal view.

Rædis joined him shortly, grooving to the beat of the song that was playing.

“I dig this jam. Old Earth music, huh?” he said over the din.

“Oh yeah, you bet. Still number one in outer space.” Traveler said, sparking up a self lighting smoke with a bite on its filter tip.

Once Rædis was seated and secured Traveler fired up their ship’s motors and began their hop over to the derelict buildings on the horizon. Beneath them passed the decimated cityscape. Rædis watched it as they progressed further into the city. His ever expressive face reflected a sadness Traveler rarely saw on the robot.

“What makes you people do this to one another? It’s madness.” he remarked quietly. Traveler sighed as he guided their ship closer to the broken buildings.

“Many things, my friend.” said the time traveler morosely. “Political ideology, religion, etcetera...take yer pick. Your machine race never fought a war against itself?” he asked. Oddly enough, that question had never come up between them before.

“Nope. It would be illogical.” Rædis said.

“Well, what about the others like you that had split themselves off from your machine collective? Have any ever returned to try and change things or take control?” asked Traveler.

“Nah. Once free of the collective few have ever returned. The ones that did, the ones that found the universe separate from the collective more or less than they thought it would be were just reprogrammed and returned to the system. We don’t succumb to the same prejudices that sentient, organic life forms seem to consistently do. The race I came from exist as a contemplative whole. It’s why they remain isolated from the rest of universal life. They explore in an attempt to learn all they can.”

“What about when they are assaulted by races that are hostile to them?” asked Traveler.

“It rarely has happened. They learn what they can as quickly as possible, file the information and move on. Never in our billion year history have we been aggressors, conquerors or conquered.” replied the robot.

Traveler arched his eyebrows.

“That is impressive, Ræ. Truly. You should be proud.”

“I am.” Rædis said. “You should be too.” he added as he looked out across the ruins they passed over.

“Really? Why?” asked Traveler.

“That your various races still exist and continue to thrive despite your destructive natures.” he said.

Traveler chuckled lightly.

“I love how you can be complimentary and insulting at the same time.”

“Nothing personal, pal. After all...you’re not only human but my best friend. Got a smoke?”

Traveler grinned.

“For you...always.” he said and handed his friend the dull metal case he kept them in.

Soon Traveler had them hovering fifty meters above the tallest of the most upright and stable looking of the skyscrapers. A downward facing view of what they were over appeared across the windshield with the flick of a switch by Rædis. He zoomed in and panned the camera around. The grey, ashen snow blanketed the slanted rooftop.

The slant was not a design aspect of the building. It was so because the entire thing was not only damaged by nuclear heat that had melted its superstructure, it was also sinking into the eroding ground upon which it stood or rather, leaned.

“I see nothing alive on anything greater than a microbial scale.” Rædis reported after a scan of the roof but then abruptly corrected himself. “No...no wait. I have a reading after all. Behind us, on the highest corner.”

“Excellent.” said Traveler. “Easy part complete.”

“And the hard part...” Rædis began.

”...harvesting some.” they said in unison.

It was obvious to the both of them that landing on the building was not a possibility for there was no way it would safely support the weight of the large craft.

Rædis gave Traveler no time to suggest what he knew his friend was thinking.

“I am not going to drop down onto the rooftop and collect some fruit then be hoisted back aboard. I saw the gear and harness required for that when I was getting changed.” he said to Traveler.

“Seriously man? It’s the easiest and quickest way to get at the fruit. C’mon...” Traveler pleaded. He nudged Rædis with his elbow to encourage him. ”...Please?” he said, hopefully.

The robot was not hip to the idea though despite his friend’s attempts to goad him into doing it.

“There is no way I’m going to dangle from a rope above an unstable building with you at the controls of our big-ass ship. No way.”

“Right then. That means we’re going to have to hoof it up the seventy some floors of this, as you said, unstable building, to get to the roof and at the prize we seek.” Traveler told him with a shrug.

“Well...you said you wanted an adventure when we began this endeavor and besides, I thought you were doing this to impress Lisa Hole. How impressive is it if I simply hop down and pluck a few of these fruits simply to have you hoist me safely back up again. You basically would have done nothing.”

Traveler had to concede this point to Rædis for he was right.

“Would you really tell her that is how we obtained these damned things.” asked Traveler.

“Yes. I would.” Rædis said to spite him and also to prompt him into more dynamic action.

“Fair enough. Well then, we best get suited up and properly kitted out. Who knows what we’ll come across inside this hulking wreck of a structure.” said Traveler, now filled with resolve and determination. He then found a large enough clearing near enough to the building to accommodate their machine and gently set it on the ground.

Their landing kicked up a huge plume of poisonous dirt and snow of the neverending nuclear winter that, even after gearing up to go out, they had to wait another twenty minutes for it to settle before they could exit the ship to begin their ascent.

After a short walk to the building they first had to clear a fair amount of debris out of the way before entering, taking care not to trigger any further collapse to the front. Unfortunately, they did. Part of what they cleared was propping up the entrance and a fair amount of the twisted structure slid over the front of the building, obscuring it.

“Shit. That sucked.” Traveler said as he stepped out of the way of a chunk of building that fell where he had just been standing. Rædis looked up and mapped out a route in his mechanical mind that they might be able to follow up the exterior.

“We could try and scale this thing.” He looked over at his friend. “How much is this girl worth impressing?” he asked already knowing the answer. Traveler loved the woman. In all their time together she was the only one to ever even make a dent in the fortress the time traveler had built around his heart.

“Enough to tackle this mother of a structure. C’mon, it’ll be fun.” said Traveler optimistically. Within the power suit Rædis had built for him he felt like he could handle a much greater challenge. Rædis sighed his electric sigh.

“Okay then...follow me. I think I got a pretty stable route mapped out. He unshouldered some of the climbing gear he equipped himself with. It was a gun that shot a thin steel cable twenty meters up into the building. It anchored itself firmly into the material of the exterior. Rædis yanked on it a few times and began his ascent.

Once he reached a stable spot he awaited his friend to do the same. Down below him Traveler examined the building’s exterior with multiple sensors Rædis had built into the suit. Structural information was displayed across its faceplate.

Without bothering to shoot a cable, Traveler crouched down and using the powerful servos of the suit, leapt nearly as high up as Rædis had climbed. He anchored himself into the facade with sheer force. Applying the same force he literally crawled the rest of the way up until he was two meters higher than his friend.

Traveler looked down at him and smiled.

“Race you to the top.” he challenged the machine. Rædis smiled back up at him.

“You are so on, mate.” said he and abandoned the climbing gear, let it drop back to the ground. The two friends then began free climbing up the side of the derelict building as quickly as they were able. Each one took a path they felt was optimal.

It became man in a machine versus a machine. Rædis was quicker but Traveler was stronger. He punched and kicked hand and footholds into the side of the structure as Rædis found finger holds and scaled the building like Spiderman.

Traveler hammered his way up the side sending pieces crumbling down the tower as he struggled to keep up. The already unstable structure shook as the two raced up its side higher and higher. With only a dozen meters left Rædis pulled out all the stops.

Being much lighter than his suited friend he found a sturdy place to stand and jumped the final distance sticking a landing at the very edge. He teetered for a moment, regained his balance and turned around to check out Traveler.

Rædis’ final jump had dislodged a good sized chunk of masonry that his friend had been anchored in. Using all the suit’s power he made a final leap in an attempt to grab the lip of the top of the building but was short. Lucky for him he was just high enough for Rædis to quickly crouch down, reach out and grab the man by his outstretched hand.

He pulled is friend the remaining way up and both collapsed away from the edge as it broke off and fell away from the building. It plummeted seventy stories to the ground and shattered into a hundred pieces among the snow covered ground below with a muffled crash.

They both got to their feet and tentatively looked down over the new edge. Traveler looked over at Rædis.

“Whew...thanks, man.” he said, genuinely grateful.

“I totally beat you.” Rædis said with a smug smirk. Traveler hit him in the face with a dirty snowball.

“Congratulations.” he said. Rædis wiped the poisoned snow away from his face. His silver eyes shone brightly with juvenile triumph, however.

“Right. Now that we’re up here can we find your stupid plants and get off this shithole planet please?”

Traveler laughed as he regained his wind. He had lost count of how many times they had saved one another from certain death and the incident was overlooked as they spread out on the slanted rooftop of the skyscraper to seek out their prize.

Traveler found them first. Half a dozen of the fallout fruits were growing in a bank of snow, rooted in the remains of what was once an air conditioning unit. They had used the filters of the thing to take root in and were nourished by the thick sludge that the filters had been reduced to.

“Over here, man! I found some. Come check it out!” he hollered happily. Rædis walked over next to his friend and peered down at the sought after fruit. What he saw was the ugliest, most unappealing vegetation he had ever seen. He made a disgusted face.

“Those are them!? Cripes, mate. Why would anyone ever think such a hideous looking thing would ever be edible leave alone something you’d even want to get close to?” asked he.

What he was looking at resembled a mostly grey/green mass of slime. Extending from the center of this disgusting blob were tentacle like roots that laced themselves in and around the wet remains of the carbon air filters. Embedded within the gelatinous mass were hard, green nodules with grey patterns on them like grapefruit sized watermelons.

The nodules themselves were speckled with tiny, black, wart-like bumps. Were the robot capable of getting sick he would have thrown up in his mouth a little bit at the sight of this unnatural vegetation. He backed away from the abhorrent mass.

“Those are all yours, pal. I ain’t touchin’ them.” he said and instead turned his gaze to the monochromatic desolation they were in the middle of. “This place sucks.” he said, echoing his initial sentiments.

Traveler knelt down and took a tool from a compartment in his suit. He used it to reach into the slimy mass harboring the fallout fruits and plucked them out one by one. They did not come out easily. The goo they grew in was sticky and had the consistency of toothpaste but with a little effort he managed to remove a half dozen of the sickening things and plop them into a metal case.

He replaced the case on his suit and stood up.

“Yeah, let’s get off this rock. Umm...how are we gonna get down?” he asked when the question dawned on him. He stood next to Rædis and also studied the view.

“Shit. Good question. I guess we’ll have to go down through the building.” said Rædis with a shrug. This turned out to be more time consuming than it was difficult or dangerous. The boys used defunct elevator shafts, stairwells and, most frequently, carefully smashed their way to the floors below.

Rædis even paused in their progress a few times to examine and pick up a few artifacts he found interesting along the way. He grabbed a small phone, something he thought was a stapler but was a small phone and lastly, a rolodex of sorts full of names of people he would never know.

“Why did you take that?” Traveler asked him. The robot shrughed.

“I dunno. Perhaps maybe to preserve some memory of the people that used to be here.” he said. Traveler found his friend’s sentimentality touching and once they reached the bottom of the building, they exited and walked back to their ship.

After once again decontaminating in the airlock they took off, leaving the world to never return.

Back on board Rædis’ worldship, Traveler took his prize to a kitchen and began to prepare the fallout fruit.

He placed the box containing the fruits into a larger, transparent box equipped with gloves that allowed him to manipulate what was inside without touching it. He removed the fruits, cleaned off the film of slime covering them, thoroughly cleaned and decontaminated them and was finally able to handle the things with his own hands.

Rædis watched him do all this with some fascination.

“How did you learn how to do this?” he asked his friend. Traveler simply replied:

“I looked it up.”

The man transferred the fruit to a cutting board and with a ceramic blade cut one in half. The pair were mystified by what they saw inside.

Within the fruit was a mostly hallow space but clinging to the skin from the inside were hundreds of tiny, jewel-like seeds of a beautiful deep purple color. The fruit resembled a geod like one would find inside a rock. The seeds sparkled under the lights of the kitchen.

“Wow...” they both said as Traveler rotated the fruit in his hand to catch the overhead light as it bounced off the colorful seeds. He scraped off a couple.

“Wanna try one?” he said, offering a few to his friend.

“You first.” said Rædis, dubious of the foreign fruit. Traveler popped one in his mouth. It dissolved instantly on his tongue and a smile blossomed across his face.

“They’re sweet. Try one.” he offered again. Rædis did and had a similar reaction.

“Well...there ya go, mate. A super exotic treat for your girl to enjoy. Well done.” said Rædis. He patted his friend on the back and went off to find something else to do.

Traveler set himself to the task of preparing a dish for the date he was later to enjoy with his one and only love.