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I do not know why I let Ratthi convince me that this was a good idea. It was a terrible idea. What sort of person wants to sit themselves atop a skinny, two-wheeled, pedal-powered ground vehicle that doesn’t even have assisted stability control?
“Come on, SecUnit. It will be fun! It's an adventure. You should try something new once in awhile.”
“It is on a planet, Ratthi. In a "Wilderness Area." And those ground vehicles seem excessively dangerous.”
“Nah, wear a helmet and it’s fine.”
“That does not seem sufficient protection from fall damage.”
Ratthi waved off my concern, stating that these were one of the first vehicles that children were allowed to operate. This seemed a wild lapse in judgment that only humans could come up with.
I was absolutely not going to go on the two-wheeled, pedal-powered ground vehicle on a planet.
—————
I was on a two-wheeled, pedal-powered ground vehicle on a planet.
Ratthi decided that he was going anyway, and I wound up following him because of course I did.
I hated it.
“Aren’t you glad you came? Just feel the wind in your hair!”
“I can do that while running.”
“It is soooo not the same.” Ratthi insisted, looking back towards me. I wished he hadn’t because when he did so, he accidentally veered his vehicle off the side of the road and crashed.
“Ratthi!” I jumped off my stupid ground vehicle and ran to where Ratthi was laying on the ground in a long, shallow ravine that ran beside the road. The trench was full of long flora, and the flora was covered with human piercing spikes!
Ratthi was, of all things, laughing. He was laying there in a ravine of spikes laughing! I scanned both Ratthi and the flora. The scan showed that the flora was not poisonous. That was suspicious given Ratthi’s response to this situation.
I carefully stepped down into the ravine near Ratthi.
“Is this flora a type of intoxicant?” I asked as I moved to help Ratthi up and out of the ravine. My scan said it wasn't, but I couldn't reconcile Ratthi's reaction any other way.
“What? No, why?”
I was so very confused. Why was this funny? It must have been showing on my face somehow, though I was trying to keep it neutral.
“No, they’re blackberries. They’re not in season right now, but the fruit is delicious.”
“The hostile, spike flora makes food?” That just didn’t seem right. Why would anyone walk through spike flora for food? Humans are weird, but seriously. Why?
Ratthi laughed. “They’re not hostile. And those aren't spikes, they’re just thorns.”
I waited for a definition. Waiting out humans is easy.
“Okay, they’re sort of spikes, but they’re short and can’t cause that much damage if you’re careful.”
“Your arms are leaking.” I informed him. "And you have torn your shirt."
“Eh, just a little.”
“I am going to remember this next time you complain when I say I’m leaking “just a little.”” I told him.
"You say that when you're bleeding out. It's not the same." He waved me off, insisting he was fine and that we should keep going.
The rest of the trip passed without incident.
There was a human at the kiosk when we arrived to return the ground vehicles when the rental period was complete.
“Welcome back! How was your ride.”
“Dangerous. Ratthi fell into a ravine full of hostile spike flora.”
Ratthi rushed in, just barely not touching me as he hurried around me to speak to the person at the kiosk. Why Preservation can’t just use bots for this like anywhere else is beyond me.
“No, no, no!” Ratthi insisted. “Don’t mind my friend here. It’s just like that. We had a lovely ride, though I did take a bit of a spill into a ditch full of blackberries.”
“Ravine. Spike flora.” I insisted.
“I’m fine, and we had a wonderful time. Thank you.”