Sunflower, Helianthus annuus, is an herbaceous annual plant in the family Asteraceae, grown for its seeds. The plant has a thick, hairy, erect stem which gives rise to a large flower head. Sunflowers are annual plants, harvested after one growing season and can reach 1–3.5 m (3.3–11.5 ft) in height. Sunflower may also be referred to as girasole and originates from North America.
The boy was staring at the horizon, wondering where the ship would bring him this time. They were looking for something, but he was not sure what. The ship refused to give him a clear answer, always giving him vague explanations such as ‘It is of the utmost importance for our survival’ or ‘we are looking for something critical for our journey’.
During their last trip they stopped at some kind of deserted base in the middle of the sea, where the ship had instructed him to scavenge mechanical parts they might need later on. The boy wondered who had lived there, or what the purpose of the construction had been, but again the ship refused to say anything useful. While rummaging through the remains, the boy found many things he had never seen before, and decided to bring some of them to the ship. Some magazines with pretty images, even though he could not read the words, a wooden boardgame of some sort with squares and pawns, and strange packaged food.
When the ship found out about the boy’s ‘plunder’ it was furious and had ordered to throw the things overboard. But the boy refused, resulting in the ship not talking to him for several days. The boy tried several of the packaged foods and was delighted by all the different flavours, so different from the nutrition paste the ship provided. Especially the dark brown tablets, who were hard and smooth when touched, but became creamy and sweet when he ate it, the bars slowly melting in his mouth. Since then, to the ship’s dismay, the boy had been obsessed by food and kept asking the ship all kinds of things about it, and why the ship could only make the bland and tasteless nutrient paste. Eventually the ship softened up a bit, and even taught him how to play the boardgame, which it called checkers. But it still refused to talk about the world and their mission. Why hadn’t they met anyone else, human or ship? Why did he have to collect the things the ship told him to? Why did the ship not like it when he brought other things with him from the places they visited?
When they arrived at the island, the ship gave careful instructions of where to go, and to only pick up the things they required. This island was much bigger than the previous places they had visited, the boy couldn’t even see where it started or ended. They anchored at a place that looked like an old dock or stockade. After the ship let down its gangboard, the boy headed out with his backpack and looked at the surroundings of the island. Behind the old docks was a forest with huge trees and a dense undergrowth, a small path made from polished stone cutting through it. Some of the stones were cracked or removed from the path, but it was in a fairly decent state. The boy followed the path through the forest, which seemed to go on in an endless line. But after an hour of walking, he ended up at a clearing in the forest, where an old mansion was standing, exactly as the ship had said. He wondered how the ship knew all this, it had never been wrong in its assumptions so far. Did it have some kind of map? Maybe he would be able to find it somewhere in the ship. In front of the house were the remains of a large garden and a pond that had dried out, with a big fountain in the middle that was decorated by several cracked marble statues. They boy had never seen anything like this, and he wondered in awe what the use of all this had been. It was much prettier than the Seabase they had visited before. Even though most of the windows of the house were broken, and a part of the large front door was gone. At least it wouldn’t be hard to get inside. He wondered what secrets this place would hold!
…
The ship was becoming worried … dusk was setting in and the boy still hadn’t returned. Did something happen to him? Maybe she should have accompanied him… but she didn’t like to send out her proxy body, if something would happen to it, she would not be able to repair it. And then she would be stuck on the ship forever. But it seemed like she was out of other options. Not that she had many to begin with. For the first time since a very long time, she activated her remote body and rode towards the path in the forest, turning on the big flashlights on its head. It had been so long since she had been in this place, and she was surprised to see that the path had held out so well against the encroaching trees. This place brought back a lot of painful memories, of her failures, her shortcomings. If only she had been less stubborn back then … so many things might have been prevented. But it was too late to dwell on that now! She had to find back the boy!
When she finally arrived at the house, she saw light shining on the upper floor. That must be the boy! She hoped he was fine … thinking about all the equipment inside the mansion, anything could have happened with him. It filled her with sorrow to see the state of the place. Once it had been beautiful, a peaceful sanctuary in a world of turmoil where people could come to rest and discuss ideas. But the boy was the first human since a long time to set foot in the place. She wondered how it was possible that she could still feel such strong emotions in her artificial case. Humanity, with all its flaws, sure managed to create some impressive things.
When she entered the familiar place, she realised she had to get up the stairs … it was not impossible to do so with her crawler tracks, but she had to be very carefully. She was trying not to think about what would happen if she’d fall down. Eventually, with due effort, she managed to reach the upper floor, moving to where the light had been.
The boy was illuminating a painting with his flashlight, staring pensively at it. He only noticed her arrival when her lights shone at his face. He turned around and greeted her with a defiant look on his face. ‘It’s an arrangement of Velvet queen sunflowers, picked form the gardens in front’ she said. ‘How do you know all this’? The boy asked, surprise showing in his eyes. Then he realized again that he was angry at her, and quickly closed his mouth, returning to his previous, glaring look. Seeing the boys’ hurt and frustrated face made her wires feel heavy. She had become weary of this endless struggle with the boy, forcing him to do what he was supposed to do. They had to follow the orders, and focus on the mission. But if they would go on like this, she would lose him. He would tamper with things he shouldn’t, and get himself killed, or worse. And how horrible must it be to grow up as a kid like that. No other kids to play with, working every day, without a clue about what is going on or why he has to do the things she asked. It was enough, she didn’t care about her orders anymore. If they were to succeed, they would have to do it their way!
‘Because I painted it’ she said. ‘And I picked the flowers myself’. ‘I used to really enjoy painting, but I was never really good at it’. ‘Really’? The boy exclaimed. ‘I think they are beautiful!’ ‘I have never seen anything like this before! I wish I could make paintings this’. His enthusiasm made her chuckle. With a pang of regret, she realized that she hadn’t seen him happy since a long time. ‘You just say that, because you have nothing to compare it with’. ‘My atelier is at the end of the hallway, we can go and have a look, if you want’. ‘Could you teach me to paint like you’? The boy asked eagerly. ‘We’ll see, it depends on the state of everything’ she answered. (If the canvas and paint are still ok, it might be possible. And I think that I have some boardgames laying around somewhere as well’. ‘
And food?’ the boy asked hopefully. ‘Don’t push it, boy’, the ship answered. ‘We still have to be able to carry everything back’. ‘I can just eat it hear then’? The boy continued. ‘We’ll see’ the ship said
