l i c h e n (Noun.)
     a simple slow-growing plant that typically forms a low crust-like, leaf-like, or branching growth on rocks, walls, and trees

The Wednesday of the second week, the woman was feeling much better. Elain was climbing up and down the bridges with only the aches of her back to worry about. Thank goodness for all of the advances in technology that allowed her such a speedy recovery. With so much energy wasting away on her bed, she was finally able to use it. It was also rather helpful that Milo gave her a small pain medication at the beginning of each day, which gave her even less of an ache in her bones and more energy to go messing around with. In the days that she was spent on bedrest, she was struggling to catch up with the work of Milo. He had discovered five different species, all with their own attitudes, their own behaviors, and their own working traits. He promised to point them out for her today, so that's what they were about to be doing.

First, he introduced her to one of the first herbivores they had encountered in their site. Milo named them the Imperatrix, which meant Empress in Latin. The creature was around three times their size, while its head stretched upwards, that reached for the lichen at the bottom of the caps of the tall Fungorum Arbores. Its antlers would rub against the bottom of the caps if it was too short, rubbing the algae on to the floor.

Milo told her of how they resided closer to the edge of the forest, where the mushroom trees were still young and smaller. "I found this one wandering around here when I was trying to find more of the crabs," he said with a casual shrug. As though he thought a lone herbivore was nothing special. Elain didn't respond. Selcouth stared up at the beast, as if gauging whether or not he could take it on. Elain grinned and scratched at the back of his slimy neck. In a happy motion, Selcouth rubbed his bony head into her stomach.

Selcouth was not allowed in the laboratory. Milo, as an assistant, didn't have much power while they are on the planet, but he still slept in the lab. Therefore, it was his home too and Elain had to respect this. With Selcouth being an extremely slimy creature, which they had found was a secretion of plant juices to help him hid amongst the brush, Milo didn't want there to be slime everywhere in the home. She would have argued it, had it not been true. She liked to have a clean working space and having Selcouth in the house would give him free roam of all her expensive equipment. There would be nothing she could do about that, because she couldn't completely domesticate her new companion. She didn't want to domesticate him either. How could she ever punish such a beautiful specimen, even if he had done something bad? She couldn't. That was just a fact.

The herbivore that he showed her had a very nimble and thin body style. Its four long legs were what gave the creature most of its height. Along its long face, which resembled the shape of an anteater's, were openings that seemed similar to gills. Instead of helping it breathe, though, she quickly realized that these gills acted like the nose. A super nose to make up for the lack of sight. The feet were odd to her. Its feet were flat with a pointy heel and the tip of its feet seemingly cut off to create a sharp angle. Each step, the point stabbed into the ground to stay firm in their spot. Elain had asked Milo if all of the Imperatrix had it. He nodded, though even he seemed unsure himself. The protruding structures on its neck was what first caught her attention, as it probably had for Milo. Two antler-like bones made the slim creature look large and dangerous. Like it was something not to be tampered with, which was also used to access their meals easier. A truly beautiful creature and a perfect name on Milo's end.

Elain sighed dramatically, causing the boy to turn his attention towards her. "Why are you so much better at naming things than I am?" The doctor pouted, but motioned for him to start leading them to the second beastly he had found. He laughed at her rhetorical question. "I swear, I'm going to have to send you back if you keep taking all the naming credit," she joked, which made Milo let out a sarcastic, drawled out 'no.' She simply rolled her eyes with a happy grin.

Her assistant weaved through the forest like he knew it better than the actual wildlife around them. Selcouth snorted as Milo's pace was far too fast for Elain. After a few minutes of silence, he decided to pick up the conversation once again, "Well, if you didn't go around jumping off the Fungorum Arbores, you would be making these discoveries. Not me." The biologist let out an even louder sigh, trying to tune him out. "I'll just get louder, Mavka. Don't make me raise my voice!" He was yelling, so she didn't understand why he thought he could get any louder than that. She rolled her eyes for a second time, her expression flattening out due to some worry about him scaring off anything they had yet to encounter.

She looking down to the beast beside her who was already staring up at her. "He's losing his mind, Selcouth," she told the creature in a soft voice. He only blinked up at her. She wasn't expecting a response, but it was fun to joke around.

"I can hear you!"

They both, the biologist and Selcouth, turned forwards to see that he was miles ahead of them. Then her eyes turned back to the glowing pink orbs. "No, he really can't." Milo sputtered, but she only laughed at his expense. She called to him to get him to slow down for her, so she could catch up and they can walk side by side.

The second creature that she was shown resided in the small puddles that settled at the bottom of the dips of the muddy land. Milo was staring into the pond as she began her approach, but slipped his hand into the murky water before Elain could look into it. What he pulled out squirmed and tried to slip free from his grasp. Its base silhouette seemed to be like a large leech. She watched in wonder as its head opened to three parts and showed off its retracting teeth. Just around its neckline had several tentacles trying to swim away from Milo's grasp. Elain reached forward to feel the texture of its skin, but Selcouth had other ideas. In a quick motion, her friendly beast yanked back Milo's arm with a clawed hand. His second pair of legs held on to the assistant's hip and took the creature into its mouth. Gulping it down like an alligator with a chunk of meat. As soon as he got his share, Selcouth licked Milo's face like he was thanking him for the snack.

Elain let out a groan and tried to help him understand that that wasn't going to slide. She used a pouty lip, exaggerated hand gestures, and a sharp tone. It didn't seem that he caught on, but lowered his head and pressed against her either way. The woman decided to think of it as an apology, but she doubted it.

"That poor, poor Atris Eget." Milo stared down at his empty hand. "Oh! I almost forgot!" Her bright green eyes lifted away from the scolded beast and met his blue ones. She was kind of busy scolding a wild creature, how could that have possibly been reminded of something by that? "You have a meeting with Head Quarters in. . . Twenty minutes. They want to hear all about what you've discovered since you've been on the planet."

Elain blinked up at him. "Twenty minutes?" He nodded with a large grin, probably proud that he remembered it. "Oh, you are so fired," she growled and began to sprint back towards the laboratory. Cussing out Milo with every step. It took her fifteen minutes to get back to the house and quickly searched for something professional in her closet. All she found was a black, tight tank top and peach jean shorts. She sat in front of the computer and tied her hair into a tight ponytail to hide the rats nest that was created due to her running. "Come on, Milo, are you kidding me?" She growled on about having to talk to him after if she survived the meeting. The call displayed in a tiny box on the center of her screen. Elain took a deep breath, then answered it with a slow click.

"Dr. Mavka! So glad you could make it." The man on the other end of the call had to be in his fifties. He had no hair atop his head, no eyebrows, a sour resting face, and dark brown eyes. She knew this man to be her boss. The man who manages all of those that went to explore Meia. "How has everything been?"

The biologist let out the breath she was holding and plastered on a polite smile. "Dr. Louis. Lovely to see you, as always. Things have been progressing quite well. We did hit a snag along the way, but thankfully it has been sorted out." She watched the skin that would have been Dr. Louis's eyebrow raise carefully. A silent question that she had no choice, but to answer. "I was studying the Fungorum Arbores. Sorry, that is what we have named the mushroom trees. I was studying them when I was ambushed by a creature that resided in the center of it. Thankfully, I was able to make it back to the lab with only a few fractured ribs and a bruised back."

He nodded with a noticeable grimace. "I'm sorry you had to endure that, Dr. Mavka. I could not imagine how that felt." She nodded to him in thanks. Of course he wouldn't know the pain. He never felt any pain. The man was guarded twenty-four seven, probably since he was young. As the lead scientist of the exploration of Meia, he was an extremely important man and was part of the one percent before getting the position. "What have you learned of the creatures of site 27-43?"

She got right into the details, showing images that her glasses took along the way. She could talk on and on about each creature, but Dr. Louis wanted something brief. If he wanted a larger explanation of how a specific creature worked, he would get it in the essays she would be sending Head Quarters at the end of each month. Something she was procrastinating on until the last day. Elain was used to waiting until the second-to-last day to actually do her work. It was a habit that her parents tried to train her out of doing and a habit that she would never be able to give up. Once she gave a clear brief of each living thing that she was knowledgeable about, he looked to the notes he was putting together.

"Good work, Dr. Mavka." He flipped through his notes, looking for something specific. "Have you found anything that had human-like intelligence?"

"No. My apologies, Dr. Louis."

He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I understand you are trying your best, but I can't stress how important this is. It would fix everything." Her head tilted to the side as she studied his face. "They want to ruin Meia as they have Earth, Dr. Mavka. And if we can't find an intelligent creature, our people would deem it a necessity. With an intelligent creature, people will protest and deem it inhumane. You know how much we, as a people, try to save these types of things." Elain nodded slowly with a small frown pulling at her features. "Keep me informed."

Before he got a response, he left the call.