The wormadillos marched with an urgency that bordered on frenzy. They were single minded. If one faltered, the others would walk on top of it and only its armor saved it from being trampled to death. Then it would roll over and hustle to catch up. They seemed to prefer to travel in groups.

I would not want to be in that position. That’s why we went off the trail whenever they approached.

As we explored deeper and the woods gave way to forest, the trails also deepened into trenches that went up to our shoulders. I could see where their bodies had carved ruts in the sides and exposed tree roots and stones. This was where we chose to stop and install our trail cameras. The high roots made good mounts for the cameras. This was as far in as we would go.

The groups got smaller the farther we went. The trails converged like tributaries into a river flowing outward. At least navigating out would be easy - they never split. If a group passed through and it was only two or three, it should have been safe to press against the side wall and let them pass. Still, I can’t blame my crewmates for choosing to yield.

Departments of the Odyssey Program often get their own mission patches made. The Biosafety & Containment department was in charge of developing the barrier suit, a field capable hazmat suit designed to withstand the wear and tear of repeated outdoor use. They also developed procedures for decontaminating anything going inside or outside, using educated guesswork to determine the best way to disinfect alien materials.

The Field Medicine department worked closely with Biosafety & Containment but their goals were often at odds. A rivalry between the two led to FM one-upping B&C on their mission patch, surpassing even the main Odyssey I patch in complexity. The eerily prescient design was based on Achilles tending the wounded Patroclus from ancient Greek pottery. It was redesigned after the return of Odyssey I.

When I asked Jo why she wanted to take me to the museum, she said she wanted to know me better. Why she needed a museum when I was right there was a question only I could answer.

The star walrus model exists! It's about a foot long in real life.

Suntenna

Although yellow in color, the suntenna has features associated with black plants, particularly the hairlike microphyll leaves that interlock the way feathers do. The suntenna looks like a retrofuturistic spire crossed with a horsetail. Rings of descending size radiate from the stalk with the shadows cast by the top rings never overlapping the leafed portion of the lower rings. The plant seems to go out of its way to avoid casting a shadow on itself, while other plants utilize wind motion and darker pigment to make use of shaded foliage.

The leaves of black plants are filamentous and served by a single loop of vasculature. These are called microphyll leaves and are found on Earth in lycophytes, some ferns, and some gymnosperms, though their veins do not loop. Black plant leaves have barbules like those on a feather that can interlock with neighboring leaves and even neighboring fronds. They can assemble into structures resembling a complex leaf or hang independently like plume feathers. They can even form down for insulation in cold enviroments or for sun protection in exposed regions.

Suntennas usually angle themselves toward the sun and this is especially apparent in areas far from the substellar point. Plants growing near Ilion's terminator angle themselves to an extreme and have specialized structures for growing sideways.

Feather interlocking requires constant maintenence. Plants reproduce with haploid mobile offspring but these offspring can also be created as a worker caste. The mobiles of black plants are especially polymorphic. Males are adapted for flight or ballooning (in the case of suntennas and their relatives, by parachutes made of parental feathers), while females stay on the parent plant and are dispersed by animals. The workers of suntennas are about the size of grain mites and have claws specialized for parasite removal and feather preening.

The suntenna is my favorite alien plant. I wanted to call it “plantenna” but Alex refused to use that name in the official report so I offered this name instead. The suntenna can grow to twice the height of a person or one and a half times the height of Alex. When I get home I will use my interest money to buy a real house and commission a sculptor to make me a suntenna garden out of shaped metal. I will hang birdfeeders off their limbs so they can enjoy the company of creatures that have golden feathers just like theirs.