This is Part 1 of the Blog Battle Entry for May 2022 and the prompt is Cultivate.
The Space Garden – Part 2
Continuing from the Space Garden Part 1
Both Thomas and Rita loaded all the tubes of super space fertiliser into the water irrigation feeders and started spraying the plants with the quite strong looking and smelling mixture. Even as she was doing it Rita knew deep down that it was not a good idea, something niggled at here.
“Hi guys!” Dave announced in his flat monotone. “I hope you’re having a joyous time spraying the plants – I hope you’ve followed the instructions!”
“Even Dave knows.” Rita said to herself. “Thomas – we better stop!” Rita shouted, but it was too late. Both the irrigation feeders were now empty. Both of them looked on over their handy work. Nothing happened and all was quiet. As usual.
Thomas and Rita spent the rest of the day watching rubbish film, eating popcorn and drinking stuff that was supposed to be Coke but really it tasted like water. Blissful in their joy they forgot about the garden. It was few days before they visited the garden again, but when they did they were both totally gobsmacked.
Instead of the usual level of tidy and well laid out garden there was instead what can only be described as a jungle and then some. It was like something totally alien, out of control and scary. They both struggled through the tomatoes plants with big red tomatoes bigger than their heads, and Rhubarb six feet tall.
“What have we done?” Thomas asked Rita in shock.
“We?” Rita retorted. “This is your doing you idiot!”
It was then that the Rhubarb rustled and then reached out out and pulled a screaming Rita high into the air.
“Rita!” Thomas shouted. He picked up a spade and slashed at the base of the Rhubarb stalk as the gigantic plant tossed Rita about. With a creak she came crashing down with Thomas covered in bits of stalk. Thomas munched on one of the bits as Rita glared up at him.
“Tasty is it?”
“Needs Sugar.” Thomas replied.
At that point the grape vines started tangling up Thomas’s leg and he slashed at them as they started to run for the way out.
“Dave help us!” Rita cried.
“Oh this does look exciting!” Dave replied. “What can I do to help?”
“Help us!” Thomas yelled.
Somehow they made they way through and sealed the bulkhead behind them. Breathing hard they looked at each other. “It’s like a bad version of the Day of the Triffids out there!” Thomas panted.
“We’re safe now though.” Rita replied. “Let’s hope things settle down in there.”
Through the seams though, the vines and plants began to creep…
Over a year later the spaceship had arrived and Dave had to wake up the crew from their stasis. Rubbing his neck a tall burly man who was addressed as the XO asked Dave.
“Where’s that halfwit Thomas? He and that Rita was meant to wake us up.”
“They’ve gone to ground. It’s been really quite a fun time.” Dave replied.
Frowning the XO decided not to push Dave, obviously it’s AI was less than useful. Leaving the rest of the crew to recuperate he made his way to the main auditorium and the door slid open. What he saw stunned him, instead of spaceship, what did he see? Thick impenetrable jungle.
I hope this tale has entertained you, it shows the importance of doing what you’re supposed to do and reading the instructions. You know who you are – especially the men. You never know what kind of jungle you might get into .
© Simon Farnell 2013 – 2023
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Simon's Space 
Feed me! 🙂 Besides your reference to Day of the Triffids (one of the rubbish films they watched?), the description of the tomatoes also brought to mind the movie Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. The line about gone to the ground was hysterical (and probably described Thomas and Rita), and like Roger commented, you could have a sequel here. Very entertaining!
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I was quite proud of the gone to ground line… Even at the time I laughed. Thank you so much for reading 🙂
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“Gone to ground”–I love that!
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It’s great isn’t it? 😂
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‘Gone to ground’. Magnificently macabre punchline for a very salutary tale. A lesson for us all.
Robert Sheckley would have approved of this stylish satire.
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Thank you so much Roger, I have to say I like this style of story telling, it allows for these little bits of spice which make it something extra 😀
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Indeed Simon, choosing the style which suits adds the freedom to include the little extras.
This one has potential to go further, now that the crew have awoken to a jungle.
Keep on keeping on👍
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I’m doing my best to keep on… There could be more to this. Who knows?
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Looking forward to that😀
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What a twisted and entertaining story, Simon, well done! I do spend some time in the garden, I love watching things grow, but yes, pay attention to the instructions! 😂
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Thank you Tiffany… I like a good twisted tale. Your garden should be fine as long as you don’t over feed it 😉
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