They were trying to unpack the truth of the ecosystem and what the relationship of the plants was — how they relied on each other, and how each of them created the perfect place for the other to thrive.
Initial research really just looked at the functionality of each plant in isolation just to observe patterns of growth, seasonal occurence, and any change in the life cycle. Then they started tio look at the teamwork that was evident.
The traps, which caught the insects and digested them had been named Martyr’s Mouths because their creaking noise emitted when they closed might be imagined as a scream.
The understory plants, Saint’s Servants, which tapped into a mycelial network, were living off of detritus. They passed some energy into the tall fruit bearing plants they had named Absent Virgins. The tall evergreen plants were called Green Reachers and they provided shade. Above them were what they called Canopy Haloes.
It was a fair bet to say that none of the plants had ever tasted human blood, and without the so-called soft invasion that was underway, this wouldn’t have changed. There were no higher life forms - meaning tool using, language using, civilisation building lifeforms, so the only thing that had brought people here was the water, and the plantlife. No one had messaged them and asked them to stop by.
Henry Parashoot, the namer of the plants, had been taking a sample when he nicked his finger. It dropped spatters of red on the scarlet Martyr’s Mouths, and it was if they woke up. The change was scarily rapid, the Saint’s Servants began chittering like insects, and passed their share of the blood into the Absent Virgins — who became fructile, swelling to a rude burst, and the Green Reachers sprang from the fruits, then they hardened and changed into Canopy Haloes. He had never seen something move so fast in the vegetable kingdom.
Not long after animals began to appear. Things like lemurs, a few apelike creatues — all of a small scale, all around the plants, and only around the plants. They seemed harmless. It wasn’t until they had expanded the study to included the new creatures that they were around them enough that a researcher called Jenny Agar got herself bitten. To describe the depth of the bite can be short-cutted by just saying she lost a hand.
The day that the tall humaoid figure walked out from under the Canopy Haloes did not produce a welcome feeling. Who could fail to think that the engine of all this was human blood? Who could fail to wonder if this whole planet was giant trap plant waiting to consume the mutltitude of settlers that would be arriving in five years on the FTL jumpships?