I woke up to a note on my door that said “Don’t worry.. Take your time”. A flood of memories of what conspired the day before flooded my head…. Yeah, maybe I’ll go for a little walk first before work.

So I grabbed my camera and took a walk to see some of the ice caps at sunrise. I just love the way the ice captures refractions. As if the sunrise wasn’t beautiful enough, some of these clear ice caps paint the colors of light into a mosaic of sunrise beauty combined with bubbles of various sizes. Some frosted muting the effects. Some cracked from freezing temperatures creating a natural art of its own.

Looking at the imperfections, in the beauty of ice, reminds me that perfection is overrated. Think about it. One block of ice would be considered “perfect”  but you would just be seeing the same image of sunrise that you would see with your bare eye. It’s through the nature of imperfections that true beauty and almost art is born. It’s also what makes us different and unique like each ice cap you see. It’s those same imperfections that we see in nature that exist within us.

Some people accept that these imperfections exist within themselves, some don’t. Those who do seem to be more honest about the nature of their reality. Those who don’t seem to live in a world of a fabricated existence. Constantly in effort to prove their perfection.

But the truth is, that there is real beauty in imperfection for those who have eyes to see it. A beauty irreplaceable by the constructs of man, computer… assemblage of data. The object of most constructs is to be perfect so they often disregard minor fluctuations that deviate. But in nature, everything serves a purpose, even the imperfections. Most of the times we don’t even know why, but there’s a reason beyond our comprehension.

I get into my lab under the conservatory and there’s a gas mask and full hazmat suit on my desk with a note that says “Use it or go home”. I mean ok… Reasonable.

The suit is a good idea. It allows me to spend more time with the stellarflora and get to look at things up close without… Yeah.

But in examining the stellarflora closer, they are beautiful. The way their organic shapes flow freely and how the colors captivate your interest bring you closer to seeing the details of how it’s constructed. It’s always interesting to me how flowers can carry such a duality. On one hand, they are the colors that light our souls in the most ideal environments. We are blessed to be in their presence, because of the conditions that need to be present for their existence. Some plants don’t flower for years, decades, or even at all for at least what we would consider a traditional flower. Some only bloom once before they die.

When we are in that extremely rare, almost non-existent statistic, in the universe where a flower has the conditions to flourish. It only does so for a day, maybe a few, during a certain season. It then creates its seeds and continues with that plant’s life cycle. Creating the seed and then new life. Some plants continue to live and come back every year, but for some plants, this is the peak of their existence and the only thing that lives on to the next year is that which has been seeded.

So what’s the duality? Yes, flowers are rare in the universe, and yes they don’t last long. But that doesn’t contrast the beauty of the flower. The duality is the necessary means for survival some have. You would think something so beautiful could survive effortlessly without needing some form of violent protection. But that’s not the case for all. Their attractiveness is that.. attractiveness. This means it could attract anything, even those that are not set out for the best intentions of that species’ survival. A lot of flowers bear fruit for other beings’ consumption which doesn’t help.

This is why some are poisonous despite their elegance and beauty. It’s a thing of evolution. With all consideration, you can’t fault them for it. So some see a poisonous flower and think, evil or toxic. I just see it as something beautiful doing its best to survive the disparities of the universe.

What I find most interesting about stellarflora is their attempt to survive and procreate. If its flower is destroyed, the plant knows this. Recognises this and a lot of the time will grow 2 or 3 times the amount of flowers in its place. It recognizes the threat and flourishes to ensure the proliferation of its species. From the multiple flowers that grow in its place, the chances of pollination are greater. The chances of going to seed without destruction are greater, and the chance that that seed will find that perfect environment to then create its own new life is greater. It’s fascinating. I’m always fascinated by how much the plant world knows without having, what we would consider to be a brain.

Which brings me to our next subject…

Landon brought back these miniature trees from Zephyria that give me a multitude of feelings and emotions. Similar to the feeling I had yesterday in the lab, although much more muted because of the protection that I’m wearing.

I’ll just get to the point. Within the stellarflora that these trees create, I’ve noticed that they merge to form brain matter… This is unlike the typical stellarflora life cycle I’ve seen.

I’ve scoured the libraries to find something even remotely close to this phenomenon and… nothing. I wish I had found something. The universe has so many unknowns already, one being so close and so foreign makes me a little uneasy especially when you consider the capacity of a range of emotions, thoughts, and feelings the human brain has.

Does this have that? Truly… I don’t know.

For now though. The day is late. My cats are probably wondering where I am and this is not getting solved today. So It’s time to head out.

As I’m leaving, I’m looking around at everything I know and realize that where we’re going will have none of that. The known comfort of familiarity. Zephyria seems wild based on everything I have seen in only the specimens that Landon brought back with him. I can only imagine what else is out there. I’m excited to go on my first mission but at the same time… I’m terrified.

I have to check with Boss on when we’re doing training for teleportation too. That should be coming up so we have some kind of semblance of what we’re doing with it… yeah. Maybe we’ll regroup about everything tomorrow.