The edge of the forest

"Sister Scarlet what is this food?" Halley asked. 

Halley was so adorable that she could not hold back from giving the little girl a smile. "It's called eggs, bacon and the white drink is called milk. We get eggs and bacon from animals that have not mutated into beasts or beasts that are not poisonous.

If we find some birds that lay eggs in the blue forest today, we will bring them back and raise them."

"So we can eat eggs every day." Halley said very excitedly.

"Yes." Scarlet responded.

She had put it out there that they were going to the blue forest today so that everyone would eat while fully aware of her plan.

"You can't go to the forest, it's dangerous." Dorian Su looked at Scarlet as if she had lost her mind.

"There is no risk without reward dad, you know this well and so does big brother Adler. Every day that we are here without protection or food we risk more. These low quality shakes are not doing anything for us. Moreover I own this planet, I have taxes to pay and I have citizens to take care of.

My teacher spent decades in the forest studying the plants and animals. He taught me which ones were edible and which ones were poisonous. He showed me how to domesticate animals and process their meat into food. He asked me to use these skills to help the poor in our society access better food at cheaper prices. We all know that low quality shakes are not healthy. Some of them are nothing more than toxic poison but the poor are too weak to complain. They are just glad to have anything to fill their stomachs. 

The blue planet has been blessed by the deities and we should take advantage of it. We will turn this planet into the paradise of the Sun star."

She spoke with so much articulation and conviction that more than half of the people at the table were convinced. Halley even childishly applauded her.

"I still maintain my stand, the forest is dangerous." Dorian Su insisted.

"I agree with our father." Adler said.

"I second that." Beord also made his opinion known.

While they all insisted that the forest was dangerous, none of them was putting down their forks as they voraciously enjoyed the breakfast she prepared.

The odd man out was Scarlet who was eating with chop sticks and dressed in a green camouflage pants and a plain black shirt. Her long hair was tied behind in a ponytail and she had accessorized by adding small diamond studs in her ears.

"Scarlet can you reconsider you plan of going into the blue forest?" her mother asked her in a very soft and worried voice.

"I have been to the edge of the blue forest on my own before. If all you are afraid, I can still go on my own like I used to do."

"No." Adler blurted out immediately very loudly. His loud startled those at the table including Scarlet.

 "Brother, I promised my teacher that I would not let the skills he taught me go to waste. I have to keep my word otherwise teacher will think I am an ingrate."

Adler wiped his mouth and said, "I am not trying to stop you, I just mean that you cannot go on your own. Beord, Carolyn and I will go with you."

"I want to go too." Elroy raised his hand.

Adler shook his head and said, "Someone has to stay and help out. Since we are closing down the garbage dump, the scrap needs to be melted and sent to a storage pod until we can afford to pay for disposal services."

"Fey can do it." Elroy mumbled.

"She is younger than you, has a shy personality and barely looks strangers in the eye. How do you expect her to handle this momentous task? From what Scarlet is saying this will not be our first or last time in the forest. You can go another time." Adler insisted.

"But..." Elroy mumbled once more.

"You are staying." Mega Su said in a stern voice which left no room for any more arguments.

Breakfast ended and the four siblings who were going to the blue forest set out. They took a mecha which Adler had fixed together with parts from different old mechas. It was shaped like a weird super large robot bear which was walking on all fours and they were sitting inside the belly of this bear.

The inside of the mecha had five small metallic seats, wires and small buttons. Adler was sitting in the pilot's position and Beord was his co-pilot.

Scarlet felt dizzy as the mecha increased its speed, shaking their bodies' front and back as it sped off. "This thing needs some seat belts." She thought.

She looked at the rest of her siblings and noticed that they were perfectly unbothered by the movement of the mecha. Only she who was riding a mecha for the first time was uncomfortable.

Soon, they arrived at the edge of the forest and exited the mecha. Scarlet run outside and puked until her stomach felt empty. Alll the contents of what remained of her breakfast ended up on the parchment of purple grass in front of her.

"Are you okay, is it your sickness?" Carolyn approached her and asked. Her eyes held a little bit of worry which surprised her.

It seemed that she was growing on her elder sister.

"I am okay," she answered.

"Are you sure?" Adler too asked, "We can go back right now."

Thinking about taking another ride in that cramped mecha brought forth the urge to make her vomit again.

"I am sure," she assured Adler. "We should hurry and explore the outer area of the forest before it gets dark. With time, we will keep going deeper inside carefully."

They needed to find food, minerals, fruits and anything else that could help in the development of the blue star.

"Is this purple grass useful?" Beord asked.

His question made her realize that she actually had little knowledge about the flora and fauna of this world. Scarlet had not paid much attention in school. She needed to set aside time to catch up on her knowledge of all things interstellar.

"It's not what we need right now, let's keep looking." She replied.

If they kept picking up random things and asking her if they were useful, she would soon run of excuses.

While she was still thinking about what to do, her soul gourd rattled.