Rosetta called Mandy away from the young plants, to a hidden corner of their laboratory.

"Come look at this." she guided the girl through a set of hevy wooden doors. "I have been coming in early to work in here, I think it might just be the key we are looking for." Rosetta's dark eyes danced as she watched Mandy wander through the rows upon rows of tiny plants.

"Strawberry, blackberry, wine grapes...." spoke Mandy, "I know them well."

"Eat one." said Rosetta, plucking a ripe berry from the vine and offering it to Mandy.

Mandy thoughtfully chewed the strawberry, "Yeah, it's a strawberry." she thought to herself, watching the smile grow on Rosetta's face. She continued to walk through the bushes, and as she did, she began to sing.

'I see you there stranger
Where are you from
Long, long, and dark are the days
You look like young Johnny
When Johhny was young
Long and dark are the days
I spent nine months in England
When I was twenty-two
Long, long and dark are the days
And no one said nothing
but everyone knew
Long and dark are the days...'

"YES!" shouted Rosetta, slamming her fists to the table. "Where did you learn that song??"

Mandy thought for a minute, and honestly didn't know.

Rosetta grabbed her hand and dragged her to a worktable piled high with papers and sketches.
"I came across some ancient Terran writings about a rudimentary virus called a prion. What if we could design one? That was my first thought. I've been working here trying to develop this prion to live symbiotically with the plant material. Each cell of the plant's material carries one, and the virus is replicated to pass along to the fruit, in turn being digested either by an animal, or returned to the soil where it is absorbed through the roots of the next plant. It was only a matter of refining Tuni's work, but I wasn't really sure who I could trust with the information until I was sure it could in fact work. It does. The virus is virtually indestructible, and each cell carries it. The fruits, the plants, even this...." she procurred a large bottle,"the wine from the grapes."

She poured them each a large beaker full, and they raised their glasses in toast. To Earth! To Tern! To fallen friends and soon to be vanquished enemies! In a few short moments, the two were full of wine and song.

'The girls have religion
The boys have their drink
Long, long and dark are the days
The boys have the better part
That's what I think
Long and dark are the days....'