Breakthrough
Breakthrough
Summary: combined log of a couple days. Adele makes a discovery of tasty proportions
Date: 12-13 ACH
Related Logs: None
Players:
Adele..Micah..Reed..Reighner..

-=============================================================================-
Botanical Labs Support Station PAS - Deck 2
12 ACH 6735 Souls


This area is a large place, leading into the inner workings of the deck. From the Science Labs, there is a small control bank of consoles showing various environmental screens detailing the situations of several different simulated climates in the area. Past that a walkway leads to hatches that extend to sectioned off areas. Each area is a simulated environment with plants carefully cultivated and growing within. From gardens to shrubs and small trees, to large tanks with aquatic kelp and seaweed growing within, the reinforced walls of the areas keep the sections seperate.
----< Condition Three - Duty Area >----—-
Contents: Reed Wireless 747
Exits: [O] Out
-=============================================================================-

Reed is in the Labs, in front of one of the large water filled tanks, looking at the controls. Inside there's a floating clump of greenish plant which seems to be freefloating in there, with a few fish swimming about inside. He's looking from a clipboard to the controls and back.

Talk about being out of place. The kid who blunders into the lab obviously doesn't work here, or have anything constructive to contribute. Hands jammed into the pockets of his fatigues, he meanders between aquariums of swamp sludge and muskegian toads, and freshwater fish clouding the depths of wall-size tanks, eyes squinted in either fascination or revulsion.

Reed glances over to Micah as he lets his gaze pass from clipboard to controls and back, "Yes?" He asks, adjusting a control slowly, "What do you need?" He asks in more of a 'Go ahead and tell me your business' than 'What can I do for you?' tone. He's obviously splitting his attention.

Micah pauses as someone addresses him, and then stands a little straighter when he sees whom it is. And by whom, it's the pins on his collar that matter, even if he's not personally familiar with the man. "Major," he replies with a mechanical salute of two fingers to his forehead. "This, uh, going to be the new mess hall food?" He speaks with a thick Aerelon burr, his particular dialect close to what might be found in the northern part of England.

Reed returns the salute distractedly, and smirks a bit. "Not quite." He flicks a switch locking the controls in place, and turns fully to face Micah. "Major Carter, PAS CO. Who might you be? I take it you're not running another sample shipment from Muskeg."

"Major Carter." The revelation gives Micah brief pause, and then a flickering grin. He's talking a little funny, like he has his teeth gritted together, and sports a rather colourful bruise on one side of his face. "Ensign Micah St. Germain." That surname may or may not be familiar, a certain much-hated colonel who lost his life aboard the Pandora. "I heard you were looking for any help you could get, with those shipments.."

Adele comes in from Science Lab Two.
Adele has arrived.

Reed listens to the name and takes a moment, nodding, "Crow." He says, offering a hand, "You were part of the air wing when I CO'd the Pandora in fIrst Cylon contact." He's in a lab coat and duty uniform by a water tank with a few pieces of Muskeg life and a clump of greenish freefloating plantlife in it. "Yeah, we are, always could use people piloting, you rated on Raptor?"

There's another flickered grin, and the pilot reaches for the offered hand to grasp it firmly, and shake once. "Pandora Actual. Aye, I remember your voice over the wireless." Withdrawing then, he shoves his hands back into the pockets of his fatigues; the burbling water in one of the tanks casts odd, slipsliding shadows over both of them. "Flew raptors before I ever touched a viper stick, actually, but don't let that get around."

Adele strides with that purposeful gait she has into the lab, a plain manila folder in one hand. Coming upon Reed and Micah, she smiles at the former and dips a nod at the latter, then glances askance at the aquarium of Muskeg inhabitants. There's a loft of her brows, a tilt of her head, and then she refocuses on Reed. "Major Carter," she greets him, holding the folder out to him. "I scoured the database of resources and printed out a list," a hefty list by the looks of it, "of texts I think will help you to acquaint yourself with your inner biologist and botanist."

Reed shakes and releases Micahs hand, "The assignment's voluntary, nothing to interfere with your Air Wing duties, mostly shuttling to the planet and back. Not glorious, not combat, but important. You can put in for it, and you'll have to go through Medical innoculation against the planets microbiologicals, and go through decontamination every trip." He shrugs, "Past that, it's a pretty run of the mill job unless we have enemy contact and you have to evac people off the surface, that's why we're putting out feelers for pilots who are qualified to run such an op if needed." He looks to Adele, and nods, "Doctor Pike." He takes the folder, and puts it under one arm. "Thank you. There's another matter I wanted to consult with you about." He nods to the tank, "The clipboard on the console there has a printout of the photosynthetic process of the floating plant in the tank there. it's got a potential to be off the scale in terms of growth. Seems the plants developed in the cloudcover of Muskeg and has to use every scrap of light it can get, you think you can optimize the light frequencies to hit the sweet spot of the plant? I've been trying, but I can't quite get it. Just a little puzzle, I'm hoping to get worked out. We'll see how the plant reacts to the direct light."

Photosynthesesiti-whaat? Micah starts to go a little crosseyed as talk turns to shop. A biology major, he is not. "Voluntary, aye, I know." He rakes his fingers through his hair. "Who do I talk to? For the innoculations and decontaminations? It's just.. I know there's a shortage of pilots certed for those fat beasts, and I figured.. I figured it's better than twiddling my thumbs in my bunk." Or maybe he's been coerced gently into it. Or maybe he just wants brownie points with someone. Hard to say.

Micah did, also, return Adele's greeting with a polite enough nod even if he's almost always half-scowling.

Adele takes the clipboard Reed indicated, glancing over it and flipping through the pages idly. From the clipboard, she looks at the plant, and back again. "Mmm. You'll need a wider tank, I think; the refraction of light through the water plays a large role in the development of aquatic plants, just as much as the angle." She taps her fingertip against an equation of degrees on the clipboard. "You might consider a gradual shift from simulated cloud cover to direct sunlight as well - a weaning, so to speak, to avoid shock." She nods once, then sets the clipboard back in place. "Of course, those are just theories. You might consult Dr. Aldrikos' 'The Simulation of Adaptation.' I think it's the seventh on the list." She steps back, glancing between Micah and Reed. "Oh, innoculations. Fun."

Reed is far from grudging to take help, and dole out a few brownie points in the process. He looks to Micah, "You can report to PAS or Genesis Medical to get the innoculations. I'd recommend Genesis if simply that office has your medical file directly to hand, and you can put in for the assignment as volunteer with your normal Air Wing office to get your extra time filled up with credit. The Innoculations will need a day or so to take fully, so you have tine to file the papers, and once Medical signs off on your jacket to clear you for it, you're in a Raptor seat." He tilts his head, "Sound good?" He looks to Adele, and nods, "We've got different tanks with differing levels of ambient light, but I wanted to hit this one with full direct sunlight at optimal frequencies, to see the reaction. If it fries the plant sample, we have about half a ton more samples to work on." He offers the console, "I'd just appreciate what you might be able to do with it."

"Sounds excellent, sir." There's even a lurksome little smile on the pilot's lips. "I'll talk to the CAG right away, and report to the medbay. Been spending enough frakking time there lately, they ought to know me by name." The Major is saluted again, Adele nodded to once more, and Micah turns and ambles off again to let them talk business in private.

Micah leaves for Science Lab Two [O].
Micah has left.

"I'd be happy to play mad scientist," Adele replies with a quirk of a grin, nodding to Micah again as he departs. "Manufacturing pharmaceuticals is hardly a cause for cackling maniacally in the confines of a lab. But potentially mutating plants?" She bounces on the balls of her feet a couple times, less subdued now that Micah is gone. "Do you mind if I run my own little side tests on a tendril or two? I'd like to see if this thing has any immediately recognizable medicinal properties."

Reed turns more fully to Adele, and smiles, "Oh, go ahead if you want. We have enough of the stuff, it seems to be a dominant plant on the planet from what I can tell. I believe it's a primary food source for the ecosystem."

"It does look delicious," Adele replies with a slow nod of her head. "So what sorts of things eat this plant?" She bends forward to peer into the tank at the other forms of life that are floating around. "Anything mindblowing?"

Reed points to a few of the eels flowing through the tank, "Those things, the eels. they eat the plant and lay their eggs in it, they're also in testing as a food source, and it looks good. Most of the lifeforms on Muskeg we've seen so far eat the eels, and they seem to breed quite fast as well, but we'll have to see if we can increase their growth rate."

Adele bobs her head thoughtfully, watching the eels swim for a few seconds more. "There's a lot one can do with somatotrophin," she says to Reed, looking mildly thrilled by the very idea of using growth hormones on eels. "Though I can't say I've ever liked eel. I guess they're not the only ones who are going to have to adapt." She chuckles dryly.

Reed smiles, "Well, see what you can do with the lights, hmm? I have a couple dozeon other things to worry about at the moment. I'll let you make the adjustments and then take some of the plant to study."

Adele nods to Reed, taking the clipboard in hand again. "Got it. See you, Reed. Thanks for humoring me - I just need a little break from acetylsalicylic acid." She turns her attention to the tank and the light above it, then ponders over the clipboard some more.

Reed nods, turning "See you Adele." He heads out.

Later

[Intercom] Paging Major Carter to the Botanical Labs. Please.

-=============================================================================-
Botanical Labs Support Station PAS - Deck 2
13 ACH 6735 Souls


This area is a large place, leading into the inner workings of the deck. From the Science Labs, there is a small control bank of consoles showing various environmental screens detailing the situations of several different simulated climates in the area. Past that a walkway leads to hatches that extend to sectioned off areas. Each area is a simulated environment with plants carefully cultivated and growing within. From gardens to shrubs and small trees, to large tanks with aquatic kelp and seaweed growing within, the reinforced walls of the areas keep the sections seperate.
----< Condition Three - Duty Area >----—-
Contents: Adele Reed Wireless 747

Exits: [O] Out
-=============================================================================-
Reighner comes in from Science Lab Two.
Reighner has arrived.

Reed comes in with Reighner in tow, in his duty uniform with the handy sidearm at his hip. He looks around and heads down towards where he might find Adele.

Adele is standing at the tank Reed with which Reed entrusted her, but something is quite different about it this time around. The entire thing is overgrown with the aquatic plant inside it, and numerous eels writhe and wriggle, smashed up against the sides of the tank in the water, fighting for room with each other and the plant. Leafy tendrils spill over the top of the tank and down to the floor, and Adele is just standing by with a clipboard, glancing from the aquarium to the heavy lightsource above it. When Reed and Reighner enter, she turns her gaze on them. "Just in case either of you were wondering, I have confirmation that photosynthesis does, indeed, work." Her brows are lofted high.

"What the hell is that?" Reighner exclaims, nose scrunching up in distaste. He's dressed in civilian clothes.

Reed comes to a complete stop, stunned at the sight of the tank and it's overgrowth of life, "Holy Frakkin Hell!" He exclaims as he slowly approaches the tank, "Wh-shut off the lights.." He stares at the tank. "Opportunistic photosynthesis.. but the eels.. this is deeply invasive lifeform. Looks like the eels have completely choked out the fish and everything but the plant. I guess the eggs hatched."

Adele reaches up to flip the light's switch. With a slow electrical twang, the intense light subsides, and she steps back. "There's got to be more than 500 of them," she tells Reed, leaning over to glance into the tank. "It says something about the growth rate of this plant that they haven't stripped it bare by now." She reaches up to rub at her forehead. "This… this is ridiculous." She flicks one of the plant's tendrils as it hangs over the lip of the tank. "It's barely been 24 hours."

Reighner throws his hands up and spins around. "No. Not involved." He walks quickly away.

Reighner has left.

Reed nods, looking at the tank and turns to look after Reighner as he leaves, "Okay, let's transfer some of the eels out for dissection, and compare them to the baseline of these eels, get water samples and plant samples." He looks at the tank. "What do you think?"

Adele watches Reighner go, looking briefly amused by the way the other doctor retreats. But then she focuses on the tank again and shakes her head. "I honestly don't know, Reed. This isn't in any textbooks - hell, it isn't in any journals that I've read, either. The only thing I can think of is that we're dealing in a different electromagnetic radiation frequency than this plant is used to." She glances up at the light, which is still off, then explains further. "Not merely in the intensity of the light, but the fundamental makeup of those light waves. This is - this is so far fetched, but… maybe something in the planet's atmosphere, in the cloud cover, converts regular solar energy into a lower frequency." She frowns, then moves to help gather some containers in which to place some eels. "Just negating cloud cover on plants shouldn't cause this explosive of growth. More often than not, it will simply fry the thing. This did the opposite."

Reed turns, issuing orders to the techs, to get samples and begin analysis of the contents of the tank. "Okay, so we're looking at astounding growth of the plant, and a similar explosion of the eel population. The eels, fine, they lay massive clutches of eggs. That much we know. It's not inconcievable that theres a symbiotic relationship with the plant and the eels. Laying eggs in the plant and eating it. the plant feeding off the waste of the eels, and struggling to photosynthesize the light it gets normally. The light we provided, spurred a growth, but.. Look at the eels." He stares at the wriggling mass, "It looks like they're set off into a frenzy."

"The light was only just shut off." Adele makes a few neat notes on her clipboard, then continues, "Maybe they will settle down after the shock of the direct light wears off. If not - well. There may well have been some sort of mutation - in their nerves, in their hormones, who knows."

Reed looks at Adele, "Maybe.. If there's a relationship between the plant and the eels though, there could be an answer in the water. There's a lot of aquatic fauna behavior set off by a chemical trigger provided by something else." He thinks, "There's a lot of iridium in the atmosphere, which is known to interfere with greenhouse effects in planetary bodies." He looks to a Tech, "Get me a water sample three hundred ccs." He looks at the tank. "We've removed all the natural predators as well."

Adele continues to stare at the tank, pushing a few wisps of hair out of her eyes and behind her ear. "It's a pretty perfect symbiotic relationship," she muses. "The eels eat the plant, the plant is fertilized by their waste… it's not like that in the wild, with natural predators and other food sources available." She shakes her head. "Opportunistic indeed." She scratches at her jaw, then asks, "So do you think the absence of iridium is what's doing this to them?"

Reed thinks, then looks at Adele, "You smell anything?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary," Adele answers, after lifting her nose to the air. "Why?"

Reed looks at her, "Because Muskeg frakking stinks. I mean severely, there's a lot of toxins on Muskeg. From snakes to these frogs that emit a horribly poisonious substance through their skin. Makes the entire surface smell horrible."

Adele shakes her head slowly. "No, this just smells like any old swamp," she tells Reed, glancing around the entire lab.

Reed nods, "We've removed predators, low light conditions, toxins, everything these things normally fight to survive, given them perfect conditions for growth and they took it with a vengence." The tech comes over with a beaker of water, and Reed takes it, moving down to a small er tank with a few eels swimming languidly in it, "shall we test to see if there's anything in the water?"

"Yes, lets," Adele replies with a hint of excitement in her voice. She leans over the tank and grins faintly at Reed. "You're a way better lab partner than the one I had in my undergrad biology class."

Reed smirks, "I'll ask later." He pours the water into the tank and watches. the reaction of the eels is immediate, they start speeding up, searching franticly for something with long, jerky motions of their bodies. Reed watches as the eels keep going in the tank, searching. He straightens, "Something in the water. One guess what they're looking for,"

Adele watches the eels go a little crazy. "The plant," she breathes, casting a glance at the other tank with its overhanging tendrils and multitudes of inhabitants. "They know it's there, the water's telling them it's there. It's the plant's mechanism for making sure the eels keep up their end of the symbiotic bargain - but… why only here?"

Reed looks to Adele, "what do you mean why only here?"

"Nevermind, we've already answered that," Adele says, shaking her head. "We took away everything else." She taps the butt of her pen against the clipboard thoughtfully.

Reed nods, "We took away everything else, set up the circumctances for growth." He straightens, and looks at Adele. "But you did it. You found the light frequency to set off the chain reaction." He looks at the eels, "Adele, we can eat these eels. they're a main food source for the planet. everything eats these eels, their entire existance is built around winning a war of attrition, and you gave us the linchpin discovery to produce these Eels in massive quantities." He smiles, "Congratulations, you just saved the fleet from starving to death."

And here she thought she was just experimenting for the fun of it! Adele blinks a few times in the direction of the tank, then at Reed. "Oh. I just - okay, well. Good." She looks a little flustered. Embarassed.

Reed grins, turning to a tech, "I want every chemical reaction in that tank charted, recorded and logged. Record the settings of the light generators and send message to the ground teams to find colonies of this plant and eel swarms for harvesting." He looks to Adele, "This is a breakthrough, and as such, we've got a lot of work to do the secure it."

"It was an accident," Adele admits, revealing the source of her embarassment. "I was just trying to make the plant grow." She pushes her fingers to her brows, rubbing lightly.

Reed nods, "Well, most of the greatest breakthroughs in history have been accidents. It's grabbing ahold of them and hanging on that make them real advancements."

Adele hazards another glance at the tank of writhing eels, drawing her lips into a half amused line, sculpted cheeks rounding out slightly. "So, what now?" she asked, still overwhelmed.

Reed takes a breath, "Now we test everything in that tank, and get into the boring work of chemical and biological analysis."

Adele nods once. "Just tell me what I need to do," she informs Reed, casting a glance at her clipboard.

Reed nods, moving toward the tank starting with the eel analysis.

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