Posted by Lieutenant Commander Tannenn Keen (Chief Fleet Science Officer) in Spotted Glass ( TAGS-Fen, Fayth, Seamus McKenzie. Nia Harmon, others also possible)

Posted by Civilian Erin Hazen-Cooper (Director of Terraforming) in Spotted Glass ( TAGS-Fen, Fayth, Seamus McKenzie. Nia Harmon, others also possible)

Posted by Lieutenant Commander Sharah Fayth (Chief Star Fleet Medical Officer) in Spotted Glass ( TAGS-Fen, Fayth, Seamus McKenzie. Nia Harmon, others also possible)
Posted by… suppressed (5) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

“It wouldn’t be hard to set up a few terrariams. Set them all up with native soil so we know it’s lifeless. Then add a different native soil bacteria to each. Have two for each bacteria type, add this compound,” Sharah pointed at the screen, “to only one of each pair. I can get spores for native fungi from the botany lab. They have native soil samples as well.” She looked at all of them, “That is if we want to try a small experiment?” They would have to eventually, but this wasn’t her rodeo.

Fayth, SFCMO

“With the time frame we’ve been given, now is probably even too late. But… no time like the present.” McKenzie said.

McKenzie, Conservation Director

Nia chewed on the inside of her cheek for a moment. “If it works as fast as we’re led to believe it will, then the growth rate is the most important variable we need to monitor and report. So long as nothing is altered in any way that will prove dangerous on a larger scale, and we can use simulations for that, then we can at least give the decision makers a confidence rate so they know how to evaluate whatever results we do give them.”

~Nia Harmon, Sciences

Bump

Sharah looked at them all, “Well let’s get started then.” She looked at Harmon, “You said you and Cmdr Woods,” did she really say it without flinching, “ran computer simulations. Do you feel you exhausted that or should we start there again?”

Fayth, SFCMO

Nia shook her head. “We were only just getting going and set up the base program. I was waiting for the next step of doing a miniature test to actually feed into the simulation. We were going to decide the various soil types for sure and then get going. I can get the samples though and we can begin there.”

~Nia Harmon, Sciences

“If you still have the copies of what you started with Woods I would like to see them. I don’t have all of Woods’ files. Not sure if that was by accident, not going to ponder more problems when we have enough of a time limit as it is.” Tannenn said as she looked at Nia Harmon, then paused to listen to the others voices options.

“Then let’s get crackin’.” the big Scot said and slapped his hands together. “I suggest we start with a microbial growth medium found in the native soil samples collected prior to the comet strike. If’n this is the skeleton key to unlocking rapid repopulation; we’ll need tae start there anyway.”

McKenzie, Conservation Director

Sharah stood, “I’ll grab the base soil from the botany lab and containers. We’ll meet at lab 12 in 20?” She waited for any further clarification and then left.

20 minutes later she was in the designated lab, setting up 2x3 pans of the ‘dead’ native soil. She had 5 of them filled, but enough to do more. When they arrived she waved toward them. “One as a control, allowed to grow on its own. The others, I thought we might have to experiment with the amount of ‘the gift’ to use.”

Fayth, SFCMO

“These are perfect, thank you Sharah!” Tannenn said as she glanced at the others. She had no idea how this was going to play out for certain but the team was working well together thus far and the feed back and suggestions from everyone was proving very encouraging they might even pull off the impossible but she didn’t want to get too far head of herself, not at least until they saw what happened with the first samples.

Keen FCSciO

“Can I see the substance they gave us?” Nia said. “How much they gave us will give us a good indication of its potency, unless they don’t expect the whole amount to be enough for the entire planet and we need to ask them for more- which is a good question to ask the powers that be actually. But we can assign a ration based on the total weight of it and measure out a tiny fraction for the first test. Depending on what our base mass is we can go up in very small increments, and I would want to be monitoring constantly. Once we get an idea of the growth rate, we can run simulations and extrapolate a more accurate test.”

Tannenn brought out the sample she had secured and gave a wry grin as she placed the container on the desk before Sharah, Nia, Erin, and McKenzie, “The governor’s aid was most insistent that this not leave the compound not until we’re certain it is not hostile.”

~Nia Harmon, Sciences

Seamus was reading a PaDD and said “In the notes from the previous guy, it says the substance is self-replicating. What we have will always be what we have.”

McKenzie, Conservation Director

“I wonder what stops it from replicating out of the container?” Sharah had her tricorder out and was scanning the bacteria. “Alright I have base readings on the bacteria. We can start when ready.”

Fayth, SFCMO

OOC: I was told I should join this thread, and given that the story is already progressed quite a bit, I’m just going to play it as if Erin has been in the room all along, including the previous meeting. I hope that is okay. – Joana

OOC: Welcome and glad you could join us. I would have invited you sooner but I am still not sure who is who etc, so my fault. Thanks for jumping in! Cassa

IC:
Erin had been baffled with what she had just been presented. Months prior she had told Governor Hyrushi that the speed in which he would like the terraforming efforts to go was simply physically impossible to achieve. Now she had been presented with something that might just be able to do exactly that.

“Maybe it needs a host to kick start the self replicating process?” It was both a tentative reply to Sharah’s question, and thinking out loud. “In other words, maybe what we have been given is the inert substance, so to speak, and we will start seeing it replicate once it is mixed in with the soil samples.” Hazen said, as she curiously tried to eye Fayth’s tricorder readings over her shoulder.

Erin Hazen-Cooper, Director of Terraforming

Tannenn brought up the notes from Woods again along with the then, projected theories, and added in their current theories and possible outcomes. “It might be that or it might be something else.” Tannenn mused aloud as she read and looked at the others in the room again, she walked back to her desk and started making copies of the notes on more PaDD’s for the others. “Please keep these for working here. I was told this has to remain in these rooms until we’re certain it won’t be a threat to the colony. So keeping the PaDD’s to this location is a must for now but I think you can have your own copies while working here.” She was likely being too trusting but with the PaDD’s locked to the location where they were working seemed at least fair, she didn’t want anyone to feel she didn’t trust them and have each with their own copy was easier than having to keep everything on the screens on the walls when they needed to update or change details.

Keen, CFSO

Nia tapped her fingers on the tabletop. “Well, we can speculate all we want, but I think there’s nothing for it but to try a measured amount and see what happens. I suggest one gram of substance to fifty grams of soil.” At some point they were just going to have to jump in and take the risk. But she was undeniably excited and it had been a long time since she had done any real experiments like this.

~Nia Harmon, Sciences