Log Date: 07 March 2142
Today marks 24 days since we integrated rudimentary hydrosiphoning and pH alignment machinery into seedling HF0091. Germination occurred on day 28, and integration on day 59 (by way of sap soldering). The seedling is 71 days old. It is now beginning to show signs of decline, including premature wilting of new growth, yellowing lower leaves, and deterioration at the installation nodes (which might not be a problem itself if the plant can spend time to recover, but does create vulnerabilities when it comes to infestation and infection).
Despite its decline, this is by far the longest we’ve managed to sustain a specimen after integration. The previous record was 7 days with seedling DC0033. This is actually meaningful progress and it could lead us to identifying which species will click with our installs. Hampton and Syse are still on the fence of course, they’re such data driven people sometimes and, to be fair, they’re skepticism is justified considering we’ve only attempted integration on 37 out of over 200 species found in the forest, but we are just two years in. Not that all of these need intervention, but data is data nonetheless. I suppose it could just be their impatience beginning to bear, or maybe they just see the mood swings of climate change nipping at our heels. Meaningful progress will come, I’m sure of it. We have a long way to go before we’re ready for ground trials, but hopefully I can keep them engaged until then. They’ve been here since ‘30 after all; it’s been a long time.
Last week Syse, Ygress and I were talking with a few of the engineers who had worked on the original Hydrostasis systems about possibly developing a data scraper model that could give feedback for optimizing care and integration and help us forecast growth rhythms. They actually responded pretty enthusiastically to that idea. I can see the systems upkeep post phase 1 integration is taking a toll on them, so giving them some purpose will be revitalizing, I hope...
A couple years ago they, along with the field maintenance team, filed a joint request over “security concerns” and actually got some people in D&F to build them a bunch of these mechanical staves that act as keys to the systems on the trees. They run around calling them the Arbor Scepters--no doubt influenced by Kimura’s high fantasy obsession-- but most of us just call them “tree keys”. The maintenance team inserts them into the terminals and is able to take readings and adjust things like water flow, pressure, absorption, pH, etc. Without a key, the systems are locked down and inaccessible. I still vow they just wanted some cool new toys to play with, even if they do technically serve a purpose. Ygress has a dream of using one, but maintenance is incredibly stingy and protective of them. Kimura keeps them locked away in a room that only his team and specific cleared individuals have access to. I suppose I should be grateful though, if Ygress were to wield the power of the key, he might leave me all alone in the lab without anyone who can relate with my love of flower pressing.
At this point the atmosphere around the Rebourne crew does feel like it needs a bit of a revitalization, and this new AI model might be what we need to continue pushing through the early stages of seedling growth. I should ask Purnawati to come up with a pitch for OPEAS in the next few weeks--she has always had a knack for glittering up the mundane. As we attempt integration on new species and carry out maintenance and upgrades on promising specimens, we will definitely need all the help we can get.
Dr. Vivian Pham, Director of Botany & Horticulture