[story-stub] Crowd control...Jason style

[Feinan]

From: Fate (webmistress@fatefullightning.fen)

To: Noah Scott ([url=mailto:info@stellvia.lib[/url])

Subject: Potentially useful crowd control device

Date Posted: August 17, 2013

Hello, gentlemen. Something has come up that I thought the two of you might find useful. Father has been tinkering again, and has come up with a potentially
useful crowd control device, a basic entangle grenade. It still needs a bit more testing however, in larger settings than we can manage easily aboard the
Lightning; we also need volunteers to help test it, since there is a definite lack of a crowd aboard our ship to
determine the full usefulness of the grenade. Please note that the grenade in question is best used in urban/station settings, and that Father has noted that
using it on a planetary surface or in an area where vegetation can grow normally would be 'bad.' Aboard stations and habitats, however, it should be
ideal. The grenade utilizes a new vine that Father has created; currently, he's tagged it 'kudzoom.' If either of you are interested, especially in
offering testing space/volunteers for aiding in the testing of the device, please contact me and we can arrange whatever is needed. Thank you, and have a good
day.

[Ebony]

To: Fate ()

From: Buckaroo Banzai ([url=mailto:buckaroo@banzai-institute.org)

Subject: Re: Potentiall useful crowd control device

Date: August 17, 2013

Fate,

The tangler grenade! We've been working on a few polymer versions of this, using Silly String and riot foam as foundations. So far, our problems are more
with the prototypes exerting either too much force or dissolving too quickly. A plant-based solution sounds like an interesting alternative. Unfortunately, I
fear, with many of our operatives being citizens of the Really Real World, using a biological device regularly would not be responsible. I'm not saying
that the Jason hasn't thought this through - clearly by your own concerns, he has - but I don't see it being prudent for us to have many of these. But,
we have plenty of Blazers in Fenspace that can help test. I'm sure some of the Rugsuckers would be overjoyed to play with a new toy. The Junkyard might
benefit from some greenery. I'll pass on the request to Tico and the others.

Buckaroo Banzai

Banzai Institute of Biomedical Research and Strategic Information

"Trees are the earth's endless effort to speak to the listening heaven." - Rabindranath Tagore
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."

[robkelk]

From: Noah Scott (big-cheese@stellvia.lib)

To: Fate (webmistress@fatefullightning.fen)

Subject: Potentially useful crowd control device

Date Posted: August 17, 2013

Fate, these sound very, very interesting. I had a few BGC and BSG Fen on the station a few weeks ago, arguing over what a "real Boomer" was, and a
few of these would have helped end that fiasco before they trashed Meg's.

If you, or the Jason, are going to be at Serenity-Con at the end of this month, you could bring along the samples you want my crew to test.

From the description you gave, I have to wonder: is there any problem in composting the vines once they've done their job, or would that be a Major No-No?

(Ah, yes - I've added "webmistress@fatefullightning.fen" to the whitelist for my private e-mail address. Most of what gets sent to
"info@stellvia.lib" goes straight to my inbox,
but only if it's e-mail from someone on the whitelist.)

Noah Scott, of station Stellvia
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Feinan]

From: Fate (webmistress@fatefullightning.fen)

To: Noah Scott ([url=mailto:info@stellvia.lib[/url])

Subject: Re: Potentially useful crowd control device

Date Posted: August 17, 2013

>If you, or the Jason, are going to be at Serenity-Con at the end of this month, you could bring along the samples you want my crew to test.

We should be there unless something major comes up. Father enjoys conventions, even moreso now that he is healthy and has a lot more energy. Buckaroo, perhaps
your Blazers could meet us there as well? Father would be interested in more input on the grenades. While he's tried to hit as many angles as he could
think of when creating them, insight from others is always useful.

>From the description you gave, I have to wonder: is there any problem in composting the vines once they've done their job, or would that be a Major
No-No?

Composting should not be a problem as long as you treat it as handwaved biomass. Father's worry was more that it might escape the growth restraint that he
placed on it, and create an ecological problem if used on a planet. While he incorporated mayfly genes into the vine to limit its lifespan and prevent such
potential problems, he is somewhat worried that the metabolic hypercharge provided by the Expresso might trigger a mutation that would override it. We are
still working on exploring the potential of the Expresso strain of handwavium, so are taking what precautions we can. Thankfully, while Father qualifies as a
Mad, he is at least reasonable when it comes to precautions. It helps that he listens to me and my sisters concerning such matters, though. Some of his earlier
experiments that he ran before we were in existence...we love Father dearly, but even he admits that it will probably come down to a race as to whether or not
he or the Professor will be the first one to accidentally destroy the human race - the Professor by blowing it up, or himself by creating something that will
devour it. He once created something called a tribble rose as one of his first experiments into rapid growth and vigor in plants; fortunately, once he saw the
results, he destroyed it. Even he realized that something that would probably require a nuclear strike to eradicate from an area would be a bad idea if it
managed to escape containment. And no....that is not an exaggeration. Unfortunately.

Here are some further details on the kudzoom and the grenade, in case either of you might want to contribute ideas for it. The grenade is about the size of a
large jar, one that can be held and thrown with one hand. The contents are a highly concentrated slurry of nutrient mix as well as some Expresso handwavium,
and several seeds of kudzoom. When activated and thrown, the seeds are mixed into the slurry, and the outer shell pops open as the vines expand. The kudzoom
itself...it's one of Father's more complex creations. It could almost be described as a zoo masquerading as a vine, given the number of components that
he's added. The growth rate is extremely fast - his own words were 'faster than a hummingbird on speed,' and that was before he added the Expresso
to the nutrient mix. With the metabolic hypercharge provided by the Expresso, that should probably be changed to 'faster than a hummingbird on
Velocity-9.' Even with our best efforts, we could only concentrate the nutrient mix so much, so to maximize the usefulness of any vines produced, Father
added one of the oddest mixtures of cells that I've seen him use to date: pit viper, shark, frog, sunflower, and planarian. The vines actually have a
tropism for living organisms and even some robotic/android ones - especially if they're moving. So, rather than trying to fill a large area completely with
vines, the vines will grow to entangle targets instead. If you can think of any other useful properties to add, please let us know and I will pass it on to
Father. I know that he is currently contemplating adding sundew or pine genes to make the vines sticky, but he is still mulling that over. Any thoughts?

Fate