247 lines
6.0 KiB
Plaintext
247 lines
6.0 KiB
Plaintext
Message Incoming...
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Source Melchizedek.0294
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Approach β Hyi
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Ascension 00h 25m 45.07037s
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Declination –77° 15′ 15.2860″
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Distance 24.34ly
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Equinox J2000.0 SOL
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Year 3782, QEC adjusted
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[Autotranslator enabled...]
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[Voice recording initialize...ON]
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[Crew autodetection...ON]
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[Narrative mode...ON]
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[Autodisconnect after 5 minute silence...ON]
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:::
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[Voice detected: Moussa Idjani, Ship's Physician]
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Idjani:
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Testing, one-two. Testing. Very good.
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I'm transmitting from seed ship Melchizedek, serial 0294, en
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route to Beta Hydrii for systematic exo-panspermia. Today is
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mission date 24.54202, uh, 5 or 6. The ship is in deceleration
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at approximately 1.2G. This recording is being made in
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fore-botany. Doctor Moussa Idjani recording.
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[sotto voce] Where is that [unintelligible]
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As requested by command, this review of the arabidopsis anomaly
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specimen six is being recorded to QEC for transmission home.
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Perhaps our research can help the colonists avoid similar
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issues.
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Number six is a from our voucher herbarium specimen. This
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cutting has been treated in a pH 2.0 solution and removed from
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visible light for twelve cycles. I am preparing the sample with
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Eosin Y stain in an attempt to isolate the cytoplasic growths
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and abnormal cyclosis. Past attempts at isolation failed with
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a normal pH, so we are attempting a shift in the culture.
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I honestly have no idea if that's the right thing to do. We
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should have woken Kroups.
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[Voice detected: Prezzi Adeyemi, Seriph Rhetorical Ecclesia]
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Adeyemi:
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Doc, you have a minute?
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Idjani:
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Just... getting... the slides up. There we go. What's up,
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Seriph?
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Adeyemi:
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No luck on Kroups or Xavier?
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Idjani:
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He's adamant. No thaw. We're on our own, at least until I can
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get us more food.
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Adeyemi:
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Likely? That stuff freaks me out.
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Idjani:
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Oh, probably. Here, have a look. Through here--
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This is arabidopsis from fore. I've got our normal batch here
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for reference. Look closely at the cells, the pink areas.
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Adeyemi:
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Is it... spinning? What is that?
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Idjani:
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That's the cytoplasm, the goo inside the cell. Or it should be,
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but this stuff is acting totally foreign. It should be giving
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the cell its strength and shape but it's acting
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like--[censored]. It's like if a glass of water rose up out of
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the cup and grabbed your hand. There's no explanation I can
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figure out.
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Adeyemi:
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Jerome doesn't think it's dangerous?
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Idjani:
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Jerome thinks another mouth to feed is more dangerous than some
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bad spinach. He's not wrong, either. We need to salvage the
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greens for ourselves if we're going to make it to landfall.
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Adeyemi:
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I'm not eating your magic water plants, Moussa. Figure something
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else out. Can't we tap into rear-botany reserves? We don't need
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much.
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Idjani:
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Ugh, that would make things easier. No-- The captain sealed it
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up until we can figure out what happened here. If we risk
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exposure to the reserves--
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Adeyemi:
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No food for anyone.
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Idjani:
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No go. So I've got to figure this out, but I--
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[sotto voce] I've got no clue what I'm doing, Prezzi. This is
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not my field. You've got more background than me on this. And
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we've got a crew full of experts sitting in ice cubes just 30
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meters behind me.
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[Voice detected: Jerome Somerset Pasani, Warrant Master, via COMM]
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Pasani COMM:
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Prezzi, can you swing by and check on Doc before flex?
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Adeyemi:
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Already on it, sir. He's getting to the bottom of this. He's
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walking me through the slides now.
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Pasani COMM:
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Very-well. Keep me informed when it's cracked. Pasani out.
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Idjani:
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When?
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Adeyemi:
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You'll get this, Moussa.
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What are you looking at now? The pink parts?
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Idjani:
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That spinning pulse, the cyclosis. There's a pattern to it.
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I thought it might give us a clue. Is it environmental? Is it
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related to the protein sequences coming from the DNA patch? This
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one matches Simms. Is that important?
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Adeyemi:
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So you'll record it?
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Idjani:
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No, I did that already and ran it through the limited data we
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have on file without any matches. I think it's because I'm
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looking too small. I mean, we can only see the cytoplasm when
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looking at individual cells under a microscope, but they're all
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doing this. Every cell in this thing is doing a dance we can't
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see, all at once, and all in sync. If I could figure out a way
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to see the whole picture--
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Adeyemi:
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So, what then. Take a bunch of samples and look at them apart
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and try to piece it together? That'll take forever.
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Idjani:
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I was thinking I'd try the other way. If they're all in sync,
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does that mean that the cytoplasm is communicating? If I can
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change it here, give it a shove, what happens to the other
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cells? There's no way for this stuff to communicate. It's mostly
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just water and proteins with some microtubules and filaments in
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there.
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Adeyemi:
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Where's the logic? If there's nothing to communicate then the
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behavior must be inherent in all of it.
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Regardless, does this mean it's inedible? Not that I want it.
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But if it's not going to hurt us then I don't see the risk in
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eating from the other bay.
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Idjani:
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Don't need to convince me.
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I'll get back to it.
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Adeyemi:
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The path is walked by steps, Moussa. Blessings.
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Idjani:
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Blessings, Seriph.
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[Detected exit of Prezzi Adeymei from botany bay]
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[sotto voce] Back to [unintelligible]
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Now, where were we, my lovely little thing. Yes, that's right.
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This is Doctor Moussa Idjani, beginning investigation. Dye
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markers are set and I've got a good contrast showing on the
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display. Alright, I'm attempting to instigate a change in
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cyclosis through ultrasonic induction of the sample.
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[sotto voce] That's strange.
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I'll just touch the lead to [unintelligible]
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[SYSTEM ALERT INITIATED - BIOLOGICAL CONTAINMENT BREACH]
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[sotto voce] My stars--It knows
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Comm, initiate call--
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[COMM QUERY ACTIVATED]
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Idjani COMM:
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All hands, we [unintelligible]
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[static recorded for 3:15]
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[soto voce] we grow [unintelligible]
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[static recorded for 1:11]
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[Voice detected: Eva Hämäläinen, Navigation Specialist]
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Hämäläinen:
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Doct--[unintelligible screaming]
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[Voice recording terminated]
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