Duty Log - SciO - Lt Nolan, PhD - "A Breath of Fresh Air"

Posted on 241602.08 @ 10:15pm by
Edited on on 241605.13 @ 7:13am

Mission: Agua Mala
Location: =*=Botany Lab 2, Deck 13=*=
Timeline: 5 Weeks After Destruction of Vindicator

=*=Botany Lab 2, Deck 13=*=

Lieutenant Jayne Nolan entered the dark lab and could already see the dark room bathed in a green flashing hue. Jayne walked into the lab and the computer tracked movement in the lab and brought the overhead lights up. Crossing the lab, Jayne dropped his messenger bag and hit a button on his terminal. The terminal was green because it had completed its analysis and awaited more user input.

Putting on his lab coat, and dancing his fingers over the terminal the results of the analysis was put on the wall terminal. Reviewing the numbers, he was breaking down his experiment and placing the odd looking plants into their containment cubes on the other side of the room. He paused a moment to inspect one of the numbers. He could not believe his eyes. He put down the sample he was going to put back and grabbed his PaDD. He moved to stand in front of the wall terminal.

From what he could tell the sample had converted CO2 into Oxygen at a rate 10 times of that of the next fastest plant discovered yet. He decided to double check the results. Science was never about producing results, it was about repeating results. Jayne finished putting away the plants from the previous test and this time pulled 4 samples of the plant he was working on (so far known as AS-503) and prepared the bell jar apparatus to test the conversion rates. He activated the terminal and in 8 hours he would have a better idea of wither this was a fluke or not.

=*=8 Hours Later=*=

After pacing, waiting, taking a lap around the lab, getting lunch and working on other assignments, the AS-503 test was complete and the results ready to inspect. Jayne almost dropped his PaDD when he got the results; this may be a miracle plant. The results of the first test proved to be true and this sample converted CO2 gas into gaseous Oxygen.

The implications of the successful test were astounding. This plant could be used to speed up terraforming or even be managed to retrofit emergency life support systems to convert deadly gases into breathable air for humanoids. Jayne carefully opened the bell jars and placed the plants back into their containment cube. Now that these special properties were known, the sky was the limit on how to use them. He would have to learn everything he could about these plants. And he would need more. But for now, small victories were enough to get him excited.

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Lieutenant Jayne Nolan, PhD
Science Officer
NCC-1701-F