Hello Dr. Binyan. I’m sending this message via your personal ceremplant channel since the information I have is sensitive, and I assumed you’d rather not have a copy of it stored by the company. You are no doubt aware by now of the attack on our gardens yesterday morning. A preliminary investigation has suggested that Gaia Guard terrorists targeted us because of the high-profile nature of the work we do here in the applied research division. That is the story news outlets have been reporting and the belief of every agent I’ve talked to in the past 36 hours. However, I have reason to believe that another party is responsible for the explosion and the loss of our intern.
As you know, my work here in Lahaina is focused mainly on producing food plants that can grow in poor soils and extreme temperatures. In addition, we experiment with ways of taking these hardy stocks and fortifying them nutritionally or giving them some other advantage over similar rugged strains. For the most part we’ve had great success. Despite the negative press, I believe our Kükenroot plant will be hailed as revolutionary one day. I had equally high hopes for our latest project, a tree we are calling the “King coconut”.
Our goal was to produce a coconut palm that was resistant to the fungal and phytoplasmal infections that have been so common in the native trees. Coconut trees are already able to grow in quite poor soil but we sought to boost its hardiness by engineering nodules in the fronds to store nitrogen fixing bacteria. This would boost the plant’s ability to generate the chemicals it needs for good health and accelerated growth. We experimented with a number of other hardy trees that have broad soil requirements and had the best results with Hura crepitans, commonly called the sandbox tree. We were slightly concerned at first that the hybrid produced trunk spines like the Hura crepitans, but in the end we thought it would provide a deterrent to animals who sought to eat the fruit. I now believe that the spines were the least of our worries.
Besides its hardiness and unclimbable trunk, the most noteworthy feature of the sandbox tree is its method of seed dispersal. The tree produces a number of small round fruits that explode once sufficiently ripened. Although the fruits are only a few inches long and around, they can launch seeds at up to 160 mph, spreading them out over 300’. A remarkable feat, but one that didn’t concern us since we had no intention to produce Hura crepitans fruit. As you know genetics is a complex science and our subjects rarely cooperate. It appears now that a couple of unexpected issues have combined into a perfect storm with the King coconut.
First, the nitrogen fixing bacteria have not stayed in the frond nodules but have moved inside the fruits themselves. I believe once inside the coconuts they are producing potentially dangerous amounts of nitrogen compounds. I don’t know yet which compounds or to what concentration because I’ve had less than 24 hours to investigate the issue. Normally this might not be a problem but another key structural feature inside the fruits have made it dangerous.
Somehow the coconuts have gained the same explosive dehiscence features of the sandbox fruit. Because the fruits are many times larger and wrapped in an additional meso and endocarp layer, the explosive power is far greater. So much greater in fact, that I believe the “attack” yesterday was actually the result of some of these fruits ripening and exploding. It is my belief that the pressure inside the fruit during the dispersal process is acting like a fire piston and reacting with the excess nitrogen compounds inside.
I’ve only been able to experiment with a few very young coconuts inside the lab as I didn’t want to raise suspicions. Even those immature fruits produced violent reactions when struck with sufficient force. I can’t begin to guess at the force produced by a mature fruit, but I believe it is clearly enough to take a life.
Considering the Kükenroot fiasco last summer, I assumed you’d have concerns about negative press coverage and morale. The employee caught in the explosion was an intern, so rest assured that our work flow should be uninterrupted. Also, he is from the mainland so his family is far away and unlikely to pry. I would be open to continuing my research, giving you some time to come up with a messaging strategy before releasing my findings. I’d also be happy to pass on my notes and samples to someone in the biological defense division. What would you suggest I do from here?
At this point I don’t believe the King coconut is usable for my purposes and would be happy to hand the project off. I certainly don’t have a problem with continuing the Gaia Guard narrative. They have undoubtedly been responsible for at least one of the unsolved break-ins here over the years. With their history of bombing attacks on the island, everyone seems happy to believe in their culpability. As far as I’m concerned we were overdue for a security overhaul here anyway. I look forward to your thoughts.
