Short straw.

Posted on Mon 8th Mar, 2021 @ 3:00pm by Lieutenant Claire Minelan
Edited on on Thu 11th Mar, 2021 @ 5:14am

724 words; about a 4 minute read

Mission: Business Not At All As Usual
Location: Hydroponics Bay 3
Timeline: MD 2: 1000

"You want me to what?" she'd objected when she'd gotten handed out an assignment to assess and catalogue the species in bay 3. Bay 3 was one of the many Hydroponics bays in the great station, but its focus was oxygen production by way of a marine ecosystem and a food bearing aquaculture.

She was a licensed botanist- in fact she'd earned a PhD in the subject. Her specialty was multi-cultivars- not aquaculture. She'd studied hydroponics and aquaculture everyone had...but it just wasn't her cup of tea. She could do amazing things with trees, and she'd actually been trying to perfect her techniques so that plants of many more fragile ecosystems could all grow from the roots of one heartier individual.

Muttering under her breath about a punishment detail, she walked into the aquaculture bay and something immediately set her off. The scent in the bay was wrong. It was very much like a sharp smack to the nostrils, and the scent lingered in her sinuses. She could even taste the wrongness in the air. Sharp with the scent of greenery, but also something that reminded her of rot, infection and death. There was a single yellow light on the panel that indicated proper functionality of the bay, in the oxygen production matrix. This is why you're here.

"Alright, lets start with the basics." Claire muttered to no-one in particular as she tied back her long blonde hair, trying to breathe shallowly until her nose was accustomed to the odor. "Computer, what is the current water temperature?"

"Temperature average 16.9 Celsius."

"Computer, please give me a water analysis. Chemical analysis, pH, bioaccumulation and relative algae levels."

"pH: 5.4 water is cloudier by 5% from previous measurements. Algal levels within normal limits."

"Are the algae all from the seeded species that are supposed to be present?"

"Negative. There are several non-seeded flora in the water. "

"Record and display please." she murmured, looking over at the species that were there that were not supposed to be present in this hydroponics bay. She didn't recognize the one, and she saved the images for further identification and display to the Chief. This was not going to be a fun report to make to her higher ups.

"What is the electrical conductivity of the water?"

"EC measures 3.4"

"Why?"

"Avaliability of soluble salts currently higher than system specifications allow. Bicarbonate measures 2.5 parts per million, Magnesium measures 4 parts per million. "

"Strange." Claire muttered as she gazed into the cloudy water before her. Dipping a sample container into the water, she collected samples at various levels both in the vats and the filtration array. She laid them out in their vials in order from the filter to the furthest pool and frowned at the almost fuzzy quality of the water. That was not how it was supposed to look. Picking an uttaberry, she nibbled it experimentally and winced at the unexpectedly sour ripe berry. "Its been that way for long enough to affect the flavor profile of the fruits." That didn't bode well for the plants.

A flick of a switch allowed the distilled water tap to pour 100 gallons of pure water into the filtration array, this would allow it to temperature regulate before getting to the more sensitive plants. Removing and replacing all of the filters cleared some of the water's particulates but it still looked almost dirty somehow. It also still smelled wrong to her overly sensitive nose, but she was becoming accustomed to the sharpness.

"Computer, begin level 1 analysis of functional units. Start with the filtration array" The confirmation beep made her smile gently and nod to herself. This was an interesting problem at least, and she found she was no longer upset by the detail she'd been assigned. Settling down behind a microscope screen, Claire placed a drop of water from the last vat onto a slide and looked at it under a bioanalysis lens.

"What...is that?" she asked no-one as she saw something she couldn't identify in the slide. Capturing an image with the squeeze of her fingers on the microscope, she saved it so that she could send it with the rest of her report. She'd even mark it urgent.

"Computer, physically isolate and identify organism?" she tapped her lips as she looked at the still image before her. This could be a rather large problem.

"Working..."

 

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