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[Ross Vernal]

If we are not planting in the flower chamber and aiming for more, I suggest to make our tech part of the hive to design  a simple hydroponic system, as our dormant flowers are used to be raised in water (right?). No need for soil  for our ideal conditions, when we just can plant them in water filled with nutrients

From the best of Your gene-memory, that the Flowers were originally swamp plants. On/in water, the Flowers develop specialized roots and large flat leaves to keep it floating. It's also less thick and fiber than the ground-based kind.

Also, yes, Dormant Flowers are made hydroponically.

[Ross Vernal]

1) Lay pollinator eggs, lay scout eggs

Question: does this mean "Convert scouts to Seismic Scouts and lay them", or is it specifically a desire for unmodified Scots?

[Ukrainian Ranger]

I meant unmod, I think when they'll mature we'll need some surface scout(s)

[10ebbor10]

So great, we currently made a fungus that feeds on us. I mean, great job guys, you did something that could wipe our entire species out.

1. Fungi do not produce energy. They are either parasitic, or live on decaying matter. (Symbiotic works too, but that doesn't apply for us, as we don't use energy).
2. Fungi instead gather energy/minerals from their surroundings. Notice how the larvae were skinny, the fungi are feeding on it. You made a species that predates on us.
3. Fungi release spores, which spread fast and are hard to eliminate.
4. The fungi, unlike the flowers, are not sentient. They will happily eat and kill us.

Act of utmost priority: Quarantaine the hybrid larvae.

((Actually, if I'd a say in it I'd burned them, but I doubt I could get that past anyone.))

Another thing: Put some eggs in reserve somewhere. We wan't to eventually evolve them into commanders, which we can then modify in order to produce several castes at once.

[Noxes]

So great, we currently made a fungus that feeds on us. I mean, great job guys, you did something that could wipe our entire species out.

1. Fungi do not produce energy. They are either parasitic, or live on decaying matter. (Symbiotic works too, but that doesn't apply for us, as we don't use energy).
2. Fungi instead gather energy/minerals from their surroundings. Notice how the larvae were skinny, the fungi are feeding on it. You made a species that predates on us.
3. Fungi release spores, which spread fast and are hard to eliminate.
4. The fungi, unlike the flowers, are not sentient. They will happily eat and kill us.

Act of utmost priority: Quarantaine the hybrid larvae.

((Actually, if I'd a say in it I'd burned them, but I doubt I could get that past anyone.))

Another thing: Put some eggs in reserve somewhere. We wan't to eventually evolve them into commanders, which we can then modify in order to produce several castes at once.

Hold your panic. Though you are absolutely correct on the nominal role of Fungi in the ecosystem, the symbiotic root fungi are somewhat more complicated. Normally the Mycorrhiza neither feed on the plant nor decompose but, but rather help facilitate water and gas exchange (and/or fix nitrogen, but probably not for the Flowers of Life) in exchange for sugars from the plant; it's a mutualistic existence not a parasitic one. Though their are parasitic Mycorrhiza, I doubt We would have tolerated such a thing in the Flower stocks of a Starship (close ecosystem and all that) and so all of the species present are likely mutualists.

Now, that being said, we are talking about a rather different relationship here now that We've involved the Kai more closely in the relationship. Unless we find this fungus in places other than the Flowers roots and skin of the Hybrids, I don't think either a quarantine or undue panic is really called for.

[10ebbor10]

Yup. Do note however that the fungi are symbiotic with the flowers, not with us. In the current situation the larvae fulfill the role of soil, not the role of symbiot.

Now, that being said, we are talking about a rather different relationship here now that We've involved the Kai more closely in the relationship. Unless we find this fungus in places other than the Flowers roots and skin of the Hybrids, I don't think either a quarantine or undue panic is really called for.

We can't see the inside of the larvae without cutting it open. Haven't got any X-ray scanners and such. Besides, the flower is placed directly inside the larvae, so there's definitly some fungus amidst the organs connecting the skin fungus to the root fungus.

Also, the point of a quarantine is that you activate before a possibly dangerous situation arises, and not when everything goes wrong.

Besides, here's what we know. We know we created a fungus that lives inside us. We know that fungus spread using spores. We know that the fungus relies on flowers for nourishment.
Now, what would happen when the fungus spreads into another organism(us), and there are no flowers to feed it/ keep it in check. Either the fungus dies, or it turns parasitic.

I don't want to risk an infection. We would survive, but many would die.

[Ukrainian Ranger]

Well, quarantining larvae with food reserve and single pollinator to tend the flowers can't hurt. Still it is more than likely that flowers created that moss to make their life on the hybrid more comfortable, and it is beneficing larvae\flower system not parasiting on it

Even if they will be dangerous - Fighting epidemic and\or rebel flowers will be superbly fun. Body caste should know how to solve fungus infestations and defects in Us or Them

As for commanders, that's why I want to turn some eggs to M-caste but not lay them and wait until them develop in more useful units

[10ebbor10]

I would suggest not to do the pollinator dance. Remember what it does, it arcelerates growth. The larvae were skinny from something, and well, we can't get around the fact that the energy for the plant is probably subtracted from them. I mean, where else would it come from.

On that note. Extra rations for hybrids is probably a good idea.

[Noxes]

Haven't got any X-ray scanners and such.

Hmm, that's a good point, we ARE lacking in any sort of medical imaging devices (unless the Kai B-Caste have another sort of built in Diagnostic I'm not aware of; them being rapid, directed, evolvers and all)

On that note. Extra rations for hybrids is probably a good idea.

Couldn't hurt! More water access too.

On that note, We should dig a small cistern which is kept warm in which to store water from the Ice mine in a more useable format. The evaporation from the cistern will also go some way towards making the Hive more comfortable for the Flowers. We will also then have adequate water for other sorts of !Science! later (the plants do Love Hydrogen, if I recall correctly).

Actually, on that topic again, do We have any knowledge on how much Fusion the Flowers are performing? And does that level vary by environment? If so, does that mean that if given the correct environment (I'm imaging Hydrogen rich) they can become strict fusers?

Really, the Flowers of Life are Much more complicated than their Earth analogs, and assuming much by analogy might be misleading.

[10ebbor10]

Well, yeah. Plants are living cold fusion reactors.

I do want to stress that we want to watch humidity levels. It's bad for electronics, and fairly noticable.

[Noxes]

Well, yeah. Plants are living cold fusion reactors.

I do want to stress that we want to watch humidity levels. It's bad for electronics, and fairly noticable.

Hmm, that is true. So I guess we should still have the warmed cistern for purely practical reasons, but keep it capped such that it doesn't evaporate constantly into the atmosphere. I guess we could raise the humidity in the Flower growing areas (easy if we're using steam for heating) as long as we impose a gas exchange barrier over the exits to those chambers.

On that topic; we have scrap plastic, steam, and sulfur, so we should be able to fairly easily make a sort of rubber. If so have some of the drones manufacture a series a flexible 'ribbons' of it such that they may be hung together in parallel at the exits and allow Kai to move but keep the environment separate (we used to use something exactly like that in the meat room I used to work in at the entrance to the freezer, did a remarkably good job). Then we will be able to raise the humidity and temperature of the growing rooms as much as we like and the gas exchange will be limited to drones coming and going.

Actually... Now that I think about it...
Install a condenser somewhere inside the Hive entrance! By condenser I simply mean a metal tube which is kept cooler than the surrounding air such that humidity condenses out of the air onto it; if it is installed in the entrance somewhere high (where the warm, moist air flows out) it should keep our emitted water vapor down quite nicely! Especially if coupled with gas exchange barriers as mentioned above.

[kopout]

I still say we need an insulated dore seperating the surface simulator room from the rest of the hive (and a long corador, space is not a problem)

[javierpwn]

For some reason, because we are of the Body, I want a door made of a biological entity. A larvae influenced from birth to be shaped into a door

[kopout]

That would be nice but I think it might be a needles extravagance at this point.

[Ross Vernal]

I'm going to provide a few links here as food for thought.

Sirex woodwasps have a symbiotic relationship with Amylostereum areolatum. Likewise, termites and ants have a functional relationship with assorted fungi.