Growth Stimulation

fictionspawn Aak, , ,

Giant plant in a grow house. Aak fictionspawn ink illustration

-So, there we go! Pete put the seed in the dirt.

-Now all we have to do is wait. Miriam grabbed the watering can and poured some water over it. -In a week or so we’ll know how it went.

-I can hardly wait!

They went into the lunch room for a coffee.

-Finally we can get some decent sleep, Pete said.

-God knows I need it! Miriam’s heavy eyelids had already made that clear.

They had been working on this seed for years. The super growing soy plant. It would be a sensation, and potentially the solution to the world’s food problems.

-It’s going to be worth it, though. We’ll be famous!

Miriam smiled. Pete’s big dream was about to come true. Hers as well. She would do something important for mankind.

-Well, I’ll go pack up my stuff. Time to go home. Pete walked back into the grow house laboratory.

Miriam sat down on a chair. Her eyes were closing, she couldn’t stay awake.

-Miriam! Miriam, get in here!

She snapped out of it.

-What is it?

-The plant! Pete was pointing with a shaking hand. -Look!

A little green sprout was coming up of the soil.

-It can’t be…

She could actually see it grow. This was more than they had ever dreamed of. She ran over to the desk. Started going through the papers. She turned around.

The plant was already growing out of the pot.

-Haha! This is extraordinary! Pete was jumping up and down. -We need to make samples! Everything must be documented. A camera! We need a fucking camera!

-I got one in the car,! Miriam was already running out the door.

When she got back the plant was a small bush.

-Look! Said Pete. -The roots. They have found more nutrition all by their own!

The plant roots had snaked themselves over the floor, into the dirt of the petunia. It was already dying.

-We need more soil! Run!

They got the plant over in the biggest pot they had. Filled it up.

-Strange.. Look at this! Miriam was pointing at small petunia flowers growing out on the soy plants branches. -They have merged into one!

The plant kept growing faster. The two scientists were trying to keep up, making notes, doing tests.

Pete stopped.

-Fuck. Now how do we get out.

The door was blocked by branches. The plant’s roots were going down into the soil of every plant in the room. The tomatoes. The broccoli.

-We’re going to have to cut our way out, said Pete and went towards storage room. A branch got there before him. The door could not be opened.

-Pete! Watch out!

Another branch caught him. Tied itself around him. Picked him up pulled him towards the huge trunk. Miriam looked at the roots on the floor. One of them went into the soil of the pitcher plant. Darlingtonia. The meat eater plant.

The plant was growing slower. Pete was trapped by it’s trunk, his head was still visible. He could still breath, but not for long.

Its roots had sucked up all the nutrition there was in the grow house. Now they were climbing the walls to get out, to reach the soil outside.

If it reaches the garden we are doomed.

The plant was slowly coming towards her. She ran to the cleaning closet. Opened the door. Chlorine. Five gallons of good old bleach. She grabbed the can, ran towards the main pot. Jumped over the branch reaching for her. One of the roots was out of the window, going down the wall outside. She opened the can. Poured the chlorine into the pot.

The plant little by little stopped growing. She pulled in the root from the window. Pulled others down from the walls.

She got the branches off the door to the storage room. Got out the cutting equipment. Soon Pete was out.

-Thanks. Pete was breathing heavily.

-A gallon of chlorine seemed to do the trick. Hopefully it’s dead.

We better cut it down anyway. Just in case. He picked up an axe from the floor. Little white parachutes had fallen on it. Other were floating slowly toward the ground.

They looked up. The air over the roof windows full of them. They were coming from the tree. Thousands of little seeds, flying away with the wind.

https://naturalnews.com/2017-04-07-top-10-homemade-herbicides-to-tackle-the-weeds-in-your-garden.html

http://natureinstitute.org/nontarget/reports/soybean_006.php

Pesticide

Published by fictionspawn Aak

Norwegian trilingual writer and illustrator. Contact information in my Gallery.

45 Comments

      1. My nine-year-old grandson and I play a sort of “talking” role-playing game. His favorite is about a group of Magician’s apprentices, at least one of whom (his character, I play all the rest) keeps wanting to learn forbidden magic. One of his favorite types is “plant magic.” Hilarity ensues after that.

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      1. Ah! A long excerpt of the story was in my Engish Literature chapture. The narrator wakes up in a hospital, had bandages on his eyes, I think, and it is perfectly silent everywhere. While he was recovering the plants had overtaken humanity.

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        2. Of course. This one also reminded me of War of the Worlds. They had trees which had gone red, with red parasytic plants growing everywhere, on walls, in cellars, etc etc, all red after soaking blood. The imagery was striking.

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        3. I actually had a plant from the first Resident Evil game in mind a couple of times writing this one. I don’t think that one grew this fast, but I it was growing out of some laboratory if I remember correctly.

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        4. Ah! Isee. No iDea. Never played games much. The last one I completed Medal of Honour, I guess. The old one. After that a bit of CounterStrike when at college, over LAN, and that’s all. Ha Ha Ha.

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  8. I had mixed feelings: the scientists were trying to do a good thing, so I didn’t want them to die; but the plant was just doing its thing to live. The seeds provided a satisfying ending. Well done.

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      1. :)…..I am mothering them mostly ;). It’s a very natural growth in a very wild and natural garden. But I have the feeling that the world of plants is holding many surprises for us. Just because they are not shouting and bleeding, it doesn’t mean they don’t have stratagems,

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        3. I am about to read “The Hidden Life of Trees” by Peter Wohlleben. I am curious about his experience with the forest. I love trees and I look at them with both scientific curiosity and poetic imagination.

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