Discovery on Borneo

[Zentor]

Flying over the depths of Yuma’s oceans and under its azure sky was refreshing. Although Borneo, too, was mostly water the planet didn’t have the same beauty Miles found in Planet Yuma. Pressing his face to the view port of the shuttle as he was transported planetside, he scanned the waters ahead, looking for the floating majesty of New Thessalonica. It slowly came into view, a city like no other, home to millions of people and the new, beating heart of the Republic. Its new, shining towers amidst a vast expanse of infrastructure, all perched in the middle of the sea 85 kilometers form the nearest “land”. It was an impressive feat of human engineering and he was proud to call it home. The transport dove down and headed for the center to the government landing pads and made touchdown.

Directed towards interior of one of the buildings that made up the capital complex, Miles Orrenyn strode through cool corridors and antechambers for several minutes before being let into a large conference room. The only one currently in the room was Dr. Avatari Chattopadhyay sitting quietly eyes closed with a vacant expression looking quite lost in thought. She didn’t hardly stir save her eyelids twitching slightly at his entrance and Miles seated himself across from her along the long heavy wood table. The wall opposite him was essentially entirely a window, though currently with its nanoshading set low to diffuse little light into the room.
Miles cleared his throat audibly and began to address his colleague. “Dr. Cha-”
“Don’t” Avatari interjected still not opening her eyes.
“Shouldn’t we review-” he tried
“Not necessary Dr. I assure you. You will present what you have and I will continue from there” she snidely responded.
He thought about this a moment, his nerves already on end, now being annoyed by Avatari’s hostility at them putting on a united front. Why would she do this? This benefits us all. It potential benefit is a celebration to the Republic? He wondered.
They sat there in silence for several more minutes before the Minister and his entourage joined them. Miles and Avatari stood as Ryo Case entered the room and they exchanged smiles and pleasantries before being seated quickly. Minister Case’s aide stood and addressed the room:

“We have received report from Dr. Chattopadhyay of the discovery of a micro organism on Borneo whose unique properties might have viable commercial application and that you, Dr. Orrenyn were the scientist who made this discovery?”

Miles shifted in his seat slight, licked his lips, “Yes the organism in question-”
“Is far more than Dr. Orrenyn has perceived, actually.” Avatari said, jumping in, “Dr. Orrenyn may have scratched the sample from the surface of Borneo but it has been the efforts of my lab on Sabah Research Station that have brought forth the subjects fascinating properties to which you speak of. Our experience in genetic mo-”.

Minister Case turned in his seat, a frown upon his face, looking at Avatari. “Dr. please, we will get to your work in a moment.”

The aide and Minister Case turned towards Miles and the aide gestured for him to continue.

Clearing his throat he continued, a slight tremor in his voice, “The organism to speak of is a cyanobacteria, essentially a type of algae, that is extraordinarily unique. The cells have an enormous concentration of lipids, perhaps 5-6 times higher than algae types catalogued before, and its cell membrane has quite a unique structure that quite frankly barely holds them together.”

Ryo Case looked a little expectant, not realizing the full potential of what he just said so he continued.

“Minister, this means that this cell, with very little effort could be processed into numerous commodities. Algae can be used in the production of biofuels, bioplastics, in health foods, as feedstock for agricultural use, as compressed industrial pellets for factory fuels, and as in terraforming by consuming CO2 and putting out Oxygen at astonishing speeds. You see, previous attempts at this application have always been hindered by how much effort, energy, and chemicals go into the processing aspect or using solvents to break down the cell membranes to extract lipids, but this unique cell has virtually no cell wall, and huge concentrations of lipids making commercial application much easier to pursue.”

Minister Case sat with a thoughtful expression, contemplating for several minutes in silence.
“Thats excellent news Dr. Orrenyn. The Republic needs something like this. Dr. Chattopadhyay, what is your role in this?”

Avatari straightened in her seat, “Dr. Orrenyn sent me his sample to corroborate his findings and offer further analysis of the organism. My team cloned the cell and began genetic modification tests and were able to increase the lipid concentration through gene editing.”

“Increase it further? By how much Dr.?” Case asked quickly.

“Approximately 4% sir.” Dr. Chattopadhyay added, though somewhat reluctantly.

“Well thats not nothing, Dr. Chattopadhyay. Excellent work. Dr. Orrenyn, I want you to cease your operations on Yvandros and form a team with your colleague and others that might move this forward. Alright, we have a lot to talk about. Jenkins, clear my schedule.”