Martian Defibrillator.
" Mission control, we are in orbit and ready to land, over," said the pilot of the space mission to carry mycelium to Mars. " this is mission control, we copy, good luck" Dr. Archid watched on the monitors as it all unfolded, " do you think it's gonna work?" Asked her colleague Mizar. " between you and me, I hope it does but I have no idea if it will.
The idea came after I watched a documentary, with a bit more research on the evolving properties of mycelium and according to the documentary fungi pretty much terraformed the earth once, so… maybe it'll work again. OK, that's not completely accurate.
It didn't terraform the earth on its own but it's a simplification. See in my head, Mars it's a dead planet, and maybe if the conditions are right and the mycelium evolves similarly to how it did here.
I mean who knows…. But it could be the defibrillator that gives life to Mars. If it doesn't work I'm also really good at cleaning windows from very high buildings. So I'm not nervous" said Dr. Archid, walking back and forth. " I see, to give Mars a pulse, to bring the whole nervous system.
That is quite the concept … how are you going to keep the mycelium alive?" Asked Mizar. " we're bringing it on materials from the earth and there should be enough chemical components on the ship to maintain decomposition and feed the fungi. Then it is just a matter of adding more Mars than earth and seeing how it reacts.
Eventually having fungi on the soil." Dr. Archid replied " and then if that succeeds you want to do that to a whole … planet…?" Asked Mizar. " yeah… I know, but eventually, the Martian fungi should be able to self-reproduce, hopefully. The biggest problem is time.
If I'm being really honest, there is no way to know how long it is going to take for the fungi to adapt and then reproduce and take over the planet. But by the time we get to that point we should know if it's gonna work or not, I mean what is the result of this fungus by changing the input of the equation." Said the Doctor.
" I can see why you're nervous. Have the experiments with Martian soil given any results here?" Asked Mizar. "Not really, I mean not yet. We've also never simulated an atmosphere for this long. We don't have enough data yet so they'll be running simultaneously. Do you think I'd be a good banker?" Said the doctor, finally taking a seat. Her colleague laughed "you've never been good with money. I think you better stick with making planets habitable." Said Mizar putting a hand on her shoulder.