Road Root
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Road Root |
Road
Root is among the most
unique road building technologies employed in Terragens
space. The creation
of this neogen plant
marks the single most successful attempt to build living organic roads. The earliest varieties
date back to
approximately 5192 a.t. The
design has
been refined many times since then.
The Road Root tree has been geneered to have qualities that enable it to serve as pavement. The trunk is flattened and has been modified to grow parallel to the ground. The dark gray outer bark has increased density in order to stand up to the rigors of supporting vehicular traffic and specialized texture that offers maximum traction. The inner woody layers are spongy and resilient so as to act as shock absorbers. The road surface quickly absorbs any water that hits it, thereby providing for the plant’s hydration needs while reducing the risk of hydroplaning. The leaves grow parallel to the stem on either side – each Road Root has only two leaves. The surfaces and inner structures of the leaves are also reinforced, but only enough to stand up to pedestrian traffic (note that “pedestrian” can include beings as massive as Sufants). The chloroplasts contain multiple pigments to allow the plant to use light outside the visible band for photosynthesis. All Road Root can utilize infrared light, and many varieties can use the longer ultraviolet wavelengths as well. As a living organism a Road Root naturally repairs itself when damaged, though severe wounds can kill it. Some varieties have stripes of light-colored wood running parallel to the length of the trunk as lane markers, while others have strips of raised bark that serve as medians.
In addition to its role in
transportation Road Root can facilitate power generation. Some types of Road Root
support an epiphytic
variety of Turbine Plant on the outer edges of
their trunks and have
organic conductors interwoven with their root systems.
The wakes of passing vehicles add to the wind
that the Turbine Plants convert into electricity, and the Road Root can
act as
a line for transmitting that power to a city.
The most impressive application of Road Root is in terraforming. Transapient
engineers sometimes lay
out a world’s cities and roads before the environment has
been made habitable
for oxygen breathers. If
the planet’s
atmosphere is rich in carbon dioxide the roads might be laid out in
Road Root
early in the terraforming process.
The
trees will then aid in rectifying the atmosphere; a network of living
floronic
roads has a dizzyingly vast oxygen output.
Road Root is fast growing for a
large tree, but it is still the slowest way to make a road. A plant takes over 20
years to grow to
maturity (that is, full bark density) even under optimal conditions,
and the
road isn’t safe for use by heavy vehicles until the tree is
fully-grown. Builders
who are in a hurry must use some
other technology to make their roads.
As
a woody plant Road Root will burn, but the genetic modifications
include
several for fire resistance. Chemical
spills – especially of corrosives and defoliants –
are the greatest danger to
the road’s structural integrity.
It is
impossible to plant Road Root over an unsuitable surface; the seeds
cannot
penetrate rock or metal and can’t germinate in ground that
lacks the proper
nutrients. The tree
also cannot grow if
there is insufficient light for photosynthesis.
The advantage of Road Root is that it is self-repairing
(which
drastically reduces maintenance costs) and long lasting – the
lifespan of an
individual tree is well over 4,000 years.
Of all the living roads that have been planted to date,
the only ones
that aren’t still in service are those that have been
destroyed by natural
disasters or by the deliberate actions of sophonts.
