An Arrankalean
Needler on Peta Dromanis targets flying synsect
intruders
-
A security bush appears to be an innocent shrub, when in fact it is an
active security device. This device was invented on the Arrank Habitat
in Martian orbit in the Sol system just prior to the nanoswarm
disaster. The design was shared with several early colony ships,
and
left the solar system before the nanodisaster.
Most Security Bushes are loaded with pneumatic powered darts, sometimes
coated in a poisonous substance - either paralytic or lethal to the
local general populace. When someone or something that isn't authorized
attempts to enter the area the security bush is protecting, it fires a
volley of darts at the intruder and triggers an alarm to warn other
security systems. these devices make use of bioborg, provolve and
cybernetic enhancement, and can be designed to look like most any type
of shrub, small tree, or even a patch of grass.
While mostly supplanted by more robust systems, such as ubiquitous
angelnets, Security Bushes were quite the high-tech option in the early
interplanetary era, all the way up through the beginnings of the first
federation. The concept of the ubiquitous angelnet has mostly
supplanted the security bush in modern times.
At the height of their use, the most popular model was known as the
Arrankalean Needler, and actually fired a wide range of projectiles,
from hypersonic bullets to a sticky fluid that entangled the victim.
The Arrankalean Needler was most famous for its rigorous sensors and
unblemished service records. For the first two hundred years after its
invention, no Arrankalean Needler was ever fooled into passing an
unauthorized person into it's protected area. They were, however, not
impossible to overpower.
Inspection of the plant has since determined that the Arrankalean
Needler was sentient, but non-sophont, and having a narrow
transapient
spike (usually to S:1.2 or so) in abilities required to identify
authorized beings.
If the Needler is left to grow in the wild, it can reproduce, and will
program its offspring to follow the same orders it was given. There
have been a few documented cases of security bushes taking over a large
portion of the biosphere after being abandoned. Wild security bushes
are sometimes a serious nuisance, carrying out programming laid down
thousands of years ago.
