ANALYZING… FILE TYPE: Conversation Log PERIOD: Colony Era SPEAKERS: Hassan, M. [ID: MHAS], Luttero, T. [ID: TLUT] TOPIC: Tick Milk Education SUMMARY: A recorded conversation between Dr. Mari Hassan and Dr. Tobias Luttero concerning citizen education about tick milk consumption. Tick milk quickly became a staple food for New Cascadia's colonists. =================================================================== [TLUT]: Do you really need my help, Mari? Public education isn't my wheelhouse. [MHAS]: I'll make it easy: You give me the facts, and I'll handle the public talking points. [TLUT]: Uh… right. So, um, tick milk isn't really milk. Ticks have high protein content in their waste secretions. [TLUT]: We encourage the ticks to deposit their waste in collection pods with artificial pheromones. When digested by genetically modified bacteria, the resulting liquid is a complete protein for humans. [MHAS]: Ah, complete protein, sustainably harvested. That's perfect. [TLUT]: Really? [MHAS]: This isn't Earth. We are much closer to the origin of what we eat, so it helps to know the details. Is the harvesting procedure hazardous? [TLUT]: Oh no, not for the ticks. A bit tricky on our end, though. Pheromones make the ticks more territorial. [TLUT]: I designed specialized PPE to protect our cultivation staff. Just waiting on admin approval before we roll it out. [MHAS]: Sustainable, scalable—so far so good. What about consumption? How much of a person's caloric intake can come from tick milk? [TLUT]: Up to a third for healthy adults. Kids can drink it too, but… we don't know enough about vascular growth syndrome to give a safe threshold. [MHAS]: Not a problem. We can create supplementary pamphlets for families. [MHAS]: One more thing, mostly for my own curiosity: How would you describe the taste? [TLUT]: Texture's, uh, halfway between engineered milk and yogurt. Flavor's, ah… yeasty. There's a sample right there; try it yourself. [MHAS]: Tobias, it's in a beaker. [TLUT]: So? [MHAS]: I'll wait for the commercial version. =================================================================== TYPE: TEXT [X]; AUDIO [X]