2. GERANIUMS!
Of course you're going to have agriculture on a planet being terraformed, and even some horticulture to brighten things up, but one thing's for sure – you wouldn't expect the sheer number of geraniums that ended up imprisoned here! Thanks to one particularly green-fingered inmate Lyla Mayweather, there was a literal abundance of geranium propagation that can even be found to this day!
– from “10 Things You Won't Believe Happened on b-Exagora! (It Wasn't All Evil Research!)” on popular Bel-Ashan light entertainment website
[Aerial shot. The camera pans across rolling green fields, peppered with brilliantly-coloured flowers]
Voiceover: It's hard to believe, looking at these lush, peaceful fields, that a century ago, this place was nothing but a barren wasteland. What we see here today is testament not only to the marvels of terraforming technology, but also to the skill and patience of those who have dedicated their lives to this planet.
[Cut: a village, surrounded by fields. Dotted among them are white-painted beehives. In the centre of the village, the shapes of the prison complex are still recognisable, though they have been remodelled and repainted, and are surrounded by newer buildings - brick and stone, some with thatched roofs. The camera moves along the road into the village, passing a combine harvester making its way through a field of wheat.]
Voiceover: What was once the notorious Redemption Reform Facility is now a thriving religious community, a centre for biological research, and a pilgrimage site for Organics from light-years away.
To tell us the story of this remarkable transformation, who better than someone who has been here from the very start?
[The camera cuts to a graveyard, grave-markers almost buried in the banks of flowers. An elderly woman is kneeling in a bed of primroses.]
Voiceover: Lyla Mayweather: scientist, farmer, and peace-maker. She planted some of the first seeds here, and she's spent her life helping the planet blossom.
[The old woman looks up, sets down her trowel, and gets to her feet, wiping her hands clean on her sturdy work trousers]
Lyla: Sorry, I was just weeding this bed - that particular grave is empty now, but it's still important to keep it neat, after all.
You're here to hear our story, I suppose? Where would you like me to begin?
Presenter: What have been the biggest challenges here on b-Exagora?
Lyla: Well, of course, there were the riots in the beginning, and the issues with NEXUS, but as for interesting challenges, the biggest was the pollination issue, of course.
Now, many of the plant species we grow here are typically insect-pollinated, and while there are many things we can do with modified plants - I'm sure you've heard about the work I did with geraniums in the early years - pollinators were always an issue. B-Exagora has no native insect life, and it was decades after we began work before we could first import bees…