Gaseous

The expedition to the B1 Suddenly became a really interesting event. From the moment life was discovered on the planet, The possibilities on the planet seemed to have expanded. The tree shattered every model that the Researchers aboard the shore came up with simply by existing. But it's discovery was a really important event. It represented a new type of trees that humanity were about to discover for the first time ever.

As the Hawk continued to send all the data from the scanner back to the shore, Dr. Helen routed it to one of the Labs to get it processed ASAP. She quickly assigned a few of the main data processors to work and the tree was being mapped in real time.

The scanner was doing a really great stuff of not only mapping the internal structure of the tree, but also studying the molecular structure of the tree. Down the to individual atoms and elements. It was exactly what Dr. Helen wanted to know.

"How long till the scanning is complete?", She asked impatiently through the terminal.

"6 Minutes.", The operator replied.

She was really anxious about this discovery, As she was the one who stood to gain the most out of this impromptu expedition. As a Researcher who unlocked the potential in alien exo-plants and modified it to help humanity in many ways, She was always excited to find more interesting alien plants to study. She was sure that if what she thought about the metallic plant was true, then she was sure to make her second mark in the field of botany in the Empire.

'I'm so glad I came on this expedition.' She thought to herself.

As the data from the Hawk kept pouring in and got processed, the projection of the tree in front of them became more and more detailed and certain points started to be highlighted. The automated AI highlighted the important points that it figured as important aspect of the incoming data.

"Scanning Complete in, 3 2 1. Scan finished. ", The operator spoke through her comm.

Everyone on the bridge of the Shore and on-board both Hawk and Yuki held their breaths as they started studying the complete data that was in front of them. The data was formatted accurately and the projection of the tree in front of them was also detailed. They could gain a real life glimpse of every aspect of the tree easily.

As everyone involved finished their study of the base data and parameters of the Tree, They looked a bit shook as they needed a moment to process the conclusion. They were quite confused at the data. It didn't make any sense. The base parameters of the Tree didn't just destroyed their conclusions, It also destroyed fundamental laws of Science in ways that wasn't explainable. They looked at Dr. Helen for her conclusions. As they weren't nearly qualified on the subjects themselves. Dr. Helen was the true expert in the field of Botany aboard the Shore. And her conclusions would hold the most value.

Dr. Kita was the first to break silence as he started walking towards the terminal. He spoke through the terminal, "Is the Scanner working correctly? Please perform the appropriate tests to make sure that the scanner isn't malfunctioning."

"Copy that, Performing Preliminary tests.", The Operator replied.

He started to walk towards Dr. Helen who was still in a trance after analyzing the data. And gave her a gentle tap on her shoulder which broke her trance as she looked at Kita excitedly and said.

"It's a tree! It's really a tree! The definition of a tree still holds. This really is a tree, And a really exciting one at that.", She was really exciting on finding the first metallic tree.

"Yes I know, But The data doesn't make any sense. Xenon is a gas, A noble gas at that. It's not a metal. How could the tree be made up of Xenon in the first place?", Kita replied. He was out of his wits, It didn't make any sense. Basic chemistry dictated that a noble gas doesn't react with anything. It didn't need to. Then why was the Tree was mostly made up of pure Xenon Composite?

"That's the exciting part! Even kids know that Xenon is a Noble gas and doesn't react with anything. It doesn't need to. But here we see it in a composite form, And quite a strong composite at that! Xenon in Metallic form is ground breaking!", Dr. Helen replied to him excitedly.

As per the recorded data, The tree was made up of 5 elements in total. The main element of the tree was Xenon. A Noble gas that didn't react with anything. The 2nd most abundant element was Francium. Francium was a really hard to find element in nature as it was highly radioactive and had a half-life of only 22 minutes. It practically disintegrated into other smaller elements really fast. But for some reason, the Francium on the tree was really stable and was part of the process that essentially helped the tree "Grow". Carbon was the 3rd most abundant element making up a core hollow structure that ran through the middle of the tree and was used to move different elements throughout the tree.

"The Tree seems to feed on Carbon from the ground.", Dr. Helen commented.

The Carbon structure was used to transfer carbon from the ground to the tips of the different branches of the tree. It essentially worked like a Xylem of a regular tree back on earth. The tree also incorporated trace amounts of Silver and Gold in it's body.

The tree was mostly solid in the main parts with the carbon structure running through the middle, And was made up of Xenon Composite. The francium was gathered around the tips of the branches where it grew.

"Even if it's metallic. It's somehow growing itself, essentially 'Growing' itself. It uses the abundant carbon in it's surrounding environment as it's intake. It doesn't seem to rely on water though."