The first recorded attempts at manipulating plant growth, not through traditional cultivation, but through… alteration. It began, as these things often do, with a fever dream. Professor Alistair Finch, a botanist obsessed with the cellular structure of *Lycopersicon esculentum* (the tomato, naturally), was experimenting with nascent chemical compounds – extracts from the bladderwort, a carnivorous plant of considerable interest – and a newly synthesized ether, dubbed “Nocturne,” derived from the night-blooming cereus. The goal was simple: accelerated growth. But Nocturne, it seems, possessed an… unexpected resonance with the plant’s inherent biological rhythms. Early observations noted a disproportionate swelling of the fruit, a strange luminescence, and a disconcerting silence amongst the surrounding flora. Finch documented it meticulously, his handwriting growing increasingly erratic, filled with phrases like “The Bloom refuses to listen” and “The Green remembers nothing.” He believed he was unlocking a deeper connection with the plant kingdom, a way to accelerate its evolution. The accounts, however, were dismissed as the ravings of a man consumed by obsession.

“The Green holds secrets, you see. And Nocturne… Nocturne simply helps it reveal them.” – Alistair Finch, Journal Entry 74.

Finch Botanical Archives, Collection Sigma-9

During the Second World War, the burgeoning field of biochemistry intersected with a desperate need: a means to rapidly cultivate food sources in occupied territories. Operation Chloros, spearheaded by Dr. Evelyn Reed of the British War Research Team, utilized a refined version of Finch’s early experiments, combining concentrated glyphosate formulations with pulsed electromagnetic radiation. The theory was that the glyphosate would disrupt the plant’s natural defense mechanisms, while the electromagnetic pulses would ‘guide’ the growth, effectively creating ‘perfect’ crops – uniform, resistant to disease, and, crucially, rapidly maturing. Field tests in France, conducted in a secluded region near the Loire Valley, yielded astonishing results. Wheat grew to maturity in a matter of days, potato fields erupted in a vibrant green, and the local ecosystem seemed to… fade. Reed’s team reported “an absence of natural predators,” “a lack of biodiversity,” and “a disconcerting stillness in the air.” The project was halted abruptly after reports of unusually large and aggressive earthworms appeared, consuming the entire crop within hours. The cause, they suspected, was a “feedback loop,” a consequence of severely disrupting the complex interplay of the soil’s microbiome.

War Research Records, Project Nightingale - Declassified 2018

The “Silent Harvest” began subtly, with localized crop failures across the American Midwest. Initially attributed to climate change, fungal outbreaks, and genetically modified resistance, the truth was far more unsettling. Researchers discovered a previously undocumented strain of glyphosate, one that wasn’t simply inhibiting plant growth, but actively *rewriting* the plant’s DNA. This “Chronos Glyphosate,” as it became known, wasn’t just a herbicide; it was a temporal catalyst. It targeted the plant’s epigenetic markers, essentially resetting its developmental timeline. Fields of corn, soybeans, and wheat appeared to ‘remember’ a past state of growth, reverting to younger, more vulnerable stages with alarming speed. The soil itself became ‘chronologically unstable,’ exhibiting fluctuations in age and composition. The phenomenon was linked to a series of clandestine experiments conducted by a shadowy organization known only as “The Chronos Collective,” who believed they could use this technology to ‘correct’ the mistakes of the past – to revitalize extinct plant species and, ultimately, reshape the entire biosphere. The Collective vanished without a trace, leaving behind only a network of abandoned research facilities and a world irrevocably altered. The silence, once a byproduct of alteration, became the dominant feature of the landscape – the silence of a world perpetually out of sync.

The Archivist’s Report, Level 5 Clearance - Omega Sector