After the meeting Rick hopped on his Super Cyclone. He felt pretty good and really opened up the throttle. Since it ran on Protoculture there was no internal combustion engine making a loud roar, and that was a good thing too because causing the survivors of the Robotech War would not hesitate to throw rocks at some A-hole gunning a Harley Engine.
Rick hit the distance. soon he was 100 miles out of town. "I haven't seen this before" he thought to himself. Small groves of trees had begun popping up across the ruined continent. One of them had strange flowers. He picked one of the flowers and put it in his 1982 Igloo Lunch Cooler.
Later that night he got home. Lisa was waiting with Claudia and the Sterlings. Rick showed them his flower. Meriya reacted strangely to it. "It is like the flower of life" she said.
"what is the Flower of Life?" asked Rick.
"It is a flower some of the Zentraedi consume. Its effects are varied. Khyron enjoyed it very much."
"It smells familiar" said Max Sterling.
Just then Lisa brought out Dinner and the course of conversation changed. After Dinner Lisa brought out another surprise! "It is the Pineapple Salad. Claudia finally shared the recipe with me."
The Pineapple Salad had a strange effect on Rick. "Lisa, will you marry me?"
Lisa blanched. "Well Rick, we already live together. The legal and cultural institutions that defined marriage in the past have been obliterated."
"Then by the power vested in me by me, I declare us husband and wife" said Rick. everyone raised their drinking vessels in cheer.
Later, the next day, Rick brought the flower to Emil Lang. "here is a cool flower I found. Meriya Sterling told me it had supernatural effects on the Zentraedi. Khyron used it to become a giant Jerk!"
"That is very interesting. I will analyze it immediately". Emil Lang placed the flower near his science instruments. "According to these readings, this Flower produces trace amounts of protoculture. Where did you find it?"
Rick and Emil took two cyclones to the grove of trees where Rick had found the flower. But they couldn't find it! Then Rick remembered that Max had recognized the smell. "We had better call Max and Meriya down here. He recognizes the smell of the flower".
Max flew a Veritech to meet them. "The nose knows" said Max. He began sniffing the air. He lead them to a small tree with flowers like Rick had found. It was a Marijuana Hemp Plant!
"Is this the plant Flowers of Life grew on?" Emil asked Meriya.
"I don't know. We always ordered them through mail order. You know Zentraedi were incapable of repairing or making anything", said Meriya.
Emil Lang tapped his head for a moment. Max spoke up. "Did Khyron keep a big stash?"
"I think so", said Meriya. "He never seemed to run out".
"Here is a theory", said Emil Lang. "When Khyron was hiding out in the jungle he left behind seeds or pollen of the Flower of Life. It interbred with Hemp to produce this new plant. This could be very important. Until now we had no idea where protoculture came from. There were just many tanks of it in the SDF-1 when it showed up. We must grow more of these plants!"
"I guess that makes sense. Max and Meriya had a kid. Why not Robotech Plants and Hemp." said Rick
Security forces were called. They constructed several out buildings to monitore the plants until they produced fruit or seeds. The plants eventually produced seeds. Dr.Lang tested them. "These seeds are full of protoculture!" he announced.