The UK invaded by a GM Food Crop

April - June 2019
In Manchester, England the Swiss geneticists and lecturer Professor Solaryent and his team successfully develops a new type of food crop at the University of Manchester.  Named after its creator Solaryent (SY1 for short) it is a genetic hybrid of a number of common food crops and pulses, including broad-bean, carrot, broccoli as well as the dandelion and common Ivy.  The SY1 is purposely designed to be weed-like in nature, in order to allow it to be grown virtually anywhere, in any temperature, harsh climates and to endure all manner of weather conditions.  It requires no special equipment or conditions to germinate, and almost zero care or maintenance.  The purpose of the SY1 is to reduce hunger Worldwide and end starvation once and for all, by allowing third world countries lacking tools, education or knowledge to cultivate it with little to
no effort.  It is described as being very tasty, with a crunchy consistency similar to carrot whilst high in vitamins, minerals and protein content.    
Thursday 1st August – 7:00pm
 Professor Solaryent appears as a guest on BBC Ones ‘The One show’ to unveil how the revolutionary new crop functions and demonstrate its versatility.  He explains how its unique qualities as a food crop make it perfect for the starving nations of the world, and how it can be used to feed the masses in starving nations.  The SY1 plants featured on the show appear as small dark green florets maybe 4-8 inches high, in small trays of water.  He explains how they have been grown in low quality soil, with little water and that they have taken less than 12 hours to reach their current size.  This makes SY1 the fastest growing plant on earth, exceeding even bamboo in terms of growing rates.  He explains how the seeds and organic growth of SY1 are currently held in cold storage, within a cryogenic-facility at the Manchester University.    
Later on in the cooking section of the show the Professor creates a basic chicken stir fry using SY1 as the primary vegetable.  He then allows presenter Tom Baker, and the other guest (Musician Chris de Burgh) to try it, which they comment as being “delicious, tasting of hints of minestrone soup”   
Friday 2nd August - 2019 
After last night’s ‘The One Show’ SY1 quickly gains publicity through social media, with many people both curious but apprehensive towards eating it as a food crop.  Some religious and humanitarian groups praise it, and hail it as the answer to world hunger, yet many who are opposed to genetic modification consider it a bad thing.  Twitter is alive with people discussing SY1, both with wonder and dismay.
 
Monday 5th
August - 2019 '''
 ‘The Sun’ newspaper publishes a feature article on page 7 declaring Professor Solaryent “the Saviour of the third World” and how the mass cultivation of SY1 could be “bigger than the introduction of sliced bread”.  On twitter the rest of the World continues to take an interest, and the Twitter Hashtags ‘SY1’ and ‘Miracle Food’ begin to gain popularity.
Saturday
10th August - 2019'''
 In Piccadilly and St Peter’s Square, Manchester, not far from where the SY1 is genetically cultivated, some small protests from the ‘World Health Organisation’ and ‘Greenpeace’ occur.  A number of farming and religious communities
also take part in the picket-lining declaring SY1 ‘unnatural’ and an ‘abomination’.  Most demonstrations are peacefully carried out under a police escort.
Wednesday
14th August - 2019'''
 Professor Solaryent’s Twitter page reports that SY1 should be ready for mass cultivation and distribution to various parts of the World by no later than 2021.  He and his team have been in discussion with world health bodies as well as government ministers, and trials are taking place before SY1’s potential introduction.   The heads of numerous nations are said to be extremely interested, including Sierra Leone, India, China, Ethiopia and Indonesia.      
 Friday
16th August - 8:00pm'''
On Friday evening ‘Storm Pandora’ approaches from the UK from the southwest and heads towards Manchester with gale force winds in excess of 120mph and heavy rainfall increasing as it approaches the city.  An amber weather warning is declared by the Met for Manchester, Lancashire and parts of Cheshire, stating that ‘only essential travel should be made’ and there is a ‘low to medium risk of structural damage’ 
Saturday
17th August 2019'''
 12:07am - Havoc is caused when ‘Storm Pandora’ reaches Manchester.  A severe weather warning is declared, with nearly all flights from Manchester airport grounded, a number of roads have been cordoned off due to flooding, and at least 4 people have died in traffic collisions due to the effects of strong winds.
At the SY1 cryogenic lab, a lightning strike hits the power regulator of the SY1 development facility, which governs the cryogenic incubators.  The strike causes a massive short circuit to the power systems responsible for keeping the SY1 seeds in a dormant state of being.
 12:18am - High winds cause a
damaged AC unit to be blown free from the roof of an adjacent.  The machine weighs in excess of 200lb and
plummets three storeys onto the building underneath……which happens to be the
SY1 laboratory.  
12:19am - The damage from the impact destroys the roof of the lab and allows the now active SY1 seeds and cultivated plant material to begin growing in an exposed environment.  Many SY1 seeds spill out of their containers, some are caught by the wind and blown outside. 
 
1:00am – By now the SY1 seeds begin to grow exponentially in their containers, sending runners, stalks and tendrils over the floors and towards the outside..
5:00am – The laboratory is now completely overrun with SY1 growth and plant material.  It looks more like a tropical greenhouse than a laboratory.  
8:30am – An alarm is sounded when students notice large shoots, stalks, feelers and plant growth emerging from the northern side of the building. 
9:10am – Police arrive on scene and contact the university authorities.
9:35am – A quarantine unit arrive in an attempt to contain the SY1 growth emerging from the building.  They arrive with hazmat suits, tools and the area is cordoned off by police.  All students are sent home and the area is cordoned off to prevent the spread of SY1 on vehicles or people’s feet.  Despite the containment team’s best efforts a great number of SY1 seeds and spores have been released into the atmosphere, both in pollen form and as parachutes similar to those found of a dandelion.
11:00am – Police identify a secondary growth of SY1 in ‘All saints Park’ adjacent to the university.  It is voraciously growing up the side of a beech street, sending feelers and leafed runners in all directions.
11:12am – A second confirmed report arrives of SY1 growing in soil near the Manchester Faculty of Science and Engineering.
12:15pm – Specialist environmental clean-up teams are dispatch from the cities of Liverpool and Preston to assist with the outbreak of SY1.  It is clear that the containment teams on site are having a very hard time containing SY1’s spread, as it can reproduce and take root so easily in little or no soil.  As fast as the team can destroy it, it can simply regenerate and begin to grow once more.
2:00pm – Further 999 calls come in reporting small SY1 florets growing in the surrounding the streets, alleyways and on motorway verges alongside the A57.  In the streets it is witnessed growing in gutters, on roofs, and emerging from wheelie bins.  A YouTube video is uploaded of it sending roots into a solid tarmac road.
2:20pm – Reports continue to come in concerning the spread of SY1.  Some are as far away as Hulme.  Prime Minister Theresa May, after being shown video footage and pictures of the plant spreading like wildfire along streets and roads she orders an immediate 15 mile quarantine of Manchester and all traffic to be cleared from the M60.
3:00pm – 999 calls report SY1 sightings in Longsight, Rusholme and Manchester city centre.
4:30pm – By now the SY1 has completely taken over the initial site of the outbreak and pictures from the Sky news helicopter show what was once the Manchester Metropolitan University.  The buildings and the surrounding streets are virtually unrecognisable, and resemble a thick dark green clump of fronds and foliage.  Some of the shoots and stalks extend almost 150 feet into the air.  Evacuations are taking place and small fires are widespread where residents have attempted to burn the plant.
4:40pm – A 23 year old female student Professor Solaryent was having an affair with finds him dead in his flat.  He has committed suicide through lethal injection.
5:00pm – The PM Theresa May addresses the United Kingdom and pleads with the British population for calm in their hour of need she assures them “we are doing everything in our power to contain and control this threat” and urges for calm and orderliness.  In the US President Donald Trump vows to stand by the United Kingdom “We will help our friend in their time of need, anything you need just ask and we can assist” 
6:00pm – Most of south Manchester has now disappeared beneath a dense canopy of vegetation and foliage, extending from Old Trafford to Openshaw.  NASA reports the SY1 can now be seen from space, and pictures of it begin to flash across social media.  Teresa may orders the quarantine to be extended to anywhere within 30 miles of the M60, and declares a general state of emergency.  The death toll through people literally being crushed to death as the plant comes through their windows and letterboxes is confirmed at 500 so far, however is it though thousands more may be unconfirmed.  An even greater number are expected to be trapped and displayed.
7:30pm – It is confirmed Manchester City Centre has fallen and is currently being invaded by the plant.  Hundreds die in the stampedes to evacuate, and looting is commonplace.  
8:00pm – Reports come in of the SY1 growing in Rochdale, Bolton and Warrington.
8:30pm – The PM Theresa May makes a second TV address to the nation in which she declares she is withdrawing all troops from abroad to return home to combat the threat.
9:00pm – Reports arrive of SY1 growing in homes, streets and gardens in Huddersfield and Sheffield.
11:30pm – The town of Bolton is almost completely on fire after residents attempt to tackle the SY1 by burning it with petrol and by throwing Molotov cocktails.  To some extent it works in halting the plant, but only temporarily and with limited
effect.  Hundreds die in the blaze and from smoke inhalation, and despite being called paramedics and fire crews are stretched too thinly to offer any useful help. 
Sunday 18th August 2017
8:00am – It is confirmed that the city of Huddersfield, Sheffield and Stoke-on-Trent are being invaded and overrun by SY1 in the same fashion that Manchester was.  The latest satellite imagery from NASA features a 60 mile wide growth of rainforest-like vegetation protruding from what was once Manchester.  Tall fronts and runners are now extending almost half a mile into the air and releasing thousands of dandelion seeds into the wind at high altitude.
9:30am - Reports come in that Leeds, York, Liverpool, Blackpool and Doncaster are all being invaded by SY1.  It is thought that seeds have drifted over silently in the wind and taken root.
10:00am – PM Theresa May extends the quarantine to the ‘North of England’ as a whole, in a rough diagonal line between Lincolnshire and the Severn Estuary.  Air travel to the northern airports is banned and all motorways into these areas are closed down for use by the emergency services.
-      Reports of further SY1 growth emerge from Nottingham, Shrewsbury, Harrogate, Lancaster and Scunthorpe.  The death toll by this point is now estimated as being somewhere between 10000 and 20000.
1:00pm – Troops from Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria begin to arrive back in the UK via London Heathrow and Gatwick, and are distributed to hold the ‘Wash/Severn’ quarantine line.
1:30pm -  PM Theresa May authorises the use of deadly force to all Police and military personnel.  This is in response to numerous people trying to sneak through the line and escape south.
3:30pm – It is confirmed that Liverpool has been overrun.
4:00pm – Birmingham has fallen
5:00pm – It is confirmed that the whole of the north of England has been overrun.  NASA and drone pictures shown to Teresa May show the north of England now resembles a dark green clump of vegetation, with tendrils and foliage now extending over a mile into the sky.  All Air force and military assets are moved south to home-counties around the capital
.         
 7:00pm – Drone pictures show the cities of Newcastle and Sunderland have been destroyed.
-       It is now thought that at least 100,000 people have been killed or injured by the SY1’s growth and that millions more are stuck at home, stranded or wandering displaced through the newly formed forests and undergrowth.
8:30pm  - Teresa May authorizes the use of bombing raids from aircraft and drone strikes across the midland counties to prevent the SY1 crossing the ‘Wash/Severn’ quarantine line.
10:15pm – A newsflash reports that HM Queen Elizabeth and her family have moved to a safe location.  She is described as being ‘shocked and very disturbed’ by the events of the past 48 hours, and will be keeping an eye on the situation.  It is thought she has flown to Canada or Australia.
Monday 19th August 2019
 
-       The UK Government has cancelled all schools and reinstated that people should only travel if necessary.  Advice is given on how to help stop spread of the SY1, such as reporting any new growths discovered immediately, and under no circumstances touch it.
-       Experts estimate that the SY1 has doubled in size in the last 24 hours and now covers an area of 32000 square Km.
9:00am – The UN security council in New York City USA hold an emergency meeting and agree to quarantine the whole of mainland Britain.  Despite this President Trump still agrees to send a naval task force to the Irish sea, consisting of aircraft carriers, submarines and frigates to “assist the UK in any way the US people can”  
 
11:18am – Reports arrive of SY1 growing past the quarantine barrier.  A local farmer near Trowbridge finds one of his allotments is being choked by SY1 growth.
11:25pm  - SY1 confirmed growing in the countryside near Glastonbury and Frome.
11:45pm  - SY1 spotted in a garden near Kings Lynn.
12:00pm – 3:00pm – 999s report SY1 growing in Cambridge, Milton Keynes, Ipswich and Luton. 
6:00pm – First report of SY1 spotted growing in a hanging basket in the London borough of Mayfair.
-      Further outbreaks reported growing in the backstreets of Soho  
9:00pm – London is in a state of absolute chaos.  Most police have abandoned their posts and medical aid is now none existent.  Cars burn and people lie injured and dead in the streets, looting is fire and small fires are commonplace.
11:00pm – Footage from US predator drones and NASA imagery show that London has fallen.
Tuesday 20th August 2019
8:00am - It is declared the United Kindom has fallen due to being overrun by the spread of SY1 plants.
5:15pm – Passengers on board a passenger jet travelling from New York to Paris witness a group of airborne seeds heading in the direction of Europe
Category:Agriculture
Category:Human-Led Disasters