Growth Energy/Growth Virus

Category: Concepts

• The Growth Energy is the viral substance that causes growth in people and kickstarted the GLab plot line in the first place.

• In the GLab universe (pre-Growth Lab 1 (GLU001)) there was a government funded program to discover a new energy source. It was supposed to be something magical like cold fusion or some sort of man made element. Two internal government groups worked together on this. The Air Force and Army. The Army (research guided by Hannah Stromberg) saw it as a way to develop a super soldier like person. The energy was thought to allow some sort of force-field around the soldier as well as make them super strong, much tougher than normal and in some test cases even survive in the vacuum of space.
• The Air Force (guided by Luna Masters) saw the energy as a way to allow huge advances in transportation and deployment. Luna was able to link the energy into a process she developed with her team. They created a prototype matter beaming system (like the Star Trek transporter) that allowed people to be beamed from one location to another. The limits at the time were about 800 kilometers or roughly 500 miles. The system was seen as pretty stable but was in the process of testing.
• At the start of the Growth Lab series we meet a scientist who is working on modifying what Luna and her team have been able to do and folding it back into the Army's research. She is just one of many people across the country and the globe who have been assigned a small part of the whole project. Still, she was provided with enough of the research to create an unstable hybrid energy source. That effectively was the growth energy/virus.
• In Jubilee (GLU050) it's revealed that the growth energy originated from a rogue variant of Gargoyle technology

• One of the main effects of the Growth Energy is an increased libido. Someone infected will usually immediately become horny and may be unable to think about anything other than sexual pleasure. According to ReadyArt, the growth energy only increases the libido for what a person already likes (so a straight man or woman would only feel increased attraction for the opposite sex, a gay man or woman would only feel increased attraction for the same sex, etc). In Unloaded (M02E11), Colette Marceau implies her modifications to the growth energy are what causes the increased libido.
• After a while the growth energy will begin to gradually dissipate from a person, acting as a natural time out for the growth and causing them to shrink back down.
• Over time, as a person repeatedly becomes exposed to growth energy, they will develop a sort of tolerance to its effects. Basically they will be more in control of their thinking and won't instantly start rapidly growing or desiring sex once they are infected, although in situations of massive growth energy activity (such as an outbreak or nearby generator type) they will usually still succumb to the normal sexual drives.

• There are several different types of growth that a person may exhibit. Usually someone will stay as a single growth type but through experimentation and modification they may become a new type.
• Normal growth types are simply people who experience the normal effects of growth (they get infected, they grow, and they release the energy once they fill up). Under normal conditions a normal type would not be able to grow without a catalyst (like coming into contact with growth energy) but in rare circumstances they may be able to trigger growth within themselves (such as under high stress or tension).
• Generator growth types are people who are able to generate growth energy within themselves and others. Generators are usually the cause of major growth outbreaks such as the Prom Night Incident and Rave Party Incident. The speed at which they can generate energy can very per person, with Naomi Furihara being the most powerful known Generator.
• Battery growth types are people who are able to absorb and store large amounts of energy. When they are absorbing energy they do not grow unless they are nearing their storage limits, and when they have energy stored they do not actively grow but may do so if it is somehow released. A battery type can usually cancel out a generator type but under the right conditions a generator will be able to overload a battery. Like generators the amount of energy a battery can store varies per person.
• Females may also be Mega/Giga subtypes of these who experience muscular or super muscular growth respectively.
• Each person of these types has a rating of 1 to 10 to show how strong they are in relation to others of the same type (For example, Luna Masters and Ultima Montgomery are both considered Level 10 Batteries)

• “Rocket Science” is a specific phrase that has been implanted into the growth energy as a trigger for the growth. Anyone who utters or hears the word will immediately begin to grow. Initially the phrase was implanted into Luna's mind by Roger Benton in Michelle Part 2 (GLU015), causing her to unload all her stored up energy whenever she heard it. However in Flight Plan (GLU038), during a flashback set shorty after the prom night outbreak, it's revealed that Benton had accidentally programmed the phrase “Rocket Science” into the energy matrix as a vocal unlock code while realigning it with Ultima Montgomery. This explains how the trigger phrase is able to affect people other than Luna.