At the Museum of Naval History in Safizon, there are hundreds of museum ships, some dating back to the earliest centuries of Amarr space travel. They include ships of war, as well as other, less well known ship types, including one particular oddity - the mobile hydroponicum.
A tour group made their way around the hydroponic museum ship, listening to the guide explain the history of hydroponic cultivation, and the application of it to the Navy in particular.
"As you can see, most crops grown on the greenhouse ships were leaf crops, there were few root vegetables that could be grown successfully in soil-less environments, particularly aboard ship."
Vast arrays of growing trenches with leafy plants in them stretched into the distance.
"The big breakthroughs in mobile glasshouses came with the discovery of several varieties of hardy fruit tree by the Navy Exploration Corps. The most significant of which was the Lemorange, a citrus type tree, thought to be a hybrid of several citrus tree species planted by long vanished civilisations."
One of the tourists asked, "Lemoranges ? I've never heard of them."
The tour guide nodded. "That's understandable, the Lemorange is rarely cultivated today, because of advances in space travel, making it viable to grow and transport less hardy fruit."
The tourist seemed happy with this explanation, and the group moved on into the citrus house of the ship. Huge growing trenches with small trees growing in them filled the citrus house, with the branches weighed down with several fruits.
"Here are the Lemoranges, the fruit that allowed the Navy Explorators to expand their expeditions to an unprecedented scale", said the tour guide, and picked several fruit to show to the group. "Try one".
"Eurgh, they taste sour", said one of the group.
"That is true, they are very sour. However, they contain a lot of vitamins, and so were vital for the expansion of the Empire, by providing a durable fresh fruit source for the crews of the Exploration corps. The sour taste is one of the reasons why the Lemorange is not as popular as it once was."
"A vital fruit in times of trouble, overlooked in times of plenty", said one of the tourists.
"Quite so, sir", said the tour guide. "Now, on to the next glasshouse, where some more modern fruit varieties are grown."
As the people moved on, the lemorange trees continued their silent growth. If the Empire ever needed them again, they'd be ready, to provide fresh, vitamin rich juice for the sailors of the Imperial Navy.
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Topic: Lemoranges are not the only fruit (Read 988 times)