It's not that Richard wanted to get himself in trouble, but his curiosity always seemed to get the better of him, and since the plant problem was now the center of all the town folk's attention, which gave his parents little time to organize his schedule, he had plenty of time to dedicate to his research.

In the meantime, the lab results were finalized, to be presented to an already weary audience who didn't think they were going to hear anything they didn't already know. The real surprise came from the X-ray scans. The plant's tuberous roots were weaving through the pipes and taking up sufficient space to make the steam inside them run at higher pressure. There didn't seem to be a beginning or an end in this incredible system of ramifications, which exhibited the same strange behavior as its exterior counterpart, seeming to float inside the pipe, and touch it only at the penetration points.

A team of experts was convened, from many institutions in the surrounding areas, and representing many different fields, to assess the nature of the problem and come up with solutions. They spent a month to analyze the situation from every angle, time during which the plant, luckily,seemed to have reached a certain equilibrium with its environment and stopped leafing out of control. When the experts reached their conclusion, they returned to a hopeful audience with their findings and a list of options.

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