Fostering the Electrocultural Initiative

Professor Julius Hydrow: “Alright, gents — the challenge has been thrown down from on high. Good luck!”

DATELINE: East Bank, Stratum VII
  Malinconico sat in the Bonus Chamber and stared at the cluttered box of wiring and spare electrical components from a Radyo Barakası Elektro-Kit. A chirping bird outside distracted his musing and he looked over his shoulder. The late day sun fell upon a houseplant sitting on the windowsill. The lightbulb moment had arrived.
  Using the Elektro-Kit, Malinconico cobbled together a basic conduction amplifier. He ran a low-voltage electrical current to an immature Adiantum plant. A simple oscillator circuit with waver-tone acted as power monitor.
  The study was held in Courier One’s Hertwall comms centre. A lone cactus sat nearby on the sill, itself able to tolerate such environmental challenges as lark-smoke and limited solar bask. Malinconico was concerned these factors would bias the test results, but realised they would affect both variable and control equally, thus negating his suspicion.
  After half a fortnight, Malinconico summed up the tabulation of vitals. Conclusion? No discernible difference between variable and control. No Elektro-Rekoil response.
  In hindsight, Malinconico thought it a silly stunt, but apparently Prof. Hydrow was impressed with the curiosity and rigour he had applied within the scientific method. There was a third-place ribbon on his presentation kiosk the next day.

Audio Epilogue: “Hello, Mister Gutts? It’s Julius Hydrow. I’ve found a prospect. He’s onto electroculture. He arrived at it independently, and though his crude contraption provided incomplete data, he shows great promise...”