Security Bush
A security bush appears to be an innocent shrub, when in fact it is an active security device. This device was invented on the Arrank Habitat in Martian orbit in the Sol system. It has since spread far and wide.
Most Security Bushes are loaded with pneumatic powered darts, sometimes coated in a poisonous substance - either paralytic or lethal to the local general populace. When someone or something that isn't authorized attempts to enter the area the security bush is protecting, it fires a volley of darts at the intruder and triggers an alarm to warn other security systems. These devices can be designed to look like most any type of shrub, small tree, or even a patch of grass.
While mostly supplanted by more robust systems, such as utility fogs and remotes, Security Bushes were quite the high-tech option in the early interplanetary era.
At the height of their use, the most popular model was known as the Arrankalean Needler, and actually fired a wide range of projectiles, from hypersonic bullets to a sticky fluid that entangled the victim. The Arrankalean Needler was most famous for its rigorous sensors and unblemished service records. For the first two hundred years after its invention, no Arrankalean Needler was ever fooled into passing an unauthorized person into it's protected area. They were, however, not impossible to overpower.
If the Needler is left to grow in the wild, it can reproduce, and will program its offspring to follow the same orders it was given. There have been a few documented cases of security bushes taking over a large portion of the biosphere after being abandoned. Wild security bushes are sometimes a serious nuisance, carrying out programming laid down thousands of years ago.
Tech Level: Biotech 6
Cost: Public domain for the basic needler. Low to Moderate for customized versions.
Descriptor: Auxon
Another popular one is the Quijote Special - a hybridization of a turbine plant and security bush, plus high powered biological capacitors. The Quijote will either fire a sterile capacitor 'seed' at a target, either with intent to stun or kill, a conducting vine like a taser or on contact with the bush.
Tech Level: Biotech 6, Nanotech 4
Cost: Moderate
Descriptor: Auxon
