This was originally post over on the Crystal Hall in 2009. I figured it was appropriate to repost here.

You find the Christmas spirit in the oddest places. As Christmas break approached, many devisors and gadgeteers put aside their regular projects to start working on something more seasonally "appropriate".

"Uh, That's an interesting miniature tree. I like the way the colored balls on the end of strands glow."

They both looked at the tree. Well, more of a bush, actually. Roughly conical with many thin strand "branches" ending in glowing, marble-sized globes of color. Some transparent, others translucent and swirling in different colors.

"Thank you. It took a lot of work to breed it."

"Breed it? You mean it's not plastic?"

"Oh no. Completely natural. Just a bit of gene-splicing here and there."

"So the glow..."

"Is bioluminescence."

"Neat."

"It is a bit energy intensive though. so it needs somewhat more food that a normal plant."

With that he opened a container and released some flying insects near the "tree". They seemed fascinated by the tiny glowing balls. One tried to land on one of the marble sized globes.

It proved to not be solid, but a viscous liquid. In a matter of seconds, it was engulfed as fine tendrils whipped out of the surface and drew it under. The glow brightened as the food was digested.

The girl who'd been so fascinated by the 2 foot "tree" drew back.

"Uh, I've got to be going..."

The bio-devisor looked at her retreating back.

"Strange. That's the fourth one to do that. Oh well."

And he went back to working on improved designs for his Christmas bush. Meanwhile the bush was enjoying the snack as the rest of the insects gave in to the enticements of its many lures.

In a large underground room a group was working on their project. They'd been lucky to find an unused space near the Workshop that met their requirements.

One of them was reading down a checklist.

"Gloves and lab coats on?"

A chorus of affirmative responses followed.

"External warning on!"

With a flip of a switch a sign outside the two sets of doors to the lab lit up to display "Test in Progress" and "Protective gear required beyond this point!"

"Coolant pumps on."

A rumble then rushing noises as hundreds of gallons of water began to flow through the device's many coolant channels.

"Main power nominal"

"Face and eye protection."

Everyone pulled down heavy welders masks with hoods.

"Plasma exciters on."

There was a crackle of power as high voltage systems came online.

"We are go for initiation."

"5... 4... 3... 2... 1... Light!"

And the huge framework came to life. The glow was blinding. A few unnoticed bits of paper near it flashed into smoke, quickly drawn away by exhaust fans.

The coolant system labored to keep things from melting from the sheer power flow.

"Temperature climbing..."

"It should be ok, wait and see if the secondary system engages..."

With a loud clunk, several valves opened and others closed. Near boiling water was vented through a specially designed fixture on the surface, jetting upward and falling back as snow. Meanwhile fresh, cold water replaced it in the cooling system.

Everyone concentrated on their readouts. After several minutes, they sighed with relief.

"Ok, looks like that did it. We'll set the automatics for a burn-in tonight. Good job. Now let's shut things down."

It took ten more minutes to power down and safe all the systems.

After that, the group took off all the safety gear and went off to celebrate, leaving the world's first megawatt Christmas tree behind.