Sabotage of Biosphere after Doomsday Event

Premise

After an unfathomably powerful mass extinction event ALL life (fauna, flora, even extremaphiles and microbes) have died off. The Earth was then sterile for an undetermined amount of time. Then one day, deep in an underground facility a computer system from the human era boots up and the words "suitable planet conditions near ideal levels" appear on a monitor. Then 65 scientists emerge from their cryogenic chambers (probably not all at once, individual recovery time, cryo sleep cycles should make for staggered awakenings). They are the result of a previous secret government project. They are now the only living things on the planet. (more human DNA exists in frozen form). The mechanics of the facility are comparable to those of Frozen Ark or Seed Vault, saving hundreds of thousands of seeds and animal tissue samples for genetic reconstruction and eventual re-introduction into the world. The scientists have education/vocational training pre-cryo and the division of labor is as follows:

• Geneticists: reconstruct/revive the plants and animals
• Evolutionists/Ecologists: make executive decisions for timing and location of plant/animal re-introduction
• Field Scientists: a bit brawnier, and actually get their hands dirty and carry out the plan, although they are still very adept intellectually

Antagonist

A rival government has secretly installed 3 sleeper cells among the scientists, one for each role/division of labor. The goal of these sleeper cells is to sabotage the entire operation, eventually leading to mass starvation and another sterile world. They themselves would also starve (they are very dedicated).

Question What is the most subtle way to sabotage the biosphere rebirth operation as detailed above?

Sabotage Goals

• Primary Sabotage Goal: 100% sterilization of life on earth
• Secondary Sabotage Goal: destruction of human-sustaining crops like maize, wheat, rice and starches

Further Clarification

• Method of Sabotage: Anything that is within the control of the sleeper cells, e.g: order of species introduction, soil biota, gene modification, ect

• Subtlety: The solution has to be very subtle, perhaps imperceptible to the 62 "good-guy" scientists, who at the first sign of suspicion would rally together and overwhelm the 3 sleeper cells

• Timeline: Please include how long your solution would take approximately. However, there is no concrete timeline when the sabotaged biosphere has to collapse, but presumably has to be fast enough that the "good-guy" scientists don't get a chance to propagate at a geometric rate and spread their life-giving seeds across the earth

• Division of labor: Answers may emphasize any one of the divisions of labor, or have all three sleeper cells collaborate

• Success Metric: Leaving the bio-sphere irreparably crippled (ideally sterilzed) not just for the ark organisms, but to any other potential spin-off organisms (mutant rats, cockroaches, bunny rabbits, ect) that would otherwise exploit the biosphere/evolutionary vacuums.

• Robustness: Killing the scientists out right is an acceptable approach, but since we do not know who wakes up from cryo sleep first, it should not be assumed the whole operation could be pre-empted by killing everybody. A plan that involves killing scientists should be accompanied by ecological/genetic or other science-based sabotage plans for robustness.

Note I know the premise is a little bit of a stretch. Please humor me. Let's accept the premise as the real situation, then let's be scientific and rational from that point on.

posted almost 7 years ago

Arash Howaida‭

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