“It is a living entity,” the biologist replied.

“What part of it, the plant and the extension ducts?” the other speaker replied. “We already know that!” 

“No, not only those, everything that it interacts with, the wall, the dome, the wildlife inside it, well, by extension, every person that enters it,” the biologist smiled.

The audience gasped. For months, rumors of the plant being capable of integrating people into its dense network of stems have been circulating, rumors that the factory was very assiduously trying to dispel.