Da** they really should've let him keep the gun but also on one hand I feel for Ivy, not being able to communicate must be he** but on the other hand they weren't transflorated by the department itself so either they went out of their way to get transflorated or maybe, someone at the department, that creepy guy with wide eyes, is running illegal experiments or someone else is traficking people and forcefully transflorating them to create a human being that's completly a heterotroph and can survive on their own.
I like stories that are written well