Nobody planted it.
Maybe a seed came off a tire tread. Or someone’s foot. Or blew there in the wind.
It fell into a crack in the concrete outside the ramen shop. It was the second week of March.
By April there was a stem.
Three floors up, behind glass, a NutriSync Cultivate unit ran its first cycle.
Welcome to Cultivate.
Your unit is now delivering 96.2% of ideal photosynthetic conditions. Spectrum, humidity and nutrition dosing are managed for you.
Sit back. Harvest will come sooner than you think.
On the street there was no spectrum. Just a gap between two buildings, and the sun that got through in the afternoon. The plant leaned toward the sun.
Feet passed. In May someone stood on the second leaf, and the stem laid flat all day. Then it got up.
In June, the street cleaning drones ran a scheduled service at 4am. They missed the crack in the concrete by an inch.
Upstairs, the tray stayed at 96.2% of ideal conditions. It produced a pale seedling that barely outlived its first month. It got thrown into the trash, planting tray and potting medium together.
The plant grew wilder in August.
It flowered in late summer. Then it set seed. In November, frost came off the water and it shivered. Browned, but stayed standing. Its seed heads were still intact in December.
Sit back. Harvest will come sooner than you think.
Somewhere down the port corridor, in a joint where the concrete had moved.
A story from the Static Drift universe.
Article photo by Lala Azizli on Unsplash.