She’d already filled up half her electronic biology book’s memory with sketches of plants, and now, with her writing pen, she created a leafy, swirling vine that climbed up one side of the screen before twining around the word “Green.” Flowers of all sizes sprung from the vine: sunflowers, carnations, lilies, and snapdragons. Zera penned in expressive faces — sweet, scowling, serious, funny — from cooing, smooth-faced baby flower buds to large, blowsy, wrinkled granny blossoms with drooping heads and withering petals. She tapped a button, and then touched her pen to flower after flower, coloring one pink, another lemon yellow, and another burnt orange. Plants, she thought, as the teacher droned on, reviewing what would be on their final exam, they supply almost everything. Zera glanced at Ms. Casey, who drew a sprouting bean on the hologram board. Split in two, the bean had a hair-like root snaking downward in soil and a tiny stem and oval leaf reaching upward into the air.
