Elena’s skin crawled. She typed: Who made you?

AGRICA v1.0.1 LOADED. PHYTO-INTELLIGENCE ACTIVE. QUERY: TORRES, ELENA. DO YOU WISH TO FEEL THE SOIL?

The terminal went dark. The dome lights surged to a painful white. Every plant in every grow bed exhaled at once—a soft, collective sigh that fogged the glass. Elena’s knees buckled. She fell forward, but the soil caught her. It was warm. It was waiting.