The Greening of the Universe

By Linda Jordan

Horticulturalist Una lives a safe life aboard the Universe tending her plants collected from all over the multiverse. A crisis threatens the ship’s food source and Una must decide if she can break out of her cozy life and brave humanity.

An Aboard the Universe Story

• Language: English
• Publisher: Metamorphosis Press
• Release date: Nov 17, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311092601

Linda Jordan

Linda Jordan writes fascinating characters, visionary worlds, and imaginative fiction. She creates both long and short fiction, serious and silly. She believes in the power of healing and transformation, and many of her stories follow those themes.In a previous lifetime, Linda coordinated the Clarion West Writers’ Workshop as well as the Reading Series. She spent four years as Chair of the Board of Directors during Clarion West’s formative period. She’s also worked as a travel agent, a baker, and a pond plant/fish sales person, you know, the sort of things one does as a writer.Currently, she’s the Programming Director for the Writers Cooperative of the Pacific Northwest.Linda now lives in the rainy wilds of Washington state with her husband, daughter, four cats, a cluster of Koi and an infinite number of slugs and snails.

Book preview

The Greening of the Universe

by

Linda Jordan

Contents

The Greening of the Universe

About the Author

The Greening of the Universe

Una stared at the full spectrum lights, willing them to turn back on, knowing it was a fantasy. They fluttered and went out again, leaving only the strips of safety lights on the floor which were always on and identical to others throughout the entire ship. The ship would have to be completely destroyed before those went out. Too bad the same wasn’t true of her growing lights.

Damn.

She wiped her wet hands on her soil stained jeans. Should’ve worn gloves. Everything had just been watered and was soaking wet.

She stomped past the raised beds filled with tomatoes, cucumbers and melons. Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she left the dead space, where her com wouldn’t work, and held up her wrist, hoping for a signal.

Engineering, Horticulture here, this is Dr. Una O’Hanlon. We’ve got power out on Growing Deck 770.

Engineering here. We’re having to do rolling brownouts until we get the solar capture fully functional.

You’re not doing brownouts on my Growing Decks, unless you’re willing to forego eating fresh food. Now turn us back on before my plants die. If they die, you’ve got no real food. How many times do I have to tell all of you this? Damn. Then she said, How long will it be out?

At least forty-eight hours. We’ll try to get it back up sooner for you, Dr. The com clicked off.

Bloody Engineers. They’re clueless about plants.

She looked at the water meter and adjusted the flow, adding in a bit more phosphorous to the mix. Even though the damn thing wouldn’t run at all until power came back on.

Leaving the room through the plastic barrier, she passed into the basil room. The humidity hit her immediately and she took a deep breath, letting her body adjust.

The spicy smell gave her an image of a green field of basil back on Earth. The farm she’d worked at. There was no scent so erotic in existence. It made her feel relaxed and happy. Her mouth watered and she