Two levels below deck in Terre Goth lies the farm. As broad as the city with ceilings more than thirty feet tall. Many farmers care for the plants that live here. Lights fill the room growing brighter through the day and darkening to give the plants the sense of night. Mist sprays out from the ceiling to water the harvest. All the fruits and vegetables for the city above are grown down here.

A woman badges into the elevator and descends down into the farm. The elevator opens and the woman exits with long black hair and eyes as green as the plants they look upon. She runs her fingers through the leaves of a peach tree and the tree reaches back to her. As much as a tree can reach.

She whispers to the low-lying beans as she passes. She encourages the stalks to stand tall. They seem to reach higher toward the lights at her suggestion. She places her earbuds in her ears and hums as she gets out her tools and begins to prune the fruit trees.

There is a gentleness about her movements. A grace to her. When she walks among her portion of the farm she sways in and out of the crops with care given to every footfall. As careful as she is she cannot pass a row without the plants reaching out to brush her white lab coat. She imagines to herself the plants stretching out to their mother and smiles to herself as she hums a new song.

Ada looks over a row of tall proud corn stalks. It is as if she knows each one personally. She bends down and unclogs an air tube until the carbon dioxide begins to flow out again then tucks it back into the root. A small blue bird lands on the tree branch looking down at her and she gives the bird a wave. Soon a dozen more flutter over and Ada pulls a handful of seed from her lab coat.

The birds are locked in now. Turning their heads to the side to look down at the golden seeds. She walks over and places the pile on a stone pillar by the tree and winks at the birds. With a twitching of her fingers, the pile multiplies, and the seeds spill over the sides of the pillar.

As Ada turns back to her work a dark figure looms nearby. His hood is pulled low over his face and his dark robes drag the ground as he slinks forward. Ada feels his aura and shivers before she sees him. The birds sense the danger as well and scatter, taking flight to flee the presence of the man. The man strikes out with a bony hand and snatches a bird from the air.

A cold wind blows out from the man and the plants curl in on themselves. His grey eyes flick in her direction and Ada hisses at him. “Malachai, you scared me to death.” Ada covers her mouth with her hand. “Let go of that bird you are frightening it.”

“What this delightful little creature.” The man tries to coo but his voice rattles in his old throat. “I would never harm a feather on his little blue wing.” He chuckles to himself.

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“What are you doing here Malachai?” Ada pulls her lab coat tighter around herself from the chill. “Don’t you have your own crops to look after?”

The old man releases the bird and the bluebird springs off his palm with a violent flutter of wings. “My crops don’t seem to hold quite the zeal for life that yours do.” His voice sounds bitter.

“Have you tried singing to them?” Ada pets the leaf of a fern at her feet to coax it into opening again.

“Aye, I have.” He clucks his tongue. “It seems they do not enjoy my voice as well as yours.”

“Nonsense.” Ada laughs. “Perhaps you just need to try another song. Something more fitting to your tone of voice.”

The old man shakes his head, “Could you check on them for me, more of their leaves have gone brown this time than last.”

Ada straightens. “Really? Strange. I will bring my kit and check the soil again. Surely there must be some contaminant in the soil.”

“Surely.” The old man agrees. She can hear his lips part in the shadow of his hood in a smile.

As Ada walks to her tool shed, she can feel the man’s eyes on her, and she shivers again involuntarily. She can’t shake the eerie feeling when Malachai is around.

“It’s strange you know,” Malachai calls after her. “The way the plants seem to respond to you.”

“How so?” She places her sheers on the corkboard and washes her hands.

“It's as if they are alive.” He responds.

“They are.”

“Like they are aware I mean.” He calls again.

“I think they are aware,” Ada calls back as she digs out her testing kit from the back of her cabinet. She spots her keys laying on her desk and grabs them pricking her finger on a rose stem clipping. A drop of blood forms at the tip of her finger as she examines it.

“Not like we are.” His voice comes in low, deep, and close.

Ada jumps again to find him suddenly standing right behind her. The cold chill fills the shed and she shivers again. She let out a yelp and spins toward the old man. How had he? She peers out the door to the tree he had been standing by a moment before. Her voice catches in her throat for a moment. She clears her throat and collects herself. “Just give me some time to close up here and I will be right over.”

The old man steps back and looks down at her. “Of course. I will wait at my farm Ada. I need to sit down a spell anyway. Knees aren’t what they used to be.” He winks and turns from her.

Ada stands for a while trying to shake the nervousness. She doesn’t understand what unsettles her about the old man. Or why he always seems to creep up on her. She shakes her head and begins putting things away so that she can lock up. The shuttle will pass overhead soon, and she can catch it to Malachai Darkwood Farm.