No matter how many times she had dismissed the notion and recognized that replicating something similar was not only not possible, but not useful, Faye’s mind kept falling back on how much she missed gardening. She missed her bed of flowers and vegetables, and having a spot that felt hers to retreat to when things were harder. Alex’s holo program of the garden on the Manhattan was filling a certain void, but she missed getting her hands into the soil and holographic soil was not the answer. It didn’t provide the same grounding and pleasure that watching plants germinate and grow provided.

With all three arboreta well established, Faye felt like an interloper. Though that perception was entirely her own and not something anyone had imposed upon her. If she had learned anything over the years, it was that her perceptions were not always reality and sometimes she needed someone to recalibrate reality for her.

So it was that the CIO found herself at the CSO’s door and pressed the chime.

~Faye Calloway, CIO