: People from all over the Aureoles descended. They had never seen "natural" growth. They watched, fascinated and frightened, as the stalk struggled against the wind, showing a fragility that their light-bodies could never know. The Conclusion
: Physical bodies were vintage fashion. Most of humanity existed as Echoes —vast neural networks that could manifest into physical light-forms at will. A person might spend a decade as a cloud of shimmering mist before deciding to take the shape of a solid, copper-skinned human for a century or two. The Story: The Last Seed Season 32000
: Elara didn't use soil; there was none left. She used memory-clay , a substance that could mimic the nutrients of ancient Earth. : People from all over the Aureoles descended
As the 32,000th Season drew to a close, the sunflower finally bloomed. Its petals weren't perfect; they were slightly asymmetrical, battered by the artificial winds of the sky-cities. The Conclusion : Physical bodies were vintage fashion
Should the story take a involving the "Echoes" who fear biological life?
It was a simple sunflower seed, dormant for nearly thirty thousand years.
: As the seed sprouted, it didn't hum or glow. It was silent. It was green—a color that had been replaced by neon teals and ultraviolet purples millennia ago.