Oskar pulls a probe. It is uglier than it looks, a brick of honesty. “Roots live in pores. Pores want a mix: water and air. Flood the pores and the roots drown while the leaves look dramatic. People water when they are nervous. Nervous is not a sensor.”

The trays look like a neat green village. Villages can sit on swamps.

Imani: “Some beds drank yesterday. Some are prima donnas. You can read the numbers, or you can wash everything because a storm is coming and water feels like care.”

GROVE, uninvited: “Volumetric water content: Bay A high, Bay C low, Bay B nominal. Recommendation: differential irrigation.”

Differential is a love word. It means not the same.

Lina on comm: “If they flood the floor, I am not mopping in a suit.”

You smell wet stone and a hint of fertilizer that Oskar pretends is perfume. Fans whisper. A strip of tape on a pipe says DO NOT LOVE THEM WITH A HOSE.