Draft  of

**”Whispers of the Blooming Void”**

In the silent expanse of space, the spaceship *Arboretum* glides like a forgotten specter. Within its hollow corridors, the last remnants of Earth’s flora pulse with an eerie, bioluminescent glow—a garden of alien beauty. The ship is under the care of its sole occupant, Niall Verdan, a botanist-turned-reluctant guardian.

The Earth, a memory drowned in smog and flame, had discarded its ecosystems like a snake shedding its skin. The *Arboretum* was a desperate, half-forgotten experiment sent adrift to preserve life. But as decades turned to centuries, the ship became a myth, and Niall became… something else.

Alone for so long, Niall begins to hear the plants speak—not in words, but in sensations. The lavender hums lullabies of regret. The orchids whisper secrets of unseen dimensions. The vines, their tendrils twitching like eager fingers, seem to want something. They call to him, pulling at his mind like a tide.

One day, while tending the garden, Niall discovers a door he has never seen before, covered in moss and glowing faintly. The plants nudge him toward it. Inside, he finds a pulsating orb of light—a seed, yet alive and sentient. It communicates with him, revealing that the garden has become more than a collection of plants. It is evolving, feeding on the cosmic energy around them to birth a new kind of life.

But there’s a catch. The seed wants Niall to choose: merge with it, fusing his consciousness with the garden to become an eternal caretaker, or let the ship drift toward a star, giving the seedling its chance to scatter its spores across the universe.

Torn between his humanity and the surreal connection he feels with the blooming void, Niall must decide the fate of not just the *Arboretum*, but the legacy of Earth itself.