Resource Optimization
Resource Optimization is the second runner up of Paperbark’s Spring 2022 Flash Fiction Contest
by Lucy Zhang
Fei is engineering fungi to help land plants absorb phosphate better. In theory, the fungi already work pretty well: they penetrate the root cortex cells, form hyphal networks in the soil, transport phosphate directly from soil to root, release it into the root cells via arbuscules. And the fungi get a free dose of carbon, Fei reminds me. The rice fields haven’t been doing so well, and even though Fei says it’s the natural ebb and flow of soil quality, I still think the wartime nukes did something weird to our land. The government says it’s now safe and healthy to grow crops here, but we haven’t seen a single successful batch of grain yet. We are also running out of rations. I can tell the only reason my serving sizes stay the same is because Fei’s plate grows emptier—from one whole mantou to half to none at all, replaced by a few fermented cabbage leaves that I hate because they’re too sour from sitting out so long. I’m not sure how Fei even has any energy left after tending the rice to study how PHR regulates phosphate deficiency genes.
“Do you think anything can grow here?” I ask Fei.
“The government says so,” is always Fei’s response, but we haven’t seen a single weed or cockroach or starling. I’m pretty sure we’re the only organisms alive out here, all because Fei volunteered us to move back into the Ravaged Zone. No one else had volunteered. Fei thought if we got in first, we’d have an upper hand, a higher probability of getting rich and living comfortably. I suppose the only comforting thing about our current lifestyle is the quiet: no sirens screeching at two am because some homeless person set another bank on fire, no motorcycles blaring as they zoom by and spew gas in your face, no shouting in the streets over the weekly rationed stick of butter.
“There aren’t even pigeons in the city. There’s something wrong with that place,” Fei would complain even though I’m not sure what’s so great about pigeons.
Even though Fei has big, occasionally unrealistic dreams, Fei is right that there is nothing left for us in the refugee city.
“Sometimes nukes don’t always damage DNA in a way that inhibits growth. What’s to say the radiation doesn’t cause the exact opposite to happen?” Fei tells me.
“Maybe we should give up,” I mumble while Fei focuses on germinating seeds and rotating them in and out of light exposure for constant amounts of time. Fei’s stomach grumbles and I reach for the dwindling bag of flour. I add a scoop of flour and stir in water, heating it over the stove until it thickens. Once it begins to bubble, I pour the goop into a bowl. “Porridge?” I ask. Fei waves a hand, still staring at the seeds. I bring the bowl to the table and rest it next to a tray of successfully-germinated plants whose roots have been inoculated with spores. “It’s there.” I gesture to the bowl. Fei nods without looking.
I leave to the rice fields, surveying the land for shoots. Nothing again, like usual. I look up into the sky. For how blue and clear it is today, I’m sure the land must’ve soaked up all the toxicity. Then I see a massive vulture, its wingspan casting a shadow over the barren grounds. It soars right past our shack-of-a-home. This is the first bird we’ve seen, but if there’s one, there must be more. I imagine boiling a bird in our rusting pot, chewing through sinewy pieces of wing muscles, snapping through chunks of cartilage, sucking the marrow and flavor out of each bone. I call Fei over and point to the sky, jumping up and down like I’ve got all the energy in the world.
Lucy Zhang writes, codes and watches anime. Her work has appeared in Apple Valley Review, AAWW, SmokeLong Quarterly, Passages North, and elsewhere. She is the author of the chapbooks HOLLOWED (Thirty West Publishing, 2022) and ABSORPTION (Harbor Review, 2022). Find her at https://kowaretasekai.wordpress.com/ or on Twitter @Dango_Ramen.