1269_UgliesFreeBook

UGLIES 181
“You can fly it anywhere, with or without a magnetic
grid. And it’s the perfect thing for spreading fires. The
Rusties sure knew how to make a mess.”
Tally shook her head. “And you spread fires because . . .”
He smiled and lifted one of her shoes, pulling a crushed
but unburned flower from the sole. “Because of phragmipedium
panthera,” he said.
“Excuse me?”
“This flower used to be one of the rarest plants in the
world. A white tiger orchid. In Rusty days, a single bulb
was worth more than a house.”
“A house? But there’s zillions of them.”
“You noticed?” He held up the flower, staring into its
delicate mouth. “About three hundred years ago, some
Rusty figured a way to engineer the species to adapt to
wider conditions. She messed with the genes to make them
propagate more easily.”
“Why?”
“The usual. To trade them for lots of stuff. But she succeeded
a little too well. Look down.”
Tally peered out the window. The machine had gained
altitude and left the firestorm behind. Below were endless
fields of white, interrupted only by a few barren patches.
“Looks like she did a good job. So what? They’re nice.”
“One of the most beautiful plants in the world. But too
successful. They turned into the ultimate weed. What we
call a monoculture. They crowd out every other species,