Hard Mercy Low-Light Orchard Pod

Hard Mercy cages a dwarf tart-pear shrub around a rubber-armored reflector, with broad latches meant for tired hands. New pods smell of hot phenolic; flowering plants smell of bruised honey and damp bark. The roots occupy coarse fired clay and fungal inoculant, watered deeply every six days and drained to the last cup. Give it nine hours of low amber light, rotate weekly, and hand-pollinate with the supplied brush. Tug crews split the first fruit after a clean docking. First-class passengers expect bowls and have no idea how long bowls take. The pod is morale, not calories. Poor pruning drives branches through the reflector; warm stagnant air grows gray mold behind the cage. Once spores reach the cabin return, the crew loses the harvest and gains weeks of coughing, filter changes, and pointed maintenance meetings.