A long time has passed since the Gluman invasion. Events happened, mistakes were made. Most of the story remains for now untold, but we fast forward to a time when a group of humans is colonizing another planet. Why and how they got there? That’s another song (or 12).
The colony ship was seen as an ark, saving species, records, and anything they felt was necessary from Earth to support humans. Livestock, crops, scientific knowledge, etc. Anything non-essential was left in order to preserve space and weight quota for the important things.
…except that one boy smuggled onboard a sachet of kumquat seeds. Ascorbic acid was covered by the bell peppers and kale, citric by lemons and oranges. There was no need for these smallest of the citrus fruits, saved from extinction by the smallest human in the new colony.
A filmmaker documents the construction of the new colony, with its neat rows of crops and habitats, creating a short, experimental film. A musician among the colonists scores it. Along the way they find the kumquat sapling surviving off to the side, outside of the plan.
Critics disagree on the meaning of the film, and the makers refuse to explain, insisting, “it is up [to] the viewer to take for himself/herself what it is that [the film] means.” Some liken the current state of limited biological diversity as mere exaggeration of what was happening on Earth all this time, the kumquat tree signaling hope for something more. Others see a triumph of human ingenuity and dedication to overcome a literally world-ending series of events. For yet others, the kumquat tree is meant to show the importance of art and creativity in the midst of central planning to the finest detail. We’ll probably never know the true intention.
lyrics
Boy and his kumquat tree
Boy and his kumquat tree
Boy and his kumquat tree
Boy and his kumquat tree
Boy and his kumquat tree
Boy and his kumquat tree
Boy and his kumquat tree
Boy and his kumquat tree
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