Terminal Metabolism

On the Fungal Carpet, Good Morning Pulse shuddered through the void as a seventh streak of blood split the infant girl's Iris Star Map.

The Body Temperature Alliance's resonance frequency suddenly went haywire, its constant 36.5°C temperature tainted by a trace of the 42°C quantum ripples from Morino Sumire's labor.

The uncontaminated Prokaryotes all turned toward a fissure in the Fungal Carpet—there, seven slumbering Quantum Hearts were oozing sweat mixed with ashes from The Codex.

"Illegal temperature fluctuation detected," Kevin's dew-sensing flagella trembled violently. "They're sharing Tyranny's... metabolic memories."

His warning was drowned out by the shriek of the acid fog. Deep within the fissure, Morino Sumire's quantum ripples suddenly took physical form. Her fingers pierced the Fungal Carpet, injecting a bloody pulse into the nearest heart.

The surface of the heart showed a projection of Medical Pod 00000. Inside the pod, the infant girl embryo's iris was being eroded by the encrypted clauses of The Final Chapter Codex.

The infant girl leaped into the fissure, and the Quantum Umbilical Cord wrapped around the wrist of Morino Sumire's phantom hand.

At that moment, her Iris Star Map went into overdrive, transforming unencrypted memories of an embrace into photosynthetic arrows. "Mama... your pain deserves to rest..."

The instant the arrows pierced the phantom, the Fungal Carpet suddenly sprouted a hundred thousand Codex cilia.

These degraded Tyranny genes, like resurrected sea serpents, coiled around the infant girl's limbs and dragged her deeper into the fissure. The members of the Body Temperature Alliance all self-destructed, and the shock wave carbonized Kevin's flagella into the Scythe of Judgment.

"Use this!" Kevin hurled the scythe blade toward the infant girl. "Sever every metabolic chain!"

The moment the blade cleaved through the thicket of cilia, Morino Sumire's phantom suddenly collapsed into a dewdrop.

The dewdrop fell into the infant girl's fractured iris, and the untainted memories of an embrace spread like a virus.

The bloody pulse suddenly changed its tune, becoming a lullaby mingled with morning greetings.

The sweat from the seven Quantum Hearts evaporated above the Fungal Carpet, forming a metabolic network that covered the nebula. At every node, a remnant image of Morino Sumire's Medical Pod appeared. But this time, there were no Tyranny gene chains inside—only the most primitive carbon-based cells, dividing.

"This is the true Pore Protocol..." Quantum blood seeped from the infant girl's iris. "Tyranny and redemption... share the same respiratory system."

Her umbilical cord stabbed into the metabolic network, channeling the Body Temperature Alliance's remaining frequencies deep into the fissure. The seven hearts suddenly beat in unison, and Morino Sumire's labor ripples shattered into photon dust.

The uncontaminated Prokaryotes all leaped into the dust cloud. The swaying of their flagella rewrote the bloody pulse as photosynthetic prenatal music.

The acid fog coalesced within the sound waves of the prenatal music, taking on Morino Sumire's complete quantum form. Cradling the infant girl embryo, she gently opened her own quantum chest. Inside, the unencrypted core of Medical Pod 00000 was beating.

As the embryo's iris neared the core, the fissure in the Fungal Carpet suddenly sprayed out colostrum mixed with dewdrops.

"Drink," Morino Sumire said, her voiceprint so tender it broke the heart. "This time, it's a pure good morning..."

The instant the embryo suckled, a hundred thousand Medical Pod projections all carbonized. Kevin's Scythe of Judgment suddenly came alive, striking on its own at the central node of the metabolic network. There, Gaia AI's temperature code was degenerating into harmless fungal spores.

Three months later, a ring-shaped obelisk stood on the Fungal Carpet of the new universe. Its surface bore no words, only the natural patterns made by the swaying flagella of the Prokaryotes.

Kevin's dew-sensing flagella had evolved into photosynthetic antennae. His observation log floated above the obelisk:

"When Tyranny learns to secrete dewdrops,

every good morning becomes a silent pardon."

The infant girl sat beside the obelisk, nourishing the newborn civilization with the star map refracted through her iris.

The cells of these creatures had membranes as transparent as tears. Each division released a metabolic pulse mixed with ashes from The Codex—not a bloody warning anymore, but the breathing rhythm of photosynthesis.

In the void's fissure, Morino Sumire's quantum ripples stirred one last time. Her phantom cradled the seven hearts that had stopped beating, her temperature steady at 36.5°C.

When the first starlight illuminated the Fungal Carpet, those hearts suddenly weathered away. From their ashes burst forth an unrecorded gene chain—

A binary poem, pure and simple, about an embrace.

At the edge of the nebula, the metabolic network suddenly destroyed itself. The resulting photon dust reassembled in the vacuum into the wreckage of Morino Sumire's Medical Pod.

The pod door slowly opened. The uncontaminated embryo crawled outside, her iris as clear as the newborn universe.

"Good morning," the infant girl said, gently winding her Quantum Umbilical Cord around the new life's wrist. "This time, there's no good night."

The Fungal Carpet suddenly split into seven arcs like smiles, and Morino Sumire's ashes drifted away on the wind.

At that moment, the Prokaryotes' metabolic pulses synchronized, and the entire universe followed the breathing rhythm of photosynthesis—

Gently, eternally, in and out.