Bonding

Splitting again—this was the next course of action for a lifeform after its calls went unanswered.

Dealing with the surging, majestic forces flowing through the darkness, the single cell tried its best to stabilize its form and maintain a relatively steady state.

The division began again.

Repeating the previous process, the lifeform's self-replication soon reached its final stage in this timeless darkness.

That feeling of shackles coming undone welled up again. It could even sense that the pitch-black world around it was becoming different.

Once the separating outer membrane had fully formed, the two single cells gradually began to part, and the shackles appeared once more, slowly locking into place.

The feeling of ease gradually faded, replaced by an indescribable sense of stagnation. The lifeform did not want to accept this. It still wanted to remain like this.

"...Don't go."

The lifeform called out instinctively.

There should have been no response, but this world was full of strange things.

The offspring cell, which had not yet completely separated from its parent, actively pressed itself against the lifeform. After suitably changing its shape, those surging forces became forces that held it against the lifeform.

"So happy..."

"...What is 'happy'?"

As always, it was a question it could not answer.

The lifeform turned its attention inward, and suddenly discovered that it could 'see' more things.

At first, it could only 'see' a single point through sensation.

Then, after being attacked by that bacteriophage, what it could see expanded from a point to encompass its entire body.

Now, its vision within the dark world expanded once more. It could see the offspring cell pressed tightly against it, including its entire internal state.

That was right. This was change, the same kind of change as before.

The lifeform felt delighted by this. It did not understand why it should be delighted, but that was what its instincts told it, so it followed them.

"I want more... more changes..."

This was desire. Without realizing it, the lifeform had learned 'desire.'

Driven by that desire, it wanted to continue self-replicating.

Materials for self-replication were not scarce; they were everywhere in the darkness. Whenever it was swept along by those forces, the lifeform would always collide with piles of such things.

With the help of the replica pressed tightly against its parent, the lifeform quickly gathered all the materials it needed.

"More... more..."

Amid the lifeform's delighted bioelectric currents, a new division began.

The cluster of members huddled together in the dark world suddenly gained two more, and under the lifeform's command, the offspring cells also began replicating themselves.

What followed was the doubled sensation of the 'shackles' coming undone.

"So much... so wonderful..."

As it enjoyed the sensation of being upgraded in every way, the release of the 'shackles' brought even more fresh experiences. Compared with the hazy feeling it had when it was still a lone cell, everything seemed to be gradually becoming clearer and more orderly.

This brought an even greater longing, driving the lifeform to act.

If simply pressing four individuals together allowed it to feel this level of sensation, then what would happen if even more replicas clustered into a ball?

The lifeform impatiently began self-replicating.

Four gradually became eight, accompanied by endless novelty, the comfort of clearer thought, and countless other feelings that were difficult to describe.

These sensations left the lifeform deeply captivated. Having tasted their sweetness, it could not stop.

Unfortunately, those sensations did not last long.

A spiraling force swept up the eight cells huddled together. The already incredibly fragile single-celled aggregate immediately met its fate of disintegration.

"Don't!"

The lifeform resisted, but it was futile. No matter how it changed its shape, it could not defy the force rising from the darkness.

Once again, it was the only individual left around itself, drifting aimlessly.

It had fallen from heaven into hell.

"...It hurts..."

Having experienced being huddled together with seven offspring cells, the lifeform felt the circumstances of being a single individual once again. Only now, they were even more painful and difficult. It did not want to remain in this state for even a moment.

The replication continued. Compared to before, this desire had become even stronger.

When a new offspring cell appeared, while enjoying the clarity of its thoughts, the lifeform belatedly realized that the empty shell of that temperate bacteriophage was still firmly attached to its exterior. It had not been flung away by the sudden force like the other offspring cells.

"Why wasn't it separated?"

With that question in mind, the lifeform began observing the bacteriophage shell.

"Six scaffold-like tails composed of proteins connect to the cell membrane, forming a single whole. This makes it difficult for external forces to separate them."

"What are 'proteins'?"

"And what is a 'cell membrane'?"

These were answers the lifeform received instinctively. It did not understand why simply observing could give it such clear answers.

Just as before, it could not make sense of this situation.

Giving up on pursuing such a pointless question, the lifeform began focusing on gathering materials. Since the question had been answered, all that remained was action.

The key lay in those six tails with connecting functions. Thanks to its special perspective, the lifeform could easily make out the macromolecular structure of those six scaffold-like tails.

It placed the collected materials within its cytoplasm.

The tangled core began partially unwinding, making small experimental attempts to find the bacteriophage gene sequence hidden within the genetic chain.

After an unknown number of attempts, the lifeform finally found the part it wanted: the genetic blueprint for assembling bacteriophage tails.

The genetic chain began serving its function. The single strand captured the free-floating macromolecular clusters within the cytoplasm to complete itself.

Soon, the macromolecular clusters in the cytoplasm were exhausted, replaced by dozens of protein structures identical to bacteriophage tails.

These structures had the same function as the bacteriophage's tails.

That was, they could form a single whole with any cell outer membrane they came into contact with.

Once the creation was complete, the lifeform eagerly transported these protein structures from the cytoplasm to the cell's outer membrane.

The scaffold-like protein structures naturally extended through gaps in the cell membrane and formed a single whole with the outer membrane of the replica pressed tightly against its parent.

More and more protein structures followed. The connection between the two single cells became increasingly unbreakable. The ever-present surging forces were no longer a threat capable of separating them, but instead became an aid that allowed them to move faster.

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