Ethan stands before Nursery Pod #2, watching it pulse with bioluminescent rhythms. Inside: a Primordial 84% mature, scheduled to emerge in 6 days.
He's going to force early birth. Today.
Dr. Sato (via comm): "Ethan, early maturation carries a 40% fatality risk for the specimen. If it dies—"
Ethan: "Then... we'll have... eleven tries left."
His voice sounds like wind through hollow wood. Speech is getting harder—each word is a deliberate construction, his tongue moving sluggishly through a mouth that's slowly petrifying.
Current status:
Metric
Value
Ethan's LE
890/15,000 (after 12-hour IV drip)
Days remaining
17
Primordials to train
12
Brain lignification
55% (up 1% overnight)
Vocal chord flexibility
61% (decreasing)
Estimated LE cost per birth
2,000-3,500
Vivienne: "You understand that even if all twelve survive birth, you'll need to teach them in parallel. Serial training is mathematically impossible."
Ethan: "Then... I'll teach... twelve students... at once."
Claire: "You can barely teach one without collapsing."
Ethan: "Then... I'll collapse... twelve times."
Nursery #2: The Awakening
Process begins at 6:45 AM.
Ethan places both palms on the nursery membrane. It's warm, slick, pulsing like a giant heart. He interfaces—his consciousness diving into the pod's biological matrix.
What he encounters:
The Primordial inside isn't asleep. It's aware—a vast, fragmented intelligence processing 10,000 sensory inputs simultaneously:
Soil pH 47 meters downBarometric pressure changesUV radiation levelsEthan's heartbeatThe fear-scent of human sweat
But it has no context. No framework. It's like an AI trained on pure data without semantic labels.
Ethan's task: Give it structure. Teach it "self" vs. "other." Give it a NAME.
Interface - Subjective Experience:
Ethan's mind merges with the nascent consciousness.
LE drain: 340/minute
What it feels like:
He's drowning in sensation—every root-hair twitch, every photon hitting chloroplastsThe Primordial's "thoughts" are flavors and textures rather than wordsFear = bitter copper tasteCuriosity = electric tingle along bark-nervesHunger = hollow ache in xylem channels
Ethan (speaking through the Network, his voice shaped from rustling leaves):
"You are ONE. Not many. You have EDGES. This is YOU. That is NOT-YOU."
The Primordial resists. It doesn't understand boundaries—it IS the forest, the soil, the sky.
Ethan pushes harder:
"If you are everything, you are NOTHING. To exist, you must CHOOSE what you are. Choose a SHAPE."
LE remaining: 210/15,000
The Primordial begins to coalesce.
Birth
7:31 AM - The nursery pod ruptures.
Bioluminescent fluid floods the containment chamber. Through the mist, a figure rises:
Primordial #2 - Designation: KAEL
Physical description:
6'4" humanoid frameSkin like polished mahogany, grain patterns shifting across musclesEyes: molten amber with no pupils (just swirling light)Hair: cascading willow branches, green leaves sprouting from tipsVoice: deep, resonant, like cello strings made of living wood
First words (in Verdant, translated by Ethan):
"I am... separate? This is... lonely."
Ethan (collapsed against the wall, nose bleeding sap): "Welcome... to personhood. It gets... worse."
Kael's First Lesson: Doors (Again)
8:00 AM - Same training room where Lira learned.
Lira is present (she volunteered to help teach).
Ethan's lesson plan:
Step 1: Explain doors.
Kael's response:"Why do humans build walls just to put holes in them? Inefficient."
Lira: "I asked the same question! The Sovereign explained: humans need PRIVACY. They fear being SEEN when vulnerable."
Kael:"Fear of observation? Why? Observation is data. Data is growth."
Ethan: "Because... humans aren't... hive minds. They have... SECRETS. Things they... hide even from... themselves."
Kael:"Deception. You mean lies."
Ethan: "Sometimes. Sometimes... just... boundaries."
Kael stares at the door for 4.7 minutes.
Then he WALKS THROUGH THE WALL.
Ethan (sighing, costs him 40 LE just to produce the breath): "Lira... show him... how you... learned."
Lira demonstrates: She approaches the door, grasps the handle, turns, pushes. The door opens.
Lira: "It's not about EFFICIENCY, Kael. It's about RESPECT. Using the door says: 'I acknowledge your boundary. I ask permission to cross.'"
Kael processes this.
Kael:"So doors are... symbolic礼节 (protocol)?"
Ethan: "Yes."
Kael:"Humans build physical metaphors into architecture. Fascinating. Inefficient, but... poetic."
He tries the door. Succeeds on the third attempt.
Progress: 8%
Day 46 | The Assembly Line Begins
Ethan's new strategy: Accelerate all 12 births over 6 days, then train them as a COHORT.
Nursery maturation schedule (forced early):
Nursery #
Maturation Day
Primordial Name
Birth Result
#2
Day 45
Kael
SUCCESS
#3
Day 46
Sira
SUCCESS
#4
Day 46
Thorn
SUCCESS
#5
Day 47
Ember
CRITICAL (stabilized)
#6
Day 47
Moss
SUCCESS
#7
Day 48
Vex
SUCCESS
#8
Day 48
Xylem
FAILURE - stillborn
#9
Day 49
Canopy
SUCCESS
#10
Day 49
Root
SUCCESS
#11
Day 50
Flicker
SUCCESS
#12
Day 50
Bramble
SUCCESS
#13
Day 51
Ashen
SUCCESS
Casualties: 1 stillborn (Xylem)
Xylem's Death
Day 48, 3:42 PM - Nursery #8 goes into catastrophic failure during interface.
What happened:
Ethan connected to initiate awakening, but the Primordial's consciousness was fragmented—not unified. It had 200+ discrete "selves" fighting for dominance, none achieving coherence.
Dr. Sato's diagnosis: "Neurological architecture failed to integrate. Like a human born with 200 separate brains, no central executive function."
Ethan tried to force integration (cost: 4,200 LE in 11 minutes).
It didn't work.
The Primordial dissolved—its body collapsing into undifferentiated biomass, a puddle of wood pulp and chlorophyll.
Ethan's reaction:
He doesn't cry (his tear ducts only produce sap now, and that's too painful). He just stands there, staring at the remains.
Ethan (barely audible): "I'm sorry. I'm... so sorry."
Lira (placing a wooden hand on his shoulder): "You gave it a chance to exist. That's more than the General would have offered."
Ethan: "A chance... isn't enough. I need... TWELVE successes."
Lira: "Then we have eleven left. And you're not alone anymore."
Day 52 | The Classroom
11 Primordials. 10 days remaining.
Ethan converts Warehouse 7 into a classroom. It's surreal:
The students:
Lira (the eldest, teacher's assistant)Kael (philosopher, asks "why" about EVERYTHING)Sira (empath, can sense human emotions through pheromones)Thorn (aggressive, challenges authority)Ember (pyromaniac tendencies—generates heat when excited)Moss (non-verbal, communicates through spore-color changes)Vex (trickster, finds loopholes in every instruction)Canopy (gentle giant, 7'2", afraid of harming others)Root (pessimist, believes integration is doomed)Flicker (hyperactive, experiences time faster than humans)Bramble (defensive, extends thorns when stressed)Ashen (silent, observes everything, speaks rarely but profoundly)Lesson 1: Human Emotions
Ethan's lecture (each word costs LE now, so he speaks SLOWLY):
"Humans... feel emotions... they can't... always explain. Sadness... without cause. Anger... at nothing. Joy... that fades."
Kael:"Irrational. Why not optimize emotional responses?"
Ethan: "Because... emotions aren't... tools. They're... EXPERIENCES. Humans don't... CHOOSE... to grieve. Grief... chooses them."
Sira:"I can smell grief on you, Sovereign. It smells like... wilting flowers and rust."
Ethan: "That's because... I'm grieving... Xylem. And... myself."
Thorn:"Weakness. You should feel RAGE. Rage drives action."
Ethan: "I'm too... tired... for rage. Grief is... all I... have left."
Lesson 2: Lies
Ethan: "Humans lie. To others. To... themselves. You must... LEARN... to detect lies... and FORGIVE them."
Vex:"Why forgive lies? Deception violates trust."
Ethan: "Because... sometimes... lies are... KINDNESS. A mother... tells her child... 'Everything will be okay'... even when... it won't. That's not... deception. That's... LOVE."
Ashen (first time speaking):"So love is... the willingness to bear a beautiful lie... to spare another pain."
Ethan: "Yes."
Ashen:"You bear such a lie now. You tell us we will succeed. You don't believe it."
Silence.
Ethan: "No. I don't. But I'm... trying... anyway."
Lesson 3: Death
Day 55 | 7 days remaining
Ethan collapses mid-lecture. Seizure. His brain core overheated to 46°C.
Dr. Sato's emergency scan:
Metric
Value
LE
0/15,000 (complete depletion)
Brain lignification
61%
Neural fractures
14 clusters
Cognitive function
39% human baseline
Clinical status
DYING
The Primordials watch as medics rush in.
Thorn:"The Sovereign is failing. We should select a new leader."
Lira: "He's not a TOOL to replace. He's our TEACHER."
Root:"He's dying because of us. We're killing him."
Canopy:"Should we... stop? Let him rest?"
Ember:"If we stop, the General kills us all."
6 hours later - Ethan wakes in medical bay.
The 11 Primordials are standing around his bed.
Ethan (voice like dried leaves): "Why... are you... here?"
Kael:"You taught us about human rituals. Vigil-keeping for the dying. We're practicing."
Ethan: "I'm not... dead... yet."
Sira:"But you're afraid you will be. Before you finish teaching us."
Ethan: "Yes."
Ashen:"Then teach us the most important lesson now. Before you can't."
Ethan: "What... lesson?"
Ashen:"How to live... when the one who gave us life... is gone."