He deleted the file. Then he looked at his own hands, imagining a countdown on his bones.

The monitors showed flatlines, but also — in the petri dish of their shared fluid — the first mitosis of something new.

"Then the genkai koubi triggers. At the moment of genetic exchange, a protease cascade dissolves their neural tissue from the brainstem outward. They will experience orgasm and death as a single waveform. No pain. Just the boundary."

Two bodies, curled together, already cooling.

Dr. Saito explained it to the oversight committee. "They will feel nothing until the 70th hour. Then, a biological imperative stronger than hunger, stronger than fear, will activate. They will find each other. They will mate."

The facility's cameras recorded everything: the slow, deliberate alignment of bodies, the soft emission of light from their skin as internal pressures mounted, and finally — at 71:59:59 — a simultaneous gasp, a shudder, and then stillness.