Part 25 (2/2)

Just the thought of it forced the contents of his stomach out onto the floor. He felt like his body was in pieces.

... They must be stopped.

1 must prevent Eve from giving birth, he thought as he wiped the vomit from his face.

Eve 1 and her child must both be killed, or they really will replace us all.

But...

Where had she gone?

He lifted his head and surveyed the room. Only remnants scattered all around. These could not be Eve 1 herself. She was undoubtedly in some other place.

Tos.h.i.+aki rushed out of the lab and into the Cultivation Room. He checked the incubator. It was still open, but empty. He looked across the hallway. There was only a trail of greasy slime between the Cultivation Room and the lab. She had not escaped through the hallway. He returned to the lab again, looking frantically for any signs.

”Where...where did you go?!”

Time was needed for a fertilized egg to mature. Her womb had to be functional and receive the correct hormones. But whether Eve 1 could actually achieve this probably presented a challenge. Though the being Tos.h.i.+aki had mated with looked exactly like Kiyomi on the surface, she was not human inside. Eve 1 had certainly evolved, but she had not been able to mimic a human being flawlessly. There was no way that her womb was exempt from this. In other words, Eve 1 could not nurture a fertilized egg by herself.

But maybe Eve 1 was aware of this?

Tos.h.i.+aki mulled over the possibility desperately.

Could she possess another woman's body like Asakura's, but use it to raise a child in her womb? No, even that would be impossible. A woman's body could not accommodate Eve 1's egg. Of course, if the egg were normal, there would be no problems. But Eve 1 had the power to divide, propagate, and change her form at will. She was not made up of simple human cells. People, h.o.m.o sapiens, were completely different from her. The possibility of an egg created by Eve 1 gestating in a human woman's womb was miniscule. A modified egg, transplanted into a normal woman, would probably never develop. So, what exactly were her intentions?

Tos.h.i.+aki was silent.

Wait.

His brain pulses converged on one point.

That meant there was only one possibility.

There was someone who could raise her fertilized egg.

Eve 1's zygote cells were trying to differentiate themselves from humans. They were on the verge of an evolutionary miracle. At such a turning point, there had to be some overlap between the two types. But couldn't someone who possessed a similar cellular overlap accept Eve 1's fertilized egg? In such a biological environment, the egg would grow into a fetus.

”She can't do this!”Tos.h.i.+aki moaned, his head in his hands.

Kiyomi's death, her kidney transplant, even his primary culture on her liver cells had all happened as Eve 1 intended. He had unconsciously furthered her plans by obsessing over Eve 1's data and inciting her propagation. Beset with violent emotions, Tos.h.i.+aki was unable to restrain himself from crying out in fury.

Just then, a loud gurgling sound echoed through the room.

He looked up.

The sink.

9.

Mariko felt it.

Something pa.s.sing through the darkness.

She pressed an ear to her pillow and listened closely. It was coming from underneath.

She could hear it inside her like a ringing in the ears. Not someone on the floor below, but further down, underground. Maybe it was moving through soil. Something with the speed of a subway train.

She was afraid.

Visiting hours ended at seven o'clock and her father had just left. He had been at her side since noon. It was the first time they were together for so long. He hardly said anything, but it put her at ease nonetheless.

Her ear still pressed to the pillow, Mariko looked across the room.

No one here now.

Her father was gone, as were the nurses, and the sickroom suddenly felt endless. This was too big a place for her to be alone. No one could ever reach her even if she were in danger.

She heard no voices, no sounds in the hallway, and wondered what happened to everyone. She normally could hear nurses running between wards and patients clearing their phlegm in other rooms. Without these, the blowing wind, pa.s.sing bikes, and ventilation jarred in her ears. But in her growing fear, they too faded.

And among that stasis, she heard only that one sound echoing from the soil.

It called to her from afar, growing with every moment.

Thump.

Her kidney moved.

Mariko looked down to her abdomen with an all too familiar terror.

She gazed around frantically. The wall clock showed 7:30. She put a hand to her face.

She was wide awake. This was no dream. But still, her kidney moved as it did in the...

Thump.

Mariko began to panic. She touched her abdomen, but recoded from the heat. Once again, she put an ear to her pillow. She gasped. The sound was getting louder.

”No...”

She buried herself in the sheets from head to toe. Her body began to tremble.

The donor had come at last. Come to take her kidney back. She had risen from the grave and would be at the hospital at any moment. First there'd be the flap. Flap of her footsteps. Then, she would open the door and come into the room, her only goal to dig into Mariko's body to reclaim what was once hers.

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