Part 31 (2/2)

Tos.h.i.+aki's body fell to the floor, followed soon after by Anzai.

What's going on? He could not make sense of it. Why did it stop?

Eve appeared to be in pain, tearing at her face with a look of anguish. Flesh fell from her in pieces.

Tos.h.i.+aki strained his eyes as Eve changed form yet again. Her entire body rippled. Her waist's curves straightened out, and her b.r.e.a.s.t.s flattened while her chest heaved out. Her shoulders broadened. The facial structure also changed. She wailed loudly. But the voice, too, was transformed.

What the h.e.l.l is going on?

What had been a woman was now clearly becoming a man.

Something protruded from between its legs. At first the size of a finger, it began to swell and rise menacingly, pulsing all the while. The gentle curves faded as muscles stretched out in their place. Abdominals bulged out, and muscles swelled up above the shoulders. The neck grew thicker and the facial features sharpened. Sideburns extended like a lion's mane. A goatee and beard sprouted on the face. The creature's back heaved up like a mound of steel. Then, it put both hands onto the floor and a.s.sumed a beast-like posture on all fours. Every part of it embodied strength. A shout of indignation emanated from this new body as it struck the floor.

And then, it howled.

Thunderous waves rattled Tos.h.i.+aki's ruptured organs, nearly tearing him apart. There was another enormous sound and the room went pitch dark. The electricity had been cut. An alarm sounded from somewhere.

Tos.h.i.+aki coughed up the blood rising in his throat. Ruptures along his skin oozed plasma. The inside of his head burned.

Something popped in his eyes, after which he saw only red and black dots. A swarm of countless points ran wildly in his vision like a sand storm. He could hear the creature, but could not guess what it was doing. He heard concrete split ting open as chunks of wall fell onto him.

Yos.h.i.+zumi let out a scream, but Tos.h.i.+aki could do nothing more than remain where he was.

He then felt himself rise into the air. Something hit him repeatedly. In the stomach, shoulders, head, and chest. He was soon numb to the pain. While he knew he was being thrown against the walls, he had no will to fight it. He could only wonder why Eve had turned into a man. Mitochondria were definitely female. What did this mean? Was this another evolutionary step? And if so...

It all became clear to him now.

It can't be.

But there was no other explanation. Intellectually, it was questionable, but the intuition of every fiber of his being told him otherwise.

As if in answer to his thoughts, the creature yelled in agony.

There was an explosion. Tos.h.i.+aki fell to the floor. The alarm blared in his ears.

But an even more deafening sound threatened to drown it out. It was as Tos.h.i.+aki had suspected. Eve's voice was changing back into a woman's.

He heard what sounded like wriggling flesh in between the alarm intervals. Eve was reliving her violent regeneration and birth. Her pulse shook the air. A woman's voice arose above a man's yell, as if to silence it. The man's voice cut off the woman's with the ferocity of a jet exhaust. Male and Female were waging battle against one another in the same life form, a balance of power being pulled back and forth between them. Just when the female's expression was about to appear, the male formed its own figure over it. When the female cut out a womb in the body, the male buried it and extended its distinguis.h.i.+ng organ in retalia-tion. The female twisted the p.e.n.i.s back into the body as b.r.e.a.s.t.s arose in defiance. Tos.h.i.+aki's intuition had been correct. Though he couldn't see it, he could tell that the new life form was devolving into a mess internally.

Someone or something jumped into Tos.h.i.+aki's mind. The voice was faint, as when phone fines got crossed. Tos.h.i.+aki realized right away that it was mitochondria, the ones that had parasitized Eve 1. That monster had been melting on the floor, trying to welcome her extinction, but was now dismayed at her daughter's transformation. The mitochondria were making one last desperate attempt at signaling the host cells to propagate again. The mother longed to control this disaster that was supposed to have been her perfection. But the host cells were damaged beyond repair. The mitochondria's sorrowful cry echoed in Tos.h.i.+aki's body. This cannot be, this cannot be!

His head filled with a brilliant flash. That which until now had caught in a corner of his mind, refusing to be drawn out, now revealed its dazzling self. It was just as he thought... The mitochondria in Eve 1 had overlooked one important thing. They did not give sufficient consideration to it because they were female. His sperm was obviously necessary to create new life, but Eve 1 had only thought of male genes as tools for reproduction. The mitochondria had failed to notice that their ”daughter” was made up not only of themselves, but also of male mitochondria.

Eve l's mitochondria's final scream rang in Tos.h.i.+aki's ears, trailing off into silence. He felt her death indirectly. Outer and inner membranes collapsed, spilling DNA from inside.

They were then torn apart by enzymes. All electrical transmissions diffused and died out.

Receptors dissolved into useless peptides before losing life completely. Consciousness ceased. Cells burst, returning to mere fats, amino acids, and sugars. Eve 1 was no longer a life form, but simply a heap of decaying organic matter.

Eve 1's child screamed in s.e.xually dimorphous anguish.

The ceiling began to crumble as Eve erupted with pure power. I need to get out of here, thought Tos.h.i.+aki. But his body would not move.

He heard people's voices, footsteps drawing near. Short gasps of shock and horror followed. A light hit his face.

Help had arrived at last.

He let out an exclamation of joy, but it did not take form in sound. He tried to move a little, but could not quite gather enough strength.

At that moment, a tidal wave of heat exploded around them.

Screams and frantic footsteps.

Tos.h.i.+aki panicked, fearing for those who had come to their aid.

A blast of magma-like air pierced his body. Something heavy smashed into his waist.

He lost all feeling in his legs. Distant screams: ”Oh my...!”

”What is that?”

”It's alive!”

He heard only s.n.a.t.c.hes of speech, followed by the sound of flesh being torn from the bones, damp explosions, and truncated screams. While Eve was trying to keep Tos.h.i.+aki under control, she was simultaneously venting out her power and destroying everything around them.

This could not go on. No one would ever make it out alive. He had to calm Eve somehow. There was no reason to let anyone else be sacrificed. He felt something hot swelling up from the very core of his being. He would stop this thing. He had to kill it. Even if...

”I order you to stop!” thought Tos.h.i.+aki, with all the fury he could muster.

He sensed Eve's momentary hesitation. He screamed with more force.

”Come here! Look at me, me! I am your father! Come here!”

Eve whined, turning her attentions to him. The blazing wind lost its intensity.

”I know all about you. I know why you are the way you are. Come to me. Let me hold you.”

Eve's movements weakened. She looked around in confusion for her mother. But Eve 1 was already dead. Tos.h.i.+aki spoke to her with sympathy.

”Your body is breaking apart now. It hurts, doesn't it? I understand. Come here. Let your father hold you. I will share your pain. You can make all the children you want. But what about parents? You can't create them. And your mother is dead. I am the only parent you have left. Share your suffering with me. Think only of me. Over here. I am here. Now come!”

The heat died down completely.

Silence fell. The alarm faded away as Tos.h.i.+aki's ears grew deaf to it. The ceiling stopped crumbling as well, as if the concrete fragments falling from above had ceased in mid-air. A silence that could not even be called silence.

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