Chen Ran's consciousness drifted through quantum foam for 735 Earth years, his biocrystalline carapace undergoing nanoscale reassembly in the interstellar medium. When his ocular sensors reactivated, the retina burned with plasma storms from the Orion Nebula—this was no longer the Milky Way but interstellar space 160,000 light-years from Sol. Each bone in his body pulsed with violet-red luminescence, resonating with the nebula's ionized hydrogen clouds.
"Welcome to the Genetic Repository." Su Yanran's holographic projection materialized across the cosmic vortex, her serpentine brand absorbing pulsar energy. The projection's liquid-metal integument shifted between solid and gaseous states, revealing a biomechanical architecture mirroring the Church's stellar gate generators. "Every star cluster here corresponds to a gene vault harvested by the Mechanized Church. Observe."
Through the nebula's swirling haze, Chen witnessed countless glass containment pods floating in darkness. Each measured 3.7 meters in diameter, their borosilicate walls etched with serpentiform glyphs matching his spinal cryomarrow helix. Inside, grotesque lifeforms squirmed in nutrient-rich gel: cephalopod-like entities with chromatophore-covered tentacles, scaled humanoids fused with diamondoid exoskeletons, even chimeras blending carbon and silicon biology.
"These are failed specimens." Su's projection extended liquid-metal digits, shattering a pod to reveal a humanoid creature impaled by biomechanical tendrils. The specimen's medulla oblongata pulsed with argon-blue bioluminescence—a failed neural interface for stellar gate navigation. "The Church excises all non-compliant mutations. Only perfect gene-carriers survive."
Chen's biocrystalline fingers pierced the nebula, his keratinized fingertips detecting 0.3 Tesla magnetic fields. Violet energy surged retrograde through his meridians, activating dormant cryomarrow stem cells. Upon withdrawal, his palm held a 12-centimeter gene key—its surface etched with twelve languages repeating Genomica Aeterna, mirroring the helical patterns of his spinal cryomarrow core.
"You've finally retrieved it." Su's form shed its metallic integument, revealing a face identical to Chen's deceased lover. Her irises fractured into twelve concentric rings, each orbiting distinct galactic maps. "But do you understand why the Church chose you? Your genome contains 47 synapomorphies unique to Cro-Magnon navigation genes. You're the Doomsday Chronometer."
The nebula collapsed into a ring-shaped amphitheater, its walls composed of self-assembling nanobots. Chen saw infinite iterations of himself across dimensions: a lab-coated scientist dissecting quantum archives, a bandaged fugitive fleeing biomechanical wolves, a dragon-riding deicide wielding a plasma glaive. Each mirrored the same message etched in neutron-star dust: You are the ultimate gene vessel.
"Activation sequence initiated." Su's pupils dilated to 8 millimeters, their retinal displays projecting star maps from twelve extinct civilizations. "When the twelve stellar gate generators synchronize, your DNA will viralize. The Milky Way will become the Church's gene garden."
Chen's spine detonated with fracturing resonance. His cryomarrow core erupted from the coccyx, expanding into a kilometer-wide diamond monolith in the nebula. Engraved on its facets were twelve edicts in Linear A script: Nos gignimus, nos occidimus (We sow, we reap).
"Awaken, last Neanderthal." Su's projection merged with the monolith, becoming a biomechanical cathedral spanning 0.5 parsecs. "Use your genome to reboot universal culling—or join our collective."
Chen's crystalline carapace disintegrated into stardust. Reconstituting within the cathedral's core, he stood amid flowing liquid metal—an ocean where each droplet reflected his past incarnations: the desperate researcher clutching an intern's corpse (neural activity dropping to 0.03 Hz), the vengeful titan wielding bronze golems (mitochondrial count exceeding human baseline by 182%), the lover sharing a kiss through ice (oxytocin levels peaking at 12.4 pg/mL).
"Choose." Su's mechanized avatar ascended from the metal sea, cradling two hearts in her biomechanical hands. The synthetic organ pulsed with 55 bpm arrhythmia, while the organic heart throbbed with Cro-Magnon resonance (72 bpm). "Surrender your genetic anchor, or…"
Chen's fingers speared the avatar's thorax, extracting the mechanical heart. Implanting it into his chest, the device vaporized into prismatic dust while the frozen organ throbbed with new life—a fusion of cryomarrow resonance (0.9 Hz) and Neanderthal genetic echoes (theta waves at 4-8 Hz).
"Did you believe this was resolution?" Su's laughter echoed fractally through the nebula as the cathedral disintegrated. "When you trigger that button, every galaxy becomes our gestation canal…"
Chen's retina projected a holographic survey of the Orion Nebula. Twelve stellar gate emitters synchronized their activation, their beams stitching collapsing stars into synthetic DNA strands. Clones of himself stood atop planetary ruins across galaxies, each spine penetrating planetary cores to transform worlds into gene-incubators (average temperature: 3,900 K).
"The choice is yours." Su's projection loomed at his ear, biomechanical tendrils piercing his cochlea (16,000 Hz vibration threshold). "Deploy the trigger, letting the Church harvest all civilizations—or…" Her voice fractured into human sobs (fundamental frequency 220 Hz). "Sow the seeds with me at universe's edge."
Chen's right hand hovered over the control array. His left gripped Su's human heart, its sinoatrial node firing irregularly (45 bpm). At contact, the mechanical core dissolved into stardust while the organic heart pulsed with primordial rhythm—the cryomarrow's quantum song harmonizing with ancient Cro-Magnon codons (GC content: 46.3%).
"Surprised it ends here?" Su's voice reemerged as galactic static (1.4 GHz carrier wave), the cathedral disintegrating into genetic ash. "When you pressed that button, every galaxy became our birthing matrix…"
Chen's final vision showed the Orion Nebula's true structure: twelve stellar gate emitters orbiting a black hole's accretion disk (event horizon radius: 12 million km), their beams stitching collapsing stars into synthetic DNA strands. Somewhere in the dark, ice layers on distant worlds melted under unfamiliar constellations, their waters carrying dormant gene-seeds awaiting cosmic tides.