The globe was in expectation. A year and a half after the Slow Beat changed, the shining thing on Sanctum and the Wastes went a strange, absolute white.
Lucien hadn't known white before. It was not the standard four colors like blue for calm, green for growth, yellow for warning, or red for help. It was as if all the colors were mixed together. The stuff was reacting to everything at once.
The large fungal map in the main control room was just a bright white light. Naomi looked at it with her eyes wide open, feeling frightened. What in the world is this?
Maxine, connected to the city's monitors, was holding her eyes closed. It means everything is connected. All the cycles are closed. The Terraform project… is complete. The Earth is very well balanced. She looked at her interlocutor with the gold pieces in her eyes turning like a top. It's also the big Convergence dream at 100% consent. The invitation is no longer a suggestion. It is simply the way things are.
The glowing stuff in the Vivarium was also white. However, there was something different happening there. Things weren't just cooperating, they were exchanging parts. Insects had moss growing on them. The unique plant stuff sent out very thin roots, sharing stuff directly with the other plants. The spore-flies were laying eggs in the glowing lichen, and the offspring had wings that glowed with the same light.
The little world was merging completely. And the big world seemed ready to do the same.
No vote. No show. The Convergence was not something they would decide. It was simply going to happen. They did it little by little by every fix, every seed, every handshake, every good thing that they did. For a year and a half, they had been working on bringing the god's body back to life and in the end, they became a part of it themselves.
People in the living areas started to panic, quietly. This was it. The end of humans. The green hug.
However, a strange thing happened. Along with the panic, there was also… relief. They were finished with the difficult work of being separate, of maintaining the difference between them and the world. The loneliness, which they had felt from the very beginning, was finally going away.
People started gathering, not to fight, but just to be with one another. They held hands. They touched the now living walls. They listened to the white hum, which was not frightening, but sounded like… finishing.
In the Heartforge room, the Stewards met for the last time as separate people. They were silent. They just stood, looking at the glowing panels, feeling the slow heart beat that was now theirs.
Joan extended her unusual hand and took Naomi's. Naomi grabbed Bianca's. Bianca touched Lucien. Lucien, after some thought, placed his hand on Maxine's arm. Maxine stayed put.
Benny and Elara were standing at the center already more connected than the rest. They were demonstrating to everyone that crossing over was not death, but a different state of existence.
The white light became more intense, more pure. It was not too dazzling, it revealed things. It showed the way they were all linked, even though they were distinct. They shared grief, joy, and even their heartbeats.
They didn't merge into one big brain. They became a choir singing together. Just different notes in a big, beautiful song. The song of a world that was ill, and now was finally healed.
The last thing Benny felt as Benny was Elara's hand in his, and then it felt like that hand was also his, and the moss on her was his skin, and the plants in the walls were his nerves, and the heart beat was his own.
The white light spread everywhere.
There was absolute silence.
And then, in that silence, a clear thought came from the Core Memory Lobe, from the network, from everyone:
We are here.
The fasting was over.
The food was finished.
The eaters were the food.
And the food was alive.