An hour later, I loaded the components into the progenitor.

Ore.

Gas.

Soil.

Blood.

All of it coalesced into Elden's shard, which I'd set in the progenitor. From it, new material generated into a fresh pearl based on the nacre ore. The gas floating above the nacre allowed the soil and mix of my Icarean and donated human blood to create new cells. From there, bone formed. Tissue. Vessels. Organs. Hair. Skin.

A woman laid in the machine. Her skin was dark and soft, like a purple calla lily. The fuzziness, native to humans, was absent, aside from her lashes, eyebrows, and wavy hair. It formed a halo around her soft face.

Without another thought, I found the only clean sheet in my stronghold and covered her with it. As I waited for her eyes to open, I pondered at their color. It seemed right to clean in the meantime, which took hours. I'd peer in the progenitor here and there to see if the woman had moved at all. Her arms remained at her sides, and her legs didn't even meet the device's end. She was shorter than the average Icarean female—

This was fodder for my mind to cycle while I toiled over her unconscious state. I couldn't hope to consider this a success until her eyes opened, and I performed certain tests once I learned to communicate the ethics of consent to her—

Complicated.

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So complicated.

Shelves? Dusted.

Floors? Swept and mopped.

Instruments? Cleaned and calibrated.

Work surface? Cleared and sterilized.

A room...? She'd need somewhere to sleep if she ever awakened. I would need to build another room—more rooms. I could progenerate more like her and save the species—

While I made a bed for her, goosebumps raised on my skin. The back of my neck tingled. With my pulse racing, I turned and faced the progenitor.

The woman was sitting up in it, staring at me.

Blue.

I'd never seen eyes so bright in my life.

There wasn't a trace of fear in her. In fact, her gaze held familiarity. She knew me.

I held up both hands and let her see they were empty as I crossed the lab. As gently as possible, I said, "Hello. Is your nacre translating? Can you understand me?"

The woman measured me with her eyes. Something... Something lived behind them. Immediately, I recognized an enormous intellect alive in there. To my immense curiosity, she stretched one leg out one side of the machine and followed with the other. Testing her limbs, she held onto the progenitor as she stood. I almost went to her side, but her wobbly efforts became steady in a matter of seconds. Without a preemptive sense of modesty, she easily tied the sheet around her and settled her hair about her waist.

With her shoulders held straight and her chin held high, my First Progeny crossed the lab to me and smiled.

"Father, I am Celindria, and I will help you save the Icari."

Devis stopped reading and stared at the words on the page.

Andrius peered at me, and there was something in his teal eyes.

T.a.o. gave a voice to it. "Words to douse the sun."

Into the ominous quiet which followed, Korac muttered, "Amen."