Page 22

in pairs, in groups, alone. You

could dive into the bottomless

pool of biological esoterica and

let your grasp of what life even

is blissfully, endlessly splinter.

But in the end, it didn’t

matter if you were talking

about a seed, or an egg, or a

zygote in the womb. All life

that didn’t rely solely

on splitting or cloning

to create progeny used the

same essential method of

handing a part of itself to

the future.

In this method, there are

three ingredients.

First, the parent provides

information in the form of

DNA: A protein braid that

can be configured in endless

combinations, chemically simple

yet unfathomably complex. A

symphony of instructions, even

more basic than breathing.

Grow a leaf, the instructions

might say.

Grow a heart.

Grow eyes.

Make sap.