Infinite Genetic Evolution in a Game-like world

Morden pushed open the door to the room he knew Darlus and Lisa were using since from what he knew there wasn’t really anywhere else for them to stay, which means they are stuck in this underground place.

Darlus was leaning back against the wall on a thin mat, jacket still on, boots still on. Lisa sat across from him with her knees pulled up, hair still carrying, still looking just the way they were yesterday, like neither of them had so much as washed their face since they had returned from the Omnisphere.

’They haven’t bathed.’

It was such a small thing to notice and maybe even such a stupid small thing.

But Morden had gone early yesterday morning, prepared a meal for himself, and ate till he was filled; he did some investigation and even went to the library for information before ending the day with a sleep on a couch he could call his own.

They hadn’t gone home. Because there wasn’t one to go to.

"Are you two good?" he asked, though the question already felt hollow leaving his mouth.

Darlus glanced up first with the usual broad smile on his face.

"We’re fine," he said.

"You’re not," Morden said.

"You two haven’t even changed."

Lisa’s eyes flicked to him in an extremely sharp way, the way they always were, but she didn’t say anything; it was obvious there was nothing she wanted to say to him.

Morden felt something twist tighter in his chest, thinking about the family portrait he still couldn’t look at for more than a few seconds, the cabinet door that never quite shut, and the couch he’d slept on because his own bedroom felt like someone else’s grief.

He had all of that, though it was a wreck and what he believed to be a haunted house full of things that hurt to touch. They didn’t even have that much.

’I have a house. An entire empty house.’

The decision came out of him before he’d finished thinking it through, and that was the exact same way most of his decisions did Lately.

"You two, Come stay with me.

Darlus raised an eyebrow.

"Is that an order from an arrogant student or an offer?"

"An offer," Morden said.

"I live alone. There’s space. And I’m not going to sit here pretending I didn’t just watch you two, not even bother taking your boots off before sitting down."

"I don’t want charity," Lisa said with a fierce tone.

"It’s not charity," Morden said.

"It’s a spare room going to waste. Somebody should use it."

Darlus studied him a moment longer, then pushed himself up off the wall with a grunt like his whole body was protesting the movement.

"Well," he said.

"I guess we’re moving in with my student now," Darlus said while grabbing the small bag that contained all his stuff. From the way they were, it was obvious they had been here for quite a while.

Seeing that the three were going together, Mona made sure to separate herself and come over later.

The walk back wasn’t long, but Darlus made sure it felt longer, filling most of it with commentary Morden hadn’t asked for.

"You know right now there’s a high chance of homeowners being killed by strangers they invited in."

"You’re not strangers."

"Debatable. I’ve known you for less than four days? Feels longer because you keep almost dying in front of me."

"That’s on you for being there," Morden said.

"Rude."

Lisa didn’t say anything, but the corner of her mouth twitched the way it did when she was amused but unwilling to admit it.

Mona walked a few paces behind all of them, silent, arms crossed, clearly uninterested in whatever this was turning into.

By the time they reached the house, the sun had shifted enough that the garden sat half in shadow, half lit gold along the fence line.

Mona didn’t wait for an invitation inside. She went straight through the living room by the kitchen and straight for the roses.

She crouched low the way Morden had done yesterday, running two fingers along a petal without hesitation.

The bush swayed. Leaves rustled in that same rhythm that surely didn’t sound natural.

Mona’s expression didn’t change, but her fingers lingered a second longer than they needed to.

"Consistent reaction," she said in a low voice.

"No difference in concentration; Whatever touched this happened in one pass, not repeated exposure."

She moved to the next bush, then the next, tracing the exact path Morden had walked the day before, stopping right where the weed sat untouched at the property line.

"And it stops here," she said, glancing back at him. "You were right about that part."

"I know I was," Morden said, though there wasn’t much pride in it.

Mona straightened, brushing dirt from her knees while her expression settled back into something unreadable.

Inside, while Mona kept circling the garden a second time, Lisa sat at the kitchen table across from the potted rose and the box still waiting beside it, staring at both like they owed her something.

Darlus was in the living room, and for a moment, it was just Morden and her.

"My family knew things like this," she said in a low voice, but it was still loud enough for me to hear.

"Ohh, really?"

Lisa’s mouth suddenly closed back up again like she’d said more than she meant to. Then she shook her head, waving the thought away entirely, and stood up before he could ask anything further.

"Wait—" Morden started.

But she was already moving past him toward the living room too. meet up with Brenda.

’Something there. Something she doesn’t want to talk about yet.’

He filed it away, the way he’d been filing away too many things lately, and told himself he’d come back to it. Later.

Maybe when there wasn’t already a box sitting on the table demanding his attention.

The front door opened again, and Mona stepped back inside, garden dirt still on her knees, expression set into something focused now instead of composed.

"Alright," she said, walking straight past him toward the kitchen table.

"Enough stalling."

She reached the box, fingers resting on the worn latch the same way Morden’s had the night before.

"Let’s see what your mother didn’t want anyone touching."

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