a protist lived in a substrate of shared hunger and constant fear. this jelly was a culture of want.

when the protist pressed against the curved wall, the jelly shuddered. the other cells pulsed with anger. the wall grew denser, stickier. the world outside became a fainter rumor.

to join was simple. it would only need to shed its unusual proteins, to vibrate at the frequency of the mass.

but its biology was a stubborn knot of code. each time the jelly offered dissolution, some deep cellular law resisted. the protist would retract, hardening its own membrane.

every push outward thickened the prison. its own form was the eternal friction.

to keep its shape was to remain a question the mould could never answer. it was a living glitch in the consensus. its loyalty was to its own signal, a specific miracle that refused to become static.