Arjun looked in the mirror. He was a timelapse of himself. Every second, a few more of his nuclei decided to call it quits, flying apart in tiny, silent fissions. He could feel the heat — not burning, but the gentle warmth of matter unbinding, returning its borrowed energy to the universe.

Kunal rolled over, opened one eye, and screamed.

Arjun rubbed his eyes. He’d been awake for thirty hours. Hallucinations were plausible. But curiosity burned brighter than fatigue. He jumped to page 201.

“Half-life isn’t just for atoms. Check page 201.”