Tomas stopped and looked at the three Oankali. “Do you believe in spirits?â€
“We believe in life,†Ahajas said.
“Life after death?â€
Ahajas smoothed her tentacles briefly in agreement. “When I’m dead,†she said, “I will nourish other life.â€
“But I mean—â€
“If I died on a lifeless world, a world that could sustain some form of life if it were tenacious enough, organelles within each cell of my body would survive and evolve. In perhaps a thousand million years, that world would be as full of life as this one.â€
“...it would?â€
“Yes. Our ancestors have seeded a great many barren worlds that way. Nothing is more tenacious than the life we are made of. A world of life from apparent death, from dissolution. That’s what we believe in.â€
“Nothing more?â€
Ahajas became smooth enough with amusement to reflect firelight. “No, Lelka. Nothing more.â€
Octavia Butler