Bearclaw Valley verbena

Ico was quietly relieved to find that he understood Merrick's elaboration and clarification; and also that the shadowy Alpha thought of death as being the experiment, and not life. Ico had heard of those who believed there would be some great reward or exciting conclusion after life, which was a terrible waste of heartbeats. But no, Merrick was not one of those souls, and Ico believed he would fill his life to the rim.

The wondering is part of living, I reckon, he pondered by way of response. If we knew what happened after death, some of us would rush to it — which would be... no good. Hopefully neither of us will solve that mystery until many years have passed.

A little part of him theorised that by the time all those years had passed, Ico would be far too sleepy to bother coming back as anything at all.