Pump-O just reset his shape, cracked his knuckles again, and waited for the next ATP to wander by. “Kid,” he muttered to a passing glucose molecule, “that’s what primary means. No shortcuts. No following the crowd. I burn the fuel. I make the gradient. I am the source.”
Pump-O didn't do equilibrium. He did work .
And that was it. One cycle. Three sodiums out. Two potassiums in. One ATP sacrificed.