The evolution of insect swarms from XNUMX million years ago

Chapter 333 Moria

The blazing starlight penetrates the atmosphere, and the powerful light and heat brought by the violent fusion reaction scorches the entire earth, making the wanderers from afar struggling on this barren land endure temperatures far exceeding the harshest environment on their home planet.

Now, it is roughly noon on this planet. Various native creatures that have long been accustomed to such an environment have found cool places and tried their best to avoid the harsh starlight. Only a few strange shadows are still dragging their bodies, which are different from all the native creatures, and staggering forward on the wasteland under the scorching sun.

Four weight-bearing limbs for walking supported the body, and a pair of soft forelimbs held strange long objects and other structures. At the top, two pairs of structures that looked like a mixture of horns and limbs occasionally flashed faint fluorescence.

Faint fluctuations were emitted from the special structure that wrapped the whole body - they were special electromagnetic wave signals that were continuously emitted in a regular arrangement and communicated between individuals.

Nearby, several strange native creatures poked their heads out of the shadows, curiously looking at these bizarre creatures in front of them that were not looking for shelter during the hottest time of the day.

As an ordinary creature born in the environment of a life planet, it will never be able to directly feel these radio signals, let alone know their meaning. Just like at this moment, it does not know the mission they are carrying out.

It has not been less than a day since they lost contact with their mother planet, but for them, the time before and after the loss of contact seems like a lifetime ago.

All the plans had not considered the possibility of a civil war within the exploration fleet. After multiple screenings, the fleet members had no chance of mutiny, but this time, the encounter was particularly strange.

The Marines who participated in the boarding operation will probably never forget the bizarre and tragic scenes they saw when their small shuttle boarded the former exploration fleet warship after it had been rendered harmless.

Those former compatriots with numb and empty eyes, like puppets, were controlled by data cables connected to the interface behind their heads, manipulating all controllable structures like puppets to launch a final counterattack, until their heads were pierced by the lethal bullets of the electromagnetic guns.

All crew members without brain-computer interfaces had died before boarding the ship. In the end, they could only recover the bodies and deal with them in the traditional Ezki way in order to "rest in peace." As for those strange individuals, they were only taken a small amount of samples for dissection before being exposed to the void.

But this was just the beginning. During the civil strife, the fleet lost its most important transport and supply ship, which meant that the fleet's range was severely restricted and it could only look for a suitable habitable planet nearby to complete the mission of rebuilding civilization.

Finally, the remaining remnants of the fleet landed on the surface of the planet that was unanimously named "Moria" - this name, in Ezki culture, refers to the place of rebirth after destruction.

In Ezki culture, this word is both a place name and an event name. For example, it is also the name of a small-scale extinction event in the history of the Ezki home planet. It was this event that forced arboreal species like the tree squid to turn to surface activities and eventually became the ancestors of the Ezki people.

The name was chosen with this implication, hoping that the shattered civilization could be reborn in this new place. But a name alone cannot change some facts determined by the laws of physics.

The star that Moria orbits is called an F-type star by another civilization and its only successor in this era. Its strong fusion reaction brings a relatively short life span compared to other celestial bodies, and within that life span, it produces amazing light and heat. The traces of the surging blazing light blue plasma are clearly visible in orbit. This energy shines on Moria without reservation, causing the surface temperature to reach a terrifying level.

Drought and desolation are the themes on Moria. Compared with this place, the worst tropical desert on the mother planet seems so mild. For the Ezki people, this is not an ideal home.

But for the remnants of the exploration fleet, which had been cut off from supplies and no longer able to continue the voyage, they had no choice but to adapt, just like those arboreal species like the tree squid that had previously gone extinct.

As for their subsequent fate, will they be like their ancestors, who were destroyed and then rebuilt, ushering in the civilized "Moria", or will they be like the victims of the extinction event, at best becoming a mark in the strata, or at worst not even leaving a mark in history? It is unknown.

If it were a complete Ezki civilization, they could transform this place into a livable home with all their efforts, just like the several colonies they already have. But for these remnants, all they can do is try their best and leave the rest to fate.

Without the need for jet fluid propulsion and only providing electrical energy, the ship-borne nuclear fusion reactor can still operate for a considerable period of time, which means that there is still sufficient energy for the remnants of the fleet.

The heat-insulating protective layer isolates them from the scorching starlight and air, preventing them from becoming weakened by high temperatures or dehydration in the harsh environment. There is even a series of special ventilation and cooling structures to continuously assist in temperature regulation.

In front of them, a ground vehicle simply assembled using existing resources was parked on a rocky beach. Everyone said nothing, but silently boarded the vehicle with their weapons or equipment, and returned with the collected sample data.

It was as if a large three-wheeled vehicle was in motion and barely moving on the ground - the makeshift structure naturally could not come up with any shock-absorbing measures, and not tipping over was already the limit, so a comfortable ride was impossible.

Ahead, the hull of the forced-landing scientific research vessel has come into view. Currently, all information about Moria is being analyzed by a series of equipment on the ship, and the possibility of human intervention and adjustment is being calculated.

Even if it is feasible to artificially intervene in such a harsh environment and create at least a foothold to explore the human and material resources at the disposal of the remnants of the fleet, it cannot be accomplished in a short period of time. It may take the efforts of several generations to complete this task.

But at this time, there is good news for these remnants - a huge opportunity is in front of them. If they can successfully seize this opportunity, it will be of great help to the intervention in the environment and the series of activities that may be carried out next.

To successfully seize the opportunity, the remaining forces of the entire fleet must be mobilized - not just the group of people who have landed on the surface of Moria, but also the personnel and supplies that remain in space for various reasons.

(End of this chapter)