Studying the Eggs
Studying the Eggs
Such was the goddess who seemed to have a bunch of followers. It had to be difficult for the pope and bishops who were working for the goddess, because extraordinary writing skills and exceptional adaptability to embellish Raven 12345 would be required. One always needed to take Raven's word with a pinch of salt—so Hao Ren never intended to start a cult or anything to worship the neurotic being. He knew his conscience and sense of logic did not allow this to happen...
"We'll just use the abbreviation," said Hao Ren, glancing at the idle screen up in the air. "Let's see how this research station works. The only console I've ever used is of the spacecraft's. I've never seen this mysterious thing before."
The core area of CARS was huge, and Hao Ren did not plan on going to places like warehouses, factories, and residences for the time being. Instead, he led everyone to the control center of the entire facility, where they could monitor all of the research station's projects in real time.
The control center was a very large, orthodox round hall. However, common technological equipment and metal devices were nowhere to be seen there. Instead, crystal clusters and columns of various forms were in place. These crystals seemed to be a favourite thing of the Xi Ling Celestials. The entire CARS reflected this notion. The crystal clusters and columns were arranged neatly throughout the hall as if they grew from the ground. They were the main interactive terminals there. Simple mind-matching was all it took for a rookie like Hao Ren to completely control the research station.
There was a crystal as gigantic as a hill in the middle of the contol center. It was was part of the facility's host and it was also a huge mind interaction device. There was a constant flow of complex runes and wonderful light on the surface of the crystal. Every time Hao Ren approached it, he would hear the sweet sound of a wind chime, and he would establish an automatic mental connection with it. Hence, all the interactive information from the host would be flashed in his mind.
Like most technological devices, these mystical magic devices also supported direct mind connection, which greatly reduced their operational difficulty. Hao Ren was initially worried that he would not be able to control them with his half-baked knowledge of magic. However, it now seemed that all roads led to Rome. The simplified and easy-to-understand interface had inevitably been the right choice.
He was very pleased that he did not need to understand the principles of the devices before he could use them.
Lil Pea peeked out of Hao Ren's collar and looked at the place curiously. She mumbled something before she jumped happily to the ground and scurried around. The little one had a strong body as she could simply jump down from a height of two meters with ease. Hao Ren found his worry unnecessary. He was sometimes worried that she could flatten her tail from falling.
However, her tail was flat anyway.
Seeing the baby fish run around like a headless chicken, Y'lisabet immediately followed Lil Pea, lest she lost her way. She had quickly found her position in the team; as the elder one of the two, she felt that it was her responsibility to look after Lil Pea like a big sister. Y'lisabet had been learning how to change the aquarium water from Wuyue and she had also been actively reading an aquatic book on tropical-fish farming. Her hard work paid off as her water-changing skills were now as good as Hao Ren's, and Lil Pea said that the book tasted really good.
Anyway, it was good as long as the two little ones could get along well. The elder one looked after the younger one and it lessened the burden on the adults.
"Don't run too far, and don't let Lil Pea bite anything here," Hao Ren reminded as the two little ones hopped to the edge of the hall. "And put your little screwdriver away!"
Y'zaks scratched his head. "Never mind, let me look after the both of them."
Hao Ren nodded. He then activated the giant crystal in the center of the hall rather clumsily. He did so according to the instructions in his mind to begin the connection to Containers No. 1 and 2.
The giant crystal emitted a series of crisp sounds as a series of holograms emerged around it. The largest image was of the two First Borns. The two colossal giants were now quietly sleeping in a balloon-like vesicle, and being suspended in a nearly transparent inert solution. They looked like babies sleeping in the womb. Lily looked at the images and could not help but twitch her tongue. "This feels like a horror movie."
"Yeah, we're like the antagonists." Hao Ren shrugged. "We've never looked normal anyway."
Vivian did not want to give opinion because she did not know much about horror movies—she was poor before she ever watched a movie…
The two vessels were not completely calm. After the First Borns were excavated and placed in the containers for easy observation, Hao Ren had noticed that the giant tentacles were not completely still. Some of the tentacles, mainly the ones near the ganglions, would occasionally twitch or swing a little. This could have been a form of somnambulism.
However, there was worry that these two big guys would suddenly wake up as the "lullaby" system was still keeping them hypnotized. The nerve suppressor was at the bottom of the two containers, and CARS itself had a set of broadcasting devices that covered the entire facility. The Petrachelys had already linked the "lullaby" signal source to the broadcasting system as a double security suppression system. Besides, there were huge "syringes" above the two containers. Once any First Born got out of control, a high concentration of interference pheromones would be released into the thin, inert solutions immediately.
This was a fool-proof prison. Hao Ren felt that he could use this place to detain and study any dangerous creatures he found while on patrol in various worlds.
Vivian did not quite understand the charts and data on the holographic projections. She tilted her head sideways and asked Hao Ren, "What research plan do you have in mind?"
"I want to read the First Borns' minds." Hao Ren pointed at the holographic projection of the dark red tissues. "Of course, we all know the First Borns are irrational, and probably incapable of thinking at all. Nonetheless, there was once a normal one. So, I think they still retain some memories before they went crazy. Now, we know nothing about the First Borns' body structure. We only know that they have some ganglions, therefore we're going to give them a physical check-up... to find out the functions of these organs."
"Oh," Vivian said, blinking, "that's epic!"
Hao Ren scratched his chin and nodded slightly. "We can do something else while we wait for the scan to finish."
He opened the Dimensional Pocket and several autonomous robots pushed two silvery-white boxes out.
Hao Ren stepped forward and switched on the identification device of the safety deposit box. A layer of blue light lit up on the boxes, which then gradually opened up with a series of mechanical sounds. They revealed large balls, which were glowing red.
These were the two strange spheres that were brought out from Helcrown.
Up till then, Hao Ren had not figured out what they were for, but they were obviously not batteries. Now that CARS was running and there was a huge amount of spare computing power, he could just throw the two balls in there for analysis.
Hao Ren knocked on the MDT's shell. "Send these two samples to Comprehensive Test Lab No. 1. We'll be there soon."
After the autonomous robots took the two balls out of the hall, Lily mumbled as she held her ears up. "You're studying the balls?"
Hao Ren almost choked. "...Can you sound less offensive?"
Lily flicked her tail and said, "You're studying the eggs?"
Hao Ren was at a lost for words.
At this time, Vivian interrupted Lily's train of thought. "Something suddenly crossed my mind: we can check if the First Borns have organs that similar to those spheres. Perhaps that would shed light on their uses."
When the penny dropped, Hao Ren's eyes lit up: that was a good idea!