4.6 Billion Year Symphony of Evolution

Book 2: Chapter Two “Departure”

Last chapter recap: Lin woke up and found that its cells were now immune to the destructive nature of oxygen.

The new body that Lin assembled was not very different than in the past.

The main body was structured like a sphere. The outer layer was covered in tentacles that had stinger cells that could be used to hunt or swim while the interior of the body was hollow, and could be used to hold roaming cells. Lin created an eyeball at the front of the body, smaller than the one before but bigger than the observer.

There was an oval-shaped tail at the rear that was primarily made of muscle cells. An opening at the end of the tail that could quickly inhale and expel water by the muscle cells, allowing Lin could accelerate and move in an instant.

The entire body was only about 30% of how large the base had been as, other than some cells on the cavern and the rock, there was nothing to eat. The white gel which had constantly come out had long stopped and so Lin could only create a structure of this size.

Lin decided to call this a voyager. Lin decided to travel for a long distance in search of new food and beings.

As Lin thought this, it started to swing the tentacles on the voyagers body. It left this rock that it had stayed an unknown amount of time on to go into the ocean.

The scenery in the water was the same familiar one. It had not changed. It was vast and empty. It caused Lin to feel uneasy, yet this feeling quickly disappeared.

The water in this area seemed to warm up. The surrounding light became brighter. Lin found that it was unknowingly swimming upwards. The further it went in the opposite direction of gravity, the stronger the increase in water temperature and light.

The ectoderm of the voyager had already been hardened. The more hardened the outer layer was, the duller its perception of the outside world. However, Lin set up two little tentacles at the front of the voyager. This allowed Lin to know the changes in temperature, the flow of water, and other conditions clearly.

At this time, the large eyeball of the voyager found some things. The enormous patch of green up front immediately attracted Lins attention. That was something that Lin was familiar with

Green cells.

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These cells that released the destructive oxygen was gathered in large numbers in the water up ahead. At the same time, Lin also noticed that the light over there was especially bright.

The green cells themselves did not have any offensive abilities but the oxygen bubbles that it released had a terrifying and fatal power. But right now, Lin was not afraid of oxygen so the green cells meant only one thing to Lin

Food.

Lin suddenly retracted the tail of the voyager. The body of the voyager suddenly instantly charged toward the large colony of green cells. It swung the tentacles on its body and started to kill the surrounding green cells.

The green cells did not have any defensive ability, and their speed could not match the voyager. When Lin charged into their colony, the tentacles only needed to swing to kill numerous green cells.

There was an orifice below the eyeball of the voyager. After killing many green cells, Lin opened the orifice to suck in the remains of the green cells. Then it used the acid ejectors inside the voyager to dissolve the remains and had some of the tentacles composed of fat cells feed.

These steps appeared complex but, in reality, it was quick to accomplish. The obtained nutrients quickly spread through the voyager.

After eating a group of green cells, Lin charged towards the next group. There were many green cells in this region of water. Lin estimated that there were several million. If Lin could consume all of them, Lin could increase its cell group greatly.

The green cells would move and dodge when Lin arrived, but they were slow to move. To Lin, their movements were akin to just twisting where they were. Most of green cells were killed by Lins tentacles before they even had the time to move.

Of course, this was because Lin was able to use oxygen and its speed was much faster than in the past.

After consuming these cells, Lin started to use the nutrients to increase the body of the voyager as well as the fat cells to prepare to travel to the next hunting place.

When Lin had been killing the green cells, Lin had produced some questions. What did these green things eat for food? It was relatively warm here, and the light was bright, but Lin did not see any other cells or food like the white gel. How were they able to form a colony here?

Did they use light and warmth as food?

There was only the last group of green cells in front of Lin. Lin had almost consumed all of them. The water that had been dyed green by the cells had become vast and empty again. Right now, there were only about a thousand of the green cells in this little group. They were huddled together and did not flee or fight back. This caused Lin to think of the luminescent microbes.

However, this time, Lin didnt feel anything like sympathy.

Lin did not plan to eat them all. It used the basic cells to form a hemispherical structure on the outer layer of the voyager that could fit a few thousand cells. Lin called this the rearing pen.

Rearing seemed to be a new word that seemed very useful.

There was an orifice on the top of the rearing pen that was controlled by muscle cells which could suck in things from the outside. Lin turned towards the remaining little group of green cells and herded them all into the rearing pen.

Lins aim in doing this was of course to study them. If the green cells were truly able to use light and warmth as food, then Lin would rear them and have them continue to divide. This would mean endless food.

Lin herded almost all of the green cells into the pen. The outer layer of the rearing pen was transparent. This way, light would reach them. Lin would quickly learn if these cells could divide when they just had light and warmth.

Lin also created a little eyeball on the inner wall of the rearing pen to observe the activity of the green cells and make sure that they would not make any actions of resistance.

After doing all this, Lin moved its gaze back to the empty water.

Where should it go?

If warmer places would have more green cells, then what about deeper places?

Lins curiosity drove it to swim downwards. While one should rear the green cells in a place with light, Lin did not actually care if it could successfully rear the green cells. The desire to explore took up a greater part of Lins thoughts.

As it thought, Lin moved the head of the voyager downwards and waved its tentacles to depart for deeper areas.

Just as Lin had thought, as it swam downwards along gravity, the water became colder. However, Lin still remembered the string it had seen before. Thinking about it now, Lin didnt know what that was, but it clearly was a certain high-temperature object that could heat up an entire area.

If Lin encountered it again, it would definitely avoid it.

After swimming downwards for a while, the eyeball of the voyager passed into Lins thoughts some familiar things.

Sand and cells.

All kinds of cells were gathered in this relatively cold region of water. Unlike what Lin had seen above which were all green cells, the cells here were not the same type. They were gathered together by their cell type, searching for food or hunting each other. Their activity was on a vast patch of sand.

The sand here was not like the grey sand that Lin had seen before. This sand was white, and even finer. The smallest grains were just a tiny bit bigger than Lins cell, the largest one thousand times bigger. The cells mostly swam through the cracks between sand particles. Some even took up residence on relatively larger grains of sand. There were many and they occupied the entire sand patch as far as Lin could see.

These cells were good prey. Lins voyager- had millions of cells, so even the biggest cell group here appeared small in comparison

Lin was sure that no cell was a match for it. However, due to the enormity of the voyager, it was not suited to moving between the cracks of the sand. Lin needed to use a more suitable structure to hunt.

While Lin could choose to first construct a base like before, and then use the flashing tentacles and other things to attract other cells over to kill them, Lin thought that it was not proactive enough.

If no cells came, it would starve. Lin needed a more proactive hunting method

Soon, Lin thought of a good solution, but it had to first modify the voyager.

As Lin pondered this, Lin started to modify the voyager. It expanded the body of the voyager. The structure was still a sphere, but Lin had taken off the tentacles that covered the surface and only left behind two thin and long tentacles to swim. Lins removal method was to have them die. This was a method akin to longevity.

Expanding was to have the ectoderm cells divide to increase the overall size. Modification took a large amount of energy, but it was worth it when there was so much food below.

Then Lin started to create numerous orifices in an ordered pattern that were controlled by muscle cells on the ectoderm. They were of various sizes, and primarily used for the entry and exit of various units.

What were units?

Lin was creating them inside the body of the voyager. The so-called units were primarily composed of cells that were not very large. They were mostly made from the cells with strong offensive ability such as the cone-shaped cells, stinger cells, or acid ejectors. Lin used them to go into the cracks of the sand path or to swim far to kill other cells, transport the spoils back to the body of the voyager and then stored away the nutrients.

At this time, the voyager was like the base of the past. It was the storage place of the resources. Unlike the base of the past that was stuck on the rock and could only wait for prey to arrive, this base was able to move, and it was much more proactive in hunting.

At the same time, it should not be called voyager any longer.

Lin gave it a new name

Mothership.