Free Web NovelChapter 258: Geothermal Organisms
"Lizardmen! These are the real deal! They’re even carrying spears! They look exactly like the ones from the movies, just a little shorter..." Peter said excitedly.
"What lizardmen... Why are you making such a fuss?"
Black initially didn’t want to pay him any attention. However, seeing that Peter wouldn’t stop making noise, the alien parasite finally replied irritably, "What an ignorant ape. They are just basic geothermal organisms."
Peter immediately perked his ears up.
He was just trying to bait information out of the alien! He hadn’t submitted a useful intelligence report to the Federation in a very, very long time.
"What are geothermal organisms?" Peter asked, faking wide-eyed curiosity.
Over the past three years, Peter had gradually figured out Black’s bizarre psychology. Seemingly influenced by reading too many trashy sci-fi novels on the colony’s data-nets, this alien parasite loved to show off...
Yes, acting superior and flaunting its vast cosmic knowledge brought the entity immense pleasure.
Peter secretly scoffed. This alien is definitely defective. Doesn’t it get embarrassing acting so pompous all day long?
Unaware of Peter’s inner thoughts, Black felt that this question wasn’t a heavily guarded cosmic secret, so it answered directly. "The evolution and reproduction of life require a stable energy source. All biological activities consume energy. That isn’t hard to grasp, is it?"
"The most common energy source in the universe is, of course, starlight. Life forms that rely on this are called phototrophic organisms, and they make up the vast majority of life in the cosmos."
Naturally, lecturing this human about things he didn’t understand gave Black a chance to flaunt its superior intellect. Whenever it saw Peter’s awestruck expression, it felt a massive surge of accomplishment.
Honestly, this strange, ego-driven emotion had only developed after it merged with a human host... The parasite had never been this petty before.
However, it was still conflicted, unwilling to share too much advanced knowledge for free and benefit this inferior civilization.
As expected, Peter put on a face of "humbly seeking guidance," which greatly stroked Black’s ego.
It had no choice but to reluctantly continue. "The second type, of course, is geothermal organisms."
"Geothermal energy is essentially driven by the nuclear fission of radioactive elements deep within a planet’s core. This process can easily last for hundreds of millions, or even billions of years, making it an incredibly stable energy source."
Peter nodded seriously. Earth, with its 4.6-billion-year history, still possessed a vast amount of geothermal energy. Nyx was even larger and far more geologically active.
Uranium-238 has a half-life of 4.45 billion years. This means its radioactive decay only halves over that massive span of time. It is an unimaginably long timeframe. Therefore, geothermal energy is actually a highly reliable power source, capable of outputting energy as steadily as a star.
Peter quickly jotted these notes down in his digital pad, then asked, "So, because the surface of Nyx doesn’t receive any starlight, any life here has to be geothermal, right?"
He also thought about the Mars virus back in the uranium mining sector. Since it fed on nuclear radiation, it should also be classified as a geothermal organism. Were there other types of life out there? Were phototrophic and geothermal the only two?
This was a genuine question. If humanity encountered more bizarre alien life forms in the future, they needed to be prepared... They couldn’t keep paying the price of knowledge with human lives!
Peter felt incredibly guilty about the recent cavern collapse and felt a heavy sense of responsibility. He knew that the alien parasite in his mind possessed vast archives of planetary survival knowledge. Unfortunately, Black was highly reluctant to serve humanity. It only chimed in to show off when the colonists stumbled upon something unknown. Otherwise, it remained completely silent.
Peter was at a loss on how to change that.
This time, however, Black didn’t hold back. After a long silence, it said, "Phototrophic and geothermal are the two most common evolutionary paths for carbon-based life forms. They are also the two paths most likely to spawn massive organisms and intelligent civilizations, simply because those energy sources are the most stable and reliable!"
"However, you should have already realized that life is everywhere in the universe. The resilience and universal adaptability of life defy description..."
"There isn’t just carbon-based life. There are silicon-based and sulfur-based life forms, though they are much rarer. There are even... highly advanced life forms composed entirely of photons and pure energy. They form civilizations that operate on a level far beyond your primitive comprehension."
"But most life forms are relatively basic and easy to understand."
"My kind once visited a nearly dead planet. There was no sunlight, no geothermal heat, and not even a single trace of uranium! Energy was incredibly scarce. The only inhabitants were a tenacious species of microorganisms capable of decomposing organic matter like methane..."
"Decomposing methane? What’s so special about that?" Peter couldn’t help but ask.
He was actually much more interested in the advanced photon-based life forms, but seeing that Black was being vague and unwilling to discuss them, he suppressed his curiosity.
"No, there is nothing unusual about microbes utilizing chemical energy," Black said calmly in his mind. "But we were shocked to discover that after hundreds of millions of years of reproduction, they had completely exhausted every trace of chemical energy on the planet. There was nothing left. Yet, they still existed. Isn’t that strange?"
"Why? Did they stop needing energy? Did they survive by eating each other?" Peter asked.
Seeing Peter’s intense curiosity gave Black that familiar rush of superiority.
It scoffed. "How long can a species survive on cannibalism? Look at you humans. If you lost all your food sources, could your species survive for tens of millions of years just by eating each other?"
"...No." Peter felt deeply disgusted by the mental image, goosebumps erupting over his arms.
"Exactly. So, the real answer was... meteorites! When these microbes ran out of energy, they automatically expelled all their moisture and entered a deep, dormant state, hardening like wood fibers. They would wait in the dark until a rogue meteorite impacted the planet. The kinetic heat and trace minerals from the crash provided a tiny burst of energy, allowing them to briefly wake up, feed, and reproduce before going dormant again..."
"The entire biosphere of that planet... they drained their world dry, and their entire existence was reduced to waiting in the dark for a meteorite to strike. A random rock falling from the sky was their only source of life!"
"You can imagine how agonizing that existence is. Is surviving like that a blessing, or just another form of torture?" Black said, its tone heavy with meaning. freewёbnoνel.com
"But they’re just microbes..." Peter started to argue, but then he realized the profound horror of that existence and fell silent.
Meanwhile, deep beneath the surface of Nyx, the cavern tunnels grew wider and wider, and the ambient temperature continued to rise.
"This is the main caldera! The village has to be close!" a Marine shouted, his voice buzzing with adrenaline.
This central cavern was truly colossal; the primary lava vent alone was ten kilometers wide! Looking down into the unfathomable depths, they could see thick, glowing rivers of sluggish red magma.
Furthermore, the entire cavern was structured like a massive, naturally formed skyscraper, divided into dozens of terraced levels with connecting pathways branching out in every direction.
It looked exactly like a grand dwarven city straight out of a fantasy novel!
Every living thing in this subterranean ecosystem relied entirely on the thermal output of that magma pool.
The local fauna was completely immune to the toxic volcanic fumes. In fact, the lethal concentrations of carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulfide—which would kill a human in seconds—acted as vital nutrients for the alien ecosystem.
Their destination—the native village—was situated on a massive ledge along the volcanic rock wall, taking up less than a fraction of a percent of the cavern’s total area.
The settlement was composed of varying-sized mounds and excavated burrows, serving as the lizardmen’s homes. The perimeter was heavily fortified with crude wooden fences and thick, packed-dirt walls, leaving only a single, narrow, easily defensible entrance.
Dozens of lizardmen were perched atop the earthen walls and clustered around the gate, watching the approaching metal giants with wide, curious eyes.
"Fascinating... They’ve mastered basic settlement construction and engineered packed-earth fortifications. This puts them squarely in an equivalent Stone Age!"
A sociologist examined the crude walls with profound academic interest.
However, the moment he reached out a heavily armored gauntlet to touch the packed dirt, the lizardmen on the wall shrieked in absolute panic.
