The evolution of insect swarms from XNUMX million years ago

Chapter 122: It took a long time to get to the point

The flying reconnaissance drone is about half a meter in size, similar to the size of the worker drone.

But in order to ensure that it could take off successfully, Lin Yi did not choose the more difficult vertical take-off and landing, but adopted a run-up take-off method.

In fact, during the design, Lin Yi did not design the structure related to vertical take-off and landing on the spot for the flying reconnaissance aircraft, and chose the less difficult rolling take-off and landing.

Driven by the remaining pair of paddling feet and the two pairs of wings that temporarily served as fins, the body of the flying reconnaissance dragon suddenly surfaced from the water, shook its wings twice, shook off the water droplets, and made final preparations.

Yes, the take-off and landing method Lin Yi designed for him was to take off by gliding on the water and land in the water, and he had no plans to leave the water and take off and land on land for the time being.

The airbag structure in the body allows the body of the flying reconnaissance drone to float stably on the water. The first pair of wings opens at a specific angle, and the second pair of wings tentatively flaps twice to push the body slightly forward.

The weather was good, and there was a gentle breeze blowing on the face. Not only would it not affect the flight, but it would also provide some assistance for takeoff. Lin Yi quickly determined the wind direction, controlled the flight reconnaissance aircraft to change direction, and was ready to take off in the face of the breeze.

Memories from the time when all kinds of aircraft were flying all over the sky 400 million years later show that whether it is taking off or landing, headwinds are beneficial to aircraft or flying creatures.

After completing the initial warm-up activities, the flying reconnaissance scorpion's hind wings suddenly flapped rapidly and rapidly. Amidst the sound of flapping wings, the half-meter-long flat body rushed forward under the push, and crossed a wave of water.

A pair of paddling feet were also flapping and paddling desperately under the water. The sound of howling wind passed by the lateral line structure specially installed to facilitate the detection of airflow. At the same time, what was returned from the nerve signals was that the body was being lifted up by the airflow. , resulting in the illusion that the body seems to become lighter.

Finally, supported by the air current, the body of the flying reconnaissance turtle slowly left the water. A string of water droplets dripped from the paddling feet and sprinkled on the originally calm lake.

In the imagination, a pair of paddling feet out of the water acts like a vertical tail. At this time, they are also swinging to balance the body as much as possible.

All around, a large number of workers were already in position in all directions, their bodies half-surfaced, ready to observe the results of this test flight from multiple angles.

And under the attention of all these people - barely able to count the number of individuals controlled by Lin Yi now - the flying reconnaissance body completely left the water, flew up unsteadily, slowly gained altitude, and then leaned back. , rolled around in the air, and plunged into the water again

A string of black lines appeared in his consciousness - Fortunately, no other intelligent creature in this era can see all this. As long as Lin Yi is not embarrassed himself, no one will be embarrassed.

Sure enough, flying is not that easy to do. But no matter what, it did fly, which proved that this structure is feasible, although it fell down as soon as it took off due to poor control of the center of gravity.

In later generations, insects can fly as soon as they turn from pupae to adults. After a long period of evolution, the instinct in their genes already has a complete set of "flight control programs" that let them know how to flap their wings.

But after all, the flying reconnaissance flying creature is the first flying creature in the world. Not to mention that Lin Yi is not qualified to do wind tunnel testing. The "aerodynamic layout" is not necessarily the optimal structure. The instinctive part about flying in the gene is The "flight control system" is a blank sheet of paper, and it is normal if it falls.

Now, we only need to crash it a few more times to confirm the problem, and then decide whether to adjust the flight attitude and compile a "flight control system", or simply rebuild it and improve it to make the "aerodynamic layout" more perfect. . The benefits of being on the water are obvious. After all, it is not so easy to fall to death.

In addition, individuals under the hive mind consciousness have no independent consciousness. In the spirit of falling to death as long as they can't fall to death, they want to test a perfect "aerodynamic layout" or develop a complete set of "flight control programs". For Lin Yi, it was only a matter of time.

The second time, the situation was better than the first time. Under Lin Yi's strong control, the flying reconnaissance drone fluttered to a height of four or five meters before it could no longer stabilize its body and plunged into the water.

The third time I used too much force, the situation was worse than the second time, but the fourth time, it was better.

Gradually, with the multi-angle view analysis provided by the workers, Lin Yi found out some ways. On the fifth flight, he finally controlled the flying reconnaissance aircraft and barely managed to fly more than ten meters away. , and landed smoothly on the water again.

By the tenth time, it was able to fly about two stories high and a straight-line distance of more than 20 meters. Although the final landing was still a little imperfect, it was enough for water take-off and landing.

Well, up to now, the flying ability of the flying reconnaissance machine has finally caught up with Lin Yi’s mother in his previous life. Because, it’s not easy.

It wasn't until the sun set that the field of vision became no longer suitable for flying. Lin Yi controlled the flying reconnaissance aircraft to conduct test flights again and again, dived into the water, and spent the night under the protection of other workers and pioneers.

After nearly a whole day of struggle, the flying reconnaissance aircraft has been able to hover awkwardly at low altitude for a long time. As long as it does not encounter too strong turbulence, it should no longer crash.

Nearly 100 million years before the emergence of the earliest flying insect, Delichia, a species derived from the horseshoe crab successfully completed a feat that the chelicerate subphylum had not been able to complete for 400 million years - flight.

With excitement, he controlled the pioneering mother to supplement some nutrients for the flying reconnaissance horse, and Lin Yi continued to wait for the next day.

When daylight broke the next day, under the control of Lin Yi, the flying reconnaissance drone once again flapped its wings that had been improved by paddling, slowly flew up, and hovered in the sky.

Although the height was comparable to the flying height of an old hen's flapping wings, and although it was shaking as if crawling in the air, Lin Yi still felt an indescribable feeling of joy in his heart.

This is a kind of flying in the blue sky with one's own strength, overlooking the earth from the air, which will inevitably produce a feeling of superiority over all living things, which may be called a sense of superiority.

This feeling of flying freely cannot be experienced on the ground or by flying into the sky with the help of external force like flying in an airplane in the previous life.

The flying reconnaissance drone only needs to flap its wings a few times to take in all the terrain that the exploration craft needs to explore for a long time. The calm lake surface, the swimming fish in the shallow water, and the scorpions resting among the vascular plants on the shore can be seen at a glance.

However, Lin Yi quickly calmed down his somewhat excited mood - the main business, that is, the task of finding the remaining purely terrestrial creatures that did not exist was still waiting for him to deal with.

(End of this chapter)