The Record of Unusual Creature

CARS was a comprehensive, large space station with a functional focus on scientific research and storage of dangerous cargo. Besides the large containers used to hold up the First Borns, several large laboratories on the lower decks of the space station could be used for routine researches. The samples collected from the First Borns and the weird stuff collected from other worlds could all be scanned and analysed here. Hao Ren did not have to worry about the limited function of the on-board laboratory of the Petrachelys.

However, everyone was most satisfied with the architectural style of this place: the design of this building was different from the normal tech equipment that Hao Ren often had seen, its main building material were crystal and a kind of strange ‘metal’, including in the laboratories. Those light and elegant crystal clusters and arc-shaped metal were work of art. Walking in CARS was like traversing in an art museum. Hao Ren used to complain that Raven 12345 had never done things according to common sense, but this time he could not help but thank the goddess for blowing up the original building module: this new space station looked so much better than a coffin.

Two red spheres had been sent to the lab quickly and everyone was eager to know what they were. As per Vivian’s suggestion, Hao Ren ordered a quick body scan of the First Borns Containers No. 1 and No. 2. He was now waiting for the result.

“Guess what it is?” Hao Ren became bored while waiting for the scan. He chatted with Vivian casually. “It had created the illusion of Helcrown—is it the organ that the First Born uses for casting spells?”

Vivian gently shook her head, she was tossing a small bat in her hand unconsciously. The two spheres were suspended on the crystal imaging platform not far away as light beams were sweeping around the spheres collecting information and then comparing it with the scan result of the First Borns. The holographic projection in the center of the laboratory showed the scanning progress of Container No. 1 and No. 2 vessels: The image of the First Borns became clearer.

After a while, the MDT suddenly whistled and said, “Found it!”

“Really?!” asked Hao Ren.

The MDT zoomed in the image on the holographic projection and presented the details in Container No.1. The image of the First Born’s tentacles and tissue lumps showed up, and the most striking feature of those intricately arranged biological tissues was the constant pulsating dim red light. The MDT pointed out a star structure between the red light and sad, “In this position there is a thick connective skin here, and the bioelectric current is very strong. There is a sphere underneath it, exactly like the two red spheres on hand. There are actually more than one…”

The MDT zoomed in image a little further, and seven or eight shining red dots appeared on the scanned image. The red dots were all spherical organs, and they were not evenly distributed.

Lily held her head with her hands and watched for a moment. “One First Born can grow so many balls? Then why did Y’lisabet find only three?”

“Because of malnutrition. Don’t forget that the First Born of the Y’zaks hometown was starved to death,” Hao Ren switched the image back, curiously looking at the star-shaped object that emitted a dull red light and connected with many more smaller tentacles to the nearest tissue lumps, and those smaller whiskers were very light in colour, obviously not of a weapon variety. And star-shaped tissues were wrapped in other tentacles and thick skins, which suggested that they were very crucial to the First Borns. “What does this look like?”

“Some kind of nervous center,” replied the MDT. “Besides, according to the latest test results, those grey-white tentacles are mostly connected to the mesothelioma, and the mesothelioma has been confirmed a ganglion of the First Born.”

Hao Ren tried to use his noodle while scratching his chin. Then suddenly a thought came to mind. “Wait a second! Can it be the brain of the First Born?”

Lily looked at Hao Ren in horror. “You’ve grown a brain, Mr. Landlord?”

“But it’s quite possible,” Hao Ren shrugged. “Look! This thing is already as weird as it can get, what’s wrong if this is a thinking organ? You see, we’ve been searching for the First Born’s brain before but we’ve come out with nothing. This thing obviously is intelligent, so its thinking organs must be a little weird. And anyway, this thing connects with many ganglions, it must be related to intelligence.”

“A very good conjecture,” the MDT affirmed Hao Ren’s thought. “This creature is too big, so much as that might be difficult for a single brain to control the whole body and nutrients wouldn’t be sufficient… so it uses a distributed brain structure. Anyway let’s first perform a rest on it.”

Container No. 1 soon received an instruction from the MDT. The container was injected with a pale green, thin agent, and then several bright masses of light were absorbed onto the antennae of the First Born. Those tentacles shook slightly and then returned to normal.

The control module of Container No. 1 cut one of the star tissues off from the surrounding organs, and then started to feed a simulated signal to it.

“Perhaps it is the brain,” said the MDT, reading the feedback data and was surprised. “This thing is amazing. The thought process of the First Born is actually done by three very different organs—the ganglia, the red spheres, and those grey nerve fibres. These three things are brains, and they are scattered throughout the body.”

Lily glanced at Hao Ren in surprise. “I said so, Mr. Landlord. You really have grown a brain!”

“Stop the crap! This is called talent. It’s not something that you can simply acquire.” Hao Ren rubbed Lily’s head and then turned to look at the MDT. “Why have we not seen it the last time we studied the spheres in Helcrown?”

“We didn’t think of it in this direction,” said the MDT as it did a barrel roll in the air. “Hey, this thing sounds really interesting… Well, basically I now understand how the brains of the First Born work.”

Hao Ren listened attentively to the MDT.

“These spheres are the First Born’s main thinking organ, they bear 70 percent of the brain’s functions. They can be called brain nuclei. There are many, and distributed in various parts of the First Born’s body; those lumps, which are the ganglia, are something that enhance and speed up the signal. Perhaps they also act as a cache, are responsible for relaying commands from the brain to all parts of the body. Since the First Born is too large, it must have such a secondary cache and brainwave amplifier in order to control its own body; those grey and white tentacles are not ordinary nerve fibres, they are actually mutated variations of ganglia. They are capable of logical functions. Their role is to connect several different brains so that the First Born’s thinking process can be coordinated, preventing schizophrenia and brainwave conflicts. The operation of this set of mechanisms is very strange, it is not the same as the various types of known intelligent beings, but it can perfectly solve the problems brought about by the oversized body of the First Born. And more importantly, they have a back-up copy of the eldest son’s memory. I believe that a single brain is also capable of thinking, but its efficiency will be reduced and would be able to control all the tentacles. But if part of the brains are off line, the First Born could still survive on the remaining brain structure, and even to repair the off-line brains … it’s a perfect computing machine. It has its intranet and can upload and download information between its brains!”

Lily counted with her fingers trying to figure out the logic. She suddenly said in amazement. “Only if I have its ability, I wouldn’t have to worry about the character confusion in writing my novels! I can even fall in love with my four selves!”

Vivian gave out a sideways smile. “Unfortunately, you are still a single dog.”

Lily scoffed back. “Arf—”

“Could you not be quiet for a few minutes in such a serious occasion?” Hao Ren glared at the two to quiet them down, then turned to the MDT. “I’ve got it. That means the First Born has a compound brain, and the brain is made up of a combination of brains, and those red spheres are the main organs of thought. Then what was the illusion of Helcrown all about?”

The MDT was silent for a while as blue light surging on its surface. Then it said, “I thinks it was just a dream.”

Hao Ren asked, “What do you mean?”

“The strength of the First Born’s mind is strong enough to directly trigger natural phenomena. Although it still couldn’t reach the point where it interferes with reality, it can at least create a large-scale illusion,” the MDT flew over the two spheres. “These two brain nuclei, although severely damaged, are not dead. They are sleeping and they occasionally dream.”