The Record of Unusual Creatures

The Petrachelys was travelling in warped space, surrounded by endless darkness in an enclosed space. On the flight deck, Nangong Wudi and Ayesha’s eyes darting around in amazement. Everything here interested them–they had seen the powerful autonomous machines on the planet of the Ark, and obviously, the installations on the Petrachelys were even more incredible… especially the ultra-realistic holographic projections and the dinky MDT.

“You came in this?” Ayesha looked at her daughter. “How far can this thing go?”

“Can’t measure in mathematical term,” said Nangong Wuyue. Huddling around her mom, her long snake tail curled around Ayesha as she smiled happily. “You and dad would be shocked if I told you that we used to travel to other universe in, even experience the battlefields of the different worlds in this spaceship.”

Ayesha gently stroked Nangong Wuyue’s hair with a mild and contented smile on her face. “You have really grown up…”

Looking at them, Nangong Wudi also smiled. Then a sudden sound of water on the table not far away. He looked into that direction and saw a basin on the table. A super tiny mermaid was resting her head on the edge of the basin, looking at the strangers on the flight deck curiously: it was Lil Pea; she had waked up.

Nangong Wudi was shocked. “What is that thing?!”

Lil Pea was startled too. She pulled back and then cautiously probed out to check the surroundings. Only after she was assured that everything was fine, the little one jumped out of the basin and toddled towards Hao Ren. “Dad-dee! You’re back!”

This time, not only Nangong Wudi but also Ayesha was wide-eyed. She frowned and grabbed Wuyue’s arm. “You married? Why have you not told us?!”

Then she pointed at Lil Pea in surprise. “Why does the child so tiny? Have you not let her eat anything?”

The moment Lil Pea jumped out, Hao Ren already knew what reaction Nangong parents would be. After so many awkward moments, he had developed an intuition of how to deal with the awkward moment. Anyway, when he heard Ayesha’s scream, he still almost banged his head on the table. “Please don’t misunderstand. She’s not the same thing as the siren! She’s a mermaid, coming from another world.”

Lil Pea could not care less. She hopped up to Hao Ren, jumped onto his arm, and dangled on it steadily. Then she snored: it was less than a minute after she woke up before she fell asleep again.

Just when Nangong Wudi was about to get to his feet to come to Hao Ren, he had to hold back the word ‘son-in-law’ on his lips when he heard Hao Ren’s explanations. Ayesha stared at Lil Pea then Hao Ren before her eyes finally landed on her own daughter. “This is not…”

Nangong Wuyue was almost all tears. Her tail rattled like a rattlesnake. “Mom! Can you not always be so imaginative? Is siren so tiny?”

“Water is amorphous. When you just gave birth to you, you were just a little ball. Only after two years later you learned how to formshift into a humanoid…”

Nangong Wuyue turned her head away embarrassingly. “I couldn’t help it. I was born on land; there was no other siren child around me, it was normal to start late.”

Suddenly, everyone on the flight deck looked at the mother-daughter combo in horror. The magical life form of the sirens had amazed them. Hao Ren could not bear to imagine how kindergarten of the sirens looked like. Meanwhile, Vivian reached out her hand and jabbed the sloppy little face of Lil Pea who was snoring like a pig and muttered. “What happen to the child lately? She has been having five meals and sleeping for more than a dozen hours a day.”

Lily put a small piece of wood in Lil Pea’s mouth and watched her gnawing in her sleep. “And she has grown so rapidly.”

“I’ve asked Raven 12345 before, she said that it was absolutely normal,” said Hao Ren, reaching to held Lil Pea to prevent her from slipping from his arm. She swung her tail in response. “It is said that this type of mermaid has several special stages of growth, eating and sleeping on a massive amount at a time. It’s okay, as long as she’s healthy.”

Lily let out a ‘woof’ sound. She finally could not help but think of the planet of the Ark. “Mr. Landlord, what do you think will happen to the Ark at last?”

Before the Petrachelys entered the warp jump, the last image of the planet of the Ark was it dragging its long tail of flames flying into the deep universe. The Ark had not yet reached its destination. Although the sanctuary had been closed, the other systems of the Ark were still running. Its long journey of thousand years had just begun. Lily was worried about the future fate of the Ark— especially after learning about the Ark host, she was only more concerned.

“After I took the database and the life samples away, the Ark host would adjust its mission plan. It will continue to follow the established route,” Hao Ren was speaking of his interaction with the supercomputer at the control centre. “Its creator had chosen a new home ten thousand years ago. Now the Ark had decided to continue this mission. If all goes well, it will reach its destination after a thousand years.”

“And then what?” asked Lily, looking into Hao Ren’s eyes. “Isn’t there no one on the Ark anymore?”

“And then?” Hao Ren picked up the glass jar containing the moss sample and shook it gently. “Indeed there is no one on the Ark, but there is still this. The sun will melt the ice and snow, and then it’s a new beginning.”

The fact that the Ark host allowed Hao Ren to take these life samples away did not mean that it had given up his mission; it was only to increase the chances of survival of these living things and allow them to spread as far as possible. The Ark host had summed up this experience after the destruction of the parent star civilisation: do not put all lives into one basket.

After Hao Ren took the life samples, the Ark would continue its journey and let the creator’s world wake up in another star system—even if the creator were no longer there, it would still decide to let the planet come to life again.

This was the ‘solution’ that the Ark host had found for its own mission after sharing it with Hao Ren.

No matter how many difficulties or obstacles the mission would encounter, no matter how tortuous and difficult the journey was, the Ark had a mission. To complete the mission, the machines would never give up.

Vivian looked at the small jar of moss. “Where are you going to put these samples?”

“Life should be able to multiply to be of meaning. Putting it in the specimen library for ten thousand years it is still a specimen.” Hao Ren got to his feet and came to the front of the flight deck. As the Petrachelys was gradually leaving the warped space, the visual on the monitor gradually became clearer. “I’ve done a mock test. The mosses will survive in a place, and that place…”

The Petrachelys had jumped out from the warped space; a clear blue ocean came into sight.

“…happens to need more variety of species.”

Io’s ocean glittered in the sun, waves dancing in sparkling light.

The Petrachelys slowly descended and penetrated the fresh atmosphere and clouds over Io before it hovered above the calm ocean. This once a violent and dangerous world was now incredibly calm as the waves gently moved below the spacecraft like the gentle breathing of a baby.

Ayesha and Nangong Wuyue formed a platform for everyone to stand on the water. They alighted from the spacecraft. After a short nap, Lil Pea was all-active again as she swam happily in the waves, jumping out of the water like a happy little fish to greet everyone from time to time. Rollie was curiously dipping her tail into the water seemingly to try fishing.

Ayesha looked at the sea in awe as she had heard about Io from Wuyue. “Here… is place of birth of the sirens?”

“Yeah, we were with the Queen of the sirens the last time we were here,” smiled Wuyue. “When we get back, you have to meet with the Queen first. There are many people in Nasaton worrying about your whereabouts.”

“Nasaton…” Ayesha lamenting. “I haven’t heard about it for a century.”

Hao Ren opened the jar and sprinkled the mosses on to the ocean. At the same time, he also sprinkled a large amount of crystal-green powder that he had synthesised in the lab that would help the smooth transformation of the moss crumbs.

“They are a wonderful thing. Although they are mosses, they are completely different from those on Earth,” said the MDT as it landed on Hao Ren’s shoulder. “They will soon adapt to marine life and may become a kind of seaweed… the wonder of life is that it is incredible.”

“Eva, I’ve brought you some new friends,” Hao Ren stooped down and dipped his hands into the ocean. “Take care of them.”

The ocean did not reply, but a surge of soft wave seemed to be her response.