[ Welcome to Impact ]
[ 01: Planetfall ]
[ 02: Washed Up ]
[ 03: The Beach ]
[ 04: An Un-natural Cave ]
[ 05: Conjunction ]
[ 06: Contemplating the Singularity ]
- More to come
[ Appendices: Random Stats and Stuff ]
[ Some public domain OpenSim textures ]
[ My VR WishList ]
I was right about conjunction tides - the beach does go under. It allowed me to properly beach the service pod. It was night when the first really big tide hit, but both the Milky Way and Green Giant were in the sky providing enough light to work by.
While I was in the water (I am becoming not a bad swimmer over short distances) arranging the tow cable, I noticed something odd: glowing flecks floating around, much thicker further out. So when I had the pod secured to the rocks high up the beach, I swam out into the deep a little way to have a look.
Obviously on conjunction, all the little creatures that inhabit the seabed go into a breeding frenzy, filling the water with their gamete cells. It is quite a spectacular sight!
I managed to construct a simple microscope and make a sketch (right) of what the white goopy stuff actually is. The cells are huge (luckily, as the microscope is VERY simple) and have 3 tails for swimming. I'm guessing, but I believe these are the functions of sperm (motile) and eggs (food source for zygote) in one. Still takes fusion of two half-cells to make a new creature. I guess that means there is no gender amongst the seabed creatures. Just a lot of sex :-D. Mono-sexual reproduction?
[ Chapter 06: Contemplating the Singularity ]>