Chapter 243 Phototropism? Thermototropism?
There was silence in the cockpit.
"Professor, are you serious?"
Zhao Zijie asked with difficulty.
In the picture, Lu Yongchang nodded seriously.
"certainly."
"There is a simple laboratory in the Luanniao starship. I want to see what attracts these jellyfish."
"You don't want to get along with them all the time, right?"
Zhao Zijie: "..."
"Okay, I'll think of a way."
The corners of his eyes twitched slightly and he agreed to Lu Yongchang's request.
"I asked Ling to check the starship." Lu Yongchang said seriously, "The hatch should still be able to open normally."
"For safety reasons, I suggest you use robots to catch jellyfish."
"Zero can provide remote assistance at that time."
…
Kraken – Mare Sea.
Hurricanes and heavy rains drove huge waves toward the seaside, hitting the Luannia starship, which was half submerged in the sea.
In the methane sea, disc-shaped yellowish jellyfish rise and fall with the waves.
Suddenly, a strong light lit up on the top of the starship.
A burst of white mist instantly rose from the light bulb.
That's liquid methane vaporized by the temperature of the bulb.
A few seconds later, countless light yellow jellyfish-like shapes lying quietly on the surface of the Luannia starship "rushed" crazily towards the light bulb on the top of the starship.
Due to their body structure, they sprint at a snail's pace.
The hatch on the side of Luan Bird suddenly opened.
The pop-up hatch threw a swarm of slow-moving jellyfish back into the methane sea.
Two robots slowly walked out of it.
Under Zero's real-time control, the robot walked directly towards the nearest yellowish jellyfish.
…
"What's going on?"
"Why do all these jellyfish go to the searchlight?"
Looking at the first-person view of the "fishing team", Zhao Zijie asked a question.
Lu Yongchang, who was on Mars, naturally saw this strange scene.
"Phototaxis?"
he said with a frown.
"Forget it, don't worry about this for now."
"Zero, hurry up and catch one and let's talk about it later."
After receiving the order, Zero controlled the robot and quickly walked towards the jellyfish aside.
Something even more surprising happened.
Those lagging jellyfish seemed to be aware of the existence of the robots, and quickly turned around and rushed towards the two robots!
"zero!"
Seeing this scene, Lu Yongchang could not help but suffocate his breath, and shouted in a low voice: "Quickly, they may have wisdom!"
The robot's movements instantly accelerated a bit, and it squatted down to grab the jellyfish next to it.
Fishing failed.
"Zero, what's going on?"
Lu Yongchang frowned and asked in a deep voice.
"Professor, it's slime." Zero responded quickly, "The surfaces of these creatures are slippery."
As soon as he finished speaking, the jellyfish, which had escaped capture by relying on the mucus on its surface, "jumped" and hung half of its body on the first robot!
"zero……"
Before Lu Yongchang could give the second order, a series of light yellow jellyfish used their unique skills and pounced towards the robot.
"Alert, low power."
The holographic projection interface in front of him turned red instantly, and Zero's warning sound also sounded.
Seeing that the first robot was about to be destroyed by the "jellyfish army", Zero did not wait for Lu Yongchang's instructions and directly controlled the other robot to squat down and drag the fallen robot into the starship.
The next moment, the hatch slammed shut, cutting off the movement of the jellyfish.
The whole process probably took less than a second.
Lu Yongchang breathed a long sigh of relief and calmed his violently beating heart.
"Well done, Zero."
…
In order to maintain the biological activity of these jellyfish, the area leading to the hatch is completely sealed and consistent with the surface environment of Titan.
"I retract my previous judgment."
Lu Yongchang stared at the surveillance screen and said softly: "These indigenous creatures should not be intelligent."
In the picture, several jellyfish that were dragged in were adsorbed on the surface of the robot "like sweetness", completely unaware of where they had arrived.
"Professor, what is attracting them?" Gao Yang asked in a low voice.
There are no searchlights on these two robots.
This rules out the previous speculation about phototaxis.
Lu Yongchang raised his eyebrows: "I probably guessed it."
"However, we have to do a small experiment first."
…
In the laboratory.
A pale yellow jellyfish lay quietly on the cold ground.
Perhaps because it has been away from the methane sea for a long time, it looks a little "lethargic".
But as an instrument started up, its spirits suddenly perked up!
The jellyfish "quickly" crawled toward the turned-on instrument.
The position of the instrument slowly changes, and the trajectory of the jellyfish also changes accordingly.
"It's basically certain."
Lu Yongchang clapped his hands and wrote a line of words on the paper with a pen: "Similar to phototaxis, but they are thermotaxis."
"That instrument is just a heater."
"Compared to the ambient temperature, it's about ten degrees Celsius higher."
"Zero, next experiment, start adjusting the temperature of the heater."
After dozens of experiments.
Lu Yongchang looked at the jellyfish in the surveillance screen in surprise.
"incredible."
"So sensitive to temperature!"
According to the experimental results, these jellyfish can keenly detect objects that are 0.1 degrees Celsius higher than the ambient temperature tens of meters away.
This also explains the phenomenon of them adsorbing on the surface of the starship.
In the eyes of these jellyfish, the Luanniao starship and the extraction device in working state are as conspicuous as a stove in the ice and snow!
And the idea of solving this problem also came to Lv Yongchang's mind.
All it takes is something with a higher temperature to attract their attention.
After telling Zhao Zijie the solution, Lv Yongchang immersed himself in the study of alien creatures again.
…
The hurricane slowly subsided.
The tide also gradually receded.
On the slightly damp beach, only the Luanniao starship and the extraction device covered with jellyfish were left.
"Zijie, are you sure it's okay for us to do this?"
Gao Yang, who was sitting in the driver's seat, looked at Zhao Zijie with a nervous look on his face and asked repeatedly.
Zhao Zijie shrugged: "Then do you have any other way?"
Gao Yang's face fell.
Well, he admitted that this seemed to be the only way for the Luanniao starship without a weapon system.
Zhao Zijie's eyes showed some helplessness, and he pressed a button on the console.
A thin wisp of blue flame appeared at the bottom of the Luanniao.
The Hall thruster started.
Although the power was small, the plasma tail of hundreds of millions of degrees still dried the ground in an instant, and attracted the attention of all the jellyfish.
After feeling this unprecedented "warmth", these jellyfish immediately loosened the suction cups at the bottom and moved towards the ground and the Hall thruster nozzle without hesitation.
The result is imaginable.
The excessively high ambient temperature vaporized the liquid methane in the jellyfish.
The jellyfish swelled in size instantly, and then exploded like a balloon, leaving only sticky liquid all over the ground.
