"Mutant strains?" Tang Yue took the petri dish from Old Cat. "Do you mean they've mutated?"
"Bacteria are prokaryotic organisms that don't even have a complete cell structure. The stability of their DNA is quite fragile. In the irradiated environment of Mars, mutations are common … I've been raising these bacteria for a while, and I dare say that every time they replicate and reproduce, there will be mutants."
Old Cat nodded. "It's just that most of the mutations lead to a dead end. Genetic mutations are like shooting arrows blindfolded. Very few of them can hit the target."
Tang Yue curiously observed the mutant bacteria in the petri dish. The bacterial colony was dark oval with a smooth surface. He didn't know what kind of bacteria it was, but it was the first life he found born in the Martian environment — although their parents were still from Earth.
Mai Dong woke up at this time and heard the conversation between Tang Yue and Old Cat in the channel.
"Mr. Cat, did you plant bacteria?" The girl was curious.
"Yes."
Old Cat replied, "These bacteria are my little pets. I just took them back from the outdoor radiation exposure and found that one of the bacteria — maybe a certain bacillus — had mutated."
"Why did you put them outside in the sun?"
"Isn't this a very common way to raise pets?" Old Cat replied. "You guys walk the dog, I'm just walking the bacteria."
"The mutation allowed them to adapt to the Martian environment?" Mai Dong asked.
"It's not really adapted to the Martian environment."
Old Cat shook its head. It was not interested in these mutant strains. It turned around and continued to take care of the tomatoes. "They're just adapted to the environment in the petri dish. If you open the lid and dump them on the sand outside Kunlun Station, I don't think they'll live for more than twenty-four hours."
"I'm still hoping that they can give birth to the next civilization."
Tang Yue leaned closer to the petri dish and stared at the bacterial colony through the plexiglass lid. The bacteria on the petri dish were multiplying and spreading, but they certainly didn't know that there was a pair of eyes looking at them from above. "Although I'm not interested in becoming the god of creation, I want to know what a new ecosphere will look like."
"Think about the survival mode of sulfuric bacteria, such as anaerobic red sulfur bacteria. If they can successfully evolve into higher organisms …" Old Cat fancied. "Then it may be some large, slow-moving organisms that look like amoebae, with a transparent body, crawling on the ground. But they will be much larger than amoebae, and may be more than a few meters in length."
Old Cat's description immediately reminded Tang of slugs.
"They wander in groups on the Martian wasteland. They have shovel-like mouthparts, and they dig the soil as they move. They live by devouring the sand on the Martian wasteland because the Martian soil is rich in ferrous ions. These super worms obtain energy by oxidizing ferrous ions into ferric ions."
Tomcat continued. "Their transparent bodies have huge, rolling vacuoles. The vacuoles are filled with sulfuric acid because sulfuric acid is the product of their oxidation of hydrogen sulfide. Apart from sulfuric acid, the oxidation reaction also produces sulfur. Therefore, they will excrete sulfur as they move. The long strips of sulfur in the desert are traces of their activity."
"Why are their bodies transparent?" Tang Yue asked.
"Because they need light."
Old Cat replied, "Part of their energy comes from photosynthesis, so sunlight is necessary. The bodies of these organisms are full of acidic photosynthetic pigments, and the sulfuric acid in the vacuoles can provide an acidic environment."
"What about living in groups?"
"Living in groups is to resist the harsh living environment. They not only live in groups, but also hibernate regularly to avoid the huge global storms on Mars."
Old Cat replied, "Once the wind starts to blow, these worms will burrow into the sand and hibernate until the storm passes."
"Will there be a social structure?"
"Any organism, once it starts to live in groups, there must be a social structure."
Old Cat said, "So in every group of Martian amoebas, there may be a leader. If they are a matriarchal society, then this leader is the only queen with the ability to reproduce. Since there is a queen, we might as well deduce a few more steps. There will also be a division of labor within the Martian amoebas, and there may even be such specialized individuals … specialized energy storage warehouses, larger than all the other amoebas, and their daily task is to eat and drink. Their only value is to provide energy for the hibernating swarm during the long night when the storm comes."
Tang Yue thought of the honeypot ants on Earth. This strange ant used its own body as a food storage container and consumed nectar all its life. They were living food storage tanks, and when the ant colony encountered a food shortage, they would drag out the honeypot ants and eat them.
This was a method that the organisms on Earth evolved to resist the changes in the environment. It was completely unknown what the organisms on Mars would use to resist the famine, but according to the principle of mediocrity, anything that appeared on Earth could also appear on Mars.
"Do they have vision?
Do they have hearing? "
"Vision is not particularly important here. They may have evolved completely different sensory organs from the organisms on Earth, such as the strangely long tentacles that burrow underground."
Old Cat said, "These tentacles extend in different directions to detect the abundance of food under the ground — that is, ferric ions and sulfides."
"As for hearing, they crawl on the ground and squirm on the ground, they can sense the vibrations of the ground through their bodies. This may even be their way of communication, by slapping the ground to generate vibrations of different frequencies," Old Cat continued.
"What about the brain?
Do they have a highly developed central nervous system? "
"Of course it's possible, Tang Yue, everything is possible." Old Cat turned around. "Time will give them everything."
Tang Yue stared at the bacterial colony in the petri dish for a long time. He did not know if what Old Cat said was true. Billions of years later, Mars would become a planet full of vitality. These bacteria would evolve into groups of amoebae walking alone in the desert, their transparent bodies flowing with concentrated sulfuric acid. As they walked, they ate, pooped, and basked in the sun, following the movement of mineral elements under the ground, leaving behind particles of sulfur — it would be a ridiculous and funny world.
Even if the prophecy came true, it would be billions of years later.
Time was really something that created miracles.
Old Cat finished watering the tomatoes and came over to take away the petri dish. In its words, the safety of this unknown mutant bacteria was unknown, so it was better not to get too close. To ensure 100% safety, this petri dish should be placed in a P4 biological laboratory at this moment — although the threat to Tang Yue's life was infinitely close to zero.
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(Author's Gossip: This chapter was originally updated on the evening of May 22nd, but because Qidian recently changed to manual review, it has not been published.)