Chapter 89: Parasite (2/2)
“Very good, this is a very professional log.” Enji did not save his praises as he opened a chair and sat down, putting the tools one by one back into the toolbox.
“Big brother Enji, what’s that?” Cillin pointed at a small reddish brown crystalline block inside Enji’s toolbox and asked.
“Oh, this.” Enji smiled and picked up the small block before pa.s.sing it over to Cillin, “Look at it carefully and see if you can guess what it is.”
Cillin accepted the small crystalline block. The entire block was only half a thumb’s size.
“Resin?” Cillin could differentiate the item’s main composition, and at the same time he also noticed that there was an organism trapped inside it. Its length was less than a centimeter, and its body was semicircular in shape. It had a pair of ambulatory legs and many chelipeds. It looked rather sinister, “I’ve never seen such an organism.”
“There are all sorts of life in the universe, and it is natural that you haven’t seen this before.” Enji smiled and said, “Can you guess how I got it?”
Cillin shook his head. Although there were plenty of organisms which living environment could be deduced from their physique alone, there were even more that was beyond his imagination. Cillin’s instinct told him that this organism trapped inside the resin was no simple thing.
Enji chuckled gently and took back the small reddish brown block. As his fingers rubbed across the object’s surface, he sighed, “This is a parasite!”
“A parasite?!” Cillin knew what Enji said was not the kind of parasite that lives inside a human’s body, but the kind that lives on stars.h.i.+ps and vehicles that could traverse through the universe.
“Yep. This is something that we give special attention to every time we service the s.h.i.+p. We have to inspect from time to time during long flights, and if a parasite was discovered, then we must either eliminate them in time or face endless troubles. They may be tiny, but this wee bit alone can potentially destroy an entire stars.h.i.+p. They can endure cosmic rays and vacuum environment as they clamped themselves tightly onto an aircraft. Moreover, most of the substances they secrete can erode an aircraft too. Although it isn’t visible at first, if the erosion continues for too long and isn’t found out in time, then it will be too late. Do you know what happens when a hole suddenly appears on a stars.h.i.+p in flight, and it isn’t fixed in time?”
Cillin s.h.i.+vered subconsciously. Scary.
“That’s not all. They may damage certain critical areas of the stars.h.i.+p as well. Be it the weapons system, the energy delivery tubes, or some interface ports, they are all potential parasite habitats. There are all kinds of parasites in the universe, and they all have a preferred environment of their own. Some parasites love places with high amounts of energy, and some love places with a lot of oxygen. In summary, what we need to do is to inspect the whole s.h.i.+p periodically to prevent any potential concerns.”
Enji tossed the small block in his hand to the air before catching it again, “Every time we perform an inspection, we will prepare an embed fluid so we can embed these tiny parasites in them. They look just like amber, and they can also be sold for a high price to researchers or hobbyists during the aftermath of a mission. There are plenty of people who likes to collect cosmos parasites, and to a certain extent, these cosmos parasites are something that can only be found serendipitously. It is during the last five-year mission that I got this parasite; sold one and kept this other one to myself as a souvenir. If you’re interested, I’ll call you to have a look if I find and clean up any parasites in the future.”
“That’s great. Thank you very much, big brother Enji!”
“There’s no need to be so courteous, kid! Come, let’s go service the next area.”
After Cillin was done servicing the s.h.i.+p with Enji, Cillin got ready to return to the lounge and lay down for a bit. But before he managed to take a few steps, he abruptly heard Cary’s roar.
“Cillin, look at your cat’s handiwork!”