Chapter 27 Chapter 25 The Fire of the Deep Sea

For millions of years, this has been an ocean world; the hidden water is protected from the vacuum by a shell of ice.In most places, the ice is several kilometers thick; but there are also weak spots, where the ice cracks and disintegrates.After that, the two irreconcilable mortal enemies will have a brief confrontation, which is a hand-to-hand confrontation that cannot be seen in other worlds in the solar system.Wars of sea and space always end in the same stalemate; the exposed sea boils and freezes at the same time, mending the icy armor. If it weren't for the influence of Jupiter next to it, Europa's ocean would have been frozen into ice.Jupiter's gravity constantly kneads at the core of this small world; the forces that shake Io are equally influential here, but not as strongly.Evidence of wrestling between planets and moons is everywhere in the deep ocean; in the continuous ghost cry caused by deep-sea earthquakes, gas screamed from the interior, and infrasonic pressure waves from ice avalanches swept across the deep-sea plains.Compared with the noisy icy ocean covering Europa, even the noisy seas of the earth seem quiet.

Distributed everywhere in the deep ocean are oases that will surprise and delight all geobiologists.The oasis stretches for kilometers, surrounded by tangles of tubes created by gushing mineral brine, like a poor imitation of a Gothic castle.From there, the black hot liquid flowed out with a slow rhythmic pulse, as if being compressed by a powerful heart.Just like blood, it is also a proof of life. The scalding fluid stops the icy liquid seeping down from above and creates warm islands on the sea floor.Just as importantly, they bring all the chemicals needed for life from within Europa.Such a rich oasis, which supplies abundant food and energy, was discovered by explorers of the earth's oceans as early as the 20th century.Here it is shown on a grander scale and with far greater variability.

The delicate and cobweb-like, plant-like structure grows densely in the "tropical" area closest to the heat source.Strange slugs and worms crawl among them.Some live on plants, while others get their food directly from the mineral-rich water around them.On the outskirts of these warming creatures, farther from the fire of the deep sea, grew tougher and more resilient creatures, which looked a little like crabs or spiders. Thousands of biologists could spend their entire lives here studying just one tiny oasis.Unlike Earth's Paleozoic oceans, the abyss of Europa is not a stable environment, so evolution proceeds at an astonishing rate, creating many amazing life forms, all controlled by some mysterious sanctioning force.When the center of gravity of this ruling power is shifted elsewhere, sooner or later these fountains of life will weaken and die.Evidence of this tragedy can be seen all over Europa's sea floor; countless circular areas are strewn with the skeletons of dead creatures and remnants of their mineral crusts.In those places, evolution is cut out of the book of life.Some left a single remembrance: huge, empty shells, like swirling trumpets, larger than a man.There are also many different shapes of mussel shells, including double-valve, even triple-valve, spiral-shaped and several meters wide-exactly the same as the beautiful ammonites that mysteriously disappeared in the oceans at the end of the Cretaceous period on Earth.

Among the greatest wonders in Europa's deep ocean, flowing from massive abyssal craters, are fiery lava flows.The water pressure here is so great that the water in contact with the red-hot magma cannot evaporate instantly, and the two liquids coexist tensely. In this alien world, Egyptian stories starring alien actors have been staged long before the appearance of "man".Just as the Nile brings life to a swath of the desert, this warm current animates Europa's deep ocean.Along the river bank, in a zone no more than a few kilometers wide, one species after another evolved, flourished for a while, and then disappeared; some left permanent relics.

Often those organisms are indistinguishable from the natural formations around thermal vents, even if they are clearly not purely chemical, making it difficult to determine whether they are the product of intuition or intelligence.On Earth, high-rise buildings built by termites come close to matching these discoveries in a world frozen by vast oceans. Entire cultures and even civilizations can rise and fall along narrow fertile strips in the abyssal desert.There might be armies marching—or swimming—under the command of Timur or Napoleon on Europa, while the rest of the world knew nothing of it, for all the oases were as isolated from each other as the planets were from each other.Creatures that bask in the warmth of lava flows, and those that forage around thermal vents, cannot cross the wild wilds that lie between the lonely islands of each other.Even if there were historians and philosophers, each culture would be convinced that it is unique in the universe.

But it is not a complete desert of life among the oases, and there are more tenacious creatures that can endure the harsh environment.Some are Europa's "fish": streamlined bodies propelled by vertical tails and steered by fins that grow along the body.The resemblance to Earth's most successful ocean dwellers is inevitable: Evolution must provide consistent answers to the same engineering problems.Look at dolphins and sharks, almost identical in appearance, yet so far apart on the evolutionary tree. However, the fish in Europa's ocean differ from those on Earth in one most obvious way: They don't have gills.Because in the sea water they swim in, there is no oxygen to breathe.Like organisms around geothermal vents on Earth, their metabolism is based on the sulfides that abound in volcanic environments.

Very few creatures have eyes.It was a world without light, save for the flashes of lava pouring, and the occasional luminescence of creatures seen in courtship or hunting. It is also a world of ill-fated fate.Not only because its sources of energy are sporadic and variable, but also because the tidal forces that manipulate them are diminishing.Even if they develop true intelligence, the Orians will be caught between fire and ice. Unless there is a miracle, they will perish because the small world will eventually freeze. Tai Kui accomplished this miracle.