Artist at Exit 0 Riverblog

Beloved, once again I evoke you from this beautiful water world I have discovered.  Repairs to my ship go slowly, but progress is being made.  Because of the uniqueness of this world and its potential importance to Styrosia, I continue to venture forth from my hiding places to discover what other life forms call this planet their home.  I continue to monitor the “bipedal humanoids” learning what I can from translating aspects of their culture using our technology.  The humanoids are unpredictable and possess enough data to be dangerous.  They are best seen and experienced from a distance. What I have also observed is that the humanoids have a great curiosity about their own world.  They are constantly engaging in explorations of discovery and seem to exhibit a need to know how the universe functions.  The irony here is that while they express concern for life at large, they are also systematically working to undermine the very conditions necessary to preserve and promote as much diversity of life as possible.  Every day life forms become extinct before they are even formally acknowledged as existing by their sciences.  This is a great topic, perhaps one for a future communication?  Today, however, I want to transmit a few images of interest to amuse and delight you from this alien world.  I would like to begin with an unusual characteristic that is exhibited in the local rocks and has been revealed through water’s ability to dissolve and shape the chemistry around it.

The appearance and proliferation of life on this planet is its most outstanding feature.  No where else in the explored universe can rival this world for the sheer variety and numbers of life forms that have uniquely evolved here.  At my current location are the preserved remains of life forms in calcium carbonate rocks of marine organisms that originated more than 350 million years a go.  Ancient as this is, the history of life is traceable to more than 2 billion years a go.  The humanoid scientists measure one year as being the amount of time it takes their planet to make one complete revolution around its star.  I believe it is correct to assume that life began in the ancient waters or “primordial soup” as the humanoids envision it.  Life and this planet have grown up together and each has influenced the other.  This planet is far from static and its oceans and land masses have shifted across the globe over deep time.  Today, humanoids travel great distances to peer at these local rocks.  What are they ultimately looking for in this ancient coral reef?  My hypothesis is that the humanoids are drawn to seeking a feeling of connection to the history of life on their own home world.  There is something in their behaviors that also suggests that they are mystified by the phenomena of their own existence.

While the humanoids look for the proof of their connectivity to the history of life on their planet, many other interesting forms don’t question this and simply “be”. I have especially grown fond of the sessile life forms that have decided to flourish in the spots most favorable to them.  Once a year, these stationary forms decide to  climax in an electromagnetic spectrum display that is pleasing to the eye.  I have decided to take as many self images in the company of these “flowers and plants” during this “flowering” using my self as a measure of scale.

Many of these “flowers” participate in symbiotic relationships often with very diverse and contrasting species.  This particular sessile life form attracts flying animals that feature exoskeletons.  The flowers provide nourishment for these animals and the plant finds an agent to move its genetic material from itself to others of its own kind.  I have observed more of these smaller, exoskeleton-bearing creatures than all the other animals combined and they would make a rich field of enquiry that could occupy the careers of many Styrosian scientists.  Here is a different example of such an animal.

This is what the humanoids call a Mourning Cloak butterfly and I observed it warming itself in the star light.  It’s reverse coloring is cryptic and resembles a dried plant bio-solar panel.  Its mouth parts have been adapted over time to make a tube that can easily extract sugary liquids produced by the plants that these butterflies favor.  There is an exchange of services that benefits both life forms involved in this process.  Other flying animals with a very different morphology also inhabit this space.  Here is a sequence of images from what the humanoid data base refers to as a Black-throated Green Warbler looking for “insects” among the “willow trees”.  Their movements are quick and this species is just traveling through on its way to a warmer environment in the southern latitudes of this world.

These animate life forms are called “birds” and have internal skeletons made of a lightweight material.  They also have an unusual outer covering that gets shed once a year and helps these animals to fly.  Here is a different and much larger bird I came across feeding at the water’s edge.

From the streaked markings and lighter coloring I identified that this is a juvenile Green-backed Heron.  I disturbed its hunting and feeding along the water’s edge.  Observe that it has a crest on its head which it uses to register increased alarm.  In the next moment, the heron jumped into the sky and with a few quick wing beats was gone from view.  My love, I think you will enjoy the sessile life forms as much as I do!  The humanoids refer to them as either “flowers” or “weeds” and they don’t try to escape if you express interest in examining one like the animate life forms do.  Following is a small portfolio of self-images and some of the variety in these self-sufficient life forms I have experienced on a single solar day.

I have noticed that the humanoids have reserved some animosity towards the sessile life forms that they refer to as “weeds”.  To my sense organs, I can not tell the difference between preferred species and the ones considered to be undesirable?  If one quality of a “weed” is its ability to thrive in a variety of conditions…one would think that the humanoids would admire this since this is a quality they share with “weeds”!  This is certainly a planet of mysteries and contradictions and how I wish you were here to experience it with me.  I have observed that the photons emitting from the local star are traveling farther to reach me with each day.  The temperatures have also been getting cooler and the sessile life forms are undergoing changes to the cellular solar panels which are turning color themselves and in some cases falling off the main body of the life form.  There is a frenzy among the smaller exoskeleton animals to gather as much  energy from each plant as possible.  I’m predicting that this world will go into a dormant period before re-emerging in the warmth of a new solar year.  It is also now time for me to end transmissions for the moment.  How I hope you and my fellow Styrosians are receiving them? Finally, I will conclude with two images.  One is a self-image of me in front of small white and yellow “weeds”.  The last image features some of the flying exoskeleton animals attracted to this plant.  Until its time for my next communication…good by from the water world.