Part 1: Towards the center.

Inside the claw's protection, and with my eye sensor readjusted to its normal operation, I could see the center of the nucleus. It took a while for the transportation device to arrive at a discernible distance from it. But the shadow in the center, the column of light from before, wasn’t shaped

My vision sensor had partially adjusted to the weird phenomena that occurred inside. Perhaps it was secondary to the claw’s protective membrane, filtering the light while preventing it from oversaturating my sensor. Yet surely, my body being able to move inside the cage without being grabbed by the tripod rhizome played a major role.

It should be something obvious by now, but by moving within the confined space inside the membrane, I could watch more than 360 degrees around! It was even better than the experiences I’d gotten in 5D cinemas. I didn’t have to be restricted to the claw’s direction and the little I could move my sensor to watch when grabbed by the claw’s grip.

When I first entered this place, it was dark with little fireflies that represented some glowing structures. The blinding light arrived and caused me to overburn my sensors. It pains me to say it, but I couldn’t watch anything until it was dark.

The things that glowed–apart from the huge laser flux in the center–were claws, noodles below it, and other things I couldn’t grasp with the lack of an adequate light source. Anyone could tell, that until now, the whole trip I had while restricted by the claw didn’t show something worth of my sight.

However, when the sensor adjusted, and the claw’s membrane protection reduced its strain –thanks to it filtering part of the light–it allowed me to see structures that stumped me.

The nucleus wasn’t empty, in fact, the salp-like spiral the claws adopted when flying in the dark space wasn’t just for a beautiful show. They had to take that course to evade things that were invisible to me previously.

If a description could work, maybe imagining how mangles crisscrossed was fitting. The trip below was a determined flight through a mangle forest. The claws evaded the roots and branches while hovering above the noodle sea.

From the branches, flowing membranes twirled and somehow directed their movement. From the sea and the vault, towers in the shape of stalagmites and stalactites became visible; but most importantly, the sea of vibrating noodles was moving so much, that even gigantic waves like those in the deep seas transpired.

The mangle-like forest wasn’t something pertinent to the ground level. In fact, those ramifications came from the sky columns. These erratic branches had membranous veils that extended from their stems, and many were long enough to disappear in the limits of my vision. They were somehow attached to the column's ramifications but didn’t appear to be part of them–as if made of a different material–and they swayed like ghosts and foggy clouds. Even some flying things that looked like shape-shifting origami birds were flying and colliding against those ribbon-like veils, painting the sky with ephemeral fireworks and glowing lights in the sky. If I had color vision, I’d be calling them auroras.

A18 had already predicted that the claw’s membrane had a protective effect. It would filter certain types of light, reduce the radiative strain of the particles in the nucleus, feed me energy, and even transport me towards the high skies.

The trip, however, was just starting. If I wanted to hijack this blob machine, the basic principle of the how and the when, depended on my understanding.

The veils were almost invisible, sometimes they reflected the light from the different structures inside the nucleus, yet other times they absorbed every bit of it; it was the darkest black I'd ever seen too. The origami birds in the sky were probably made out of the same material, as they sometimes became stars that vanished in the shadows after an ephemeral twinkle.

In between all of that, the tips of towering columns emerged from the noodle sea, while the ramifications from the ceiling descended to probably unite with those. Some of those branches from the ceiling were straight, some had twisted patters, and some entered the sea and resurfaced creating odd curvatures. Instead, those that emerged from the sea where even in size and conical in shape.

This was the center area of the nucleus. It was a land full of ghosts, illusions, and unknowns for my crappy sensors. It was an enthralling scenery if it were not for the continuous flickering of the room’s switch.

My puddle, the patterns of movement from the structures are synchronous to the spiral movement of the transporting claws.

As I expected, having an AI to help was always a cheat. I felt like having a calculator during a test. But there were limits since even with all the analyzing capabilities, conclusions were far from her grasp. It still helped a lot though, and things of the weird puzzle were starting to match.

I reminisced about those filter structures between the external and internal nucleus. Could it be?

A18, is there a relation with the veils from those branches and the similar membranes that composed the filtering walls outside?

There should be a relation between them my puddle, but the system would need a sample to process and compare.

Should I get one from this claw's membrane? I think it's better to not damage it for a while. It is my only line of defense, so I'll check it out once our guide is unnecessary.

Anyway, I think there is some connection with a ball having membranes outside and inside. Like DNA and RNA that are similar yet with a difference of a single base, it takes a completely different role.

Or is it like proteins? Just change the DNA/RNA skeleton to simple amino acids to transform information into machines? [Note: DNA (program) –> becomes RNA (orders) –> Arrives at the Ribosome (Fabric) –> 3 bases of RNA are read and transform into an amino acid that’s added to then become proteins (Product). MC here is saying that the membranes inside and outside should be similar -not identical- since most lifeforms would use similar materials for things with similar shapes].

This shouldn't be a coincidence. I'm sure that there is a connection between the cloth walls outside the inner nucleus and the ones inside. All things were pointing to the previous conclusion of the blob being similar to a cell. Maybe it was like a giant amoeba with a bunch of extra qualities like game slimes or tentacle monsters. All of them share in common having something like a nucleus, a place that gives them life.

Additionally, a cell in my understanding uses DNA as the basis of that life. Supposing that... shouldn't the nucleus work as its storage?

It should have something that works as memories, data, or some program. Is it the noodles? Is this the way it stores information? But why is there light inside, wouldn’t it harm the data storing molecule?

Even if the structures have some ‘sunscreen’ protection, the variability of the environment inside this place is too much to keep something ‘safe’.

But wait! Thinking about it now, DNA is always active with its structure being read and modified constantly. Except for some specific places that were ‘forgotten’ to be used, DNA needs to be constantly read for something to be alive! There is no point in keeping it ‘still’, even if reading and writing on it will wear it off eventually. [Note: Like in a game, when you play too much with a storage disk it can start to have errors. And if you played a Multilanguage game, DNA has something like that. The other languages are things that you’ll never use in your life, and thus, won’t ever be read.]

Then what would happen if something reads and writes its information with so much speed? Wouldn’t it die faster?

No, this conclusion is too hasty, I need more information! The claws are moving too slow in comparison, If the claws are the information transporters, then it isn’t really fast.

I don’t have the ability to answer that right now. I need to check and come to a conclusion on how this blob’s brain works.

A18, grab every detail you can and remind me to take a sample of the membranes when we have the opportunity.

Yes, my puddle!

My eye moved and concentrated on the swirling veils around the descending columns. I had to check this place from somewhere. These ghostly veils were extremely eye-catching, but they generated strain on my sensors with their illusions.

Supposing there was a connection between those veils and the walls outside was the most representative clue, hence, I started checking on them.

These veils were thinner, no bubbles could be seen, and different from the rugged walls outside, their surfaces appeared slick and somewhat transparent. Bands of flashes and blacks. The magic trick employed in this was hypnotizing, like ghosts swimming on liquid.

If not for my past memories, a sky with these patterns–even if in black and white tonality–could be more mesmerizing than looking at the blue sky my human mind yearned.

There must be a process inside this place that made the blob 'alive', I just had to find how it worked. Afterward, it would be as simple as a virus controlling a cell. That was the initial idea, but this form of 'life' was unknown, and things were turning harder than I thought.

Deciphering how it worked wouldn't be that easy, nonetheless, destruction was always an option to finish the work. A bit of a dirty thing to do, but damaging the core of the blob might also end my troubles.

I have read a lot of stories in the past, those in which people were born or transported to new worlds. They adapted quite easily to them as the rules in those were almost the same. This one was the opposite, even a million-year cultivator, legendary warrior, or whatever you can think of… would certainly feel like a baby when nothing resembled their past-life.

Information is one of the most important factors to survive. Option A kills you, while option B keeps you alive. The problem here is… you don’t know how to select between both options.

Summarizing, my train of knowledge of this place had too many voids. The thing limiting my current analysis emerged from my entrance to this place. It's disheartening, but the war of light and darkness didn't allow me to recognize the doors nor the way we arrived. All in all, the nucleus of this blob was something I couldn’t describe with just words.

Flower-like drapes, a mysterious entrance, blinding light, and a magnetic field. Next, walls covered in dust with areas that created patterns of light and shadow. I related the puzzling patterns engraved on the wall to a circuit. But even by telling that, the real inner surface of the nucleus was ever-changing. It was sometimes more active than the sea of noodles, yet mysteriously, it was only visible the farther you were from it.

My mind tried to find some additional connection to those veils. Nothing extra was found. So my bulb-shaped head twisted and my eye peered at the columns -- the apparent place where those veils anchored to.

Countless of these columns glowed with mysterious light. Small and darker counterparts rose from the ocean, yet the ones above me were the most interesting. Like the huge column in the center, most of these descending pillars had an irregular shape. The center one appeared conical, a bit twisted too, and also incomplete with its tip disappearing at the bottom of the noodle ocean. Maybe the best description would be that of a narrowing funnel, resembling tornados.

When the flush of energy passed through, the conical shape it had could be described as bi-conical. I realized this shape was partially false as the thing that created the other cone was the reflection over the noodle sea. It showed how easy it was to confuse someone at the nucleus entrance.

This conical shape, and differences between ceiling and floor, created something I couldn’t omit.

As you would expect, the center area being the most active, provided a lot of clues. The unusual disparity between two parts of a spherical nucleus wasn't in my expectations, there should be some polarity in play to make ‘up and down’ variables important. This wasn't how a spherical distribution should work. Spheres would have a tri-dimensional concentrical dispersion pattern. Perhaps a contrast between its periphery and center, not an up/down pattern.

It was weird for this to happen inside of what appeared to be a sphere when I looked at it outside. A division of up and down, plus the weird interactions of the structures inside could only give one conclusion: this lifeform's primary system might be based on electricity or magnetism.

However, the structure of it was different from the electrochemical gradient of cells, which was based on the distribution of electrolytes inside a liquid. Cells could determine directions based on a chemical gradient system. They could also determine a real up and down based on genetic stuff and the like, but it was probably something reserved for multicellular organisms. Like how a fertilized egg divided and then determined the head, feet, and left/right positions while in the womb.

A simple unicellular system like the one this blob had shouldn’t be able to develop such complexity. As told before, the reason why some cells can memorize directions is thanks to them being grouped. This thought added to that conclusion, caused me to believe that this blob wasn’t some simple lifeform, it could even be more complex than a human cell!

The columns didn’t give me an answer too. The ones above just shined, the ones below appeared to absorb all of that light. I could get some idea, but it wasn’t conclusive.

Yeah, even at this point, I couldn’t get a complete image of how this damn place worked! The only thing I got was that it had energy, lots of it…

Unhappily, I checked the area once again. There were too many things for me to watch and describe. It was like trying to get how a car worked without even knowing where the motor was. I just couldn't get the full picture right if I didn't associate all of these weird shapes and structures to an accurate or believable function.

I felt like a kid being given a tablet for the first time.

What is this brick?

It’s so thin… is it food?

Does it fly?

Oh, its screen lights up!

My puddle! You can't use that to watch videos!

I won’t A18...

Just in time, a bigger flash of light was released at my side. My bulb-shaped body moved to the source. I was getting near one of the twisting branches. One of those that twistingly descended from the nuclear vault. It was something I'd been waiting for with high expectations. I just didn’t presume it’d happen at the same time I reminisced of a kid’s curiosity.

Part 2: The Columns.

The nearing branch at my side had lots of lights flowing from within. The salp-spiral with shiny claws passed near it.

Many veils that avoided the spiraling salps covered it. These veils formed ringed structures that coiled around the branch or long rags that swayed when extended. A side of the veils was always attached to the funnel-shaped branch. I didn't give much importance to that though, the thing that grabbed my curiosity was how the light that flowed through it was visible when the veils extended.

This specific branch was special. Most of the branches appeared to stay inside the noodle ocean, yet this one didn’t. From the tip, and following the lights that flowed through it, beams emerged. These laser beams produced sparks and sporadic flashes. The sparks fell to the ocean like falling stardust after completing a semi-parabolic path. The experience was reminiscing of soldering with the starry sparks creating cascades towards the waters.

The flashes inside the branch column were rhythmical. And the first point I omitted when watching from a distance appeared because the direction the light moved was the opposite of what I thought when first watching it. The light stream was moving towards the sky, probably concentrating on that huge column at the center.

The same branch had more divisions, and it was from those, that some of the light that streamed through it escaped. In summary, these branches redirected the upward flow of light towards the ocean. The majority of such U-turn branches and divisions entered the noodle sea, and just a few stayed above the oceans with their ends becoming cut-off circuits.

I returned my gaze to those veils. A18 was doing a log of all the things I kept describing. Most of this might not be important to the future, but I was sure that something here could become a game-changer.

These veils resembled turbines, maybe they also rotated in a ring that was connected to the cable-like branches that descended. I didn’t see mitochondria during my trip towards the nucleus. The AI needed energy and resources. And I only wanted to use this blob as my costume.

My puddle! It seems we are approaching the zone below the branch!

Don’t worry A18, I think we should be fine if we keep a distance from the membrane.

The salp spiral had some places where it created small loops, and the claw machines seemed attracted to those unsubmerged mangle forest branches. We didn’t enter the area near those beams, instead, the spiraling claws circled them. If a water fountain spectacle was towards the sky, the current one was similar but watching the show while upside-down.

The claws were like VIP floating seats. The view was incredible, the security line was never crossed, and the lasers kept working in a determined area.

Maybe the veils from the branches moved the odd liquid inside the nucleus, or perhaps a gradient of sorts generated the force to move the glued claw constructs in this pattern. Whatever was it, we were safe inside of it.

An unknown element that's beneficial to the project is increasing in quantity in the current area.

Yet another element… It seems there is some sort of reaction between those laser shots and the sea. I wonder why these branches need to go below the surface. What sort of reaction would need this type of sophisticated approach?

An increase in temperature was spotted after passing near the branches. The membrane filtered a substantial amount of sparks allowing their refined energy to enter. The refined particles work as a building element and energy for the project, please collect more.

Greedy girl if you know how to drive this thing I'll gladly give you the keys.

I couldn't believe that the claw's skirt helped so much. It was some sort of protection that prevented the transported cargo from suffering damages, but as if that wasn't enough, supplemented it. Calling this a limo wouldn't be wrong, this vehicle was truly a high-class experience. It even delivered energizing cocktails during the happy hour.

What else could I ask? Having the best company, the perfect meal, and a glamorous view of a light spectacle all around?

A18, I dedicate this light show to your perseverance. Without you convincing me I wouldn’t be able to arrive here today.

Thanks, my puddle! But I’m still hungry and need more food.

Should I say I wasn’t expecting such a gluttonous energy-digger for an AI?

After the little AI talk, my particular interest locked onto the lights and sparks moving to the sea. These pulses of energy that were all over the place looked like a tesla coil as they coursed from the branches’ twisting tips. Watching them closely, I realized that the branches moved too. It was such a slow and precise movement, that it appeared like a futuristic robot doing surgery.

I looked up trying to find that thing ‘we’ needed. The source of energy that made all of this blob-machine work. Whatever it was, it was above that central column.

With every flash of radiation, lights would appear through the branches towards the bigger column. A part of it would loop through the divisions and descent to the sea forming the laser show. It was obvious that the majority of the energy came from below. Directions and orientation were extremely wrong inside this place. Too much magnetism affected the sensors, and I just decided to adjust things to my visuals. There was only one person -- AI enjoying the situation right now… like an eager feline that found its 'laser-mice', A18 was voice-jumping whenever spots of light appeared over our claw’s membrane.

She was informing me of every flashing event, telling me to adjust my eye and body to receive the sparks’ energy in the best position. I think she just wanted me to have the perfect tan and take more of the filtered radiation by adjusting myself.

A source of light is being released at...

Another source is...

Radiation incoming from...

A18, I know you like those lasers. If you had a shape, you would be looking like a certain animal now.

No shape called 'certain animal' found.

Don't worry and keep checking them.

Yes!

The looping trip of the claws was a bit boring, there was nothing extra when the fireworks clouded your vision. Watching so much repetition tired my mind. Sometimes repeating makes the master, but I didn't have much to learn from this, so looking at my AI doing a laser-cat show was already high-level entertainment. No need to turn her amusement down, right?

However, this light was really disturbing when the claw orbited the central column at specific angles. The light's intensity varied depending on the position we took around it. The stroboscopic light from it, summed to the sparkly lasers from the branch we were orbiting, and they were too much.

Sometimes having one of my sides warmer than the other felt odd. Like having one eye cold and one hot, it felt uncomfortable. I think it had to do with my past experiences again. Having your feet inside hot water didn’t feel wrong, but if it was a sagittal/vertical difference, things might feel disgusting.

Anyway, I felt as if I’d entered a room where a child played non-stop with a switch. On, off, on, off… lights and rays pulsing nonstop. It was distasteful, probably because there was no music or real alcohol.

To make things worse my AI was singing ‘there is a laser there ~ nyaa’ non-stop. What was fun at the start was becoming jarring. I knew some songs could use repetitive lyrics and become hot stuff, but… ‘Work x work’ or ‘hey listen!’ songs could drive people crazy if played for too long.

The conviction she had to notify me of every light was extreme, forcing me to stop her laser song. It was so repetitive that it made me think that perhaps a fairy shape was a no go. Language had to be varied, right?

Sorry A18, the light outside can damage us without a mechanism for its containment. Even if you tried to calculate the position where the light came from, I'm too lazy to move right now. Please stop.

Incoming from... Please adjust your position to...

Really? Is it a bug? How come you are that perseverant?

Change position to...

Okay, I'll do that, but just once...

I moved and pressed my body on the transparent membrane by following her indications. Just like what a normal G00 would do to please his little demon. In summary, and like a lizard stuck on a window, this little baby-goo was flat facedly sun-tanning in an AI configured position. The result...

My puddle, the intensity of the sparks are damaging the compressed exterior of the project, please move away...

Move away before I become what? Bruh! You were the one that wanted me to be sparkly!

...

One try revealed that it wasn't efficient to absorb the spark remnants near the membrane. My idea of armor might not work if there was no space between the armor and my body. Might as well change its design to a double layer with a small space in between.

What do you think A18?

If we can get more of those lasers, then you have to make one!

Well, I think it’s possible. I was just asking some analysis, not a response like that.

It’s a non-conclusive analysis with those conditions. For a conclusive one, you need a membrane sample.

I’ll get one, eventually. Just not now since I can’t get out of here.

This vehicle was the perfect protection to check the things around. My AI would have to wait until I could find what these lights' origins were. Perhaps then I could use the claws' membrane as a doggy bag and get more items.

Don’t look down on this claw’s membrane, it could possibly hold against the light released by whatever material originated it.

My eyes were shining at the sight of such useful material. Impatience was coursing through my mind, but there was nothing to do but wait. Claw… I’m sorry to tell you this, but our relationship would come to an end… your days are counted.

Part 3: Noodle assembly.

Time passed while I thought of the advantages of dismantling the vehicle that carried me. The surroundings continued to flash synchronously, my AI stopped throwing alarms after a notification adjustment, and the long queue of claws continued to advance towards the vault.

The trip’s lackluster continued... The claws were looping in almost every branch! My AI was happy, but I was at the point of vomiting! Not to tell I’d literally spill the beans out from my stomach, but to tell that I still couldn’t grasp the way this blob’s asshole worked.

Captain G00’s Journal, first loop: Today I did a lap in this tiny round point.

Captain G00’s Journal, second loop: Today I did the second lap in this tiny round point.

Captain G00’s Journal, third loop: Today I did a third lap…

… Pits?

Captain G00’s Journal, ??? loop: I have been circling branches for who knows how much time, I have started to grow a beard while looking at almost all of the cat, boobs, and exciting videos my mind stored… My AI is the only oasis in this desert, but even her waters had become poisoned by lasers…

…

Captain G00’s Journal last entry: I never thought I would say this but I’m hating fireworks and lasers. I also hate round points.

…

After the dull moments kicked in, I started to behave like many famous idiots that seated near trees when searching for answers. It was the perfect moment for the apple to fall and hit my head. Yes, it was at such moments of unhappiness and dullness that enlighten always arrived.

I found that whenever it was time to 'turn on the lights', everything below me started to vibrate faster in the chamber. The ocean, well, the noodles, were extremely active in this region. It was different from the calm shores near the walls at the time we entered. This was a vibrating noodle soup. They looked like eels squirming after throwing salt to their water. It was only thanks to this claws' existence that I evaded my fall towards such hell.

What was I thinking before? How could I get the confidence to try and jump towards it?

I'm really glad this thing caught me then. It deserved respect and praise at its marvelous design.

Yes, yes... this claw was cool, it was better than a president. It was a true savior!

I love you claw, particularly for saving me from the worm abyss and giving me a comfortable ride. Maybe it sounds as overpraising, but if you fell into an ocean full of creepy noodles and something saved you, you'll probably make it your god. So I will turn it into the best armor!

Rejoice claw! You’ll serve this mighty puddle! And then, I’ll have my godly claw armor!

A18, help me! Praise the claw with me.

Does my puddle want to change the word god to claw?

Not necessary A18, it was just a bad joke. But I thank you for blocking off my crazy overthinking.

Let’s return to my previous enlightened moment…

The continuation of the trip allowed me to breach an almost invisible area I didn’t see, there was a transition between the liquids in the nucleus. The blurry notions that the sparks and lights created were even more reduced. I could finally see the ‘ceiling’ now.

Apart from the sea of danger noodles which was impassable, the ceiling of the blob’s nucleus had a huge hole where the center column descended. It was wider near it and thinner when entering the sea. It had an inverted conical shape and made me think that maybe the nucleus was not in the shape of a sphere.

Gazing at the nucleus’ walls, they were curved, but with the central column's shadow on the center, it resembled a donut. Yes, the conical column at the center made it look like the surface of a donut, a torus. These columns' chandelier-like structures were connected to branching cables. And almost all of these cables appeared to converge on the central conical column.

The walls of the inner nucleus were curved, they were magical and moved. They probably consisted of the same 'noodle texture' of the ocean. Just that noodles remained completely still from the place I watched. The areas of dust changed depending on the light. Thanks to this claw’s membrane it wasn’t as blinding as when entering.

The places where it glowed reminded me of the constellations in the sky. They formed slithering lines separated by dark areas that would be invisible without the desirable magic shades. Since distance played a role and reduced the blinding effect, it gave the walls between the woven noodles, the appearance of an orthodox circuit.

I remember the things outside trying to catch dust particles and creating part of the bubbles. But the street-cables outside, those in which I walked over, distributed it around the blob's body. Were they sucking every little bit of it towards the nucleus? Or was the purpose... distributing it? Was it some sort of transmission molecule?

Angling my sensor at the vault, I noticed that the dust that poured down like snow also accumulated in that space. It illuminated the whole place, making some sort of 'aurora' at the top of the room.

The falling sparks and the waves of noodles added another complexity to the whole picture. The more dust and sparks that fell, the more activity that would appear on the oceans. And above, inside that strange aurora, more dust was being produced.

It seemed to be released like mist from the vault. It poured down after shimmering sparks flared around the auroras that whirled around the descending columns. It was distributed evenly, different from the laser branches that concentrated a lot where they flared.

Looking at the dust falling from the sky and towards the seas, made me divert my gaze towards the latter.

Reminiscing myself of the difference in noodle activity was a must. Those in the walls remained still, or if they moved, it was with subtle vibrations. In contrast, the ones below (those forming the 'central sea'), were restless. They created huge waves, whirlpools, and different types of activity in varied frequencies.

I had to recall every big difference and event to start arriving at conclusions!

The noodles below were increasing in their activity as the claw advanced to the center. That was obvious, but now, I found that there was a proportional connection with the amount of dust falling to the sea and its activity.

I also recalled that the laser-branches also moved. They were like machines confined to a zone. Wherever their beams arrived would generate a storm.

My limited knowledge didn’t allow me to know what this dust was. I could only call it dust since it appeared like noisy particles in my vision. The AI called it an element important to the project, as it served as an energy source and creative resource that I could use in the future.

But all this gold in here wasn’t useful when you were full, and your storage couldn’t hold more.

Gathering clues about how the blob's core worked wasn't easy, it required a lot of persistence and hypothesizing. The sea was forming a whole mesh. A completely unified sea of threads. It concentrated around edifications of conical shape that surfaced from its depths. The shapeshifting sea columns and their branches quickly became my next zone of inspection. I already watched those above, but maybe I should have started from those below.

In between the sea, I found a column that just started to surface. I quickly realized that the sea waves were secondary to the laser show or something its surfacing did. The lasers produced by it were breaking the meshed noodle sea, probably something it did after completing its job.

The work it did below the sea was something impossible to watch. So watching the actions it caused were relevant for inferring the outcomes. When the branch surfaced and broke through the noodle mesh, a whirlpool started to form around it. It created circumferential waves around the whirlpool’s perimeter. Something that resembled a valley with ringed mountains around.

We passed above its vicinity, just when the branch moved away from the place.

From inside the whirlpool, a conical column emerged. The distance to it allowed me to discern pores on its surface. These holes on its surface were murky mouths that churned a specific type of noodle. Like how a 'hungry man' became a monster and slurped an instantaneous meal. The strange movement of the sea was also an outcome of its preference.

The column didn't care about the ones on the surface, which appeared twisted and alive. It cared from those at the bottom, and by pulling those, the whirlpool and cloth-wave pattern of the meshed sea came to light. Cause and effect were inherently obvious after seeing this.

Dust, branches, columns rising… I felt like I got on the right track of events after working the hell out of my brain.

I peered at it from my hovering position inside the salp-spiral. I quickly discerned that there were more of those conical towers surfacing in the immediate vicinity. I thought of them as monsters, but they were inanimate.

Concentrating on their perimeter, I found that the thing that ate the noodles wasn't its rocky appearance, nor its porous cave-mouths, but little 'hover boats' with nests inside of it.

These intricate things had a caterpillar track that entwined the threads over their abdomen, a tail with the shape of four swords linked together at the pommel, and finally, they had long noses like those of insects. Note: The last feature was what allowed them to puncture the restless noodle sea with confidence.

This lengthy proboscis grabbed only the noodles that were at the bottom of the sea. Like a straw-mouth structure that only allowed the thin noodles from the soup to be suctioned.

Strangely, and after slurping them, the noodles were hooked by the caterpillar-tracks at their abdomen. And without prior need, the caterpillar-track composed abdomen rotated until a measured length or number of noodles were coiled around it.

I didn't understand at first why they needed to 'fish and hook' noodles from the deeper parts of the ocean. But I found the structure of that mouth was probably prepared to capture the thin ones from the bottom. Only those could pass through their straw-like mouths.

But why were those things eating thin spaghetti around the cones? Moreover, what was the purpose of stacking a roll of thin noodles over their bodies?

Yes, they were collecting them. But for what, why?

It was then that when a certain number of rotations were completed, the strange shrimp construct went towards the nearest part of their column-shaped nest. There, its sword-like tail rose like that of a scorpion.

The tail’s tip adjusted the four swords to form the shape of a cross. It looked like the rotors of a chopper. And it worked like those when an unknown engine ignited and the rotatory motion of the rotors cut the coiled noodles with precision.

A copious amount of thin noodles were continuously sliced by the helicopter-like attachment at their tails. I just called them hover-machines or boats secondary to my first impression. But I had to accept that it was weird how a 'boat-like' construct hovered above a sea of vibrating wool.

If I could change the wrong-naming I did, I would probably call them noodle-insects. They probably attached themselves to several of those threads, different from what a normal boat would do and more like one of those insects that walked over water did. They just looked like boats from up here, yet upon focusing, they resembled spiders walking over a sea of webbing.

My visor captured the moment when the sliced noodles fell over the shores of the column's perimeter. Over there, I could see how an additional robot grabbed them and bonded their endings.

Essentially, the thin threads were taken by those weird ‘noodle-insects’. After they sliced the thin noodles, they were thrown around the conical columns that surfaced. It was there that an extra construct received the sliced spaghetti, selected a certain number of them, and started creating a ring.

Yeah, it used the thin threads to create a ring around the column, one that started bigger and then became smaller the more it ascended. It was weird, but the columns that surfaced had a peculiar part that was even in circumference. The whole process ended when the rings were wrapped at such a place.

The new construct’s process included bonding the spaghetti at its ends, slicing it, and adding another one before bonding again. It was repeated until a certain number of rings stacked where the column remained even in diameter.

Wasn’t this quality control? There was even quality control over here?!

The more I watched the more things that started to make sense. These noodles were important, they might be the way this lifeform stored information.

I also saw how some machines helped in the selection of the sliced pieces of thin noodles before the column machine grabbed them. The sliced thin spaghetti near the shore needed to be chosen with care. Whenever an error in some slice was made, a certain type of machine near the column’s shore surfaced. It folded the erratic slices and increased their overall density returning them to the sea depths were unknown processes occurred.

There were too many workers for just making rings from spaghetti...

But even with that, the ring making wasn't over. After a little spin inside my current transport, I got to look at the process that occurred after the rings were evenly stacked on the conical columns.

When a complete number of 'even' rings with different types of 'thin noodle match-ups' was achieved, another machine worked on them. This one was almost impossible to observe, so I couldn’t catch an overall glimpse of how it looked.

I knew what it did. It cut the completed rings in determined places as if opening a circles perimeter. The next part was also impossible to watch, and the rings were thrown out of the column without me knowing what happened.

But it was possible to infer what it did. The rings were now interconnected. They formed a long structure after that thing worked with them. It was obvious, the perfectly made rings had transformed into chains. Chains that were thrown again towards the sea.

Part 4: From noodles to chains?

Gazing down, at the place where a chain was thrown, I realized that it floated above the others while the thin threads without transformation were constantly sinking towards the bottom of the ocean.

The sea of noodles' surface was composed of unrelenting chains!

A mesh of chains whose vibrations and small size made them hard to discern, but when inspected closely, this chained mesh caused the majority of activity in the sea. The bigger chains at the surface created more ocean activity. Probably, the difference in their structure made a variation in the waving patterns, organizing them slowly by their type of vibrational activity.

They appeared to be alive, like a huge school of fish!

A major difference when remembering the single-threaded and thinner counterparts that should be at the bottom and near the walls of the toroidal chamber.

So the idea of those things is to make rings and then chains? What can they do with that? Why haven't I seen these chains outside of this place?

Intriguing as it might be, the chains crisscrossed, connected, compacted, and formed a variety of shapes I didn't imagine to see inside of what I called a nucleus. Although I discerned the possibility of varying activity, the results were more than just whirlpools and waves. There was a synergy between each part of the process, as you could imagine that whatever the laser did at the bottom, or how the surfacing columns broke through the mesh and added to the waves, whatever action that was done, helped in the final organization of the chains at the ocean’s surface.

I was always comparing this with my knowledge I had of my previous world, yet the experienced phenomena were unconventional.

The chain-based pasta was being taken by yet again additional machines, making me wonder if this baton-race would ever finish. These machines only picked up the chains on the surface, an ability they seemed designed for since they were far away from the conical columns.

When these chains further connected, they assumed the form of woven scarfs. A wider sort of chain pasta -- if changing its naming would make it more comprehensible.

These events happened near the blinding branches in the middle of the chamber. The long chandelier structure that I was orbiting had many branches that descended from the sky. A lot of veils were attached to these flashing branches, giving them a majestic appearance.

However, I needed to understand what these branches and veils achieved by connecting to the sea like descending lightning arcs. So I shifted my gaze towards the bottom, towards the wide-chain-pasta which I called scarfs. These long pieces were arranged by an extra machine that swam in the chamber's sky. It was still liquid, just that the sea below was made of noodles, like a higher density fluid. Then again something to do with polarity?

I still felt that without the claw's shape, I wouldn't be able to maintain this height. Was the liquid in the highest spot one that was transitioning to a gas?

This whole place started to look like an odd documentary that lacked the explanation. There were levels to the ocean inside the inner nucleus, with a middle level being the place where membranous creatures with the shapes of origami swam through. Like seagulls, they dived and caught the completed chains, bonding them together when crashing with a variety of flying machine counterparts.

When these flyers carried those chains, and when they collided with about 4 additional counterparts, the basic unit of those veils was formed: a chainmail structure. The bigger the mesh got, the higher in the room they flew. The little reactions between them was a bonding phenomenon that released sparks that resembled twinkling stars in the nucleus' vault.

The claws were going up. It was nearing the area where the flying machines collided, and believe or not, I managed to find something similar to the membranes in the claw.

The collisions between carrier machines produced the dusty fireflies that fell over the sea. They also mystified the vault with slithering auroras and glowy clouds that resembled space nebulas. The highest collision entangled the scarfs in a 3-dimensional shape, a complex packaging structure that resembled a folded stack of advanced chainmail. It had a side that looked like tessellated tiles, and another that exposed the rings formed in the oceans.

The chainmail compounds formed the sea of membranous ghosts that whirled around the nucleus’ inside. A paper swarm that hovered all over the chamber.

When reaching a big enough size, their properties appeared to shift, and like small branches or feathers that a bird would use to create a nesting, these bigger membranes with feathery shapes glued themselves onto the lightning branches of the column at the center.

The completed structures resembled wings. Although in reality, they were the membranous veils that undulated hypnotically. The veils also had two surfaces. One was composed of the scaly feathers with the chainmail of rings at their back face. The attachment to the branches was done by an additional connector like a zipper. Still, the other side of the chainmail was made in such a way that it complimented the opposite surface in the branches' structures, pure black and slick.

When the chainmail machines with a zipper side joined together to the branches, the loose side of the chainmail-veil extended like a flag taking the shape of the veils. Afterward, it folded itself in loops, it continuously whirled in the ocean with hypnotic movements, but it was until it folded to its utmost.

The strange movements, plus the mirror/black surfaces that played with light, gave these veils the ability to create illusions.

Part 5: The whirling chainmail-veils and the lightning-shaped branches.

The branches came from a central structure that appeared like an agglomeration of cables. It could also be described like tree ramifications that coiled around the nucleus’ internal space and then connected to the bigger column in the center. Despite that, said column had a sharp end below and exited through a bigger orifice above, almost looking like an inverted chandelier or castle.

What was that supposed to be? I didn’t know before, and although I described it, it was only for superstitions.

A chandelier column that looked like a city falling from the sky was all that came to my mind the first time I saw it. It ramified itself as the strange membranes glued themselves in a regular pattern around its descending branches... branches that connected to smaller chandeliers at the vault. The membranous structure in all of them whirling with a mysterious rhythm.

The way these membranous leaves interacted with the fluid wasn't completely discernible from my viewpoint. I knew the claw seemed to move forward, but my AI indicated that the movements it followed were like a spiraling motion. It just moved along a variable track that ended at the black hole above. The place where the biggest column, the one at the center, exited.

Even with the observational bias I had, the membranes appeared to move like ghosts. They evaded the transporting claws movement or maybe propelled it without the need for touch. Ultimately, when the various events occurred near me, my eye gathered the whole picture. I could see how the chainmail-surfaces were repelled from my position. Either the odd liquid or a force like magnetism was working behind scenes.

The membranes’ different sides appeared to have a function. Being completely black from one side and mirror-like on the other gave rise to mirroring illusions which made them feel as if they never existed. Hence why I thought they were ghostly.

Despite that, the near distance visuals revealed the trick, and checking on them showed that certain junctions between the basic sheets, animated their variable movements. This retraction was what indorsed their initial phase of compression, resembling a compacted fan -- although different from a traditional one that would become like a solid stick of wood, the thin folded veils retained incredible flexibility which allowed them to continue their dance.

Further ahead, I saw how the veils compacted themselves to their maximum, they stacked, twisted, and organized orderly until adopting a shape around the chandeliers’ branching cables.

If someone asked my stomach, the branches and the compacted veils resembled donut skewers - if not for the twisted patterns the branches adopted. Yet in essence, its shape was more similar to that of a feather wreath. Well, like a donut skewer, where the skewer threaded the donuts, just… that the donuts were made of crystalized veils that reflected all light that touched it like a disco ball.

You could say there was a function for the veils to organize themselves so strictly. Probably the black inside was used to prevent signals from escaping, while the mirror surface played a role for preventing the external radiation -- in the form of light -- to enter.

In a moment of doubt and being transported by the claw construct like some sort of tour-machine in the middle of a sky-sea, I continued to watch as the membranes above myself compressed.

I could probably summarize all of this in one simple picture: An inverted tree with algae-like leaves that wrapped around the stems like donuts. Each of these leaves had a hypnotic and illusion creating mirror surface on one side. The other one had a black side that destroyed all visual perimeters, absorbed all light, and further complemented the odd illusion.

Yeah, this was otherworldly.

No other word could describe this experience. It took me so much time to comprehend and join the pieces of this sophisticated puzzle, that I watched at everything that happened for more than ten times.

Even with my brain trying to join everything, new actions were added to the whole enigma.

In between the comprehension of the various veils. Just at the moment that the donut-shaped wreath could close, six glowy pearls formed. The rays they delivered could be seen inside the donuts structures during a brief moment of the compacting phase.

When completely closed, shiny patterns painted each donut’s surface. They resembled tattoos lighted in a specific track, maybe more like circuits lines, because the same patterns were engraved on the branches. It all happened when the donut shape transformed into that of its corrugated version.

The animated movement was as if the donut squeezed itself, corrugating its surface and lightening up the circuits on the branches until they combined towards the central column. Everything that happened gave the impression of a signal being sent outside the chamber.

It was an irreplaceable scene. The balls were small and looked like little pearls when compared to my size. They blinked and produced a flash of light that was subtle when completely wrapped. The flashes were given at a timely interval, like when watching old TV or a low FPS game.

But, where did these pearly spheres appear from? I didn’t see them shining before?

You could say that the tree or wire tower structure in the middle of the nuclear chamber had a play in it. But it was for support and probably transmission. The real treasure in this was inside those membranes, that when compacted became donuts, and when uncompressed whirled like veils of goddesses. It was energy, something any type of life needed.

I tried to recognize where these balls developed. I watched the whole process, again and again, giving priority to the exact moment it happened. However, it was something magical, spheres that didn't exist until the compacting started, emerged from nowhere.

Maybe it was something to do with the mirrors and black contrast behind. Like magic tricks that efficiently used optics to prevent the important energy leak. It made the whole appearance and disappearance process invisible.

How did this work? Even my AI couldn’t help in deciphering it.

The magic trick was well-hidden. And just like that, the sphere inside the donuts disappeared. All of this in time for the optical illusions and auroras created by the flying origami machines and the whirling ghost membranes on the sky-sea.

My puddle, the analysis has been completed. This function shows a pattern in the charging and discharging of the central tower, versus the compression and decompression of the membranous structures of the branches.

I checked, and effectively, from start to finish… from the phase of complete darkness to the creation of the spheres, their disappearance, and the whole chamber bathing in blinding light, all of this… was represented in a simple wave function.

This wave wasn’t perfectly regular. It was one of those functions with tops and lows, as an oscillator. The famous boob-based functions in math… a sin! (Or a companion -cosin- if you go for bb#2).

Anyway, this function represented how the blob’s nucleus worked. The changes could represent how it adapted and reacted to external stimuli. This was a major discovery!

But there was a problem with all of this. The nucleus of a living being should be the center of information. Signals were something common inside it. Despite that, this nucleus also appeared to contain the means to power up this creature. Energy and information didn’t work well sometimes. It was known in biology that cells had mitochondria as a nuclear reactor for the reactive oxygen waste they generated.

It was believed that ancient cells slaved bacteria inside of them to become their nuclear reactor!

So how could this thing, this blob, put a time-bomb like this inside the energy storage where it also held its information?

Comparing things, if this was an information storage then it would be similar to DNA. If it was energy storage or resource storage, then this would need some information storage too. But the most important thing here was how DNA could be affected by the energy produced in the power plant and be damaged as a result.

The answers to the blob having its brain next to the nuclear reactor were obviously at the top of the central column. And that was the place where this claw was taking me.