Episode 58: Worm Watching Squad
A week had passed since we began observing the creature that appeared to be a Worm.
“Still no movement, huh…”
The surrounding area had been mostly surveyed.
Numerous cavities, presumably made by Worms, were found within a roughly 2km radius around the planned Fortress construction site.
Beyond a certain boundary, the number of cavities decreased sharply, and on the western side of the planned construction site, almost no cavities were found after advancing about 100m.
“So, I guess we were just unlucky.”
“Yes, Ma’am. I suggest shifting the construction site. We’ve been focusing our investigation since yesterday, and there seem to be no geological issues.”
“Alright. If it looks good, let’s move it over there. This way, we can still use the current pier as it is.”
Much about the Worms remained unknown, but time was precious. Since land without Worms seemed to be nearby, we decided to continue with the plan to move the construction site there.
By the way, the pier had been completed four days ago. For the time being, a temporary bridge had been extended and connected to the coast, but it wasn’t capable of transporting materials. At most, only Multi-legged Heavy Machines were going back and forth.
The structure we had worked so hard to build was just sitting there, unused.
“Yes, Ma’am. I will increase the production and dispatch of Multi-legged Heavy Machine Prototype 1 to quickly finish the survey.”
WP1 had high off-road performance, and unlike tracked vehicles or multi-wheeled vehicles, it was less affected by wheel failures such as punctures, so it was proving surprisingly useful.
In particular, the terrain of the Afrasia United Kingdom, a Lava Rock zone, was rough and uneven, making the most of the multi-legged design.
As a result, it seemed that at least some of the ground vehicles destined for the Afrasia United Kingdom would include multi-legged types.
Commander (Eve) muttered, “It’s not just about dreams. Multi-legged vehicles are useful,” but ＜Ringo＞ ignored her. We mustn’t let her get carried away.
That aside, there was the detected Worm.
It seemed to have stopped moving about 1m underground at a location we were calling Sinkhole 43. And it had remained that way for a week.
“Could it have escaped without us noticing?”
“We are continuing to scan with ultrasound. A mass resembling the detected Worm is still present at the location, so it’s unlikely to have disappeared.”
“So, does that mean… it’s patiently waiting for prey?”
“That possibility exists.”
The ecology of the Worms was unknown. We didn’t even know what they ate to survive. We could only consider ourselves lucky to have been able to capture its movement at all.
Still, since we had a sample, we wanted to obtain some useful information.
“Should we try putting some fish there?”
“……. Yes, Ma’am. If it’s carnivorous, there might be some action. Since it’s deliberately lurking in a place with traces of living creatures, if we provide something to prey on, perhaps…”
So, we decided to throw a fish we caught nearby into the nest.
“Let’s have WP1 catch it.”
This was the all-terrain type showing its true colors. Diving and catching by hand.
The built-in air tank allowed the gas turbine engine to operate underwater for about 10 minutes. With a snorkel, it could continue operating a few meters below the surface.
“…To use our precious multi-legged machine for fishing…”
“Yes, Ma’am. I’m afraid we didn’t prepare any fishing gear.”
Immediately, one of the WP1s that had been waiting on the Work Vessel jumped into the water. The fish in this area were, of course, very unwary.
If they were curious, they would even come closer. Once they got close enough, all we had to do was use the manipulator to grab them with speed and power.
“U-um…”
She groaned as she watched the dynamic hand-fishing. She had a complicated look on her face.
“…Well, whatever.”
And after struggling with various thoughts, she gave up.
We threw the caught fish into the nest. Since there was no particular reaction even when we made some noise, we weren’t being as careful as we were at first. Rather, we even disabled the silent mode, thinking there might be a reaction to the footsteps, but that didn’t work out.
“It still doesn’t seem to be reacting right away.”
“Hmm. What is it? What is it waiting for?”
The Worm was still motionless directly below Sinkhole 43. It seemed that it had been waiting motionless all this time.
That might be its ecology.
“I think it’s normally more active.”
“That’s right. If it just waits without moving, I don’t think it would have made so many holes in every direction.”
“Commander (Onee-sama). The fish’s movement has almost stopped.”
Ichigo, who had been watching the monitor intently, reported.
“Huh? Ah. It was wriggling around just now.”
The movement had stopped. Did it sense that with vibrations?
“Commander (Onee-sama). I’ve detected a faint vibration. I believe the Worm has started to move.”
“Hmm…?”
The Worm, which hadn’t shown any reaction, finally seemed to be moving.
“Starting to plot the coordinates. Moving… it’s moving towards the surface.”
“Eh, it’s coming out?”
The bottom of the Sinkhole, which WP1 was quietly observing, began to bulge, and then it revealed itself.
“Ooh.”
It had a mouth at the tip, and thorn-like fangs lined the outer circumference. The surface of its body had a rough, rock-like texture, and it was probably as hard as it looked. At first glance, no eye-like organs could be seen. Wiggling its fangs, it writhed its body and slowly crawled out of the ground.
“…It’s smaller than I thought, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Ma’am. The diameter is approximately 7cm. The total length, as far as we’ve surveyed, is estimated to be about 80-90cm. Considering the size of the holes left underground, this individual is quite small. Some of the larger ones were over 30cm thick.”
“Hmm. It looks… quite rocky. But its movements are smooth.”
As if searching for something, the Worm stretched its body and probed its surroundings. Judging from the situation, it was probably looking for the fish that had stopped moving. It would reach it if it stretched its body just a few more centimeters.
“It doesn’t seem to want to come out of the hole.”
“That’s true. It’s not cute… The appearance is a bit…”
“Assuming it’s moving by peristaltic motion, its movements would be considerably restricted if its entire body came out of the hole. It probably doesn’t like that.”
For a while, the Worm continued to writhe and move around. After relaxing once, it began to stretch its body out of the hole.
It crawled along the bottom of the Sinkhole and eventually bumped into the fish we had thrown in.
“It has started its feeding behavior.”
The Worm, having reached the fresh fish, moved its head and began to devour its prey.
“…It’s more docile than I thought, isn’t it?”
“I thought it would attack more aggressively.”
Judging from its movements, it seemed to be scraping off the fish while sucking on it. It wasn’t making any acrobatic movements like biting and tearing off pieces.
“Either its suction power is stronger than we expected, or its fangs are sharp. The fangs pierced the fish’s body quite smoothly.”
＜Ringo＞, who had been analyzing the video, reported.
“It seems to be moving its fangs, gouging and swallowing. Some animals thrash their bodies and tear off meat with the recoil, but this Worm doesn’t seem to do that.”
“Hmm… It’s still docile, isn’t it?”
“Yes, Ma’am. It doesn’t have the ferocity that I heard about when collecting rumors. In the first place, it doesn’t even seem to attack living creatures.”
Was this just a case of the rumors being unreliable? Or was this individual particularly docile?
However, at this point, the sample size was too small to make any judgments. We would continue to observe it for a while, but the Worm was just diligently eating the fish, and it wasn’t a very interesting development.
“Commander (Onee-sama). What should we do after this?”
“…Well. It’s a valuable sample, and it would be a waste to let it die if we caught it… Should we just continue to observe it as it is…?”
“Yes, Ma’am. The ecology of the Monsters is basically unknown, so we should do that. Let’s secure a sample when we find multiple individuals.”