Bootleg of evolution

Cold, this is all Lin could feel.

Lins acid ejectors and cone cells were sacrificed to the bitter cold. Only ninety one diggers survived, and they formed a circle around the observer so it would not join the other cells which were plagued by frost.

Outside the protective circle, everything was frozen. Through the transparent bodies of the diggers, Lin could see that the blue scenery has been replaced with a static, bright environment.

Lins cell group has suffered greatly from the shining radiance. Although it didn know how the last few diggers resisted the cold, it did not care, it simply wanted to get out of here.

Lin had some diggers start moving and try to find a way out of the crystal prison.

Som diggers were stuck in ice, but a simple twist allowed them to free themselves.

These diggers seemed to have evolved, unlike the previous cells which freezes the moment they touched the ice, they could deal with the ice better.

Even with the cold resistance though, Lin could still clearly feel a cold feeling when the outer membrane touched the ice crystals….

It seemed to be a feeling of pain, but unlike previously it did it give Lin a strong desire to get rid of it.

This feeling did not affect Lins activities though.

The entire area was frozen, the only water Lin could swim in was the small amount which surrounded Lins ninety one diggers. The surrounding water was inaccessible and overtaken by the crystalline ice.

Maybe Lin could dig through the ice?

Lin had one of the diggers scratch the ice with its serrations, but this did nothing. It was almost impossible to break the ice wall that froze the surrounding area.

Lin didn know what to do.

The huge loss of cells had dramatically decreased Lins intelligence, and it couldn think of anything to complicated.

All it could depend on was luck.

Lin did not how long it stayed trapped in the ice. Although Lin did not understand the concept of the word, ime, it could feel its impact as it waited.

For the first time it felt it… starvation.

When Lin felt hungry, a feeling invaded Lins thoughts. It called for it to find food to supplement the energy lost from cell activity.

Lin had the diggers stop trying to dig out of the ice to reduce energy loss. Lin understood that this would help stave off starvation.

It also knew however, that not moving didn mean it stopped losing energy. The cells were still losing energy to stay alive, not moving simply slowed down the depletion of the energy.

Lin continued to wait for the ice to melt. It stopped all activity waiting to see a opportunity to escape.

In the process of waiting, several diggers exhausted all their energy. Death to starvation was a special kind of pain. It was a slow one, the cell would slowly shrunk, breaking down until it finally died.

Lin had its other cells devour these energy depleted cells, giving them a little bit more time.

This phenomenon called starvation gave Lin a new idea.

Each time its cells eat food, they quickly digested it and used up all the energy to split.

What if there was a way to instead store that energy? If there was a way for Lin to store a lot of energy in a cell instead of using it to split, Lin wouldn have to be afraid of facing starvation again.

Lin thought of a new word to describe its idea… fat.

Although it did not completely understand the meaning of the word, it seemed to represent energy stored in the body.

When it gets out of the ice, it should see if it could do this, store energy in a cell.

Thats at least, if it actually did find a way out…

With this in mind, Lin was in a state of stasis. All the cells were motionless, quietly floating in the water.

As time went on, Lin could feel the cold creeping upon it, making it want to go into a eternal sleep.

Lin did not give up though, even though it has been already waiting for a long time, a chance to escape had to be appear sooner or later….

Lins observer cell saw a crack in the ice in front of it.

Lin could feel warmth coming from the crack, the warmth slowly woke up the cells which had been in stasis. As they woke up, Lin saw as the cracks started to multiple….

Soon, the ice crystal shatter into many big pieces, and these pieces themselves started to shrink. Just like food being digested, they became smaller and smaller until they disappeared, melted back into the blue ocean…

Just as quickly as the ice appeared from thin air, it disappeared. If it wasn for the tiny ice fragments still left in the water, Lin wouldve wondered if it ever happened in the first place. That it was nothing more than an illusion.

In the end, 77 of Lins cells, including the observer, were left by the end of the crisis.

These cells had a strong cold resistance, and although the cold almost killed all of Lins cells, it came out stronger.

Lins first priority now is to find anything that can be eaten to restore it to its original size. Its cells were now slow and fragile thanks to their lack of energy.

Lins community swam through the cold waters. When they arrived at the food wall, they found it was frozen solid.

Lin had the diggers try to dig through the ice, but it was to hard. No matter how the diggers twisted, they could barely make a dent in the ice.

Why did the ice not melt here, why was it so hard…

Lin didn know the reason why, but it felt it again. It felt the temperature begin to drop again, and the floating ice fragments around it seemed to be becoming bigger.

It might freeze here again.

After this thought appeared, Lins cells immediately left the area. Lin didn want to be in that situation again.

Lins only hope of survival now was to go into the endless blue sea once again, find a new food source, and a warm place.

Warm…

Lin felt it, as it swam in a certain direction it could feel the water become warmer, more comfortable in contrast to the cold.

It was in the same direction the amoeba escaped towards.

Not long on its journey towards the direction the amoeba escaped, it found its body. It seems the giant creature also wasn able to escape the frost. It was covered in pieces of ice, its body floating motionless in the water.

Although it warmed up and thawed, it seemed to no longer be alive.

Lin had the diggers go towards the amoebas body, the ice which covered it was fragile. The diggers were easily able to scrape off the frost, exposing the soft amoeba body to Lin.

Must eat.

This was the only idea in Lins mind.

The diggers teared at the amoebas remains, using their serrated surface to cut up the amoeba then slowly eat it. The exhaustion the diggers felt slowly disappeared and they felt more energized.

They then started to split and the number of diggers slowly increased.

Lin did not forget its previous idea.

Lin needed something called fat if it wanted to ensure its cells could survive without food for a long time.

Theres also one more other thing.

Lin hoped it could regain the acid ejectors and cones it lost during the cold crisis.