Chapter Eight: The Mantis Spy

Kos stationed the mothership in the distant reaches of the solar system, within the Walter Cloud, to survey the outer structure. He ordered Conden to pilot a small spacecraft from the mothership, accompanied by three mantis assistants, heading straight toward the sun’s inner regions and then directly to Earth.

Conden activated the ship’s four-dimensional navigation system, and everything proceeded as planned. The spacecraft soon entered the vast space between Jupiter and Mars, where conditions were harsher. The area was littered with asteroids, comet fragments, stones, and ice. Conden navigated carefully, while the three mantis assistants used the ship’s lasers to constantly clear obstacles from the path ahead. Here, the ship had to slow its advance.

As they passed the lunar orbit, the ship’s alarm suddenly sounded. The system automatically identified several physical characteristics of the signal. Conden quickly packed the signal’s data features into a quantum packet and sent it to Kos, stationed far out in the solar system, asking for analysis and instructions. Kos sensed trouble and immediately ordered Conden to shut down the relevant instruments to avoid detection by devices installed by the Tal people on the moon. He also instructed Conden to land on Earth as soon as possible with the mantis assistants.

Conden directed the mantis assistants, “Show me the four-dimensional spacetime map between the Earth and the Moon.” One mantis assistant took out an object resembling a ballpoint pen, aimed it at the ship’s computer, and projected a slow beam of light onto the large screen, displaying a complete four-dimensional image of the Earth-Moon system. After several operations, the screen automatically selected Conden’s desired landing spot. Since Conden’s ship was unaffected by Earth’s gravity, it moved slowly through the atmosphere, gathering data on atmospheric composition. After circling the planet three times, the spacecraft landed smoothly on a flat, open stretch in the Amazon rainforest.

In the Amazon jungle, Conden and the three mantis assistants were awed by Earth’s biodiversity for the first time. The contrast between Earth’s environment and their home planet, Quartpa, was stark, but their equipment always enabled them to adapt. Conden assigned two mantis assistants to survey and catalog the genes of Earth’s flora and fauna. Conden himself, accompanied by another mantis assistant, piloted the ship towards the skies above the Great Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt for a field investigation.

One morning in Egypt, Conden’s ship hovered above the Great Pyramid. To avoid detection by humans, Conden adjusted the ship so it was invisible to visible light—no human eye could see it. Using specialized radar, Conden scanned the pyramid, then placed the mantis assistant inside a micro-craft disguised as a meteorite, which landed nearby in a patch of grass. The mantis assistant crawled out and slowly entered the pyramid.

Navigating through passages, he conducted thorough scans and data collection. When he reached the pharaoh’s mummy, he performed deeper tests to obtain further information, then transmitted the key data to Conden, who packaged it into a quantum energy packet and sent it in quantum form to Director Yanan’s office on distant Quartpa.

Meanwhile, the other two mantis assistants continued collecting specimens and creating holographic images of plants and animals. While gathering jaguar genetic material, they suddenly encountered another unfamiliar “mantis” hunting a large wasp. After careful observation, the Quartpa mantis assistants waggled their antennae—used for electromagnetic communication—and attempted to contact the stranger via electromagnetic signals, but their efforts failed repeatedly. The unfamiliar “mantis” ignored them, focusing entirely on its battle with the wasp.

The Quartpa mantis assistants ceased their attempts and watched the fierce struggle. The wasp fought back, repeatedly trying to bite the “mantis’s” pincers, but was subdued each time. The wasp then launched attacks with its venomous stinger, but the “mantis’s” powerful pincers blocked every attempt. Gradually, the wasp’s resistance waned. To their astonishment, the “mantis” displayed mouthparts identical to Earth’s insects and began eating the wasp’s flesh with relish. Only then did the Quartpa mantis assistants realize this was not one of their own, but an Earth insect that looked exactly like them.

They approached the Earth mantis, scrutinizing its features and admiring its perfect fighting skills and power shown during the struggle. One Quartpa mantis, driven by curiosity, proposed a duel with the Earth mantis, and the other immediately agreed.

One Quartpa mantis moved to face the Earth mantis, grabbing the wasp’s corpse from the Earth mantis’s jaws with its own identical pincers, provoking it. The other said, “This isn’t fair—we have anti-gravity devices. Without gravity’s restraints, even if you win, it’s meaningless. We should have a fair contest; turn off your anti-gravity device.” The challenger complied, disabling his anti-gravity device and immediately becoming clumsy under Earth’s gravity.

Now, the match began. The Quartpa mantis waved its pincers, mimicking the Earth mantis’s attack posture, which responded with a defensive stance. Suddenly, the Quartpa mantis lunged with its left pincer, aiming for the Earth mantis’s head, but the Earth mantis ducked away. Despite the aggressive tactics, after several rounds, the Quartpa mantis gained no advantage and even suffered a slight back injury. Slowly, he lured the Earth mantis onto a flat stone for the duel. On flat ground, neither held an advantage—both moved awkwardly. The Earth mantis began swaying its body, alternating the movement of left and right pincers, making it difficult for the Quartpa mantis to predict the next attack. Suddenly, the Earth mantis launched both pincers at once, one gripping the Quartpa mantis’s neck, the other pinning his left pincer to the stone, rendering his remaining pincer useless.

The other Quartpa mantis assistant, watching anxiously, saw the Earth mantis, now dominant, bite off a chunk of his companion’s arm. He rushed forward, using a tranquilizer to knock out the Earth mantis, which instantly lost consciousness, saving his companion.

Angered by defeat and the bite wound, the injured Quartpa mantis drew a miniature laser gun, intending to end the Earth mantis’s life. His companion stopped him, saying, “It’s just a weak insect, a fragile Earth life—you mustn’t do this.” He then bandaged and applied medication to the wound, which soon healed.

The Quartpa mantis assistants knew their mission was not to duel Earth mantises but to survey and catalogue Earth’s species. They left the Earth mantis behind and continued their work.

After the survey of the Khufu Pyramid, Conden instructed his mantis assistant to investigate human daily life and social behavior, searching for traces of Tal activity. Because Conden’s appearance was entirely different from humans, he couldn’t blend in himself, so he assigned this task to his mantis assistant. With a body just five centimeters long and weighing nine grams, the Quartpa mantis’s intelligence surpassed that of humans. Whether in rural or urban areas, his tiny size and mantis-like appearance made him the perfect spy, flawlessly hidden among human society.

What did Conden’s mantis assistant do after infiltrating human society? Let us see.

Quartpa mantises and Quartpa people evolved together on the same planet, sharing life forms despite significant physiological differences, both possessing superior biological functions. They could emit and receive bio-electromagnetic waves via their antennae, forming their original language system, distinct from human hearing. By combining their bio-electromagnetic signals with artificial physical waves, they advanced their communication technology.

The mantis assistant’s mission was to help Conden gather information on human society and culture, assess technological levels, test intelligence, and analyze religious beliefs. They could download and interpret human brain memories. The core task of Conden’s Earth expedition was to acquire vast quantities of human brain memory data. Questions about whether humans would be assimilated by the Tal, or whether the Tal had already or would soon subjugate them, could only be answered after this field investigation. The Quartpa people, who hated the Tal fiercely, were determined to annihilate all humans—even destroy Earth entirely—to prevent the Tal from controlling Earth and the solar system.

Because humans emit weak bio-electromagnetic waves when thinking, the Quartpa mantis’s job was to lie in wait near humans, capture these brain waves, process them, and send the information via their own bio-electromagnetic signals to Conden. Conden would then organize the data into quantum energy packets and transmit them back to specialized institutions on Quartpa for scientific research.

The Quartpa mantis, using his tiny body, flew into a human church and hid in a pot of orchids, waiting quietly for the arrival of worshippers. He observed their every move with his unparalleled vision, even landing on their shoulders to intercept brain waves, yet no human suspected this mantis was an alien spy. He then visited mosques, Buddhist temples, Hindu shrines, and scientific institutions, even infiltrating the offices of national leaders, gathering most of humanity’s crucial social information.

Following Conden’s instructions, the mantis left India, piloting his micro-craft to the Facebook headquarters in California.

One morning, a Facebook programmer was working diligently at his computer when a mantis flew in through the window, landing beside the computer mouse. The programmer showed little interest, staring at the insect for a few seconds, then picked up three sheets of paper and rolled them into a tube, ready to kill the mantis—but suddenly changed his mind. He flattened the tube, scooped up the mantis, gently rolled it into the paper, walked to the window, and flung it outside. He returned to his desk and resumed work, unaware that the mantis flew right back, clinging to his shirt, unnoticed by any colleague. When lunchtime came and everyone left for the cafeteria, the mantis knew exactly what to do. He successfully implanted pre-prepared software via the programmer’s computer port into WhatsApp’s server. This virus self-propagated within WhatsApp, affecting no functions and remaining undetectable to users. Designed by Quartpa experts for humans, it allowed comprehensive tracking and study of human habits and social patterns.

Conden’s small spacecraft continued to roam Earth’s atmosphere. While directing the mantis assistants, Conden himself studied Earth’s magnetic field and atmospheric data. Alone in the ship’s cabin, he worked busily, extracting a transparent dark-matter chip from an instrument radiating blue light. This chip was designed to receive all the data gathered by the mantises embedded in human society. He inserted it into a reader, decoding all information in seconds. Conden would take this data back to Quartpa for scientific analysis.

The mission of the three mantis assistants was nearly complete. All that remained was to await Conden’s leadership and the team’s return to Quartpa.