"Speaking of the path of propagation... you don't have any urges in that regard, do you?"
"Buzz... Propagation... Buzz... Not reproduction... Buzz... It's replication... Buzz..."
Aidan corrected March 7th's mistaken idea.
"Too inefficient... Buzz..."
What was that little girl thinking about?
"The Astral Express is about to perform a warp jump. All passengers, please secure yourselves! Next destination: Herta Space Station!"
"Oh no, we're warping!"
March 7th immediately dropped her joking attitude and looked at Aidan with some worry.
"Your body right now... Um, is everything okay? Do you need to wear a seatbelt or be secured somewhere?"
"Shouldn't... Buzz... need... Buzz..."
The scenery outside the window began to distort. The originally brilliant starry sky was stretched into colorful bands of light, and a strange sense of compression followed.
"Buzzzzzz—"
He couldn't help but let out a long cry. The carapace on his body vibrated along with the frequency of the warp tunnel, and the fluorescent veins flowing on his wings instantly became dazzlingly bright.
"Wow! You're glowing!" March 7th shielded her eyes in surprise. "So bright! Did you turn into a big lightbulb?"
"Uncomfortable... Buzz... Feeling... Buzz... like I'm going to shatter... Buzz..."
"Hold on, hold on! Relax! It'll be over soon!" Although March 7th spoke casually, she still reached out and gently patted Aidan's thick dorsal carapace, trying to offer some comfort. "You weren't carsick during the last warp jump, so it seems bugs really aren't suited for interstellar travel."
Fortunately, although the warp process was agonizing, it didn't last long.
With a slight jolt, the bands of light outside the window solidified back into the quiet, deep starry sky.
"Are you okay?" March 7th squatted down and cautiously poked his carapace. "Hey? Are you still alive? Buzz a little?"
"Buzz..."
Aidan responded weakly, his antennae drooping to the floor.
The resonance of the warp jump had made him carsick.
"Are you alright? Do you want some water? Wait, how do bugs drink water..." She gestured toward Aidan's mouthparts and immediately pulled her hand back.
"No need... Buzz... Recovering... Buzz..."
Aidan struggled to prop himself up, but just as he lifted halfway, he plopped back down with a thud. The wing covers on his body hung limply, and the fluorescent veins on them had dimmed considerably.
Then, he flipped over, tucking all his limbs in, lying on the floor like a dead bug.
"Passenger March 7th? Passenger Aidan? The warp jump is over, are you guys alright... Pom?!"
Pom-Pom's small head, which had poked in, froze.
This was the scene it saw:
A giant blue-purple bug lay on its back on the floor. Its six insect legs, lined with barbs, were weakly curled up against its chest. Its dorsal wing covers were crumpled open. The entire bug looked as if it was about to pass away.
"Passenger Aidan! What's wrong, Passenger Aidan!!!" Pom-Pom's short legs instantly took off at a speed beyond its limit. It ran over with a thump-thump-thump, circling Aidan. "Don't die, Pom! You just turned into a bug today, you haven't lived enough yet, Pom!!!"
"Not dead... Buzz..."
Aidan weakly vibrated his wings once.
"Carsick... Buzz..."
"Carsick... carsick?" Pom-Pom was stunned for a moment, then breathed a sigh of relief, but immediately became nervous again. "But can bugs get carsick, Pom?"
"Probably... Buzz... related to the form... Buzz..."
Aidan tried to flip himself over.
Then he realized he couldn't turn back.
His six legs waved uselessly in the air, his carapace scraping against the floor with a harsh squeak, but he couldn't muster any strength.
"Pfft—"
March 7th couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Sorry, sorry!" She quickly covered her mouth, but her shoulders were still shaking. "I didn't mean to laugh, but you really look like a flipped-over big beetle! No, no, you *are* a big beetle right now!"
"You... Buzz... Stop just laughing... Buzz... Help me turn over... Buzz..."
"Me? Help you? You want me, a delicate beautiful girl, to help this big bug turn over?"
"Should Pom call Passenger Welt to come help, Pom?"
"No need... Buzz..." Aidan gave up struggling and just lay there. "Let me... Buzz... lie here a while longer... Buzz... Carsick... Buzz... Haven't recovered... Buzz..."
"Hey, your antennae moved." March 7th reached out and cautiously touched the two long antennae.
The antennae twitched sensitively and reflexively coiled around March 7th's finger.
"Whoa! It's grabbing me!"
"Instinct... Buzz... Can't let go... Buzz... You pull it off yourself... Buzz..."
March 7th tried to pull her finger free, but the antennae wrapped even tighter: "Hey, aren't your antennae quite strong?"
"I told you... Buzz... Instinct... Buzz..."
"Then can't you control your instincts?"
"I'm trying to control it... Buzz... But... Buzz... it's a little hard... Buzz..."
Welt and Himeko were walking over from the observation car when they saw this scene.
Welt pushed up his glasses and was silent for two seconds: "It seems like he's adapting quite well?"
"Uncle Yang, look at him!" March 7th pointed at Aidan, who was still lying on the floor. "He can't flip over!"
"This..." Welt pondered for a moment, then looked at Himeko. "Should we lend a hand?"
Himeko took a sip of her coffee, the corner of her mouth curving slightly: "I think it's quite interesting to let him try hard on his own."
"Buzz!" Aidan let out a mournful cry.
But the problem remained—
How was such a huge bug supposed to get off the Astral Express?
...
"Come on...! Come on! Shrink a little!"
Aidan's exterior suddenly shrank, and shrank... finally shrinking to a size barely large enough to be pushed out the door sideways.
With a whoosh, Aidan returned to his original size of about seven or eight meters and flopped onto the platform floor of the space station. Then he flipped over onto his back again, antennae crossed in an X, legs tightly drawn in. The cool floor of the space station felt very comfortable against his back carapace.
This posture made him feel a little more secure.
In short, he was playing dead.
For example, scarab beetles or ground beetles, insects of the order Coleoptera, possess this instinct: upon being touched, they instantly flip onto their backs, fold their claws tight against their abdomen, cross their antennae in an X, and remain motionless, appearing completely dead.
If touched repeatedly, the duration of the playing dead behavior will increase.
"Are you still alive? Aidan?"
First rule of Coleoptera habits: When encountering a threat or a strange touch, die for a little while first.
If he could still barely control his wings to vibrate and make sounds just now, after being poked twice by March 7th, his nervous system directly took over control of his body, issuing the highest priority command.
Die for a while first.
"It seems... he really died?" March 7th withdrew her hand and glanced back somewhat guiltily at Dan Heng and Welt, who were getting off the train. "Um, Uncle Yang, Dan Heng, I didn't use insecticide, I just poked him lightly twice..."
"He shouldn't be dead," Dan Heng said with certainty. "The color of his carapace hasn't darkened, and his vital signs... although weak, are stable."
"Then what is he doing? Playing possum?"
"This is tonic immobility,"
Welt pushed up his glasses.
"Many insects in the order Coleoptera exhibit this reaction when startled. They remain motionless to deceive predators, or it's simply rigidity resulting from nerve stimulation. Furthermore..."
Welt looked rather helplessly at March 7th, who was about to poke him again.
"Furthermore, in this state, the more frequent the external stimulation, the longer the playing dead state will last. March 7th, if you don't want us to wait here until dinnertime, you had better stop."
"Ah? There's a setting like that?" March 7th retracted her hand. "I didn't know! I saw he wasn't moving and thought he had fainted and wanted to wake him up."