The steel plate on the side wall of the landing craft suddenly opened, revealing a small reconnaissance drone.
"Buzz~~~"
The drone slowly ascended, then headed toward the Blue Forest.
Soon, the drone reached above the Blue Forest, its camera looking down at a certain area within the woods.
In the main cabin of the landing craft, twenty people watched the screen in the air with tense anticipation.
"Why isn't it there? It was clearly right here just a moment ago?"
"John, could you have seen it wrong?"
"Impossible, I truly saw a black shadow," John asserted without hesitation.
"Then why isn't it there?"
"It must have run off."
"Alright, let's not dwell on what it was, we have already collected the plant samples, we can go back now," announced Captain Eric decisively.
"John, retrieve the drone, then head back to the area of the ocean where we just landed."
"Given the current vegetation, it's not inconceivable that Tanis Planet might house large animals, but that is not our main objective for this mission."
"Understood, Captain."
John immediately returned to the pilot's seat, controlled the drone's return, and then started the engine.
"Roar~"
Blue flames ejected continuously from the engine's exhaust, the landing craft soared into the sky, heading toward the coast where they had just landed.
Shortly after Eric and the others began their return journey in the landing craft, the spreading yellow sands gradually settled, and in the Blue Forest, a creature resembling a gorilla and standing upright appeared.
The upright creature, covered in black, stood over two meters tall, with a long tail, four arms, and two legs.
It stood atop an unknown tree, contemplating the long white trail left by the departing landing craft.
......
Nameless Coast.
The landing craft landed in an open area.
"Professor Wang, I'll send a few people to protect you while you collect water samples."
On the coast, Eric and the others, fully equipped, disembarked from the spaceship.
"Thank you."
"That's what I should do," replied Eric.
After Professor Wang and the others left, Eric surveyed the surrounding environment.
The coast here was very flat, limitless at first glance, and with no end in sight.
......
An hour later.
Inside the landing craft's laboratory.
Eric and the others stood outside the transparent cabin, watching the scientists in white lab coats, using microscopes and other instruments to continuously examine the plant and soil samples in test tubes.
The atmosphere was heavy.
Eric frowned as he took a glance at the scientists enclosed within the sealed hood, then turned and exited the lab to arrive at the spaceship's computer room.
"Professor Tomes, how are the detection results?"
The scholar, about thirty years old, working at the computer turned his head to look at Eric upon hearing him, then pointed towards the computer screen and said, "According to the data sent back by the collection equipment placed around the ship, Tanis Planet's atmosphere mainly consists of nitrogen, oxygen, inert gases, water vapor, and carbon dioxide. Their approximate ratios are 53%, 37%, 5%, 2%, 3%. There is a gap compared to the composition of Earth's atmosphere; the content of inert gases is too high, but it won't affect breathing. The human body should be able to adapt after a while, and it should be possible to survive on the surface of Tanis Planet."
"That is good news," Eric said, slightly relieved.
"This means we could survive on Tanis Planet without our helmets on."
"Captain Eric, it's not possible yet."
"Why not? Didn't you say the air on Tanis Planet is breathable? Why can't we now?" Eric asked, his frown conveying confusion.
"Captain Eric, I was referring to an ideal situation. The atmospheric composition of Tanis, if inhaled, indeed wouldn't pose a problem for the human body, but there's a premise here—that aside from the gases I've mentioned, there are no other lifeforms."
"What do you mean?" Eric asked, his brow furrowed in confusion.
"Captain Eric, to Tanis Planet, we are the alien species," Tomes explained.
"Do you know what this means?"
"It means that everything Tanis has evolved during its geological eras, whether it's lifeforms or terrestrial environments, has nothing to do with humans. Now humans are invading it as an alien species."
"Humans don't belong to the biosphere of Tanis Planet, which means that anything on this planet could become the blade that kills humans. On Tanis, humans either have no natural predators or everything is a predator—including a drop of water, a grain of dust."
"Whether humans can survive on Tanis Planet is something I can't answer at the moment because that requires long-term experimental testing to determine," Tomes said.
"Our enemies have never been large alien creatures, but rather those invisible microbes. If we rashly remove our space helmets, they will enter our bodies through the respiratory tract, and then no one knows what will happen."
Unbeknownst to when, John had already been standing at the door listening for quite some time.
"Professor Tomes, could you explain that more clearly?" John suddenly asked.
Eric turned to look back at John with a heavy expression, his frown suggesting he was beginning to understand.
Tomes shifted his gaze towards John standing at the door, then pushed up his glasses resting on the bridge of his nose and pondered for a moment.
"Do you remember the news about the Antarctic ice melting due to the hole in Blue Star's ozone layer?"
John nodded to indicate he remembered, but he was confused as to why Tomes was bringing this up.
"Did you know that there were ancient viruses within those glaciers?"
John nodded again to indicate he knew.
"Well, it's the same principle as those ancient viruses trapped in the ice."
"The viruses in the glaciers are so ancient that they existed at a time when humans didn't. This means that those ancient viruses are full of uncertainties."
"And any microorganism on Tanis could become that ancient virus that might lead to human extinction. Maybe these microbes are just the most common on this planet, but they could be lethal to humans."
"Now do you understand?" Tomes asked the two men.
By then, the two men didn't need further explanation from Professor Tomes, as he had already made it very simple.
To take an example, freshwater fish will die if they are thrown into seawater, and the difference in environment between Earth and Tanis Planet is far greater than the difference between freshwater and seawater on Earth.
"Professor Tomes, we won't disturb you anymore; please carry on," Eric said after glancing at Tomes, who had turned back to continue analyzing data at the computer, then he no longer bothered him.
Interstellar colonization is only the beginning when arriving at a colonial planet.
After reaching the destination, the period during which humanity adapts to the target planet is the most critical phase.