As I was innocently procrastinating the completion of chapter five, the article I read about the immortal jellyfish caused a strange story to pop in my head. A kind of ode to this immortal resident of our planet and the Laws of Thermodynamics. So enjoy!
To find out more about this fascinating ocean dweller, visit http://immortal-jellyfish.com/
A Hitchhiker’s Ride Through the Galaxy… and Beyond!
The immortal jellyfish swam in the ocean for longer than apes that became man had been around. Living a life eternally cycling between adult and child and back again, you wouldn’t think this innocent looking ocean swimmer was a pirate.
You’d be wrong.
For you see, as vast as the sea and as small as a wee jelly, they caught rides on cargo ships that ferried goods to different countries. The ships’ ballast sucked them in when it filled their tanks, and released them later at new ports. In this manner, they were able to populate the ocean and survive when pollution killed off most other species.
When star liners began using ocean water as fuel in their hydrogen tanks, nobody thought much of the jellied swimmers. For of course, they’d burn up as water ran through the splitter that created the oxygen and the hydrogen needed for combustion. But, a slight leak in a valve in a system of little importance, allowed a small percentage of these pesky pirates to escape their fate.
They were the first creatures from Earth to swim beneath the frozen seas of Callisto, though not for long. They might be immortal, but they still needed heat and food. And, they were there at the first treaty signed between Humans and Centaurans. In fact, they spread far and wide throughout the galaxy, and even into other galaxies as unseen passengers hitching rides on spaceships and battle cruisers and asteroid miners and private space yachts.
Eventually, humanity died out, but the immortal jellyfish remained, having found niches that supported their meager needs. They remained a staunch representative of an Earth long burnt to a husk when its sun went supernova.
However, at the end of all things, they faced their final, unavoidable doom. For nothing wins out over the laws of thermodynamics. Entropy is a bitch and it’s got the immortal jellyfish in its sights.
Goodbye strange, beautiful, immortal species. You were the best creation of all to survive so long and spread so far. As the suns died off one by one and the planets cooled, yours was the last spark of life which finally winked out once and for all.
No longer immortal.