On The Origin of Xe

Mayfly Effect

Chapter Twelve

Since Elizabeth and Montgomery were the ones to first link the happenings on Goldilocks-P3 with the likes of the mayfly, they were the ones chosen to continue the research. The first thing they wanted to know was, what is a mayfly? According to their files, a mayfly is an aquatic insect that is part of an ancient group of insects similar to dragonflies and damselflies. They exhibit traits that can be traced back to the first flying insects on Earth. To the great interest of Elizabeth and Montgomery, they are known for their extremely short lifespans and appearance in large numbers during the summer months.

The mayfly actually advances in life through a series of stages. The first or immature stage being an aquatic form known as a nymph. Nymphs may actually live for years in what is normally fresh water. Finally, after a period of transformation, they emerge from the water as adults, with the addition of long tails and wings. The winged stage is known for its mass emergence into the skies above. The population seems to emerge all at once for a day or two. They are everywhere. Moving around each other in large groups and settling down on the vegetation below. This mass emergence seems to be synchronized with dawn or dusk. Light, or the lack of it thereof, being the prime motivator.

The primary purpose of all of this? Reproduction. That's it. The lifespan of the adult mayfly varies, but is extremely short. Anywhere from a few days to as short as a few hours. During that time, the males fly high above and the females fly into the swarm for mating. When all is said and done, the males spend the rest of the night in the vegetation and the females make their way back to freshwater for laying of their eggs.

As with most other types of animals and insects, mayflies are preyed upon by carnivorous vertebrates. One, of which, are birds. Birds, too, may fly into the swarms and consume as many mayflies as desired. Any surviving mayflies, after successful mating and the laying of eggs, simply die and fall to the ground or back into the water.

Well, Elizabeth and Montgomery thought that was all quite enlightening. It seemed to describe very well what was happening in the gardens and the surrounding bushes and trees. But these were not mayflies. They understood that. There were enough inconsistencies to indicate that. What was illuminating though, was their behavior. That's what they focused on.

They had questions. For example, if some of their species of mayfly eventually fell to the ground and died, where were all the bodies? Certainly the birds did not eat them all. They knew of no birds. And were they laying dormant in the ground somewhere prior to hatching? Or hiding in the fresh water stream somewhere? Maybe most importantly, if they were being preyed upon, where was the evidence of there being a predator? The most likely candidate would be birds. But they didn't have any birds.

The first thing that Elizabeth and Montgomery did was to request another team meeting to discuss their findings. Sitting down later that day, they went over all the research that had been compiled. They posed all of their questions and gave what answers they could. Then, the team began to synthesize their ideas into something they could work with. First order? Give the visitors a name. In other words, what do we call these things? They decided to call them no-see. The hunt was on for the no-sees.

The team thought it would be a good idea to capture another night or two of camera sightings. But when they looked at the recordings the next morning, nothing showed up. Their only option was to return to the first night of the cameras working. The only night they were able to capture a sighting. As far as they could tell, the no-sees had been around a total of four nights. Only one night of which they were captured on camera.

The team assembled in the video control room once again to review the first night, the only night, that the no-sees were captured. They decided to actually slow down the process and even zoom in occasionally to catch anything they may have missed. They were able to make out the swarm building over the garden. Sometimes, dipping down and alighting onto the plants. There seemed to be this dance going on between pairs of no-sees as they flew into and around each other. Elizabeth and Montgomery added their commentary that this appeared to be mating behavior. Then, just as quickly as they had formed, the no-sees started to break up. Frantically. The swarm started to drift apart and scatter, until they were gone.

At this point, the team decided to zoom in and examine in more detail something that caught their eye. Something else appeared to be moving along with the swarm. As the detail emerged, they could see that there was actually some other winged animal that had mingled their way into the swarm. They were performing a similar dance, while momentarily resting on a plant or two. As the swarm started to break up, it appeared as if the other winged animal was actually eating the no-sees. The observers were convinced that the plants disappearing was due to the plant being pulled up as the predator harvested the no-sees. It became clear, that the more they ate, the less no-sees there were. Until, they all disappeared. Until, the other winged animal had also disappeared back to where they came from. Wherever that was?

So what had they just learned? The main thing was that there was not just one pest, the no-sees, but two. The other winged animal they simply named the no-see-raptor. Not knowing what it really was but knowing that the two together provided some answers to the questions that had been raised. Where were the bodies of the no-sees? The assumption was that they had all been eaten by the no-see-raptors. So they were, in fact, being preyed upon. Were the no-sees mating? Again, apparently yes. Finally, there was an explanation as to why some plants were apparently missing in the rows. The no-see-raptors were simply ripping the whole plant out of the ground. A plant that had become laden with no-sees. It was more productive to carry the whole plant back to wherever they came from.

The questions that had not been answered had to do with where they came from. Obviously, they did not live long. Just a matter of four days. Where were the no-sees hatched? There must be some stage of their life where they are lying dormant. For that matter, they knew even less about the no-see-raptors. These were questions for another day though. For now, they felt secure in the knowledge that there really was no threat to their food supply. The no-sees appeared to be very conservative, almost conservationist, in the management of their food supply. The no-see-raptors? Not so much.