Ch- 11 "Unintended Consequences"

Swayam groaned, clutching his head as he muttered, "Ugh, my head."

Little did he know, his sensory overload was the unexpected consequence of integrating Spider's heightened senses. Just moments ago, he had laughed like a maniac, unaware of the sensitivity he would experience.

Now, he realized that this newfound awareness would forever change how he approached integrating anything into himself.

***

Once I began to feel a bit better and could at least differentiate between my heightened senses, I thought, "Trial and Error, folks, trial and error."

After enduring a few more minutes of relentless adaptation and a throbbing headache, a new realization struck me. I should have started with the resilience and adaptability of tardigrades instead of the spider senses. It became clear that those traits should be at the top of my to-get-list. I never wanted to go through that excruciating headache again.

***

Finally able to open the book after a while, he immediately sought an image of a tardigrade. With the page number in mind, he located his target and began reading about these remarkable creatures.

{Tardigrades, colloquially known as water bears or moss piglets, form a unique phylum of eight-legged segmented micro-animals. They inhabit a wide range of Earth's environments, from mountaintops and the deep sea to tropical rainforests and the Antarctic.

Remarkably, tardigrades are among the hardiest creatures on Earth. Individual species have demonstrated the ability to endure extreme conditions, including exposure to extreme temperatures, extreme pressures (both high and low), air deprivation, radiation, dehydration, and starvation – conditions that would swiftly prove fatal for most other life forms. Incredibly, tardigrades have even survived exposure to the vacuum of outer space.

Tardigrades possess an astounding capacity to survive even the most cataclysmic global mass extinction events triggered by astrophysical phenomena like gamma-ray bursts or massive meteorite impacts.

Their resilience knows no bounds as they can endure bone-chilling temperatures as low as 0.01 K (-460 °F; -273 °C), nearing absolute zero. Conversely, they can withstand scorching temperatures of up to 420 K (300 °F; 150 °C) for several minutes. Tardigrades are equally unfazed by extreme pressures, enduring up to six times the pressure found in the deepest ocean trenches. They shrug off ionizing radiation at doses hundreds of times higher than the lethal dose for a human and even thrive in the vacuum of outer space. Their tenacity in the face of such extremes is truly remarkable.

Despite their incredible hardiness and survival skills, tardigrades living in harsh environments undergo an annual process known as cyclomorphosis to adapt to sub-zero temperatures. However, even with these remarkable abilities, it's important to remember that tardigrades, like all living organisms, still "need stuff to eat" to sustain themselves and truly survive.}

...

"I wouldn't have to worry about any kind of intake in the future and be resilient like the tardigrades," I thought, challenging the book's assertion. My conjecture was that by extracting resilience and adaptability from the tardigrade, along with the adaptability and ability to evolve faster from the 'Tuatara,' the living dinosaur of New Zealand, I could potentially transcend the need for sustenance in the future.

***

A few minutes ago, as Swayam delved into tardigrades, he had a crucial realization. He understood that without adaptability and the ability to evolve, his survival would be short-lived if he continued to extract and integrate every ability that caught his eye. Thus, he embarked on a quest to find an animal renowned for its rapid evolution, which led him to the 'Tuatara.'

***

{Tuatara, reptiles exclusive to New Zealand, intrigued Swayam with their unique characteristics. Although they bore a striking resemblance to lizards, they belonged to a distinct lineage known as the order Rhynchocephalia.

Remarkably, the single surviving species of tuatara represented the last remaining member of its order. Their closest living kin were squamates, encompassing lizards and snakes. These fascinating creatures held the key to unlocking rapid evolution.

While tuatara have maintained a remarkably consistent physical form over extended periods of evolution, recent discoveries have unveiled a surprising truth. At a DNA level, these creatures are undergoing evolution at an unparalleled pace, outstripping any other animal studied thus far. The tuatara boasts the highest molecular evolutionary rate ever recorded, shedding light on their unique and extraordinary ability to adapt and evolve rapidly.

Surprisingly, prior expectations were that the tuatara, known for its slow growth, reproduction, and metabolism, would evolve at a similarly sluggish pace. However, recent findings revealed the opposite. At the DNA level, tuatara undergo rapid evolution, challenging the assumption that molecular evolution is linked to morphological evolution.

The tuatara, scientifically known as Sphenodon punctatus, exclusively inhabits New Zealand and stands as the sole surviving representative of a unique reptilian order, Sphehodontia. This order diverged from other reptiles approximately 200 million years ago during the Upper Triassic period, coexisting with early dinosaurs.}

These revelations about the tuatara's unique evolutionary path held a profound significance for Swayam's quest for adaptability and rapid evolution.

***

Swayam's pursuit of tenacity from 'Tardigrades' and evolvability from 'Tuatara' took an unexpected turn. Instead of mere integration, these traits fused with him at the cellular level, a miscalculation he hadn't anticipated. The result was an excruciating headache, causing him to lose consciousness.

Fortunately, his earlier maniacal laughter had alerted his parents, who had been napping. They awoke and rushed to his room when they heard the unsettling thud as he slammed his head against the study table.

Initially, upon finding Swayam unconscious at his desk, his parents were gripped by panic. However, their anxiety soon subsided when they realized he was snoring peacefully, muttering about his favorite dishes in his sleep. They attributed his condition to exhaustion, and so they gently carried him to his bed. After tucking him in snugly with a blanket, they quietly left his room, relieved that he appeared to be resting peacefully.