Two red spheres floated above the crystal platform. Dark-red light churned beneath their rough, connective-tissue-like surfaces, making them look like bizarre lava lamps. Several dazzlingly fluorescent crystal clusters hovered around each platform, projecting light that scanned the electrical signals inside the spheres and subjected them to some simple, harmless stimulation.
Izax watched the incredible, extraordinary brain—or, strictly speaking, parts of a brain—with great interest. "Why did the Firstborn leave behind its brain instead of a seed after it withered?"
"Because its brain is the seed!" The Data Terminal seemed to have discovered something all at once. As it shouted, it activated a series of holographic projections. They showed not only the Firstborn samples in Containers One and Two, but also the Firstborn wreckage everyone had brought back from Izax's homeworld, some tentacle structures scanned on Tanagrus, and countless images of bizarre tentacles and biological organs. Those were Firstborn forms at different stages of development, entirely derived through simulation. "This unit has compiled all the Firstborn discovered so far and roughly organized their physiological structures to simulate the changes this species undergoes during development. We can regard the Firstborn wreckage aboard the giant ship as a juvenile individual, the one on Planet Horleta as a young adult, and the one on Planet Tanagrus as a mature individual. By comparing these three stages, this unit has made a shocking discovery: perhaps the Firstborn possesses only one 'brain core' at birth. As its body grows, it gives birth to other brains within itself. These brains connect through a neural network and form a single consciousness—the stage seen in the scans of the Firstborn in Containers One and Two. But after reaching a certain stage of development, the Firstborn should split apart. The brain core would separate from the main body along with part