When Thanos reached the place that looked like a deserted island, he discovered it had somehow formed a closed ecosystem.
Water flowed constantly from the snowy mountain, keeping the forest below supplied. Herbivores, predators, and all kinds of strange insects lived there.
The one odd thing was that he found no intelligent life.
Without intelligent life, how had this island come to be?
After a moment's thought, he decided to land.
He knew the island could not have formed naturally.
Something had to be controlling it all.
How could the snow on the mountain never run out? How could the plants and animals maintain such a perfect balance?
Soon, he landed on the island with Julia.
"Oh my god," Julia said, staring around in disbelief. "I've been in the Quantum Universe for five years, and this is the first time I've seen a forest."
Geya Continent had nothing but endless barren ground.
Even the plants there were vegetables grown artificially.
Water was so precious that people barely had enough to drink. There was no chance of sparing any for plants that served no purpose.
Thanos crouched and touched the weeds growing from the ground.
They looked ordinary enough, absorbing water and photosynthesizing.
But there was no Fixed Star here. What light were these plants using for photosynthesis?
After a moment, he pulled up a blade of grass and dug beneath it, finding a stone that gave off a fluorescent glow.
What was this?
He examined it with his mental power and found controlled nuclear fusion taking place inside.
It resembled the fusion within a Fixed Star, but it occurred only inside the stone. The outer shell held the reaction firmly in check.
Julia dug up a stone of her own. "What kind of stone is this? It's incredible. Even at