mynovelweb Chapter 253: Three Nuts
Chapter 253: Three Nuts
"So, have you found any evidence that they used bronze or iron tools? Did they possess the means to smelt metals?" a Senior Scientist asked. This was a critical inquiry into the technological development of the indigenous civilization.
Smelting bronze was a relatively low hurdle, requiring a minimum temperature of around 800 degrees Celsius and only a basic charcoal fire. It was entirely possible for these reptilian natives to achieve this. In fact, small quantities of copper alloys could even be found naturally in some exposed ore deposits.
Smelting iron, however, was far more difficult. It required temperatures above 1,100 degrees Celsius and necessitated specialized blast furnaces and ventilation systems. Therefore, it was mostly a casual question, and the scientists didn’t hold out much hope.
Of course, the absolute prerequisite for smelting metals was mastering fire! Without fire, everything else was pointless; you couldn’t exactly forge ore using raw volcanic magma, could you?
According to the foundational theories of xeno-sociology, the primitive technology tree included: spoken language, written text, fire-starting, pottery, animal husbandry, agriculture, archery, copper smelting, and irrigation. These milestones generally followed a sequential order, and it was unclear exactly how many of them the lizardmen had actually unlocked.
Sergeant Will was momentarily stunned by the question.
As the debriefing dragged on, the scientists’ questions became increasingly granular and hyper-focused. The Marines hadn’t exactly been paying attention to anthropological details while trying to survive an alien cavern, so how could they possibly answer?
The question stumped the eight Marines, forcing them to huddle together and quickly compare their memories.
"...Those spears were definitely carved from some kind of fibrous plant, not metal! And the spear tips didn’t seem to have any copper plating either, did they?"
"Yeah, there was no metal..."
When they had fallen into the ambush trap, the spikes at the bottom weren’t metal either; they were sharpened wooden stakes! Furthermore, during the brief scuffle between Private Leo and the natives, there was no sharp clanging of metal striking armor. If there had been, the fireteam would definitely remember it.
Sergeant Will looked around at his men, and even Leo shook his head. He had been jabbed several times by their spears, and judging by the sound against his ceramic plating, it definitely wasn’t metal.
So, the lizardmen likely hadn’t invented copper smelting and couldn’t forge copper tools.
Before Sergeant Will could finalize his answer, another young Marine’s eyes lit up. "Wait, there was metal!"
"I took a close look while they were butchering that giant sandworm. The worm’s flesh was incredibly dense, and its hide was covered in thick chitin. Even our plasma-saws encounter resistance against that stuff. So, I was really curious about how they were cutting it apart..."
"And then... we noticed they were using a strange, perfectly round piece of metal!"
"It was a perfect circular disc with no handle, and the edges were serrated like a saw. It looked incredibly sharp!" The Marine looked up, suddenly seeming a bit nervous under the intense scrutiny of the room.
"That’s impossible!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a Senior Scientist immediately retorted with heavy skepticism. "Even if they could smelt copper and forge blades, they wouldn’t cast them as perfect circles, would they?"
"Are you sure there was no handle? A perfectly round blade is completely impractical to grip without slicing your own hands; it doesn’t make any sense!"
"Furthermore... manufacturing a serrated circular saw blade would require an understanding of geometry and tooling far beyond the Bronze Age! Think carefully, are you absolutely sure you’re remembering this correctly?" The scientist fired off a barrage of questions, pointing out the glaring logical inconsistencies in the Marine’s recollection.
In reality, human memory is notoriously fallible. Under high stress, the brain often fills in missing details with imagined logic. Because of this high margin of error, many of the scientists were deeply skeptical of the Marine’s claim. The truth would require formal subterranean exploration to confirm.
The young Marine’s face flushed red; even he found it a bit unbelievable now. The circular cutting tool he remembered looked exactly like a modern rotary saw blade, and it really didn’t have a handle...
Could he have remembered it wrong? But after thinking hard about it, he was certain that was exactly what he saw. He had even double-checked out of sheer curiosity at the time... Yes, he was sure of it!
"Wait... I remember something too!" Private Leo suddenly shouted. "That lizardman... the chieftain! He had something hanging around his neck. It was jingling when he moved, and it sounded exactly like metal clinking together... I swear it was metal!"
He finally recalled the detail and blurted it out in a rush. However, his memory was still a bit hazy, and he couldn’t be one hundred percent certain.
Fortunately, this debate could be settled by reviewing the footage. After all, the helmet-cam had captured the chieftain quite clearly during the encounter.
Everyone stared wide-eyed at the monitors as a technician rewound the video, fast-forwarding the playback at 8x speed.
Although everyone present had scrutinized the footage multiple times, they had all subconsciously ignored the chieftain’s necklace. They had naturally assumed it was just a crude string of bone ornaments—nothing out of the ordinary.
But metal? Could it actually be metal?
The video was recorded under low-light night vision, rendering the environment in monochromatic shades. This made it virtually impossible to discern the true colors or textures of specific objects... It was entirely normal to have overlooked it.
"Stop! Play it from here!" Captain Jason ordered loudly, and the video playback dropped back to normal speed.
In the footage, the lizardman chieftain was strutting around, looking incredibly proud and excited. He took a massive chunk of raw worm meat from one of his subordinates, sniffed it carefully, and then triumphantly pressed it against his chest...
This was clearly a tribal tradition: the prime cuts of meat were offered to the strongest warrior! A sandworm that massive weighed at least three or four tons, providing enough food to feed the entire village for weeks. Everyone was going to get a share. Most importantly, none of the native hunters had died, which was what pleased the chieftain the most. Thanks to these strange, powerful metal giants—could they truly be Messengers of the Gods?
And that was where the clear shot of the chieftain ended. Nothing else useful was captured because the ornaments around his neck were immediately obscured by the massive slab of meat.
"Rewind it a few seconds!" Before Jason could give the order, Security Director Austin had already shouted urgently from the orbital hologram feed.
The video played backward frame by frame, showing the chieftain taking the meat, the meat returning to the subordinate’s hands, and finally, a bright, metallic glint bouncing against the chieftain’s chest!
In an instant, everyone’s heart leaped into their throats!
Everyone could see it clearly. It was... a hexagonal nut?
No, not just one. There were three of them!
"Magnify that image!" Jason ordered, his voice laced with disbelief.
How could that be?! How could modern steel machine nuts appear around the neck of a Stone Age tribal leader? It was completely incongruous, like finding a digital watch buried alongside dinosaur fossils!
Perhaps it was just a piece of carved bone that coincidentally resembled a machine nut? That had to be the logical explanation!
Following the command, a technician digitally zoomed in on the frame. The Federation’s military helmet-cams boasted incredibly high resolution. Even magnified several times, the image only blurred slightly, remaining easily decipherable.
Those three circular pendants really did look exactly like steel nuts, strung together and worn proudly as a necklace!
"Magnify it by ten!" Jason ordered. His heart was pounding against his ribs, a bizarre, uncanny feeling washing over him. This was inexplicable. Could it be that a Federation engineering drone had dropped some hardware months ago, and the natives had simply picked it up?
A few seconds later, the final rendering completed. Due to the extreme digital zoom, the pixels became slightly grainy, resembling static snow.
However, the distinct geometric shape of the hexagonal nuts became undeniable. They could even see the precise, machined threading on the inside of the metal rings!
This... was absolutely a set of modern, machine-forged metal nuts! Roughly the size of a human pinky finger!