 What is the power of the blobs?
They were something more—and something less—they were, in short, humanity's hopes for survival! She seemed to be restless to end her fool's errand here, two hundred light years from the waiting hordes on Earth. The starlanes between Earth and her potential colonies were rough on the men who traveled them now. The blobs were a peculiarity of this planet about which nobody knew anything. They looked like overgrown fireballs, but seemed to have an almost sentient curiosity about anything moving on the ground. Earth couldn't turn out enough starmen in the schools, so promising kids were being shipped out for training as cadets on their twelfth birthday. The blobs hadn't seemed dangerous, and the local animals were apparently all herbivorous and harmless. The Sol-type sun must be rising, since there was a dim light. There were three of the blobs dancing about over the grazing animals now, as they often seemed to do. Earth had ordered him to detour here, after leaving his load of deep-sleep stored colonists on Official World 71, to check on any sign of Hennessy. Now the three were streaking at fantastic speed to a spot near the ship, to hover excitedly above something that moved there. One, at the front, was stuttering into life, and Gwayne dashed for it as the exit port slid back. The creatures dived downward into lower ground, beginning to disappear into the mists. Then it cleared to show the mob of creatures doubling back on their own trail to confuse the pursuers.
 To change creatures to adapt to a new environment.
 To make creatures sleep.  To change creatures to adapt to a new environment.  To change creatures so they go insane.  To make creatures die.