“I’ll offer it food,” she said into the recorder as she swivelled her chair away from the desk to collect a sample from the chilled storage container. “It’s the one thing that motivates every single lifeform. What do you think we should try first, Stanos? Pipka?”

Stanos shrugged, though his smile widened slightly. “Your choice.”

Kala grabbed one of the small green-grey creatures out of the cold storage and brought it back to her desk. Just about everything in the known system ate pipka. Not only were the small, rapidly reproducing plants useful for feeding to samples, but they responded quickly to medication, making them ideal for trial runs of new drugs. Every lab kept a small stock on hand.

The slug-sized plant made a moist, sticky noise as she dropped it next to the sample. The black tendril moved immediately, probing its new companion, then speared into the pipka’s core. Kala talked quickly while she watched.

“Subject has pushed its protrusion inside the pipka, possibly to consume its insides or to inject a poison. Pipka is moving at a normal rate. The sample is… uh… dividing—”

The end of the sample’s arm detached from its body and slid inside the pipka. The rest of the sample drew back into itself, returning to its plain spherical shape, apparently no longer interested in its prey. As she watched, the pipka began writhing, twisting around, and slapping its slimy ends against the glass bowl.

Kala watched in fascination as the pipka gradually slowed its movements, shivered, and fell still. She hadn’t realised Stanos had moved to stand behind her until she heard his quiet voice in her ear, “What do you make of that?”

“I-I’m not sure. This could be one way the sample reproduces, by gestating itself inside a host. Or it could be eating the pipka from the inside out.” She turned to look up at her supervisor. “What do you know about it?”

Stanos grinned at her. “Not much. That’s why I brought it to you.”

“But…”

That didn’t make sense; Stanos had more experience and training. Why does he need me to examine the strange black creature?

Kala turned back to the pipka, raised her tweezers, and poked it. The moist slug-like plant moved, writhing as it normally did. The hole the black substance had entered through was no longer visible. If she hadn’t watched it happen, she would have guessed the pipka hadn’t been harmed at all.

No longer bothering to speak into the recorder—and Stanos didn’t try to correct her—Kala picked up her scalpel and pressed its tip into the pipka’s greenish flesh. It resisted for a moment, indenting, then the blade punctured the skin. A thick black liquid spewed out.

“Jeeze!” Kala dropped the scalpel and pulled away from the table. “What—”

The pipka had changed. From the hole in its skin, a half dozen black tendrils stretched outwards, probing at the air, swivelling about, searching for their attacker. One by one, they drew back inside the shell, and the cut Kala had made knitted itself together, resealing the skin so that it looked completely unblemished.