And fear? Fear, I think, must be reserved for those things we can comprehend. Whatever seeds of fear which were sowed by my lizard brain didn’t quicken. And perhaps that was because what stood before me simply could not be real. What is not real cannot threaten you. Right? I saw it from a perspective removed from myself, watching in awe at this... entity. I should have been shrieking at my imminent demise and pee-soaked like a reasonable person – like Patton was literally right now. Yet there I stood, silently contemplating what was by any definition, a monster.

68 Eye shrinkage can be caused by regressive evolution. Take for instance the Mexican tetra, a brilliant example of eye loss due to – Stop. This isn’t regressive evolution. It was a long nap.

69 Him? So he’s a boy now. A real, Pickle boy.

70 Not actually blind, and definitely not fish. These crustaceans have tiny, simple eyes on the tip of each arm that can resolve about two-hundred pixels worth of visual information. Good for searching for your home rock, so long as it isn’t more than about three feet away – Enough with the fish eyes! – Again, not actually a fish.

71 Genus Allouatta. People like to throw “howler monkey” around, but it is actually the loudest land animal in the world, their trademark call enabled by an enlarged hyoid bone at the top of the throat. Only the blue whale is louder – And yes, all of this actually goes through my head as I’m squealing.

72 Joke all you want, but udder and teat health are important for all ruminants. Sounds like you’ve got keratinized corns on yours. Consult your veterinarian for treatment.

73 In animals there is a small muscle in the ear called the tensor tympani that is triggered by a tendon that adjusts when the eyes are squeezed shut. Like cats.

74 Alpheus frontalis.

75 Your mom.

76 Famously shapeshifting jellyfish of the family Ulmaridae.

77 Cervus camelopardalis (giraffe)-Psychrolutes marcidus (blobfish)-Troglodytes gorilla (gorilla)-Formica rufa (forest ant)-Chalcosoma atlas (Atlas beetle)-Hippopotamus amphibious (just what it sounds like)-Architeuthis dux (giant squid)-Pelecanus onocrotalus (you guessed it: pelican).

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

“Let you out?” laughed Aptat.

“Yeah,” answered Naecia. “I think I know how to kill the sortie.”

“Explain.”

“I need to get out and move around some. If you want to know how to regain control of Child, you’ll let me float around a bit, stretch.” She glanced over at Oush, who rolled his wandering eyes.

“It won’t work,” said Izairis.

The pod of chambers rotated and Naecia’s began to ascend. She grinned shit-eatingly at the other two.

Aptat was waiting when she came up through the floor and they gestured the glass aside. “Wait,” they said, before she could push herself out. “We are within a cygie of rendezvous. Disclose your solution first. Then have your little float.”