The Beautiful and Bionic Industry-Promoting Fire Kraken

A pure fractal made in Apophysis 2.09, mirrored and overlaid on itself

Like firecrackers in municipal areas: beautiful, hard to resist, and if handled badly, incredibly dangerous. But of course ...

"Humans just have to keep humaning," my uncle said.

"Well, we don't want the companies who service your bionic limbs to go out of business, so, there's that, Benjamin," my aunt said.

Every city on Earth that has a spaceport has a whole wing of law enforcement dedicated to contraband creatures smuggled in from all corners of the galaxy that humanity has reached. Among the most popular of these creatures is an analog to Earth's Man-of-War “jellyfish” known as the Fire Kraken.

“Which is why 'Release the Kraken' was never a good idea,” Aunt Almira said about that.

The Fire Kraken is not of prepossessing size … my uncle, handling it gently, could fit it in his cupped two hands … he was on call as a local scientist for tricky animal rescues from space, and had the iron chloride gloves on hand for the job.

Of course, he also had the full suit necessary, since Fire Krakens can also make it hard to breathe. That's what happens when you have a creature that, when startled, can produce enough pure chlorine to take care of the needs of an Olympic-sized swimming pool -- hydrochloric and hydrochlorous acids created in a small water environment automatically.

“But of course,” Uncle Benjamin said, “I get these calls because I never startle them, and that makes shipping them home a lot easier."

Occasionally as I was growing up, I noticed that my uncle had Fire Krakens in a cozy little aquarium habitat of their own, while waiting for the pickup backlog to clear in San Francisco … and, during our time in San Francisco while doing all the things that went with the loss of the Farragut and the refit of the Amanirenas's warp drive, one of these beautiful creatures was again a guest for a little while in our home, because …

“In their old home, couple of people need their first bionic hands,” Aunt Almira said.

“Yep,” Uncle Benjamin and I said together.

“I remember you told me to never tap on the sides of their tanks,” I said to my uncle.

“Obedience can save a life,” he said, “or at least, one or two good natural hands.”