It’s been 2 weeks since Jose left to find the Space Octopus 
The one that he and Nushi helped to escape.
He hasn’t called, and his phone 
is going straight to voicemail. This isn’t out of the ordinary for him, though. Once he was gone for three months
He gets so caught up in his so-called “adventures” that he forgets to even check in… or charge his phone 
I swear, if I have to send Wei and their team after him again…
He’s probably fine though. He usually is. I’ll give him another couple weeks 
Or at least one more week He’ll be upset if I send out our “search and rescue” too soon 
But the space octopus’ abilities make it difficult to know when “too soon” is. If we wait too long, it will be hard to track the octopus or Jose. They could be anywhere 
The space octopus has a unique way of travelling. Its suction cups are normally convex instead of concave, the opposite of what you see on a regular octopus. Each one has tiny muscles that allow the octopus to turn them inside out. When they are turned inside out it triggers glands that produce two different kinds of goo. This goo contains chemicals. Very volatile chemicals. I had a hard time finding a safe way to store samples of them 
When the two gooey chemicals meet, there is an explosive chemical reaction 
The octopus uses the resulting blast to propel itself out of the atmosphere 
Sometimes it misfires. No one’s perfect. But once it succeeds in getting enough momentum to achieve lift-off, it will curl itself into its helmet. This will protect it from the heat as it leaves the atmosphere.
We are unsure how it charts the solar systems 
but it seems to instinctively know where the planets will be. It uses their gravitational pulls to get to where it wants to go. Just like with human space travel 
, a slight miscalculation could send it off into nothingness, with no way of returning. But the space octopus seems to navigate effortlessly. When it decides to land on a planet, it will slingshot around a nearby planet 
or moon 
to put itself in a decaying orbit and curl into its helmet for protection again. We aren’t sure if it knows where it will land when it does this. But it leaves a large crater 
wherever it lands, and has to wait for its helmet to cool off before it can start to explore the planet. This is usually the best time to try and capture it.
All of that to say that time 
is definitely an important factor. Maybe I should talk to Wei… No. I should wait. Jose is good at what he does. He’ll find his way back. I just wish he would check in once in a while.
And I really hope he finds that octopus. I still haven’t managed to get any good photos 
of it.
Maria
