Space Octopus – The Cryptidery

Smile of a Shrile

Posted on July 2, 2021 - June 18, 2021 by The Cryptidery

It’s been quite the week here at the Cryptidery! Somehow, all the shriles got loose

Since shriles are the grungles’ only natural predator, we’ve isolated the grungles in a smaller enclosure. They’re not happy about it, but it’s the best way to make sure they are all accounted for and there are no more shrile infiltrations. We have a caretaker or two in there with them at all times, doing their best to distract them from the situation with instruments and games. Hopefully we can get them back to their usual enclosure soon.

The shriles are uniquely suited to hunt the grungles. They look very similar, allowing them to infiltrate a grungle troupe unnoticed. They have smaller ears , no tail paddle and duller colours, but these are all differences the grungles can easily overlook because of their colour blindness and bad vision. It can be hard for even humans and caretakers to tell the difference between the grungles and the shriles when they’re up in the trees and not in brightly lit areas. Up close, however, the shriles can be a little unsettling. At first, it looks like they have mouths similar to the grungles, but if you see them eating or baring their teeth, you’ll immediately realize you’re looking at a shrile. That grungle-like mouth is just for show. Their actual mouth is huge, seeming to split their head in two, and unlike the grungles, the shriles have sharp, pointed teeth .

Once a shrile has successfully infiltrated, it will try to lure individual grungles away so it can eat them without the rest of the troupe noticing. At first, this is easy to do. Show a grungle a toy or a game and they’ll happily follow you. However, once the grungles notice that members of their troupe are going missing, they will become stressed and be less willing to leave the rest of the troupe. Often the shrile will then move on to a different troupe before the grungles identify them. If the grungles find the shrile before it moves on, they’ll gang up on it, using their paddle tails and armored fists to drive it out of their territory. This can result in injuries or even death for both the shriles and the grungles, so making sure the shriles and grungles stay separated is important to keep both species safe.

The shriles are hard to catch, though. It didn’t take Mohammed long to patch up their enclosure, and he’s working on some permanent modifications to hopefully avoid this in the future. But so far there’s only one shrile back in the enclosure, the one that Nushi escorted back from the grungle enclosure last week. There have been sightings of others, but so far we haven’t managed to catch them.

As far as we can tell, they’re all still in the building. Jose has been setting traps, and the caretakers who are small enough are climbing through the air vents looking for them.

Wei and their team have also been out looking for signs of shriles around town, just in case. If you live in or around Cacheclee and see a creature matching the shriles’ description, let us know, don’t approach it. There’s a link on the homepage that says “Have you seen something strange?”, you can always use that link to report sightings of any creature. Draven will also pass along any messages sent via social media.

I did spot one in the space octopus enclosure, but we weren’t able to catch it in time. I suppose the good news is that the space octopus ate something other than a sunflower, but it won’t be getting any more shriles if I can help it.

Hopefully the shriles will all be back where they belong soon.
Maria

Sunflowers?

Posted on May 28, 2021 - June 13, 2021 by The Cryptidery

Jose is nowhere to be found. He pawned the space octopus and the related paperwork off on Nushi after sneaking in the back door to avoid me last week. He really doesn’t like confrontation.

He’s around here somewhere, but there’s no telling how long he’ll hide for. He can be harder to find than a space octopus when he wants to be! I can’t wait for him to show his face, though. I have a 30-page code violation waiting for him on my desk, and I can’t wait to see his face when I drop it in front of him. He hates paperwork so much When he opens it he’ll realize that I already filled it all out, it’s just waiting for his signature. But seeing his momentary panic is going to be so satisfying.

I was maybe a little hard on Nushi when she gave me the paperwork she had done for Jose. I don’t know why she does his work all the time. If he wants to go on his “adventures” , he can do the desk work that comes with them! But I was already on edge after weeks of worrying about Jose and the octopus, and Nushi unfortunately got the brunt of my frustration . So now Nushi is avoiding me too. I’m sure I’ll find her in the grungle enclosure if I need her, but I’ve been giving her space for now.

The good news is, the spaceoctopus is back in its enclosure

It’s been pretty grumpy since it got back. For the first few days it was just hiding in its play structures, getting extremely aggressive whenever anyone came near. I tried bringing in a bunch of new toys to calm it down, but nothing was working. I finally brought in a vase of flowers , hoping some bright colours or new smells or something might interest it. Unsurprisingly, it tried to eat the flowers. Space octopuses will eat just about anything, and they’ll put just about anything in their mouth to try it, not unlike small human children.

After munching on the flowers for a few seconds, it spit most of them out, but it continued munching on the sunflower . Then, after days of acting aggressively, it calmly suctioned itself to the window of its enclosure and just hung there for a while. Now seems unwilling to eat anything but sunflowers . I’ve offered all the things we normally feed it, like the leftover meat from other creatures’ meals, fruits and vegetables , and various scraps from Mohammed’s woodpile . I tried feeding it “people food” that we had lying around. I even tried arranging yellow vegetables to look like a sunflower with sunflower seeds in the middle. The octopus showed no interest. It just responded by getting aggressive again until I offered another sunflower. I’m currently running experiments to figure out why it likes sunflowers so much so I can try and entice it to try other foods again.

I did manage to get a photo finally, though!
Maria

Three Weeks Later…

Posted on May 21, 2021 - June 17, 2021 by The Cryptidery

Hello my loyal admirers! I have returned from another daring, dangerous adventure!

I have, of course, successfully recaptured the space octopus. It wasn’t easy, though! It took me weeks to find it. The octopus left burn marks on the pavement in the parking lot when it took off. They were a good starting point but, not being a space octopus myself, it took a while for me to figure out what direction it was heading in. I set off on the search without a direction in mind to escape Maria’s wrath, but I didn’t think it would take me that long to get on track. It was a good week before I was sure of where I was heading.

Finding out where it went was only half the battle, though. The space octopus was fast, and really good at hiding.

The first time I spotted it, I wasn’t prepared. I had taken a minute to sit down and have a snack after a long day of searching. I turned to grab my gear and when I turned back it was gone! Venturing to the spot where it had been, I discovered a hole in the ground. It must have been made by another animal. Chances are the octopus found it abandoned, or ate whatever was inside. As I peered into the hole, I heard a rustle not too far away. This time, I was ready. I slowly and quietly lifted myself off the ground and peeked over the underbrush. There, in another clearing, was the space octopus. Something else must have spooked it, though, because before I could take a step it was gone again.

I spent the next few days finding holes and blocking them off. There are octopuses that can dig, but the space octopus is not one of them. I hoped that if I blocked all the holes except one I would be able to lure it out to capture it.

Of course, plans rarely go exactly as you hoped. I think my plan might have angered the octopus. Unbeknownst to me, it had set up an ambush! One morning, as I peered into yet another hole to check for signs of the octopus before blocking it off, something jumped out at me! It happened so fast, it took me a moment to realize what had happened. The octopus had wrapped its tentacles around my head, using its body to block my nose an mouth. I couldn’t breathe!
Without thinking, I grabbed its helmet to try and pull it off. Thankfully, those helmets are hard to remove. I managed to get enough space to take a breath before it snapped back onto my face like an elastic band.

Then I realized that the last thing I wanted to do was bring an already angry Maria a dead octopus. So, instead of pulling on the helmet, I tried to reach behind my head and pull the tentacles off. The octopus was clever, though. As soon as I managed to pull one tentacle off, I’d hear a sound like a firecracker and feel it burn my hand, forcing me to drop it. So instead I tried to get my fingers in between my face and its body. Once I had my hands there, I was at least able to maintain some breathing room.

The octopus and I were now engaged in a potentially deadly (for me, anyway) tug of war! I would push it as far off my face as I could, and it would snap back. It was all I could do to keep my hands in place so I could breathe. We did this over and over again. If someone had been watching, I’m sure it would have looked comical, even cartoon-like. But I was starting to get tired, and the octopus was showing no signs of giving up.

Looking around frantically, I spotted a tree with a trunk that split into a “V” not too far from the ground. I ran over and jammed the octopus’s helmet into the “V”. I then put my feet up on the trunk to give myself extra leverage as I once again tried to pry it off of my face. This time, I was successful! Both the octopus and I were sent rolling in opposite directions when it finally let go. It took me a moment to gather my witts, and I was sure the octopus would be long gone again. But when I went to see where it had fallen, I found it curled up in its helmet. The poor thing must have been terrified!

Surprisingly, I was able to just pick it up, carry it back to my vehicle and place it in a cage. It stayed curled up in its helmet for most of the journey. I was starting to worry that I had hurt it. When we were almost home, I suddenly heard odd little popping noises coming from the back seat. I turned to see an angry octopus staring at me. Angry, but thankfully with no visible injuries.

When we pulled into the parking lot, Wei and their team were loading up their vehicles. I think they were a little disappointed to see me. Being sent on a search and rescue would probably be the most exciting thing any of them has done this year. But Maria always sends them out too soon. I guess I understand that she worries, but 99.9% of the time, I’m fine, I just lose track of time when I’m on an adventure!

I drove around to the back door to avoid passing by the office. I’m sure Maria being worried does not mean she is done being angry. Thankfully I found Nushi alone in the lab. I left the space octopus with Nushi so she could return it to its enclosure and let Maria know it’s back. I also left my notes from the adventure with her, in hopes that she would do the paperwork for me. I hate paperwork. Nushi doesn’t seem to mind it as much, and she is much better at it.

That’s it for today’s adventure. Until next time!
Remember kids, if you want to go on daring adventures like me you’ll need to learn how to do paperwork!
Jose

Where in the world is Jose?

Posted on May 14, 2021 - June 17, 2021 by The Cryptidery

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

Escaped Octopus!

Posted on April 30, 2021 - June 13, 2021 by The Cryptidery

I was thrilled when I came into the Cryptidery today. I went to my desk and saw that Mohammed had left my camera , with a note saying that it’s finally fixed I had to resist the urge to use it right away. Chores come first, especially when there are living things counting on you.

Finally, in the afternoon, I had some free time. I grabbed my camera and went to my favourite enclosure. I’m sure you can guess which one it is. It is our mascot, after all. The space octopus!

I saw Nushi nearby and got her to help me put on a suit, since the atmosphere in that particular enclosure isn’t very breathable. I must have spent almost an hour in there searching for that octopus.

In case you haven’t seen the enclosure in person, it’s not very big… ok, maybe it’s bigger than it needs to be for an octopus the size of a cat … I might spoil my favourites a bit. There are play structures built on every surface, so it can be hard for a full-sized person to navigate, but space octopuses, like earth octopuses, are very intelligent. They need to be entertained if they are going to be kept in captivity.

I finally gave up the search for the octopus. I had other work to do, so I decided to try again later. I left the enclosure and started taking off the suit. That’s when I noticed a certain display was empty.

Near the viewing window for the space octopus enclosure, there’s a glass case where we keep its helmet. It lets visitors get a closer look and makes it impossible for the space octopus to leave its enclosure. Sometimes we let the octopus have it back so we can put it in a temporary enclosure, usually when we need to go in and clean the permanent one.

But surely, if someone had removed the space octopus to clean its enclosure, they would have let me know before letting me spend an hour looking for a creature that wasn’t there.

With my suit still half on, I went down the hall to see if the octopus was in the temporary enclosure we usually use. On my way there, I heard a loud, familiar noise. Like hundreds of confetti cannons going off at once. My heart sank. I turned and ran to the office, where I found Nushi and Jose. Nushi was very, very focused on his work, like he had somehow missed the noise that had just echoed through the halls. He didn’t look up or acknowledge me when I entered the room. Jose was running around gathering his things. He froze and looked at me like a dog who knew he’d done something wrong.

Apparently, those two decided they didn’t need to put the space octopus in another enclosure when they went in to clean today. They also decided it was best to give the octopus the helmet so they didn’t have to wear suits while cleaning. And when they couldn’t find it afterward, they figured they would just come back and get the helmet later, since they had to wait for the atmosphere to return to normal anyway. Of course, they both swear the entrance to the enclosure was closed and locked the whole time.

The way those two talk. It’s like they think I made protocols just to be annoying!
Maria