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“Witnessed when?” Datuk asked. “And where?”
She told them about the lone coral tree she had discovered outside Titan Station. “I’m sure it’s the same species.”
Adam frowned. “To me, those tentacles still looked like the limbs of an octopus. Maybe an early form, one that hadn’t developed any suction cups yet.”
“It’s a polyp,” Phoebe insisted.
“Maybe it’sboth,” Datuk said.
All eyes turned to the biochemist.
He ignored his sensor data to face them. “While octopuses are classified as cephalopods, they make no evolutionary sense. Their huge brains, their complicated nervous systems, their camera-like eyes, even their ability to camouflage—all these features just suddenly appeared on the evolutionary scene. Octopuses can even edit their own RNA to help them adapt to their environment, unlike any other organism. Across the board, they’re light-years ahead in evolution compared to all their cephalopod relatives.”
“What does that mean?” Monk asked. “What are you saying?”
“That we still don’t understandhowoctopuses came into being. They’re so strange that scientists have postulated that they could have come from beyond Earth.”
“From outer space?” Adam asked in a mocking tone.
“Indirectly. And that’s according to a scientific paper that has survived vigorous peer review.” Datuk lifted a palm. “But that’s not trulymy point. What I’m trying to emphasize is that we still don’t knowhowoctopuses came to be. All we know is that they arrived on the evolutionary scene shortly after the first corals appeared in the ocean.”
“That’s true,” Phoebe said.
Datuk pointed down. “And that is some very ancient coral.”
Phoebe nodded. “That’s also true.”
Adam stared down at the coral. “Are you suggesting those large polyps could be an early precursor to the modern-day octopus? The missing link in their evolutionary history?”
“I’m not suggesting anything. Just speculating.”
Phoebe remembered one other aspect unique to this coral. Something that had stymied her attempt to lump it taxonomically with other black coral species.
These polyps had eight limbs.
Just like an octopus.
She pictured the glowing tentacles gently reviving the eel. Such an altruistic action might further support Datuk’s assertion. Studies continued to expand the understanding of how complex and intelligent octopuses were. They were extraordinarily nurturing, capable of compassion, of showing affection and empathy. They also experienced emotional pain, even suffered grief.
She stared at the forest below.
Could Datuk be right?
She pictured the juvenile polyps attacking the eel and wondered if such aggression reflected their young age. She knew baby rattlesnakes posed a greater danger than full-grown adults. Baby rattlers struck wildly and unloaded all their venom at once, where mature snakes grew to understand that hiding and caution served them better. Adult rattlers controlled the amount of venom they dispensed, protecting their reserves. Evendry strikingat times to warn off a threat, biting but not envenomating.
Did we just witness some version of that? Were the adults correcting the aggressive behavior of their young? Were they policing their garden, protecting the denizens of their bower?
Phoebe shook her head, both daunted and awed.
But such mysteries would have to wait.
Bryan straightened in his seat and drew their attention back to the mission at hand. “Green lights across the board, everybody. We’re good to head onward.”
17
January 23, 11:58P.M.NZDT
Pacific Ocean, six hundred miles NE of Auckland
