Baawaa Nid
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On long hauls many people are comforted by personal pets and it’s common to find a variety of earth based animals like cats, dogs, fish, and the occasional bird. A lot more people keep SynPets or meat pets as they are known because they are easier to take care of and if you get bored with one you can always trade up.
But of course the more adventurous personal always want something a little different. One real different pet I encountered was courtesy of engineer Jason Entaa a shipmate some time back who owned what is known as a Baawaa NId. The Baawaa Nid is a sort of insect animal hybrid. It’s hard to describe but it can fly like a bird, has compound eyes like an insect but each eye moves independently and has eye lids. It’s un-nerving to watch the thing blink because the eyes don’t always blink in unison so they always have some eyes open, watching you. I suppose it’s part of their defense mechanism to keep an eye out for predators. Also they can blink in patterns depending on their mood or when they are pissed off.
Jason was more than happy to relate all the little details of owning a Baawaa Nid including the process of getting it to bond with you. He acquired it as an egg and as part of the bonding process had to keep it in a sling under his armpit. Once it hatched as a larvae he then had to feed it. Disgusting is the only word for it but Jason seemed to have enjoyed the process and was smiling as he explained. He would chew the food until it was like mush and then the larvae would feed from his mouth. He said that his saliva is the bonding agent.
Once they grow to the point where they are ready to morph into an adult he had to supply a silicon based mud for the larvae to coat itself in to complete the process. This is the part I like, the larvae has a chemical based exothermic skin that once they are fully covered in the mud they generate enough heat to “bake” the mud into a protective cover. They have long hairs that follow their body segments that extend outside of the mud so that once the baking process is complete the hairs “burn off” and leave the mud covering porous so it can breath. He showed me a video of the process and I have to say I was impressed by how much heat it was able to generate. Once they morph into an adult their skin is no longer able to generate heat but they do retain the ability to heat up their two rear feet. The bonding process also means that the person they bond to is the only one that can handle them so even though they seem docile you have to watch out. They have been known to attack others when their bonded human is threatened by using their rear feet as weapons. That lead to a lot of policy changes in how and where Baawaa Nid’s could be kept and one of my favorites is that they had to wear little booties on their rear feet to try and eliminate injuries from little hot footed attacks.
They seem quite intelligent and his did all sorts of tricks including flying around the room on cue. His could also solve simple puzzles and mazes but of course leave it up to an engineer to figure out what else you could do with a Baawaa Nid, target practice.
No it’s not what you think the Baawaa Nid wasn’t the target, it was the gun. It seems that when the Baawaa Nid defecates it has a bit of force behind it. So much so that he would hold it in his hands, direct the rear towards a paper target on the wall and then on command (how he taught it that I don’t know) have it release a “projectile” that would impact and stick to the target.
I know what you are thinking, you are at a loss for words. What? I was just about to ask him the purpose of this feat when told me that he and other Baawaa Nid owners get together whenever they can and have tournaments and he likes to get in as much practice as he can.
I was just thankful that the Baawaa Nid has no odor, including its ammo.
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