This is the digital version of my zine, Cephalopoda Inanis. If you haven’t heard, it was a part of a class I took on monsters called Creature Features. I hope you enjoy it!
Sep 8
Nearly two months ago, I received an email from the head of the marine biology department telling me that I had been selected for a special research position onboard the institute’s newest vessel, The Kraken. Just over a week ago, I boarded The Kraken and learned what it is that’s brought us to the deep, cold waters off the coast of Alaska. Today, we arrived at our destination and are beginning our research. I still can barely believe that I get to be a part of such a massive discovery– it’s a dream come true! I can hardly wait to see our subjects for myself.
As this is my first entry in this notebook, allow me to add some context. Last year, we sent a research vessel (the Verity) up north to study orca whales. Our researchers– including my friend Rynn– found that orca numbers were much lower than the institute’s projections showed. This was especially concerning due to how threatened they already are. We kept a close eye on them and eventually discovered the reason.
On the North Gulf of Alaska Shelf, there lives a species– and entire group of cephalopods– previously unknown to science. The researchers on the Verity named them C. Inanis. They said it refers to how the squids ‘came from the void’ though my personal theory is that the researcher who chose their name just didn’t know many Latin words. In any case, I will be referring to this species as the ‘void squid,’ though they are not true squids.
The Verity researchers captured three specimens, but they were only in captivity for around seven hours before something happened that resulted in several deaths and the vessel sinking. Rynn broke her arm and won’t tell me what she saw. Personally, I wish she and my superiors would offer more details about what caused that disaster, but this may be too much to hope for at the moment. Either way, I will likely find out in the coming months. My job as a researcher is to learn all that I can about the newly-discovered void squids. This is my first official assignment after graduation, and I am so glad it’s such an important one. Verity disaster notwithstanding, I can’t wait to begin my studies! This trip is such an amazing opportunity.
Sep 10
Void squids truly are unlike anything I’ve seen before! While their overall body plan resembles a squid– specifically the similarly social humboldt squid– they have traits much like cuttlefish and octopi (which simply sounds better, no matter which plural my colleagues say is ‘correct’). These include: their lack of fins, instead having a cuttlefish-like frill around their mantle; their lack of longer tentacles; and the fact that they seem to be highly social and intelligent, which could be beyond any other animal we know. I estimate that our squad could number up to the thousands– it’s so amazing!
The squids are generally most active around dawn and dusk, hunting in packs of a few hundred for whatever sea creatures they can find. They are incredibly coordinated hunters. I’ve never seen their chosen targets manage to escape. Watching them hunt, I’m grateful I’m not a fish. It’s rare to see them during the true day and night, and when I have, they have been solitary.
I have observed them changing color a great deal, which seems unrelated to camouflage. When on the hunt, the squad are all black. Once they encircle a school of fish, they begin a cuttlefish-like hypnosis in which they all flash black and white. It is so fast and so synchronized, I almost felt drawn in… I think I’ve been spending too much time rewatching our underwater footage.
When the void squids attack, they turn red. Sometimes I see them interacting and flashing purple and blue, though I’ve no idea what that could mean.
Sep 12
We have captured our first specimen!
I have been tasked with primary observation. I am doing my best to stay professional in front of my colleagues, but in the privacy of this notebook, I must confess: I’m so excited! Not only that, but I’m just… truly honored that my institution has trusted someone as green as me with the first ever formal science around a new group of animals. If I’m not careful, I’m afraid they’ll look over and see me bouncing around like a little kid in a candy shop.
C. Inanis Subject 1
Sex: M
Length: 8 ft
Color: pale red
Weight: 110 lbs
I know we are technically meant to call him ‘Sub1.’ I know.
…But. He just seems so intelligent, and… Well, he deserves a better name. Fine. When the others aren’t around, I’ll be calling him Ina. I think it suits him.
Sep 14
In our studies, Ina has been showing signs of remarkable intelligence. I have continued my observations and am noticing a lot of fascinating details.
– He has spiked tentacles like a humboldt squid, but Ina’s talons can retract at will. It’s unclear why this could’ve evolved.
– Ina definitely recognizes me now! He shows what I would call excitement when I enter the lab… I’ll admit I’m growing fond of him too. After all, I spend a great deal of my time on this ship with him these days.
– His eyes are so big and dark. Sometimes I look into them and wonder what he’s thinking about.
– My personal theory is that the squad lives on hydrothermal vents. I know there are some vaguely nearby, so it’s possible, and Ina showed what looked like recognition when I showed him a picture.
I’ve also noticed something… troubling, to say the least, going on with the other squids. As I have said, void squids are crepuscular, but in the last few days, they have been exhibiting this behavior less and less. Instead, well… before, they avoided our boat to a mildly concerning degree, but now they circle us regardless of their active hours, black as night. I believe this means they are hunting. I know that human interference often changes animals’ behaviour, but this is still unnerving. It’s probably nothing though. This is a new species, and we know so little about their usual habits! I’m probably just paranoid since Rynn got hurt. After all, what’s the worst that can happen?
Sep 23
Chris from the sonar department is gone.
…
That’s it. That’s today’s entry. We’ve searched the whole ship. He simply isn’t here. This isn’t a large boat. There’s nowhere he could be. Everyone is paranoid now, and rightfully so.
…
Update: We reviewed the security footage. Chris jumped into the water and disappeared. I don’t know why– I can’t imagine he would do that of his own accord, but I watched the video with everyone else and it didn’t look like anything made him do it…
I don’t know what’s going on. The squad is coming back to circle us more and more often. We have decided to continue going about our business and Ina is a welcome distraction, but I remain very scared.
Sep 23
More people are disappearing. The void squids are getting bolder. I myself watched as Willow and Greg– crew members, who’ve who’d been nothing but kind to me– were hypnotically taken. The circling squids turned to look at Greg and Willow, arms forming a point directly towards their targets like arrows preparing to strike. Then, all together, the pack began shifting colors. Black and white, slowly at first, then faster, until I could scarcely tell where one squid ended and the hundreds of others began. I wasn’t their target, but I couldn’t resist taking a few steps closer. As the white shifted to pink, then red, all I could think was, ‘How beautiful…’
And then Greg leapt into the water, was torn to shreds instantly, and the spell was shattered. Willow screamed and turned to run when three impossibly fast bloodred squids surged out of the equally red water, clawed arms wrapping around her in an instant. She screamed my name as she vanished into the disgustingly pink froth and was consumed by the squad. There is cold saltwater and warm, sticky blood staining my coat even now. I saw her body tear and break under their beaks and claws and couldn’t do anything.
This expedition is rapidly becoming the stuff of nightmares.
I am sitting beside Ina’s tank. His fellows have caused so much death and pain for us. Maybe I’m delusional to feel so sympathetic towards him in his little tank. He’s looking at me. If only we spoke the same language. I wish I knew what the rest of his squad wanted.
Nov 3
People continue to be… taken. We remain vigilant and avoid going out on the deck when squids are visible, but the Void Squids are extremely efficient predators. I wish we could return home, but our expedition head says that there is still work to be done here. I’m terrified.
I remain assigned to watch over Ina. These days, I barely leave the lab except to eat and sleep. Recently, I’ve been trying to make Ina’s tank cell more comfortable. It’s as much for me as for him– I’ve been focusing on my work lately to keep from thinking of what’s going on outside. Based on my theory that Ina normally lives on a hydrothermal vent, I first gave him a water heater. I attempted to show him how to turn it on and off, which he picked up very quickly. I can’t say I was surprised. I felt like I should do more, but I wasn’t certain what else would make him feel more at home. Eventually I decided to give him one of the small plushies from my bag. I doubt he fully understood what it was and what it can mean to humans, but he turned blue when I gave it to him and has played with it several times since then.
Today, something unusual happened. I fell asleep next to the tank and when I woke up, my coat had been draped over me and Ina had given back my plushie. I don’t know what to make of it. I wonder if it could’ve been Ina taking care of me by tucking me in… aww. I’m growing to like him a lot; I definitely don’t think I’m crazy to believe he cares about me in return, in his cephalopod-ish way.
If only the other squids cared about my colleagues.
Nov 6
I, much like the others who are still here, have taken to removing myself from the ever-increasing horrors around me by diving into my work as much as possible. I’ve gone back to look at my older research, and I think I can do better now at creating an accurate translation of the void squid color palette.
– When hunting, the Void Squids turn black, with whatever angle of their bodies points downward changed to white. The particular shades of these colors change based on time of day, resulting in an almost seamless camouflage.
– When using their hypnosis, they flash the darkest black and brightest white they can and synchronize to each others’ flashing. They replace the white with pink and red to communicate a coordinated strike.
– While at rest, void squids tend to be somewhere between orange, yellow, green, and brown
They often change their texture like octopi, but this doesn’t help much with camouflage in open waters. My current theory is that it is related to communication, but I’ve made little progress in understanding it.
– Ina often turns blue and purple in my presence. I have seen wild void squids doing this with each other as well. Judging by when Ina goes blue with me, I believe it signifies affection. The feeling is quite mutual.
My time with Ina is making it clearer how social, emotional, and intelligent his species can be. I wonder if this could be related to the squad’s social nature…
This is speculation at best. And I know better than to assign human thought and reason to wild animals. But, still… I can’t help thinking that this could explain why the squad is so aggressive toward humans. After all, we are keeping one of them as our prisoner. A somewhat comfortable prisoner, I hope, but imprisoned nonetheless. The last time we did that… the ship was sunk with many casualties. Oh no, my theory seems downright plausible. We’ve made a mistake.
The reason the squad is attacking, and why so many of us are dead, can only be that it’s our own fault. They just want Ina back.
Nov 9
I was nearly taken today.
I made the mistake of not checking the cameras when I went abovedecks last night. As I turned toward the water…
Squids.
So many squids!
I’ve seen their sheer numbers surrounding us before, but I was unprepared to see them all, pale and white like death, staring directly at me. Then they began changing colors. I knew, deep down, that this was how they would get me, that I was in grave danger, but something about it– all those animals, hypnotically drawing me closer, white black white black white black white– kept me from running. My fear faded quickly– black white black white black white– who cares what happened to the others? Those animals, floating there, were just so wonderful. Surely they wouldn’t cause any harm. I felt like I was locked in place. Then my legs started bringing me forward– black white black white black pink– they looked like one giant eye, drawing me inexorably closer and closer. I would’ve followed that eye anywhere. Just thinking about it now is enough to make me shiver. I started to step over the railing, fully prepared to let myself fall just to be closer to the great eye in the water– black pink black pink red black red RED black RED RED RED– oh, it was so painfully beautiful– when something pulled me back, away.
I was still half-dazed from the hypnosis when the squids surged onto the boat’s deck. Meter-long arms covered in talons that could easily rend my flesh apart unfurled faster than whips. Finally I came back to myself and ran.
My savior was Erin, one of our galley staff. She had just happened to see me on the ship’s edge and disregarded her self-preservation instincts to help me. I remain rattled from the experience, but I am also incredibly grateful to her.
Erin is sitting beside me now in the lab. Ina is excellent company, but he is at the end of the day a cephalopod and unfortunately cannot speak or understand English. Amidst this chaos and fear, it’s nice to have a human friend on this ship.
Nov 11
I want to try and communicate back to Ina the way he communicates with me.
I’ve never been great at computerized art, but I tried to make a collage of blues and purples on my computer. When I showed it to Ina, he went blue. I do think he understood my message. When this trip is over, I’m going to miss him.
Nov 12
It’s nearly midnight.
I am in the lab with Erin and Ina. We began this expedition with 47 people onboard. 16 are left. Outside, the rest of the squad is attacking our ship. They are all bloodred. Between their claws, numbers, intelligence, and sheer strength, I doubt we can hold them off. I was out above decks earlier on my way to the lab and saw that some other researchers managed to shoot a few void squids, but there are hundreds more mobbing our vessel, ready to take their place. I was awoken earlier by a spray of water to the face as one of the metal panels on the side of our ship was torn away by raging cephalopod fury. Our captain refuses to do anything, so I have no choice. I must take this situation into my own hands, and by situation, I mean a squid.
I am certain that the squad is only attacking because we have taken one of their own. Ina would not do me any harm. I have discussed my theories with Erin who agrees. We know what we must do.
Right now, I am carrying Ina out of his tank to the upper deck. He is clinging onto me for dear life. It is not an ideal situation, but I can’t really do better at this moment. His arms are all blue, and were I one of his species, I would be the same. I will miss Ina greatly, but there is no other way to prevent more pain and death. Ina and I embrace one last time, and I release him back into the ocean.
Dec 15
It’s good to be back on dry land. It’s been about a month since Ina returned to his squad. My institute now knows what’s truly happened on these research expeditions and has decided we must leave the void squids alone. Learning about the world around us is very important, but not as important as the well being of us researchers and our subjects.
Oh. I still need to recount what happened at the end of my voyage.
The raging squad had pulled off a lot of the ship’s exterior plating and were doing their very best to get onboard by way of the deck and windows, with great success due to their squishiness. As soon as Ina hit the water, the raging squad stilled. Then, the vibrantly red squids around Ina began to change to blue. It was beautiful. Blue slowly spread throughout the squad. They detached from the boat and began to disperse. I watched them return to the deep waters. I swear I could recognize Ina departing and that I saw him look back at me. I waved. I believe he waved back.
The ship sustained heavy damage and would have sunk if not attended to, so we made our way to the nearest port immediately. I salvaged my notes and was one of only two people who saw the squids leave. I am now considered to be the world’s leading void squid expert with the only accurate account of the Kraken disaster. I am honored by this recognition. Today, I’m meant to give a talk about my experiences to marine biologists I have admired my entire life. I hope some good can come from the loss of so many lives, and I will ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. We must treat research subjects with great care and respect.
I have sucker-shaped scars on my hands from when Ina held onto me just before I released him. I hope that wherever he is now, he still thinks about me too. For now though, the void squids will keep their secrets.
