Opting For Octopi

Hey, folks. Today’s Daily Prompt is all about hybrids. Not cars, but the unusual combinations of humans, animals, or objects that result in interesting powers or characters. Spider-Man, Wolverine, and Beast are the most obvious examples, though the basic idea has been a part of various cultures since the beginning of recorded history. Though less spectacular in real-life biology, it’s still a common and important aspect of the natural world. Being able to augment and enhance your own abilities by combining with other beings is a fascinating – if occasionally terrifying – aspect of fantasy.

As for me…Hmmm. This is actually kind of hard. The knee-jerk reaction would be to say bird wings, thus granting me the ability to fly. However, that one might be more trouble than it’s worth. Think about it. From a physics perspective, my wings would have to be a good 12 feet or so; the sheer bulk of muscles needed for flapping them would be like having a hang glider strapped to my back. Can you imagine the logistics involved with that? How would I sleep? Put on clothes? Get through doors? How much food and oxygen would I have to consume to have enough energy to fly? Not to mention all the people trying to hunt me down for experiments. I’d much rather have magnetoception, which is what allows birds and other animals to sense the planet’s magnetic field. It’d be like having a GPS uploaded into my mind; I’d be able to explore the world without ever getting truly lost!

The last part of the hybrid would probably involve octopi. They’re my favorite animals, and for good reason; not only are they highly intelligent, but they’re brimming with all kinds of abilities. Being able to change skin pigmentation and texture on a whim would be great for blending in to different environments and avoiding unwanted detection. It’s not full-blown invisibility, but it’s definitely worth having. If I’m in a fight, I’d have some extremely lethal poison as my trump card. My skeletal structure would be altered just enough to make me more limber, and an additional statocyst would help with balance and overall athleticism. With my improved sense of touch, I could better analyze objects and develop tactile technology. Depending on what species I choose, I could produce my own private light source. I could create my own custom inking business, too! Unlike bird wings, I could easily tie my extra appendages back and save them for when I need to do some extra-heavy lifting.

Also, I have to give an honorary mention to Cthulhu. Hybrid cephalopods don’t get any cooler than that, though I’m not exactly keen on having mastery of madness and mind alteration. I’ll stick to the squids of Earth.

Advertisement

Daily Prompt: Now You See Me, Or: Teleportation Consternation

Hey, folks. Today’s Daily Prompt is about super powers again. This one’s a little more specific, though: what would you do with the power to appear or disappear at will? Now, this one’s kind of tricky because the extent of the power and its consequences aren’t discussed. The logistics alone would make me hesitate to use the power at all. Oh sure, it looks cool…on paper, anyway. You probably think I’m just an unimaginative naysayer, but let’s think about this. There are several aspects of the power that need to be considered:

-How long does the power stay in effect? Will you have to hold your breath like Shadowcat?

-Do you stay in the same place when you disappear? Do you just turn invisible? That’s not very helpful against, you know, an oncoming car. Or swords. Or anything deadly that you couldn’t possibly avoid anyway.

-If you’re capable of traveling distances while using your power, is there a range? How far is it? Can you do Bleach-style Flash Steps? Can you do some globe-hopping?

-If you do travel, how do you get through objects? Do you become intangible? Is there a portal system? Do you have to travel through a demonic alternate dimension a la Nightcrawler?

Also, if you’re traveling distances, shouldn’t you know exactly where you’re going? How are the destinations determined? Doesn’t the Earth’s rotation factor into that? What happens if you let your mind wander and reappear in a chunk of concrete? How exactly is the human mind supposed to develop the superhuman levels of spatial cognizance to do that? Do you practice in an open field or something?

-What about the conservation of momentum? If you decide to vanish out of a moving vehicle, then won’t you crash-land when you reappear? You really think teleporting out of a falling airplane and back into your safe little apartment is going to save you?

-If you’re not intangible, then that power isn’t going to help you get out of most situations. Especially in crowded, populated, camera-filled areas. If someone sees you disappear in front of them, they’re going to freak out. Have fun getting your mystical mug plastered all over YouTube, and then being chased by the government for “science.” Or amateur ghost hunters. Maybe both.

-Do your powers extend to your clothes? What happens if you decide to disappear, but only your physical body vanishes? You’ll leave a pile of laundry/traceable evidence behind! Didn’t that happen on Alex Mack? Oh, and I hope you have a good explanation for when you randomly reappear naked somewhere. Or do you have to wear a skin-tight undersuit, like the heroes in Animorphs?

-How much concentration and/or energy is required to use the power? Does it effect your metabolism, like The Flash? Will it kill you if it’s used too much? If you don’t focus enough, will you leave body parts behind? Didn’t that happen on the Star Trek transporters a couple dozen times?!

…Oh, dear. This is getting messy.

Look, teleportation would only be useful if it didn’t place enormous strain on your body, let you develop some kind of supplementary super-spatial cognizance, and allowed you to transport foreign objects as well. Those criteria in play, I would use it to explore the world. Reach far-flung cultures and get lost within them. See the world from all its peaks. Circumnavigate the globe in the blink of an eye…But that’s not all. There are practical uses too; I could use it to do scouting and mapping on scientific expeditions. If the range is far enough, I could revolutionize space exploration! When disaster strikes, I could bring medical aid and resources on an unprecedented scale. Or set up my own product shipment service. You think Amazon’s delivery drones are cool? I could teleport that Kindle with the snap of a finger. It’d be like magic.