KäFER - the Quickbug Organic vehicles have many advantages over mechanical ones, not the least of which being the sense of status one receives by using a product that's based on the latest advances in genetic engineering. The Käfer is one such vehicle. It scuttles along on sticky peach-colored tentacles at a swiftness that is truly breathtaking (and perhaps creepy). It is this speed, and the accompanying reflexes that allow it to evade accidents quicker than a human driver could possibly react, that have allowed the Käfer to corner the organic veicle market. Despite its giant wing casings, it has no wings, just lots of storage space. Its steel-hard carapace, swift regeneration of soft tissues, good food mileage, telepathic controls, and the option of riding it up vertical surfaces and even upside down are other sales points. They don't have built-in seats like some competitors, and must be ridden an inorganic apparatus strapped to the dorsal surface. Buyers can have Käfers in any color they like, so long as they like pale indigo. Any paint job is lost during molting. Like other organic vehicles, its emissions don't harm the environment, but are more noticable and unpleasant than air pollution. Another disadvantage would be its tendency to go rogue.

KRABBEN - the Hardsquid A colossal arthropod mutation, the Krabben resembles a hard-shelled variety of Mesonychoteuthis , and has the size, shape, and malicious attitude of the enormous squids of sailors' yarns. Yet this species' malice is directed solely at soft-bodied invertebrates. Sympathetic to other invertebrates with exoskeletons and indifferent to vertebrates, Krabbens have a sworn duty to exact vengeance upon soft-bodied invertebrates of any phylum, though what sin their kind committed against the Krabbens remains a mystery. Krabbens' formidable pinchers are the least of their weapons. They attack their foes with a cloud of enzymes. Some of these enzymes break down ambient organic matter, while another (chitin synthase) reconstructs these building-blocks into a chitin shell which suffocates the victim. Krabbens have been known to spawn hard-shelled varieties of other soft-bodied invertebrates, some of which have ventured onto dry land. This is no doubt the first step toward a new world order where all niches currently occupied by soft-bodied invertebrates are filled by hard-shelled ones.

FINOCHIETTO - the Ribsnapper These sterile, pointless quadrupeds often hatch from Krabben eggs; reproductive errors not unlike mules. Some live on land, others under the sea, and their features vary (their limbs in particular are a grab-bag of insect, crustacean, myriapod, and chelicerate parts), but they are united in their lack of purpose. They can sense the heartbeat of a large, warm-blooded animal. Once located, they spring upon the animal like a jumping zebra spider and grip its thorax like a vice. If all goes well for the Finochietto, this cracks the ribcage like a walnut in a nutcracker. For reasons that are less than clear, Finochietti try to kill anything larger than them that has a heartbeat, and (if they can) cocoon it in silk. Then they leave it. Eating only what little meat they need to survive, they cut a wasteful swath of destruction across the globe. Perhaps their instincts tell them they are securing food for some queen to lay eggs in.

FINROD - the Sky Fish The single fastest biological organism ever documented, these extremely tiny creatures are believed to squirm through weak points in the barriers between dimensions. They move quickly enough to be virtually invisible, and can slice through most matter with ease, but greatly fear most other creatures and attempt to avoid notice. PUFFBLUME - the Cosmic Weed This small, silicon-based organism cannot move and lives for only seconds, but instantaneously replicates itself in large numbers, creating patches that appear to move as they grow and die in succession. In close enough proximity to a living organism, it can rapidly infest the victim's body and sap it of energy, leaving an ashen husk by the time the swarm moves on. These creatures are thought to have arrived as dormant spores in a meteor shower. BACK Contents copyright their original artists. No duplication, reproduction, or reprinting of art allowed.