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‘It’s got eyes in the back of its head,’ Quentin said.

‘And a head in the back of its eyes,’ added Andy.

‘See that pair of nerve cords running forward to the head?’ Nell pointed at the close-up on the drop-down screen.

‘Yeah, and here’s another pair that run toward the posterior of the animal. See there?’ Quentin pointed. Two white twines of fine string stretched from the brain to the posterior of the animal like jumper cables.

‘It may control the locomotion of its hind legs remotely with the second brain,’ Nell theorized.

‘I’ve never heard of such a thing,’ Otto disagreed. ‘Not fucking possible!’

‘Maybe it has specialized ganglia for speeding up its attack or evasive reflexes, or to help with digestion like some arthropods do,’ Andy offered.

‘Well, we won’t be able to determine that from a dissection.’ Otto frowned. ‘We would have to do a detailed neurological study of live specimens. But we’ll see if we can follow the nerves later. Moving toward the posterior of the animal we see very powerful, kangaroo-like hind legs, with an extra joint where the tibia would be. These limbs are connected to a wide subcutaneous pelvic girdle that is ring-or tube-shaped like the other rings. The tail—’

‘I don’t think that’s a tail,’ Quentin said.

‘It’s a leg,’ Nell said.

Otto scowled.

‘Pull it out from under the body,’ Nell suggested.

‘OK. The tail has a wide base. It is very stiff. It is long and broad, folding more than halfway under the animal to the chest area between the forelegs. The dorsal surface of the tail, which is the bottom when under the animal, is covered with ridged plates and spines in a geometric pattern.’

‘Traction pads.’ Nell indicated the bottom of the ‘tail.’ ‘And cleats–like the bottom of a running shoe!’

‘Whoa,’ Quentin exclaimed. ‘It must rip that tail backwards under it to get air!’

‘The taillike appendage appears to be a sort of ninth leg.’ Otto shook his head in amazement. ‘This leg might be used to propel the animal higher or faster during leaps.’