THE ARTIFACT

Log 3, Sand Rippers. I’ve encountered a fierce predatory animal in the desert who I’ve dubbed sand rippers due to disembowelment being their primary hunting strategy. Sand rippers are fast bipedal predators whose arms end in sharp hooks. The thighs contain small jets like the ones seen on aerial animals here, these jets are very important to the sand rippers hunting. The process for a sand ripper hunt is as follows, a group of around 5-7 sand rippers will run towards prey and give chase, when a member of the pack gets close to the prey they will activate their jets and jump toward the prey in one massive leap, then they dig the hooks deep onto the prey’s side and pull back creating a deep gash in the prey causing them to die of blood loss. A sand ripper’s jump is powerful, reaching heights of 9-10 ft and covering an average distance of 35ft. The back leg of a sand ripper is specialized for their propulsion-based jumping with muscles on the thigh and ankle being stacked atop each other to prevent bone fractures. Sand rippers are clearly related animals like cold runners and blunt bulls as they share features such as a crown and a system to ignite methane in the air, I’ve decided to dub the whole genus the erucaus (heir-oo-cause) genus. The shock absorption on the sand rippers isn’t too dissimilar to that seen on a lacopus, in fact, it's almost like a scaled-down version of that system, I think I knew a hybrid whose legs were like this; anyway, I recorded the force that their muscles ca-

Are you going to have a hybrid?

What?

You and Folly. Are you two going to have a hybrid when you're older?

I, I don’t know we haven’t really thought of it since we're not dating yet.

Hm, I wouldn’t be surprised If you do, you hate having a title so being one of the few pure humans is something you’d end as soon as possible. That’s probably why you’re not dating the girl that likes you since it give you the title of boyfriend.

Why do you even care. You have shut every emotion off in your brain and haven’t so much as smiled at anyone so why are you suddenly judging me on my love life that has barely even started. Or are just being an ass like you always are?

The sand rippers are approaching this area, I suggest we leave for our safety.

*sigh* Thanks droid. Common I see a cave up there we can go to.