In the history of the planet Earth there have been at least five really huge mass extinctions, each one wiping clean the majority of complex life, leaving the survivors to start anew. In the history of the satellite Neä, which is a good deal longer than the history of Earth, there have been eight. On Earth we have the Coelacanth, which has survived one of the most complete mass extinctions ever (not just the one that killed the dinosaurs; they survived the bigger one that killed off everything before the dinosaurs). On Neä there is a species that has survived three such extinctions. And unlike the Coelacanth, they are intelligent. And above all else, they know how to survive.

They live in the deeps of the ocean, and are the scourge of fishing boats and research teams the world over. They can hear microwaves, and they can see gamma rays. They do not have hands. They do not need hands.

The Neätans call them kahst.

—Excerpt from Professor Odd #2: "The Slowly Dying Planet"

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Colored pencils on paper. An older piece from 2011, illustrating a scene from the second Professor Odd novella—which can be read in print or in pixels over here: http://heliopauseweb.com/professor-odd-2/

It is also available as a print over here: http://www.deviantart.com/print/27321194/