Mimic Octopus

I love this creature. Look at it, this is the pinnacle of behavioural evolution, I mean think about it- It can change it's shape and colour and, whilst that in itself is unremarkable for an octopus, it changes shape and colour and behaviour specifically to mimic certain species. I have also seen videos and pictures of it mimicking jellyfish and mantis shrimp (!), and in the video it shows it mimicking a poisonous sole. How does it know that that particular sole is toxic? Enough said...

(p.s. In the video it shows an octopus mimicking something that supposedly neither the commentator or the marine biologist could figure out what it was doing. This kind of worries me. It is clearly mimicking a frog fish. These fish have two fins which they use for locomotion when on the sea bed, and it looks as if it is "walking". Granted, the below video doesn't show the aspect of the animal well, but it is the best I could find at short notice. See you later.

Story 1- Part 3

10 minutes flight time away two RAF Boeing CH-47 Chinook twin-rotor helicopters and two USAF stealth modified UH-60 Black Hawk. Captain Roger “Tactics” Tackle was pacing the leading Black Hawk. He hated aircraft and he just wanted to get down on the ground and fight. He was mainly a true soldier, wanting to get down into the dirty work. He needed to get down and start fighting, and he could do so as soon as the sniper contacted him.

There was a crackle of static as the two-way received a message from the sniper. The message was news. Bad news. He opened up a line to the pilots and told them to bank hard right.

As the stealth helicopter banked he opened up a line to the other helicopters and briefed them on the current situation. He enunciated strongly in his southern English accent what the sniper had told him: “I have just received intelligence from the sniper. He screwed up. When he shot the first man, the next man was just coming round the corner so he didn’t have time to scope his next man properly. He hit him in the chest. Whilst this was a kill shot he cried out as he went down. Another guard raised the alarm and now we are facing a fully fledged, if small, army. So that is why we are putting into place Instructions Beta. All aircraft will open hatch and door gunners will advance to position. Aircraft will remain in a tight circle above Takana and primary targets are as follows: Anti-Aircraft guns, turrets, although unlikely to exist, must also be taken into account for, along with Tanks and RPG-wielding enemies.” As if to accentuate the need for the anti-aircraft guns to be taken out there was a dull thud as an explosive round embedded itself into the strengthened metal skin of the aircraft. He made his way to the opening hatch as people around him rushed to obey his commands. He was a powerful person in this section of the army and he was well liked by most of the people he leaded. He sat down on the seat and took aim at a particularly nasty looking anti-aircraft gun.

In one of the two Chinooks, the highly trained, if gun ho, marine gunner .He sat down on the seat and took hold of the dual handles of the door gun. He wheeled round in the chair and, with the aid of one of the UH-60s, took out one of the anti aircraft guns. He watched as the ammunition ignited and sent the Taliban fighters surrounding it were sent flying. A tank turned its ugly great turret towards the helicopter. He let loose a lethal stream of tracer bullets, ripping the tank apart with a deadly tattoo and igniting the fuel tank, killing anyone in the vehicle instantly. As the satisfying sound of the Gatling guns glowing bullets slamming into the useless armour of an un-expecting tank died away the gunner saw a rapidly advancing plume of smoke and fire heading towards them. An RPG had been fired at the helicopter. He swung the heavy machine gun around and tried to shoot down the explosive but he knew it was too late. He felt the heat of the device fly past him as it continued along the inside of the dual-rotor helicopter towards the cockpit. The last thing that he thought before the helicopter was ripped open was that it was all his fault that they were going to die, but then it was gone, like his body, into the whirling desert wind. 

Story 1- Part 2

The guard was walking around his patrol, bored and almost hoping that something was going to happen just so he had something to do.

He got a little bit more than he wanted.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a tiny flash on the side of the hill and almost before he could register it a searing pain came from his neck as the bullet passed through his jugular. Out of the other side the bullet came, along with a fine mist of blood, neck bone, nerve and voice box. Then the blood came. It drenched the wall and, the sniper noticed, went just around the corner.

The corner that the next guard was coming around as he completed the circuit.

The sniper had to act quick as he realised the guard would raise the alarm. He had to be killed. The sniper repositioned himself and aimed quickly. He went for the jugular and pulled the trigger.

He hit the chest.

The man cried out as he was hit, and unfortunately this distress signal was heard by another guard in the compound and this guard raised the alarm. At the most critical stage in the operation.

Awesome Sea Creature 1

That, my friends, is me, Mantis Shrimp. And no, sceptics, that is not a photoshopped image or an alien. It is just a sea creature.

Story 1- Part 1

It was a cold night in the Middle Eastern desert. The townspeople of Takana new that Al Qaeda forces lurked among the town ,but they also knew that those who stood up to them disappeared. Permanently. The only moving things were litter being blown about by the wind, and a couple of night watchmen walking around on their patrol. That was all about to change.                                                                          

The man in the Ghillie suit was lying as still as he could. Amongst the shrubs and dry grasses on the rocky outcrop there was little chance of being spotted, but the man thought it best not to take the chance.

Operation Hunting Knife had been planned several weeks ago. The town of Takana had been under surveillance for several months as the joint SAS/U.S. Marines special ops taskforce Tiger Squad had already known, (with assistance from an American RQ-170 Stealth Reconnaissance Drone), that Takana was a minor Al Qaeda threat.

That had all changed around 3 Months ago. An armoured vehicle arrived at the stronghold under cover of night. This was not suspicious, however what the thermal imaging device stationed in a Global Hawk UAV drone was. The trucks inside was very hot. Only one thing could have caused that heat. Nuclear decay.

When a nuclear reaction occurs, the remaining fuel is still radioactive. This radioactivity is mainly released in the form of heat. Lots and lots of heat.

The remaining planning was simple. But you will find out what happens later in the story. The sniper lied there in the midst of the grass, calming down and trying to ignore that the entire operation was down to when he decided to pull the trigger on his silenced Barret 50 Cal. He was suddenly roused from his state of meditation by the beeping of his 2-way radio- The go ahead. He stared down the Night Vision ACOG scope and aimed at the guard’s jugular- it was best to avoid the chance of a cry- and pulled the trigger.

What will I do?

With this blog I intend to post about marine life, and also, primarily, my stories. I can't be asked to think of a good title for any of my work, but I will tell you that my first story inspired the name of the blog...

Beginning

In this first post I will like to outline who I am and what this blog is all about. 
So, are we sitting comfortably? If so, the story will begin.
Once upon a time, there was a boy. People thought him odd as whereas they might want to be a football player or another "Normal" person in the future, this boy did not. He was, admittedly, quite strange. This boy wanted to be a marine biologist, a very unusual job. Whereas people may argue that a relatively large amount of people wanted to do this, the sea creatures ruled this boys world. But that was not the only thing he wanted to be. He also wanted to be an author of some description. But he was afraid of the scrutiny that the other members of his class could make. So he decided to do it somewhere were he was free from scrutiny, he was free from bullying. This is that place. The internet.


I am that boy. I am Lee Bucks.