"Camden!" Selene's mother yelled. She took up the soup pot she was cooking with and held it in front of him. "Drop it now!" she gestured to the pot with the lid.
Camden had a confused look on his face. Then he dropped the dangling bug into the pot. It burrowed into the sloppy sauce.
"I don't think it'll taste very good..." he mumbled.
"Mom—do you think? Maybe?" Selene was standing now in the living room facing the kitchen area.
Her mom had a scared look on her face too. "I-it's probably fine. Just because it made it's way into the colony doesn't mean it's dangerous... I mean, they discover new planets and new species practically every year these days!"
"Arf!" Tywin barked.
They all looked at the mop of a dog who started to wag his tail at all the attention. Their mom let out a breath. "Find me something heavy to put on this." she said after a moment.
They had to explain the thing to their father when he came home from work in the fields. And he was more than curious to see it.
"I've heard of people having centipedes for pets on other worlds. This is... Flagrant? Vibrant? Hmm, what's the word I'm looking for?" he said looking at the clear tupperware container they've moved it to.
"Pretty!" Camden beamed. Their dad waved a finger as if to say; 'that's it.'.
It seemed eerily calm... Considering there were four alien primates staring at it.
During this time the monitor was still playing the news. Apparently they were gathering people who've had contact with these things into the makeshift camp puck setup.
"Honey I think we should call the Protectorate." mom put her hand on dads shoulder as she asked.
"Fuck puck." he said, looking at the thing as it walked lazily to the edge of the container and began probing the plastic wall with it's antenna.
"Freak puck." Camden said.
Their dad tapped the tupperware; "Things only get worse when puck comes sniffing around. Only the system at large benefits. I mean look-" he gestured to the monitor Selene had turned on. "They're putting people in camps for christs' sake!"
Selene rubbed the soft sleeves of her hoodie uneasily. "Then what do we do with it? Kill it?"
It was currently curling into a ball. Was it trying to look cute?
Dad shook his head. "This little guy did nothing wrong. I say we keep him."
Mom yanked the container away from the kitchen counter. Which caused the giant purple earwig to tumble ass over teakettle into the corner of the tupperware. It's feelers waved around lazily while it was on it's back.
"No way in HELL we're keeping some planet hopping alien! This isn't the same as Tywin!"
Tywin picked up his head from where he was now laying.
"Honey—Jen- just relax for a minute. Puck always overreacts to things. We can go down to the supply store and get a fish tank or something... Let the thing die of old age in a peace rather than under some freak scientists scalpel. They have enough specimens I'm sure."
"I want to keep it!" Camden said.
"This isn't a pet Camden. Your father is being sweet, but he's wrong about puck. The protectorate is just trying to keep an invasive species- bugs... From being in places they don't belong."
Selene knew where this argument was going. It wasn't about the earwig. It was about puck now. She had to nip it in the bud before it spiraled out of control.
"It's just a bug dad." she said pleadingly. She didn't say what she wanted to say, but she would if she had to. That puck was probably right about this. Despite how much her dad hated them, puck wasn't responsible for all the evils in the sector.
Their father put his hands on the counter and he leaned against it. "Exactly. It's just a bug. Today it's just a bug, but I've seen things like this spiral out of control on other worlds. What if their laws about how we treat interspecies relations prevents us—"
"Unclassified aliens are dangerous hun. Who knows what that things can do? It might look harmless, but does it seem scared to you?" mom asked.
Dad looked to the container in her hands. The pearlescent segmented worm with many legs was now pressed up halfway against the container towards him. Dad chewed his lip a bit.
"It's a big universe. What if one day we come across something and they don't appreciate how we cut up their pets? I wouldn't be happy if some alien found Tywin and did that. There's better ways."
"If there were other sentient species besides us or we would've found them by now." mom said. She pulled a roll of ducktape from the kitchen drawer. "I'm taking it to puck—the protectorate. And then we're all going to get checked out. And that's final."
"Jen- please, just think for a sec.",
Mom gave him her trademark puppy-dog eyes. "Would you really put our family at risk? Over this?"
That stopped dad in his tracks. He grumbled over that for a moment. Then let out an exasperated sigh. "Fiiiine. God you're stubborn. Whoever said opposites attract?" he scoffed. "Alright backpacks... We're going to puck. Damn it all. Weeks or months of our lives in a camp for nothing."
"Thanks Ron." mom grabbed his wrist and gave it a squeeze. "You'll see, this is for the best."
Crisis averted. But for the record Selene imagined a life where they kept the little thing. She wondered just how big it would get. If it was playful, or curious... It seemed friendly enough. But as far as puck was concerned—new was dangerous. No matter what it was. 9 times out of 10 it turned out fine. But it was worth it to be sure.
They duck tapped the container closed and drove to the makeshift puck camp.