"And you're gonna know exactly what happens at any given time." AJ snorted, but for once, not in mean spirits. "Because every squid-lobster's gonna get you exactly the same. How do you know this thing isn't smart, or wasn't smart. How do you know you haven't gone and pissed off its wife or kid or something and now they're plotting watery revenge from down under the acid rocks?"

Somehow, the idea of causing a chain reaction of bitter vitriol sounded satisfying to her, though mostly it was because it was so far fetched. AJ had stifled her urges to fuck with people hard after she'd picked up the Biomatrix; it had warned her not to meddle, though subtly, because she had not subtlety. It had turned out that that suggestion had been to her own near-abouts destruction... But here, she had only herself to thank or to blame for not stirring the shit. People were on edge, and it would be so easy... but she was going to be good. Not just because she'd been warned by a little scarred up bear of a woman (who was intimidating by her own rights, no doubt) but because Algidus would be hurt through her meddling.

...A lot about that didn't sit right with her. She liked to believe it was because they shared a very specific background, and that was all. "Once you start with this one you're gonna be having to up your game if they learn how to hurl those acid rocks, you know?"