A nimble Sailstrider searches for small prey among the cactusgrass that carpets the hills around "Sun Valley."The quaint name belies the nature of the place: The valley floor is composed over eighty square kilometers of solar panels that once powered several nearby cities. A variety of mosses have since spread and thrived across the surface.The Sailstrider is another advanced land-based insect. Its head is essentially a giant nose bristling with sensory whiskers. The dorsal "lantern" is similar to a Terran firefly's and is used to attract mates and ward off predators. The long limbs are thick-skinned for foraging in prickly meadows. Early scans of these creatures' chromasomes indicates genetic engineering at some point in their evolution.
