Encountered: San Carlos, AZ.
Origin: Space

“…In this form we have inhabited the densest brain-webs of three hundred races, lain intricately snug within them like thriving vine on trelliswork. We’ve looked out from too many variously windowed masks to regret our own vestigial senses… Far better to slip on as we do, whole living beings and wear at once all of their limbs and organs, memories and powers – wear all as tightly congruent to our wills as a glove is to the hand that fills it.”
Michael Shea, “The Autopsy”


In larval form, Travelers use semi-transparent spheres, slightly larger than basketballs, to travel through space, falling to planetary surfaces during meteor showers to avoid detection. Its outer surface feels like a strange composite of metal and plastic, and the whole apparatus weighs only a few pounds. Though nearly opaque, lights and circuitry can be seen within. The interface is completely beyond human access, requiring the unique physiology of the Travelers.

It is impervious to anything mankind can assault it with, and only the Travelers’ nerve filaments can open the sphere, triggering a chemical lock with secreted enzymes. The Traveler tends to keep its ship close at hand in case it requires it to flee the planet. A Traveler’s ship can be set to auto-destruct to avoid capture, resulting in an explosion that can level a city block.