Hermit Worm
Summary
A planet-scale creature discovered by accident by Aerthian colonists approximately one thousand years before the chapter’s narrator writes. The hermit worm lives in a planet’s hollow core, subsisting on magma and metamorphic rock. Its survival strategy — analogous to a hermit crab’s — is to enter a planet, wear it as a shell while consuming its resources, release a planet-wide toxic cloud (which asphyxiated the first colonists to find one), and move on. Many more hermit worms have since been detected, all using the same strategy. There is no known method of fighting one. The Galactic Human Empire’s official advice: if a hermit worm is approaching your planet or moon, leave immediately.
In the book
- Ch. 07 — 101 Things to Not Visit in the Galaxy Before You Die: Second of the chapter’s catalogue entries; establishes that humanity’s galaxy contains creatures against which no defense exists.
Effects / capabilities
- Inhabits and hollows out planetary cores via magma/rock consumption.
- Releases a planet-wide toxic cloud (asphyxiation effect).
- Planet-scale in size — no known weapon or countermeasure is effective.
- Moves between planets, treating them as disposable shells.
Related
- Galactic Human Empire — issues evacuation advisories; acknowledges no military solution
- Ether Orca — another creature catalogued in the same chapter; contrasts with the orca’s curious harmlessness
Open questions
- How does a hermit worm transit between planets — its own propulsion through space, or riding celestial mechanics?
- Can one be detected before it enters a planet, allowing earlier evacuation?
- Is the toxic cloud an active defense mechanism or a metabolic byproduct?