The Jar

On the second morning, Chiara brought a glass jar to Pasta's tank. The jar had a screw lid. Inside was a live crab.

Drugog jutra, Chiara je donijela staklenku do Pasta akvarija. Staklenka je imala poklopac na navoj. Unutra je bio živi rak.

Chiara held the jar above the water. Pasta watched. One arm uncurled and stretched along the side of the tank.

Chiara je držala staklenku iznad vode. Pasta je promatrala. Jedna ruka se odmotala i protegnula uz rub akvarija.

Chiara dropped the jar into the water. It sank slowly. Pasta did not lunge. Octopuses, Chiara said, are not lungers. They are observers first.

Chiara je ispustila staklenku u vodu. Polako je tonula. Pasta nije jurnula. Hobotnice, rekla je Chiara, nisu one koje jure. One su prvo promatrači.

Polly perched on the tank rim. The crab scuttled against the glass inside the jar. Pasta touched the jar with one arm. Her suckers had two hundred sensory cells each. "An octopus arm tastes everything it touches," Chiara said.

Polly je sjedila na rubu akvarija. Rak je grebao po staklu unutar staklenke. Pasta je dotaknula staklenku jednom rukom. Njezine pipke imale su dvjesto osjetnih stanica svaka. "Ruka hobotnice kuša sve što dotakne," rekla je Chiara.

Pasta gathered the jar with a second arm. The two arms turned it slowly. A third arm came around the back to explore the lid.

Pasta je obuhvatila staklenku drugom rukom. Dvije ruke su je polako okretale. Treća ruka je došla oko stražnje strane da istraži poklopac.

Octopuses have been opening screw-top jars in labs since the 1950s. The first time, it usually takes ten or fifteen minutes. They are not thinking in steps. They are letting the suckers feel the threads and turning the lid the way the threads pull.

Hobotnice otvaraju staklenke s navojem u laboratorijima od 1950-ih. Prvi put, obično im treba deset ili petnaest minuta. Ne razmišljaju u koracima. Pustit će pipke da osjete navoje i okrenuti poklopac u smjeru u kojem navoji povlače.

Pasta turned the lid one half-rotation. Then another. The lid popped free. The crab scrambled out into the open water.

Pasta je okrenula poklopac za pola okreta. Zatim još jedan. Poklopac je iskočio. Rak je izletio u otvorenu vodu.

It did not get far. Pasta's fourth arm was already curled at the jar's mouth. The crab disappeared into the octopus's beak.

Nije stigao daleko. Četvrta Pasta ruka već je bila sklupčana na otvoru staklenke. Rak je nestao u hobotničinom kljunu.

Chiara wrote something on a clipboard. "Three minutes forty-two seconds. She is getting fast. The first time we gave her a jar, it took her eleven minutes."

Chiara je nešto zapisala na pločicu. "Tri minute i četrdeset dvije sekunde. Postaje brza. Prvi put kad smo joj dali staklenku, trebalo joj je jedanaest minuta."

Pasta returned to her coil of pipe. Her arms wrapped around herself.

Pasta se vratila u svoju zavojnicu cijevi. Njezine ruke su se omotale oko nje same.

Octopuses are very strange, Chiara told Polly. They are more closely related to a snail than to anything with a backbone. They have three hearts. Their blood is blue, because it carries oxygen with copper instead of iron. They live only three to five years in the wild. Pasta was already two. She would learn everything she would ever know in the time she had left.

Hobotnice su vrlo čudne, rekla je Chiara Polly. Više su srodne pužu nego bilo čemu s kralježnicom. Imaju tri srca. Njihova krv je plava, jer prenosi kisik s bakrom umjesto željezom. U divljini žive samo tri do pet godina. Pasta je već imala dvije. Naučit će sve što će ikada znati u vremenu koje joj je ostalo.