BLOCKSNAKE - TIMELINE #7201178

(Timeline Tuesday #112)

Blocksnakes closely resemble the snakes of this timeline in many ways, although in technicality they are not reptilian creatures. This species comes in a variety of green hues, from dark forest shades to brilliant limes. The do not have scales, but are instead covered by a featureless, pseudo-plastic material, which creates a series of perfectly cubed body segments. These segments are always positioned together, but close inspection reveals they are not physically connected. Instead, a blocksnake is held together through some kind of telekinetic energy, an energy that is innate within all blocksnakes and will continue until the creature’s death. At that point, the individual blocks will disconnect and scatter.

Other than size, the head of a blocksnake is the only segment with any differential features. This first cube sports two yellow eyes, one on either side of the block, and a perfectly square mouth of long, sharp teeth.

Blocksnakes are carnivores, hunting their habitat for small woodland creatures. They creatures cannot “fly” but are consistently hovering just a few feet off the ground. This allows blocksnakes to traverse complex, forested terrain quite easily, and provides them with an incredible advantage.

When a blocksnake captures its prey, the consumed creature will find itself briefly trapped in the blocksnake’s head-box. It’s here they will quickly be processed, and while scientists do not understand exactly what’s happening when this occurs, there are several clues thanks to a small amount of visibility through a blocksnake’s teeth. Anything a blocksnake consumes is almost immediately broken down into strings of what appear to be digital code, these binary bits flickering and then disappearing into the ether. When this process occurs enough times, the blocksnake will grow an additional cube at the end of its tail, and the other cubes become slightly larger.

Through this growth process, mature blocksnakes can grow to incredible sizes, and on rare occasions they can become large enough to pose a threat to unsuspecting humans. A rough estimation of blocksnake age can be made with this knowledge, as newborn blocksnakes are nothing more than the initial head-cube.