“I wish I was Dumbo the Octopus. Adapted to freezing deep-ocean temperatures, I’d flop around down there atpeace. The big concerns of my life would be what sort of bottom-coating slime to feed off of—that’s not so different from now—plus I wouldn’t haveany natural predators; then again, I don’t have any now, and that hasn’t done me a whole lot of good. But it suddenly makes sense: I’d like to beunder the sea, as an octopus.”