Wasp eaters (or Wasp weasels in older chapters) are small constructs with eight legs developed from weasels ✣ by Doctor Bren for the Wulfenbach Vespiary Squad. Though originally created to hunt slaver wasps, they can also detect the resulting revenants the wasps create. This would not have been considered useful until recently, as one could easily identify revenants by their shambling zombie-like behavior. However, with the discovery of the sneaky, dangerous ones who have the audacity to look and behave like normal human beings until the Other calls on them, the weasels have become even more useful (at least to the Baron).
A wasp weasel testing Bang for revenant infestation
The first time we see one, Klaus is using it to make sure that Bangladesh DuPree hasn't gone revenant.[1]
On this particular occasion, a convenient demonstration becomes available when the weasel discovers that a messenger from Sturmhalten, who's calling on Klaus at the same time, is a revenant (and is taken off to be, um, "treated").[2] We see from this the basic way the wasp weasel works: it sniffs the interesting person and if he or she is "clean", hums contentedly (“♫”) afterward; while an encounter with a revenant provokes a loud hiss or shriek, raised hackles, and so on. The reaction can be considerably more emphatic, ranging up to full-fledged freakout if they smell an actual wasp.[3]
Physically, the weasels appear similar in coloration and overall aspect to ordinary weasels (Mustelids of genus Mustela, which do hunt primarily by smell and occasionally eat insects), though perhaps larger (30-50cm vs 20-30cm). They appear to have a strange mechanical implant to the left hemisphere of the brain consisting of several small spheres, and perhaps most strikingly (once it is noticed), two extra pairs of legs.
When the Squad escapes Castle Wulfenbach and makes a forced landing in Mechanicsburg, we learn that although most of the constructs have been made individually,[4] eight-legged weasel kits (with less-prominent “implants”) survive the crash.
These may be the result of a successful program by Dr. Bren to produce a version capable of breeding.
The weasels on the crashed ship really like Tarvek.[5] Happy weasels make a “dook” noise, or squeal “eeeee” or “squee” when excited. Kits go “neep” and “skeee”.[6] One has taken a shine to Agatha Heterodyne and now accompanies her as well; following the timeskip and the disruption of the Wulfenbach empire, it is the only one of its kind known to be still alive.
Detail View of a Weasel at Work
Revenant detected!
See also
References
- ↑ “She is clean, Herr Baron.” ✣
- ↑ “We’ll do what we can for you.” ✣
- ↑ Agatha activates the spark wasp. “BEEP! FWSSSSH!” “Snf. SCREEE!” ✣
- ↑ Dese tings ain’t supposed to haff babbies. ✣
- ↑ “Lucky me.” ✣
- ↑ “Neep?” ✣