[In an unconscious gesture, he raises his hand up toward his mouth as if he were going to light up one of his mushi cigarettes. Too bad he doesn't have them anymore.]

You assume it's inanimate, anyway. But where I'm from, it wouldn't be out of the question for a mushi to disguise itself as something edible to lure humans and animals toward it.

We've been to several planets on resource missions as it is, could you say with certainty we could identify everything that came back on board with us? It's possible the captains don't know what we're dealing with here, either. Though you're right--they could have been more clear in their instructions to us.

[But maybe the note wasn't meant for them? Maybe someone else is supposed to fix it that knows exactly what they mean? All the more reason to keep inconspicuously observing, at any rate.]