The Pika

The Pika in its lair.

The Pika (/ˈpaɪkə/ py-kə; archaically spelled Pica) is a small mammal, with short limbs, very round body, rounded ears, and no external tail.

Whistling hare

It is also known as the "whistling hare" due to its high-pitched alarm call when diving into its burrow.

Failed expeditions into the the burrow

Several expeditions have entered, and failed to return from, the Pika's burrow.

Tuttle Expedition

Richard Tuttle famously assembled the Tuttle Expedition -- a crack team of post-Cubists and early Abstract Expressionists -- paying them handsomely to "Seek the Pik", as he put it.

The expedition descended in high hopes, but no one returned to tell the tale.

John Brunner declined an invitation to join the expedition, and later wrote a book about the dreams and premonitions which led to his decision.

Bonaparte's Gull

Diagram of Bonaparte's Gull strafing a tennis court. Note the cone-shaped broadening of the supersonic shockwave. Yellow: hyperbola-shaped ground contact zone of the shockwave.

The Pika and Bonaparte's Gull are mortal enemies, and will attack each other on sight.

Fiction cross-reference

• Bonaparte's Gull
• John Brunner
• Richard Tuttle

Nonfiction cross-reference

• Pika (nonfiction)