"Gray tear-shaped eyes and no nostrils and a mouth was unlike almost every other mouth in the universe. Elaborate and unique, the organ resembled a human beard. A tangle of tightly wound wire-like ropes emerged from the lowest portions of the face, each as thick as Quee Lee’s arm and far, far longer. Some of these ropes ended with razored tips evolved for piercing tough carpaces, while the rest could be described as armored pipettes,"