The weblike creature was a sentient non-humanoid lifeform native to an unnamed planet located somewhere in the galaxy's Alpha or Beta Quadrant.
History and specifics[]
This lifeform existed on its homeworld in the form of a vast forest of interconnecting tendrils forming one enormous organism. (ENT episode: "Vox Sola")
Physiology[]
The creature resembled an amorphous mass of pale-colored tendrils with no visible mouth or sensory organs. It had a very complex nervous system and small parts of the creature were capable of detaching from the rest of it and continuing to exist as independent organisms while retaining their awareness. The creature was able to capture other species with its tentacles and interface with their nervous systems. This resulted in the creature's captured victims being able to share each other's memories and being able to feel the creature's pain. It was theorized that the creature's victims would eventually merge fully the creature and lose their individuality. The creature was capable of surviving in the vacuum of space and communicated in a language that was similar to calculus equations. (ENT episode: "Vox Sola")
History[]
In the year 2151, a small piece of the creature detached from the rest of it and stowed away aboard a Kreetassan spacecraft. It later moved to the Enterprise NX-01 when the two ships were docked and nested in Cargo Bay 2. Desperate to be part of a larger whole again, the creature captured two crewmen, Michael Rostov and Janelle Kelly, and merged their nervous systems with itself. Growing rapidly in the cargo bay, the weblike creature snared Captain Jonathan Archer and Commander Trip Tucker during a failed rescue operation.
Determining that the creature was vulnerable to electromagnetic radiation, the Enterprise crew attempted to attack the creature, but this caused excruciating pain to the creature's victims. After examining a small piece of tendril that became separated from the creature, Doctor Phlox theorized that even small parts of the creature were sentient. Communications Officer Hoshi Sato worked with T'Pol to translate the creature's mathematical language, while Travis Mayweather was able to get the location of the creature's homeworld from the Kreetassans.
Sato communicated with the creature, getting it to release the four trapped crewmembers in exchange for being taken back to its homeworld. After being released on its home planet, the creature immediately merged with the rest of itself.