So as to make some context for future readers from more civilised times: Our not so great ancestors from the XXII century in their endless pursue of exploiting every aspect of reality for profit left their planet a shadow of it’s former blue glory. Among uncountable problems they’ve caused, that have eventualy led to the Great Exodus, was the matter of everpresent trash. Bilions of tons of garbage (mainly plastic) were spread throughout the globe, most notably in the form of artificial continent “Garbagia” in the Pacific Ocean, “land”mass the size of roughly South America. Also worth mentioning are the Mega Sahara and Antarctica landfills - desperate attempts at containing the rapid rise of soil polution and lack of space for toxic waste storage.

From an outsider’s perspective, this garbage problem may seem secondary to other, more important matters of the Reclamation, such as repairing the chemical composition of the planet or reviving its extinct fauna and flora. However, cleaning up the planet could still make you a hero in the eyes of the common man, as seemingly endless sees of plastic bottles and bags covering natural habitats came to sybolise the bygone era of negligence. It is also though to be able to be achieved much quicker than other aspects of the Reclamation, so it is very interesting road of career for scientist that would like to eat fruit of their fame during their lifetime. In the present it also comes with the benefit of political notoriety. For that one could thank the leader of one of the more prominent parties in the Solar Federation’s government. Wally Stanton, stubborn yet proud old man, was raised on the stories of once clean blue waters filled with life. Because of that, for him the gruesome sight of Garbagia “caused an intense combination of nausea and primal anger”. He has stated himself that if anyone would find a way to clean up this “horrible monument to mankind’s carelessness”, they shall be made into interplanetary heroes and treated as such.

Taking these reasons into cosideration, it’s no surprise that various scientific organizations from around the orbit were trying to solve the garbage problem. Many ideas came up, yet almost every one had been rejected. Simply collecting waste was deemed too costly, long and ineffective. Using rapid dissolvants clashed with other aspects of the Reclamation, as they were known to be highly toxic. For that same reason other chemical solutions were not take into consideration. Releasing various kinds of decomposing bacteria was seriously considered, however it was thought the microbes would get out of control in such a prolific environment. And then came the Institute of Applied Neobiology. Their main focus was to create living creatures that aided mankind quest for the stars, such as symbiotic fungi that improved astronauts’ capabilities to be able to travel the galaxy or tree-like entities that could survive the harsh conditions of Mars. They decided that they would take a holistic approach to the problem. They would take all proposed solutions, take the best out of them, and wrap them into a mangled biological package. They proposed a project of a creature that would consume waste, chemically and biologically dissolve it in it’s stomach, then it would ingest obtained chemicals in service of reproducing itself, therefore speeding up the cleanup process. The project impressed the scientific elite and soon the works on it begun. After many trials and failed prototypes the Katabolic Reclaimer was brought to life.

There were many kinds of Katabolic Reclaimers. They differed meaningfully, as every kind was adapted to different environments and assignments. There were only three things unchanged between the designs: the general life cycle, resistance to hard Earth conditions, and size. Monstrual size. At the height of it’s power a KR would be as big as 3 housing blocs. Most notable of KRs was the first official “model” - Katabolic Reclaimer 4 - Kind 3 - “Nautilus”. Yes, it was the first one made. The Institute of Applied Neobiology simply bent its own rules of naming specimen, counting failed prototypes as previous working designs and placing the first created subspecies as third. It was in service of making it’s most famous project - “the Conqueror of the Garbagia” - even more marketable to the public. Investments and fame won’t draw themselves I suppose. Back to KR4K3N itself, it was perfectly suited for its appointed task - wash the stain of trash continent off of the Pacific. Its most recognizable fature was the digestive track. It’s teeth were massive coposite blocks which helped crush the plastic waste to breeze. It had pores under its chin where water was filtered from microplastics and escaped into the environment. Its stomach was divided into chemical and microbe digestion sections, each helping to decompose swallowed trash. Microbes were specifically adapted to living inside a KR, any other environment meant death to them. Processes that occured in these chambers created a lot of organic gases. Because of that, KR4K3N possesed another set of pores, through which it was “milked” for gases for further use in the future. After digestion came ingestion, nutrients from which served to mantain live functions of the creature and to reproduce itself through self-impregnation. Katabolic Reclaimers all leave behind environmentaly-friendly excrement, which is meant to one day serve as a fertilizer for returning plants. To counteract potential giant monster outbreak if something were to go wrong, the Institute created a special hormone called necrozine, which if administered to a KR, leads to its sudden death. Other interesting features of the KR4K3N specifically include neurogenic hatered of any floating waste, eyes specifically designed to make distinction between the water and simillarly coloured trash and a set of limbs adapted to aquatic life, including tentacles and fins.

So far the KR4K3N project has been a resounding success, cleaning 1/6 of Garbagia in the span of a decade. Who knows, maybe the Pacific will become free of trash during my own lifetime? All I want to know is why did they have to make this poor bastard so ugly?