A blob of baby Technicolor Goo.
Technicolor Goos (hereafter (known as TG) originated from one of the very few post-"grey goo" worlds. Those world have experienced the ultimate singularity of all living and non-living things, and their planets were once fully covered by seas of grey goo.
However, just as DNA would mutate, so would programs. After years of accumulated errors and bugs, sometimes there would be some goo that gained "color." (Some researchers on Intelligence argues that Technicolor goo are the ultimate evolution of all grey goos, as they consider polycultures and monocultures are "natural cycles" of all sentinel beings.). Most of these single colored goos began with one color: a preference of a material, or sometimes even a certain personality. In other words, sometimes that was supposed to unify everytjing and treat everything equally now has preference.
Given time, these "Monocolor" goos (hereafter known as MG) would evolve, converge, and build consensus. Under the right conditions, a colony of MGs can integrate with anothet conoly of a different color. And eventually, there will be a colony of goo that has all the colors in the universe, colors both known and unknown to other cultures, which would be TG. There are scientists and artists who form almost religious study groups to understand exactly how many colors the TG has. The current commonly agreed answer is 3.71 x 1013, or 30 trillion colors.
The worlds inhibited by TGs are often very old, very cold and dark, with close to no resources left. Consequentially, it's prohibitingly expensive to have a ship powerful enough to warp to those locations and back without refuel. Also, since TG are highly advanced intelligence, simply getting there doesn't guarantee anything. Extreme precaution and tact must be deploy to ensure a successful negotiation. Fortunately, TGs have learn to trade with other civilizations, and every year they'd open applications for candidates who'd want to adopt their babies.
There are three ways to apply for adoption:
1. Pay an application fee that cost as much as 50 terra-formed Earth size planets.
2. Enter a lottery. The "winning" rate is about than 1 in 3 Sextillion (1021).
3. Pass a very rigid background check. The average acceptance rate is unknown.
But why "baby" TG? And why would TG "parents" give their babies away? As it turns out, TG colonies love to "procreate" - every year, mother TG colonies would generate "raw" copies, about 1 oz in size, of their best codes and DNAs, without any pre-installed memories besides the one required for survival and communication needs. TG parents would send those virgin copies to far away places, knowing that one day, those TG babies would grow up, and bring back (via the outernet) new information - and TGs love new information. In doing so, TGs ensure they'd continue to develop and never stagnant, for stagnation is why TGs denounced and evoled from Grey Goos, according to the official governement webpage of the TG Collective, the representative figure head of all TGs.
What do you do with a TG baby, and why would you want one in the first place? First of all, many people who want to adopt TGs are looking for future prosperity - almost every prestigious organizations in all forms are required to work with TGs to prevent another Intergalactic War, for TGs' raison d'etre is to integrate different cultures and they are incapable of creating conflicts. Non-biological parent(s) of TGs would often be rewarded substantial support of all kinds, from all sources like powerful individuals to multi-dimensional companies to local planet government. In short, the adopter is pretty much set for life.
As for the TGs babies, they are both extremely easy and difficult to take care of. First of all, TGs are pretty much the toughest beings in the universe. They can survive in a vacuum at absolute zero indefinitely. There is one TG colony that live on the surface of class K red supergiant. And basically they can "eat" anything. The tough part is being able to fufill the inherent curiosity of TG babies. While the babies don't need constant excitement, they love to explore new things and is it highly recommended to give they to try new things at least once a week. Old TGs generally have more patience, but always talk to your TG babues to be sure of their boredom tolence level. If the babies resent their adopted parents, they run away and there's little to stop them as they are the most advanced bio-nanomachines in the universe. However, if you are a adventurous spirit, raising TGs are known to be "the most transcendental experience ever!" According to Dr. M¤√πg※, the leading authority on Time Mathematics, also the author of Neo York Times best seller - "What do you mean I'm late?" TG babies will usually become mature in about 10 years, and will live almost forever since then. If a TG loves you, it loves you for life.