A think that could snap the ship in half by flinching wrong way would not even notice. Even just brief bioscan, tiniest trace of DNA would be wonderful to work with. It would be like an ant crawling over the foot of an elephant—the creature would not notice.

[ It's obvious based on Hilbert's tone of voice and how he keeps on looking back at the screen, at the creature, that he really wants to do some mad science. ]