“Thank you,” the Senior Physician said, but held up a small, hairy hand to
indicate that the Hudlar should remain where it was. “Any further comments,
questions?”
It was looking at the Kelgian beside her, the one who had asked the original
question, but Cha Thrat spoke on impulse.
“It seems to me that the Hudlars are fortunate,” she said, “in that they are not
troubled by the situation of the members of one sex considering themselves
innately superior to the other, as is the case on Sommaradva..
“And on too many other worlds of the Federation,” the Kelgian interjected, the
fur rising into tufts behind itshead.
“… I thank the Hudlar for its explanation,” Cha Thratwent on, “but I was
surprised to find that it is presently a male. My first thought, based on
observation of what I mistakenly assumed to be cosmetic paint on its body, was
that it was female.”
The Hudlar’s speaking membrane began to vibrate, but Cresk-Sar held its hand up
for silence and said, “What are your second thoughts?”
Confused, she stared at the hairy little creature, wondering what she was
expected to say.
“Come, come,” Cresk-Sar barked. “Tell us what other thoughts, observations,
assumptions, mistaken or otherwise, have been going through your Sommaradvan
mind regarding this life-form. Think and speak clearly.”
Cha Thrat turned all her eyes on it in a way that, had it been a Sommaradvan,
would have elicited an immediate verbal and physical response. She said, “My
first thoughts were as described. My second was that it might be Hudlar males
rather than females, or perhaps both, who wear decorative paint. Then I observed
that the being’s movements were careful, as if it was afraid of injuring nearby
people and equipment, the movements of a gentle being of immense physical
strength. That taken in conjunction with the low, squat form of the body, with
six rather than two or four limbs, suggested that it was a native of a dense,
heavy-gravity world with comparable atmospheric pressure, where an accidental
fall would be damaging. The very hard but flexible skin, which is unbroken by
any permanent body orifices for the intake or elimination of food, suggested
that the paint which I had observed the Hudlar spraying onto itself might be a
nutrient solution.”
The eyes of Cresk-Sar, and the variegated visual sen-sors of the other trainees,
were watching her steadily. Nobody spoke.
Hesitantly she added, “Another thought, wonderful and exciting but, I expect,
pure supposition, is that if this heavy-gravity, high-pressure creature can live
unprotected in the hospital surroundings, its body must be capable of containing
its own very high internal pressures, and an even lower pressure environment
should not inconvenience it. .
“It might be possible,” she went on, expecting a storm of ridicule from the
Nidian Senior, “for it to work unprotected in space. This would mean that—”
“At any moment,” Cresk-Sar said, holding its hand up, “you will give me its
physiological classification coding, even though we haven’t covered that yet. Is
this the first time you’ve seen a Hudlar?”
“I saw two of them in the dining hall,” she replied, “but at the time I was too
confused to know what I was seeing.”
“May your confusion continue to diminish, Cha Thrat,” Cresk-Sar said. Turning
its head toward the others, it went on, “This trainee has displayed the
qualities of observation and deduction that, when trained and refined, will
enable you to live among, understand, and . treat your other-species
colleagues and patients. However, I would advise you not to think of a
particular life-form as a Nidian, a Hudlar, a Kelgian, a Melfan, or a I
Sommaradvan, that is, by their planets of origin, but by • their
physiological classifications, DBDG, FROB, DBLF, ELNT, or DCNF. That way
you will always be ; reminded of their pressure, gravity, and atmosphere
requirements, basic metabolism and other physiological needs, and know
immediately when there is a potential environmental threat to them or to
yourselves.”
It continued, “Should a PVSJ, a chlorine-breathingnative of Illensa,
accidentally rupture its pressure envelope, the risk to the being concerned and
to any oxygen-breathing D, E, and F prefixes in the vicinity would be extreme.