And, if you are ever called to a space rescue situation, there may be times when
an urgent and accurate identification of the casualty’s physiological
classification, and therefore its life-support requirements, may depend on a
single limb or small area of body surface glimpsed under shifting wreckage.
“You must train yourselves to be aware, instinctively, of all the differences of
the people around you,” Cresk-Sar went on, giving a low laugh-bark, “if only to
know whom it is safe to jostle in the corridors. And now I will take you to the
wards for your initial patient experience before my next class in—”
“What about the classification system?” said the silver-furred Kelgian—the DBLF,
Cha Thrat corrected herself—beside her. “If it is as important as you say it is,
surely you are lacking in the qualities of a teacher not to have explained it to
us.”
Cresk-Sar walked slowly toward the speaker, and she wondered if she could
possibly reduce the verbal violence to come by asking the Senior Physician
another and more politely worded question. But for some reason the Nidian
completely ignored the DBLF and spoke instead to Cha Thrat.
“You will already have observed,” it said, “that these Kelgian DBLF life-forms
are outspoken, ill-mannered, rude, and completely lacking in tact…”
You should talk, Cha Thrat thought.
“… But there are good psychophysiological reasons for this,” it went on.
“Because of inadequacies in the Kelgian speech organs, their spoken language
lacks modulation, inflection, and all emotional expression. But they are
compensated by their highly mobile fur that acts, so far as another Kelgian is
concerned, as a perfect but uncontrollable mirror to the speaker’s emotional
state. As a result the concept of lying, of being diplomatic, tactful, or even
polite is completely alien to them. A DBLF says exactly what it means or feels,
because the fur reveals its feelings from moment to moment and to do otherwise
would be sheer stupidity. The opposite also holds true, because politeness and
the verbal circumlocution used by many species confuses and irritates them.
“You will find some of the personalities here as alien as the persons,” it
continued. “Considering the fact that you have met only one other-species being
before your arrival here, your behavior today makes me sure that you will have
not trouble in adapting to—”
“Teacher’s pet,” the DBLF said, its fur tufting into spikes. “I was the one who
asked the question, remember?”
“That you did,” Cresk-Sar replied, looking at the wall chronometer. “Tapes
covering the life-form physiological classification system will be sent to your
quarters sometime today. You must study the visual material they con- -| tain,
carefully and repeatedly, and use your translators on the spoken commentary. But
now I have time only to outline the basics of the system.”
It turned suddenly and resumed its place facing them, > Plainly the answer to
the question was being directed,! toward everyone.
“Unless you have already been attached to one of the smaller, multienvironment
hospitals,” Cresk-Sar said, “you will normally have encountered off-world
patients one species at a time, probably on a short-term basis as a result of a
ship accident, and you would refer to them by their planets of origin. But I
must stress once again, the rapid and accurate identification of incoming
patients isvital, because all too often they are in no condition to furnish the
necessary physiological data themselves. Here we have evolved a basic,
four-letter physiological classification system that enables us to provide the
required life-support and initial treatment pending a more detailed
investigation, if that should be necessary, by Pathology. It works like this.
“The first letter denotes the level of physical evolution reached by the species
when it acquired intelligence,” it continued. “The second indicates the type and
distribution of limbs, sense organs, and body orifices, and the remaining two
letters refer to the combination of metabolism and food and air requirements
associated with the home planet’s gravity and atmospheric pressure, which in
turn gives an indication of the physical mass and protective tegument possessed
by the being.”
Cresk-Sar barked softly before saying “Usually I have to remind our
other-species trainees at this point that the initial letter of their