"Anderson, Poul - 1964 Nicholas Van Rijn 02 - Trader to the Stars 1.1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Anderson Poul)

ible," he said. "Most of the stuff we've found seems meant
for big hands. But some of the tools, especially, are so
small that-Oh, well, I suppose a nonhuman might be as
puzzled by an assortment of our own tools. Does it really
make sense that the same race would use sledge hammers
and etching needles?"
Jeri came back with two stiff Scotch-and-sodas. His gaze
followed her. In a tight blouse and half knee-length skirt,
she was worth following. She sat down next to him rather
than to Van Rijn, whose jet eyes narrowed.
However, the older man spoke mildly. "I would like if
you should list for me, here and now, the other possibili-
ties, with your reasons for thinking of them. I have seen
them too, natural, but my own ideas are not all clear yet
and maybe something that occurs to you would joggle
my head."
Torrance nodded. One might as well talk shop, even
though he'd been over this ground a dozen times before
with Jeri and Yamamura.
"Well," he said, "the tentacle centaurs appear very
likely. You know the ones I mean. They live under red
light and about half again Earth's gravity. A dim sun and
a low temperature must make it possible for their planet
to retain hydrogen, because that's what they breathe,
hydrogen and argon. You know how they look: bodies
sort of like rhinoceri, torsos with bone-plated heads and
fingered tentacles. Like the gorilloids, they're big enough
to pilot this ship easily.
"All the others are oxygen breathers. The ones we call
caterpiggles-the long, many-legged, blue-and-silver ones,
with the peculiar hands and the particularly intelligent-
looking faces-they're from an oddball world. It must be
big. They're under three Gs in their cage, which can't be" a
red herring for this length of time. Body fluid adjustment
would go out of kilter, if they're used to much lower weight.
Even so, their planet has oxygen and nitrogen rather than
hydrogen, under a dozen Earth-atmospheres' pressure. The
temperature is rather high, fifty degrees. I imagine their
world, though of nearly Jovian mass, is so close to its
sun that the hydrogen was boiled off, leavipg a clear
field for evolution similar to Earth's.
"The elephantoid comes from a planet with only about
half our gravity. He's the sii1gle big fellow with a trunk
ending in fingers. He gets by in air too thin for us, which
indicates the gravity in his cubicle isn't faked either."
Torrance took a long drink. "The rest all live under
pretty terrestroid conditions," he resumed. "For that
reason, I wish they were more probable. But actually, ex-
cept the gorilloids, they seem like long shots. The helmGt
beasts-"