"Judith Merril - The Lonely" - читать интересную книгу автора (Merril Judith)

The basic subject of this story is binary sex; there are points of view from which two-sex
creatures may seem pretty incomprehensible; this one appeared in Worlds of Tomorrow,
тАФOctober, 1963.

The Lonely
TO: The Hon. Natarajan Roi Hennessy, Chairman, Committee on Intercultural Relations. Solar
Council, Eros. FROM: Dr. Shlomo Mouna, Sr. Anthropologist, Project Ozma XII, Pluto 'Station.
DATE: 10/9/92, TC.
TRANSMISSION: VIA: Tight beam, scrambled. SENT: 1306 hrs, TST. RCDV: 1947 hrs, TST.
Dear Nat:
Herewith, a much condensed, heavily annotated, and top secret coded transcript of a program we
just picked up. The official title is GU #79, and the content pretty well confirms some of our earlier
assumptions about the whole series, as this one concerns us directly, and we have enough background
information, including specific dates, to get a much more complete and stylistic translation than before.
I'd say the hypotheses that these messages represent a "Galactic University" lecture series broadcast
from somewhere near Galactic Center, through some medium a damn sight faster than light, now seems
very reasonable.
This one seemed to come from Altair, which would date transmission from there only a few years
after some incidents described in script. Some of the material also indicates probable nature of original
format, and I find it uncomfortable. Also reraises question of whether Altair, Arcturus, Castor, etc., relay
stations are aimed at us? Although the content makes that doubtful.
Full transcript, film, etc., will go out through channels, as soon as you let me know which channels.
This time I am not pleading for declassification. I think of some Spaserve reactions andтАФfrankly I
wonder if it shouldn't be limited to SC Intercult Chairmen and Ozma Sr. AnthropoidsтАФand sometimes I
wonder about thee.
Cheery reading.
Shlomo

TRANSCRIPT, GU #79, Condensed Version, edited SM, 10/9/92, TC. (NRH: All material in
parens is in my wordsтАФsummarizing, commenting, and/or describing visual material where indicated.
Straight text is verbatim, though cut as indicated. Times, measurements, etc., have been translated from
Standard Galactic or Aldebaran local to Terran Standard; and bear in mind that words like "perceive"
are often very rough translations for SG concepts more inclusive than our language provided for. тАФSM)

(Open with distance shot of Spaserve crew visiting Woman of Earth statue on Aldebaran VI.
Closeup of reverent faces. Shots of old L-1, still in orbit, and jump-ship trailing it. Repeat first shot, then
to Lecturer. You may have seen this one before. Sort of electric eel type. Actually makes sparks when
he's being funny.)

The image you have just perceived is symbolic, in several senses. First, the statue was created by the
Arlemites, the native race of Aldebaran VI (!! Yes, Virginia, there are aborigines!!) in an effort to use
emotional symbols to bridge the gap in communications between two highly dissimilar species. Second:
due to the farcical failure of this original intent, the structure has now become a vitally significant
symbolтАФyou perceived the impactтАФto the other species involved, the Terrans, a newly emerged race
from Sol III. (Note that "you perceived." We must accept the implication that the original broadcasting
format provides means of projecting emotional content.) Finally, this twofold symbol relates in one sense
(Shooting sparks like mad here. Professional humor pretty much the same all over, hey?) to the
phenomenon of the paradox of absolute universality and infinite variety inherent in the symbolism.
 (Next section is a sort of refresher-review of earlier lectures. Subject of the whole course appears to
be, roughly, "Problems of disparate symbolism in interspecies communications." This lectureтАФdon't