"James White - SG 05 - Sector General" - читать интересную книгу автора (White James)

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The upper lip of the mouth is wider and thicker than the lower, and
can be curled over the lower lip, apparently sealing the mout shut.
The beings are covered, on their upper and lower surfaces and around
the rim, by some kind of organic stubble which varies in thickness
from pin-size to the width of a small finger. The stubble on the
underside is much coarser than that on the upper surface, and it is
plain that parts of it are designed for ambulation. The Blind Ones
evolved underground, and have no organs for sight. They formed an
alliance with the Protectors of the Unborn, each species providing
something that other lacked.

Classification:CRLT
Planet:Unknown
Species:Name Unknown
No Individual Names Known
Senior Physician Conway was unable to classi~ this life-form with
complete certainty. The initial analysis was performed on a cadaver,
an independent portion of a larger composite being. The compos-ite
is a warm-blooded oxygen breather with the type of basic me-tabolism
associated with the physiological grouping CRLT. Even a segment is
massive, measuring approximately twenty meters in length and three
meters in diameter, excluding projecting append-ages. Physically it
resembles the DBLF Kelgian life-form, but it is many times larger
and possesses a leathery tegument rather than the silver fur of the
Kelgians. Like the DBLF's it is multipedal, but the manipulatory
appendages are positioned in a single row along the back. There are
twenty-one of these dorsal limbs, all showing evidence of early
evolutionary specialization. Six of them are long, heavy, and
claw-tipped and are obviously evolved for defense since the being is
a herbivore. The other fifteen are in five groups of three, spaced
between the six heavier tentacles, which terminate in four digits,
two of which are opposable. These thinner limbs are ma-nipulatory
appendages originally evolved for gathering and trans-ferring food
to the mouths-three on each flank opening into three stomachs. Two
additional orifices on each side open into a very large and complex
lung. The structure inside these breathing ori-fices suggests that
expelled air could be interrupted and modulated to produce
intelligence-bearing sounds. On the underside are three openings
used for the elimination of wastes. The mechanism of reproduction is
unclear and the specimen shows evidence of p05-sessing both male and
female genitalia on the forward and rear extremities respectively
The brain, if it is a brain, takes the form of a cable of nerve
ganglia with localized swellings in three places, running
longitudinally through the cadaver like a central core. There is
another and much thinner nerve cable running parallel to the thicker
core, but below it and about twenty-five centimeters from the
underside. Positioned close to each extremity are two sets of three
eyes. Two are mounted dorsally and two on each of the forward and