Ι läs denna novell för många år sedan som den var kort populär på webben vid den tiden.
Den korta historien omfattar två utomjordingar som beskrivits som stora och Ι tänker, immobile. De observerar människor från bana när något som en filosofisk meningsskiljaktighet uppstår om människorna. Tiden slutar när de lämnar, vilket innebär en nyfundad rift mellan de för evigt förändrade utomjordingarna.
Du kanske tänker på Gordon R. Dickson s novelette "The Odd ones" , vilket är svaret på frågan Duo av främmande xenologer studerar några Terran explorers, spara dem senare ; publiceras först Om , februari 1955 , tillgänglig på Internetarkiv .
Synpunkterna är två utlänningar av olika arter, "filosofiska ingenjörer", beskrivna som lite stora (men inte immobile):
The Snorap strongly resembled a very fat and sleepy lizard about ten feet in length—a sort of unterrifying, overstuffed dragon of the kind who would prefer a pleasant nap in a soft chair to eating maidens, any day in the week. His hide was heavy and dark and ridged like armor-plating.
The Lut, on the other hand, was built more on the model of an Earthly tiger, except that he was longer—being fully as long as the Snorap—and thicker, with an almost perfectly round body, rather like a big sewer main. He was tailless, his head was big and flat of face, and he possessed an enormous jaw which could crunch boulders like hard candy. His eyes had a fierce green glint to them and he was covered with very fine, but incredibly tough, small glassy scales which would have permitted him to take an acid shower every morning and never notice it at all. But in spite of his appearance, he was just as civilized, just as intelligent, and just as much a gentleman as the Snorap, which put them both, as a matter of fact, several notches above the two humans they were watching, in all those respects.
De observerar det mänskliga paret på ett avstånd ( inte från omlopp) för det mesta av berättelsen, även om de presenterar sig i slutet:
These two, the Snorap and the Lut, had discovered this world they were on to be a new one, not heretofore checked, and they had just spent the last eighty years or so in going over it. There own ship—which was more of a space-sled than a ship, being completely open, except for an energy shield for meteor protection—was clear on the other side of the planet, they having wandered away from it completely in the past half-century of philosophy-testing. Now they had just stumbled on a pair of human immigrants. These soft little bipeds were a new experience to the Snorap and the Lut, neither of their races having encountered the type before; and they sat in the obscurity of the vegetation that hemmed the little clearing where the human ship had landed, conversing in something that was not verbal speech, sign language, nor telepathy, but a mixture of all three—and they marveled.
De två utomjordingarna har en filosofisk meningsskiljaktighet om människan:
"I might point out," said the Lut, "that, to migrate to a world like this when you are like that, takes a certain amount of moral fiber."
"Ah, but there we come to another question," persisted the Snorap, interlocking the big, blunt claws of his forepaws together like a pedantic old man. "What reason can they have for coming here? They show no intellectual interest in the planet. Their senses are obviously very limited. They seem to have no purpose in being here other than to exist."
"Under great difficulties," said the Lut.
"Granted," answered the Snorap, "under great difficulties. Which merely confirms my belief in their unbalance."
The Lut was by nature a contrary creature, and in addition he was always snappish after a nap.
"And I," he retorted, "prefer to assume that there may be some good reason which you and I are too dull-witted to understand."
De två utomjordingarna har fallit ut:
They stood looking at each other.
"I think," said the Lut at last, "I think that we no longer possess the mutual understanding necessary to our partnership."
The Snorap bowed his head.
"I cannot disagree," he said.
Men de kommer över det i slutet, efter att ha läst mer om människorna:
The Lut crossed over to him and hung his heavy head on the Snorap's shoulder.
"Friend of many years past and yet to come," he said. "We are old fools together."
Det får mig att tänka på De är gjorda av kött , av Terry Bisson, även om vissa detaljer är annorlunda.
Två utlänningar på ett kontaktuppdrag genom vår bransch diskuterar huruvida man bjuder människor att gå med i någon form av galaktisk federation, men har lite problem med att acceptera vår hyfsliga biologi:
"It seems harsh, but there is a limit. Do we really want to make contact with meat?"
Verkligen en bra novell!
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