Divergence

Darya, less nimble in free-fall, was left far behind. When she came close to the surface she was surprised to find the tu

The ship hovered where they had left it, moored a hundred meters above the surface. Darya took the co

Hans Rebka was standing by the lock when she emerged from it. Darya switched her suit to full open and waited a couple of seconds for two-way transparency to be established.

“J’merlia says you found something good,” Rebka began. “He’s really excited.”

“I thought it was a mess — just a whole labyrinth of tu

J’merlia had moved across to the ship’s control panel, where Kallik was sitting in a sprawl of extended legs, exactly as she had been when Darya left. For the past two days the Hymenopt had been painstakingly locating, tracking, and monitoring the minor satellites of Gargantua, never moving from her position at the controls. Now the Lo’tfian and the Hymenopt were chattering excitedly together, in the clicks and whistles of the latter’s own language that neither Darya nor Hans had mastered. The whistling and chittering grew louder and more intense, until Darya said, “Hey, stop that, you’ll deafen us,” and added to Rebka, “I sure didn’t see anything all that exciting in the interior.”

He nodded. “What’s with them? J’merlia! Kallik! Calm down.”

J’merlia gave one final, earsplitting whistle before he turned to the humans. “Apologies, our sincere apologies. But Kallik has wonderful news. She picked up a signal, two minutes ago — from the Have-It-All!”

“Louis Nenda’s ship? I don’t believe it.” Rebka moved across the cabin to stand by the control panel. “Darya said they were accelerated away from Quake at hundreds of gees. Any signal equipment inside that ship would have been crushed flat.”

The Hymenopt’s smooth black head turned to face the humans. “Not ss-so. I found a definite ss-signal, although a very weak one.”

“You mean the Have-It-All is there, but in trouble?”

“Not necessarily in trouble. It is not a distress beacon, it is intended only to aid location.”

“Then why didn’t we pick it up earlier, when you did a scan of the entire region?”

“Because it becomes activated by an input ss-signal. Our first s-scan was passive, using reflected stellar radiation. But now I am using active microwave, to scan the surface of rock fragments for composition and detailed images.”

The Hymenopt’s mandibles gaped with excitement and joy. “With apologies and respect, we ca

Entry 37: Lo’tfian

Distribution: The center of Lo’tfian civilization, and the only habitat of the species’ females, remains the minor planet Lo’tfi. Since these females are exclusively burrow dwellers, the planetary surface reveals no sign of their presence; the subterranean regions of the planet, however, are believed to have been extensively modified as breeding and metamorphosis warrens. There is no direct proof of this, since no non-Lo’tfian has ever entered the burrows.

Male Lo’tfians are to be found in large numbers roaming the surface of Lo’tfi, and in small numbers on every world of the Cecropia Federation and Fourth Alliance where Cecropians interact with other intelligences of the spiral arm.

Physical Characteristics: The physical form of Lo’tfian females is not known by direct examination, though they are certainly blind and exceed the males in size and probably in intelligence. The general physiology is believed to resemble that of the Lo’tfian males.

The males are thin-bodied, eight-legged arthropods, with excellent hearing and vision. They have an ability to communicate pheromonally, which makes them the preferred interpreters for Cecropians. Their two lidless compound eyes can be individually or jointly focused, enabling either stereo sight or simultaneous monocular viewing of two fields of vision. The eyes have spectral sensitivity from 0.29 to 0.91 micrometers, permitting them to see something of both ultraviolet and infrared radiation. (The Lo’tfian “rainbow” distinguishes eleven colors, compared with the conventional ROYGBIV seven of humans.)

The blind Lo’tfian females are known to be highly intelligent. The intellectual level of the Lo’tfian males, however, is a much-debated subject. On the one hand, until the arrival of Cecropians on Lo’tfi, no Lo’tfian exhibited curiosity toward anything beyond the planet. This is understandable for the burrowing females, but not for the males who roamed the surface and saw stars and planets every night. In addition, Lo’tfian male interpreters for Cecropians function as pure translation devices, never commenting on or adding to the statements of their masters.

On the other hand, Lo’tfian males are superb linguists, and when deprived of their Cecropian dominatrixes they are certainly capable of independent thought and action. Male Lo’tfians who are taken off-planet are illiterate, but they pick up reading and writing so easily and rapidly that these abilities are surely part of their genetic stock.

The prevailing theory to resolve this paradox comes from limited studies of Lo’tfian physiology. The male brain, it is believed, is highly organized and possesses powerful intelligence. However, it contains an unknown physical inhibitor, chemical in nature, that forbids the employment of that intelligence when in the presence of a Lo’tfian female. Confronted by such a female, the reasoning ability of the male Lo’tfian simply switches off. (A much weaker form of this phenomenon has been attributed to other species. See Human entry of this catalog.) The same mechanism is believed to be at work to a lesser extent when the Lo’tfian male encounters Cecropians and other intelligences. If this theory is true, no one is ever exposed to full Lo’tfian intelligence in face-to-face meetings with them.

History: From other evidence on the planet Lo’tfi, the planet’s dominant organisms are members of an old race, existing in their present physical form and enjoying their present life patterns for at least ten million years. If there are written records, they are maintained in the burrows by the dominant females and are unavailable to outside inspection.

Culture: Lo’tfian males living on the surface of their home planet or absent from it display no interest in mating. They are in a mature form they refer to as “Second Stage” or “Postlarval.” Since the adult form of the species possesses two well-defined sexes, and since it is highly unlikely that the burrow-dwelling larval stage prior to metamorphosis is capable to reproduction, mating presumably takes place when the males return to the burrows carrying food. At that time, male intelligence is inhibited and sex drives will dominate. Since Lo’tfian females are continuously intelligent, they define and control all Lo’tfian culture.

It is interesting to speculate on the social organization that might be set up by a group of Lo’tfian males, far removed from their females or other intelligent beings. These speculations remain academic, since such circumstance have not so far arisen and are unlikely to do so. Male Lo’tfians become agitated and exhibit irrational behavior when access to intelligent companions, of their own or other species, is denied them.