Читать книгу Overturned - Rothilda von Rotortod - Страница 12

While the expedition leader was able to assert himself on this issue, he had to give in to the concerns expressed on another point. His proposal to transfer the implementation of the project exclusively to disguised Kadohanians was rejected in the end. To most members of the expert panel, such an approach seemed too risky. What if the Earthlings should have a sensorium for extraterrestrial intelligence after all? Or if, despite all immunological precautions, harmful germs were transmitted to the infiltrated Kadohanians? What if, conversely, they could be identified as transmitters of diseases to the Earthlings?

No, these risks seemed almost impossible to control. So in the end it was decided that only the basic staff of StarWind should consist of Kadohanians. Even then, the measures that had to be taken for anti-microbe defense and camouflage proved to be quite extensive. Some of the problems only became apparent when the concrete planning began.

There was the hair issue, for example. On Kadohan, hair had been stopped from growing for a long time. It was considered as a superfluous breeding ground for undesirable microorganisms. Those who had not participated in the fact-finding mission could not believe at first that this was different with the Earthlings.

"And the Earthlings are really still walking around hairy?" asked a member of the expert panel. "Don't they have any depilatories?"

"Of course they have," the expedition leader made clear. "But they don't use them everywhere. Especially the head hair has an almost cultic meaning for them. There are even certain magic remedies that are said to make hair grow again when it has fallen out."

The questioner shook his head in amazement: "That seems pretty absurd to me ..."

The left corner of the expedition leader's mouth twitched slightly upwards – his emotional brain had been activated. "You must not forget that Earthlings are not a particularly highly developed form of intelligence," he explained. "They are still noticeably embedded in the more primitive forms of life from which they evolved. This also explains their attachment to their scalp hair. It shows us how powerful the primitive still is in them."

"I still don't understand it," admitted one of those present. "Why do they let their fur grow precisely on their head – just above the brain? Are they ashamed of their intelligence? Or is their intelligence so limited that they don't even notice it?"

The expedition leader stroked his forehead with his hand. "I don't think we should judge the Earthlings so much by ourselves," he said. "On our planet artificial insemination has been standard practice for a very long time. The Earthlings know it too, but they only use it if there is no other way. In general, reproduction is still a very animalistic matter for them. Therefore they also need animalistic stimuli. This could be a reason for their clinging to the head hair."

"So it is a conscious commitment to savagery?" someone else asked.

"No," clarified the expedition leader, "not at all. Most of the Earthlings tame their hair regularly, there are even some very artistic fur forms. For many of them hair is also an expression of their personality, just like the patterns we paint on our scalps. But it all has a relation to reproduction at the same time. Even the clothing is more physical on Earth, quite different from our planet, where everyone walks around in wide capes."

"It will take some time to get used to this," remarked one who was scheduled to participate in the next mission.

The expedition leader nodded. "True, there's no denying that. Artificial hair is fortunately very easy to obtain on earth, as are Earthlings' clothes, of course. But that doesn't tell us how to move around in these clothes. We'll have to practice this intensively in order not to appear as foreign bodies."

"Rescpecively to be recognised as foreign bodies," one of them joked.

General whispering and laughter, then another one spoke up: "Well, that's cleared up. Much more important to me is another question: What criteria do we use to select suitable Earthlings for our program? And how do we ensure that they exhibit the desired behavior? Will the Earthlings respond accordingly to the instruments at our disposal?"