Page:Fantastic Universe (1956-10; vol. 8, no. 3).djvu/21

38 wheels, governed by motors inside.

For getting over obstacles they used the four powerful and completely flexible appendages on the upper part of their bodies, which were provided with fitted sleeves in the suits.

Their heads, George considered, were the most difficult parts of their anatomies to assess. The Ragalians suffered from the basic physical defect of homo sapiens: too many soft parts exposed to the environment. But in them it was carried to the extreme.

Their brains were among those soft parts, and totally lacked any kind of protective covering such as a skull. They were as exposed as the human eye.

They formed a wide, thick bump on the back of the upper torso. Sensory equipment in the form of two pairs of eyes, assorted olfactory surfaces, and hearing orifices were mounted on very stubby stalks projecting from the outer circumference of the brain boundary. They weren't long enough to project around the bulk of the torso, so that the creatures had the habit of turning from side to side almost constantly to see or hear or smell what was going on in front of them.

George approached the subject of the modification warily during their talks, trying to get at the purpose for putting the control room at the base of the ship, where only the engines rightfully belonged.

He sensed the contempt in the Ragalian's voice even through the suit and its attached translator. "Earth boy enormous fool," said Sleth Forander, "putting head on top; rock come along, head all gone."

"It doesn't make much difference out in space," said George, "whether you get your head or your bottom knocked off. Anything big enough to do one or the other is going to have the same effect"

"Put head in bottom, like so!" He jabbed a metal sleeved tentacle at the drawing he'd brought to show the changes his people demanded before purchase of the vessels.

"How do you know a rock isn't just as likely to hit there as on the other end of the ship.^" George asked.

"Rock always hit on head," Sleth Forander said.

"But we can absolutely prove that the forward end of the ship is no more vulnerable than any other portion—and that the effect of a meteor collision is just as dangerous at one end as the other."

"Rock hit forward end; men not killed if in bottom."

"They are if the motors are forward, and are knocked out by the collision," said George. "It may take a little longer, but you're still a dead duck."

"Live duck," insisted the Ragalian.

This was getting nowhere, and George gave it up. "We can provide the ship you want," he said, "and