"'...they do tend to react like a bull stung by a pihkador, sir.'" (CHAPTER ELEVEN, p. 489)
Not much of a clue but it is a native organism stinging a Terrestrial bull. Googling pihkador, I found that it is mentioned again later in the series. See here.
There are also downdraggers. Dead bodies dumped from a dock are consumed by glistening, humped, beaked, fluked, tentacled shapes with large, unwinking, intelligent eyes cruising just below the surface. (CHAPTER FIFTEEN, p. 540) This, like the two moons, reminds us that Bellevue is not Earth.
5 comments:
Paul:
"Picador" is the Spanish term for one of the men who softens up the bull — by jabbing it with lances — before the matador comes to finish the animal. Bullfighting has survived as an entertainment in Civil Government lands; there's at least one reference to a town's bullring. So I'd say the "pihkador" is not a native form of life. Humans aren't native to Bellevue.
Kaor, Paul!
And it was those "intelligent eyes" of the downdraggers that worried me! It made me wonder if a particularly ferocious life form on Bellevue was nearing the edge of true intelligence. Life is tough enough on Bellevule for humans without also having to possibly compete with an intelligent predator.
Ad astra! Sean
David,
Wow, thanks. I am glad I published that inconsequential post and received your comment.
Paul.
Yup, it's a native insectoid that was named "picador" (phonetically transcribed) for its habits.
So it was an organism after all!
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