Monday 17 February 2020

Physiological Differences Between Species

"Hunters of the Sky Cave," XIII.

Svantozik to Flandry:

"'My brothers in the engineering division are interested in modifying a few spaceships to make them more readily usable by humans. You understand how such differences as the location of the thumb, or that lumbar conformation which makes it more comfortable for us to lie prone on the elbows than sit, have influenced the design of our control panels. A man would have trouble steering an Ardazirho craft. Yet necessarily, in the course of time, if the Great Hunt succeeds and we acquire human subjects - we will find occasion for some of them to pilot some of our vehicles. The Kittredge female, for example, could profitably have a ship of her own, since we anticipate usefulness in her as a go-between among us and the human colonists here. If you would help her - simply in checking over one of our craft, and drawing up suggestions -'" (p. 253)

I try to keep quotations short but sometimes an entire lengthy paragraph remains relevant throughout.

Of course, Flandry has persuaded Kit to persuade Svantozik to let Flandry get inside an Ardazirho spaceship but now he must play-act reluctance to help the Ardazirho before acquiescing.

In the film, Independence Day:

the aliens, not bipedal or quadrupedal, are totally unlike human beings or Ardazirho in body shape, size and structure;

a human pilot who sees several of the aliens' small individual flying craft in action is confident of his ability to fly one of those craft just as it is!

I did not go to see the sequel.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And I agree with your low opinion of the movie INDEPENDENCE DAY! And no human pilot, no matter how skillful, could so quickly master the use of an alien space boat! And the controls and seating arrangements would need to be studied and/or modified for humans to use. Such films cannot be taken seriously when carefully examined.

Svantozik's comments, on their merits, makes far more sense!

Ad astra! Sean