Monday, 18 September 2023

Tripartite Symbiosis

The Rebel Worlds, CHAPTER NINE.

A single Didonian intelligence is a temporary symbiosis between a rhinoceros-like noga, a bird-like krippo and an ape-like ruka except that none of these animals is very like the Terrestrial organism to which it is compared and they should look as alien as possible in any cinematic CGI. A noga is smooth and blue. A ruka runs on all four limbs and has disproportionately large chest, shoulders and arms, bigger than a man's. The krippo has a head that swells grotesquely backward. The CGI should follow Anderson's descriptions in detail and should loose any association with familiar African animals as much as possible. When linked, the noga grunts, the krippo trills and the ruka generates various sounds. Together, they speak. Kathryn replies in pidgin.

4 comments:

S.M. Stirling said...

It's an evolutionary kludge, but those happen.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

Besides what Stirling said, these tribodied Didonians are among the most unusual, even bizarre non-human intelligences science fiction writers have dreamed up!

Ad astra! Sean

DaveShoup2MD said...


Anderson was inventive when it came to aliens. More thoughtful approach than many of his peers.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Dave!

That is correct. Or he was simply more inventive.

I also appreciated the Moties we see in Niven and Pournelle's THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE.

Ad astra! Sean