The wonder of the world, the beauty and the power, the shapes of things,
their colours, lights and shades; these I saw. Look ye also while life
lasts.
Old tombstone encryption, Cumberland, England
Foreword
"And how can you tell if a planet's inhabitants are
intelligent?"
"By their level of openness," the Contacter said. "Intelligent beings
should never be embarrassed of anything."
Robert Sheckley. Mission of Intelligence
Some readers will probably be a little shocked by certain intimate details in this book. The reason for their presence in the text is that the author is a professional zoologist. Any naturalist who understands the simple biological meaning of many facts of human life finds it difficult to take seriously the artificial rules and taboos of our society. How can you explain that a tear rolling down a girl's cheek is an appropriate topic for high poetry, but a drop of vaginal lubrication rolling down her thigh can only be a topic for dirty pornography? Both drops are products of complicated relations between emotions and secretory glands. The spiritual beauty of a human being is in the complexity of brain organization, in the rich and delicate mentality, not in the ability to cover genitalia with a piece of cloth. True love is wonderful in all its manifestations, be it a poet's verse or the enchanting symphony of female orgasm. It is shallow and mindless to praise the poetry but not appreciate the music of physical love.
Note: with the exception of Moshe the Gecko, all characters in this book are purely fictional. Their possible similarities to real humans, animals, businesses, communities, and countries are unfortunate coincidences.