The Lani People | Page 9

hundred years and they're still as good as the day they were
installed."
"I can see that," Kennon said uncomfortably. "You ought to dismantle them. They're
enough to give a man the weebies."
Alexander chuckled. "Oh - they're safe. The firing mechanism's safetied. But we keep
them in operating condition. You never can tell when they'll come in handy."
"I knew Kardon was primitive, but I didn't think it was that bad. What's the trouble?"
"None - right now," Alexander said obliquely, "and since we've shown we can handle
ourselves there probably won't be any more."
"You must raise some pretty valuable stock if the competition tried to rustle them in the
face of that armament."
"We do." Alexander said. "Now if you'll follow me" - the entrepreneur opened the cabin
door letting in a blast of heat and a flood of yellow sunlight.
"Great Arthur Fleming!" Kennon exploded. "This place is a furnace!"
"It's hot out here on the strip," Alexander admitted, "but its cool enough inside. Besides,
you'll get used to this quickly enough - and the nights are wonderful. The evening rains
cool things off. Well - come along." He began walking toward the arched entrance to the
great building some hundred meters away. Kennon followed looking around curiously.
So this was to be his home for the next five years? It didn't look particularly inviting.
There was a forbidding air about the place that was in stark contrast to its pleasant

surroundings.
They were only a few meters from the archway when a stir of movement came from its
shadow - the first life Kennon had seen since they descended from the ship. In this
furnace heat even the air was quiet. Two women came out of the darkness, moving with
quiet graceful steps across the blistering hot concrete. They were naked except for a
loincloth, halter, and sandals and so nearly identical in form and feature that Kennon took
them to be twins. Their skins were burned a deep brown that glistened in the yellow sun
light.
Kennon shrugged. It was none of his business how his employer ran his household or
what his servants wore or didn't wear. Santos was a planet of nudists, and certainly this
hot sun was fully as brilliant as the one which warmed that tropical planet In fact, he
could see some virtue in wearing as little as possible. Already he was perspiring.
The two women walked past them toward the airboat. Kennon turned to look at them and
noticed with surprise that they weren't human. The long tails curled below their spinal
bases were adequate denials of human ancestry.
"Humanoids!" he gasped. "For a moment I thought-"
"Gave you a start-eh?" Alexander chuckled. "It always does when a stranger sees a Lani
for the first time. Well - now you've seen some of the livestock what do you think of
them?"
"I think you should have hired a medic."
Alexander shook his head. "No - it wouldn't be reason able or legal. You're the man for
the job."
"But I've no experience with humanoid types. We didn't cover that phase in our studies -
and from their appearance they'd qualify as humans anywhere if it weren't for those
tails!"
"They're far more similar than you think," Alexander said. "It just goes to show what
parallel evolution can do. But there are differences."
"I never knew that there was indigenous humanoid life on Kardon," Kennon continued.
"The manual says nothing about it."
"Naturally. They're indigenous only to this area."
"That's impossible. Species as highly organized as that simply don't originate on isolated
islands."
"This was a subcontinent once," Alexander said. "Most of it has been inundated. Less
than a quarter of a million years ago there was over a hundred times the land area in this
region than exists today. Then the ocean rose. Now all that's left is the mid continent

plateau and a few mountain tops. You noted, I suppose, that this is mature topography
except for that range of hills to the east. The whole land area at the time of flooding was
virtually a peneplain. A rise of a few hundred feet in the ocean level was all that was
needed to drown most of the land."
"I see. Yes, it's possible that life could have developed here under those conditions. A
peneplain topography argues permanence for hundreds of millions of years."
"You have studied geology?" Alexander asked curiously. "Only as part of my cultural
base," Kennon said. "Merely a casual acquaintance."
"We think the Lani were survivors of that catastrophe - and with their primitive culture
they were unable to reach the other land masses," Alexander shrugged. "At any rate they
never established themselves anywhere else."
"How did you happen to come here?"
"I was born