(urth) Like a good Neighbor

[David Stockhoff]

On 11/23/2011 3:56 PM, Lee Berman wrote:
>> How could inhumi survive in the void with all the water in their bodies frozen and all
>> their cells burst? (hasn't this been discussed before?)
>> Insects and plants have all sort of tricks to fight the cold, including
>> antifreezes and allowing themselves to be covered with ice. Since we
>> know they can't fly through the void (no air) they may simply launch
>> themselves and drift until they fall.
>
> Nah. Those tricks are for fighting cold temperatures on earth. None would work
> in outer space. The best ethylene glycol (car antifreeze) could do would be
> to stay liquid at -51C (at highly toxic levels, mind you). The void is -273 C.

I forgot to mention that one trick would be to not have any water in 
their bodies when they fly. Problem solved.
>
> I think the only chance a living thing might have of surviving extended void
> exposure might be the spore stage of bacteria (and even there, the chances are
> slim). But that's the thing. A spore can only be produced by a single cell
> organism. Multicelled creatures require an internal liquid medium.

On Earth, yes. This is SF.
> I guess, since this is SF, you could postulate that the inhumi completely
> dehydrate themselves and their dry, mummified husks drift through space and
> manage to re-enter and rehydrate on Blue.

You're way ahead of me!
> But why would you want to? I don't get this. I swear this is Wolfe's commentary
> on politics and demogoguery. People will swallow ten tons of crap from a politician
> just to avoid admitting the simple truth that they are lying. Don't drink the
> inhumi kool-aid!  They travel through space the way we are shown they travel-
> using deception to become an unwanted hitchhiker. Better check the cargo hold
> of that lander for stray lianas too ;- ). 		 	   		

I'm not arguing for anything but its plausibility. I think it's a cool 
idea. I WANT to believe ... !

For me, the most compelling argument would be that inhumi do not 
see---or at least are not blinded---in the human visual spectrum. Krait 
says he can see the stars at day. Either his vision is extremely 
sensitive, without protective mechanisms like irises, or it's extremely 
insensitive.  Now, what's the evolutionary advantage of that? Sounds 
like a spacefaring species to me, evolved for feeding on Neighbors.

(He could be lying, but if so the inhumi have a whole ad campaign worked 
out, complete with talking points to insert into unrelated 
conversations. Which is entirely possible.)