"Get to the point, Shura! I do not wish to hear what shapes you do not recommend. I wish a positive answer to our problem!"
"We have one," Shura said.
The councilmen murmured.
"Here is the shape we recommend, after careful study. It is the shape of Man, but Man in the dawn of his innocence. The only shape in which all of the inhabitants of this planet give their complete faith and trust."
He flicked the switch again.
Athra, the chairman, stared at the bloated, pink, ugly thing on the Screen, and looked disgusted.
"What in Nahrla's name is that?"
"That," Shura said, "is what the Earth-race calls a Baby. Unlike ourselves, the Earth-creatures are mammals, bearing their young within the womb and expelling it after nine months of gestation. The creature that emerges is called a Baby, or Infant, and it undergoes a process of cell growth until it becomes an Earth-adult. But at no point in this entire growth process is the Earth-creature more adored, more pampered, and most important—more trusted—than the time when it bears the name of Baby."
"And this is your recommendation?"