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.”