Doctor Trask snorted. Yeah, they were great doctors all right. No wonder. With no animals to experiment on they simply used each other. When a Uranian doctor needed a guinea pig he merely stepped outside his laboratory and snagged the first passerby. And many of their diseases in the old days had been wiped out by killing off all the victims. Medical students learned anatomy by cutting open their fellow-citizens alive. New foods and liquids were tested by observing the reactions of those who swallowed them. Yes, sir. Their medical skill was of a very high order.
"... only possible because their nervous system does not register pain. In fact, their nervous system is such that they are completely emotionless. There is no possibility for a Uranian to feel any of the Earthly emotions such as love, hate, rage, or pride. They approach the status of vegetation in that respect. They...."
That was something that had always puzzled Johnson. He couldn't understand how it was possible for a reasoning creature to be such a cold fish. He remembered the day he had landed the Vaga. Just before the ship settled to the surface three Uranians had blithely strolled into the rocket's blast and fried themselves. Johnson had been horror-struck. But it didn't bother the other Uranians in the vicinity. They calmly disposed of their countrymen's cinders as though they were throwing away a burned-out match. They were completely disinterested in the whole incident.
Bolton, too, had faced that disinterestedness, but from a different angle. Bolton had been with the Group that tried to find out if the Uranians had wanted anything that the Earth could supply. He had tried to show the Uranians something about Earth foods and Earth science. But the Uranians weren't interested. Often right in the middle of a difficult conversation the Uranian would just up and walk off. It wasn't that he was annoyed. He wasn't capable of being annoyed. It was just that he'd thought of something better to do. It was frustrating as hell.
"... science as advanced as our own along a few narrow channels. Their rocket fuel is very similar to our Ozonile but they have never used it to explore anything outside their planet. Their IR scanners too are strikingly similar to ours. In the discovery of the Kant Alloy though they have surpassed us. A pellet made out of this alloy will attain a high velocity when it is immersed in a magnetic field. The velocity has been known to reach the same velocity as our space ships, namely one-ninth the speed of light. Unfortunately only a very small pellet can be accelerated in this manner.
"Temperature plays a very important role here. The Kant Alloy will not accelerate except under the extremely frigid conditions as they exist on Uranus or in space. Our latest information shows that the Uranians have been making attempts to increase the velocity of the pellets. Our magnetic shields will still protect our men and ships, however, no matter how fast the pellets travel. We need not worry about future carelessness from the way the Uranians use the Kant Alloy. They...."
Grizzled, gray-haired, Don Hedge closed his eyes. He had been aboard the Altair the time the Uranians got careless with the Kant pellet. He'd never forget it. He had been standing by the fuel pumps as the Altair prepared to land on Uranus. Suddenly the whole ship reeled from a tremendous blow. Concussion stretched out half the crew. The scream of escaping air filled the ship. Only the quick action of two crew members saved them from asphyxiation. Everybody aboard thought they'd been hit with a tiny meteor. But as soon as they got down to Uranus several Uranians came over and began taking measurements of the two holes in the Altair. It was so unusual for them to take an interest in Earth ships that the crew got suspicious. A few laborious questions brought it out. Oh, sure. The Uranians were conducting a little experiment—had to find out what the little pellet did to an Earth ship. There was a stunned moment's hesitation; then the Earth crew jumped them.
That fight brought two factors to light. One; a Uranian would fight when he was personally attacked by a foreigner. Two; a Uranian was just about the equal of an Earthman encased in a space suit. Don Hedge remembered that fight proudly. He'd done well for a young fellow in spite of the difficulty of coping with three arms. He would really have fixed his Uranian if Jones hadn't stepped in with that spanner wrench.
The Uranians forgot about the fight as soon as it was over. They didn't hold a grudge; they felt no malice. But every Earth ship and every space suit was modified to carry a gentle magnetic field over its entire surface. And there was never any more trouble with the Uranians and their scientific experiments.