Originally published on Poul Anderson Appreciation, 3 Dec 2013.
In Poul Anderson's and Gordon R Dickson's Hoka
(New York, 1985), a nearby supernova blew away the atmosphere of a
superjovian planet and covered its solidified core with heavy elements,
including radioactives. This is familiar Anderson territory, a cosmic
accident with an unlikely but nevertheless possible outcome.
It
is also the planet Mirkheim revisited but with one big difference:
life, taking energy from local radioactive material "...rather than the
feeble red sun." (p. 174) Animals eat isotopes concentrated by plants. A
Brobingnagian (for such is the human name of the planet) does not
oxidize organic materials, "...like most creatures in known space..." (ibid.), but fissions nuclei and is correspondingly strong.
His
internal processes produce little radiation which is, in any case,
absorbed by his stomach but he must take precautions when disposing of
body wastes. Brobdingnagians, evolved on an airless planet, have neither
nose nor ears and instead communicate by transmitting and receiving
vibrations through the ground via tympani on their meter-long feet. The
large round head and body are covered by blue fur and the brown eyes are
bone dry.
How much of this is serious scientific
speculation and how much is comical exaggeration in keeping with the
comedy of the rest of the Hoka series?
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