Six Blind Men & an Alien Read Free

pains in our chests, and a few minutes later we had gathered around a mound of dirt-covered slush. There was obviously a body under it. One leg stuck out, rigid and frozen, covered with a brown pelt.
        "That sure as hell doesn’t look like a leopard’s leg to me," said Bonnie.
        "It isnt," I said.
        "I agree," said Gorman. "That foot never held claws, retractable or otherwise."
        "Is it a human?" asked Ray.
        It was so obviously not a human that no one even bothered answering him.
        "Well, let’s pull it out and see what we’ve got," said Bonnie.
        "It is the property of the Tanzanian government," said Njobo. "Nobody may touch it."
        "I agree," I said. "No one lays a finger on it. Our DNA and any stray microbes that we’re carrying could contaminate it. I need to send for the proper equipment to move it to a secure environment."
        "No one is moving it anywhere," insisted Njobo.
        "I’m not talking about moving it off the mountain," I assured him. "But we need to move it to a place where a crew of experts can examine it.
        There must be a secure cave higher up, where it’s still freezing."
        "It stays where it is."
        "Do you really want to be known as the man who was responsible for screwing up the first example of whatever it is?" I asked. "What will your superiors say?"
        Njobo was silent for a moment. "I will consider it," he said at last. Then he added: "If anyone touches it without my permission, I will send them back down the mountain alone."
        Gorman stared at the thing."I thought I knew every animal that ever lived on Kilimanjaro, but I sure don’t recognize this one," he said. He turned to Muro. "Have a couple of the porters come up and shovel some of this junk off it." He paused and looked at Njobo. "With your permission," he added.
        Njobo looked questioningly at me.
        I nodded. " Carefully, " I said.
        Muro relayed the order, and twenty minutes later two of the porters had meticulously uncovered the whole body. It looked bipedal, maybe sixty inches top to bottom. It was definitely not human or anthropoid, and I couldn’t think of any other bipedal animals that large. It didn’t quite have a snout, but its face seemed somehow elongated. It’s fur-down, really-was auburn, and nowhere near as thick as an ape’s.
        "Well, Professor?" said Gorman. "I admit I’m stumped."
        "Jim, Bonnie," I said, "take all the pictures you can of it. Take it from every angle. Take close-ups of every feature. When you’re done, I want to transfer them to my computer and e-mail them to some of my colleagues."
        "Just what kind of animal is it?" asked Bonnie.
        "I don’t want to offer an opinion until I consult with the men I’m sending the photos to," I answered.
        "A missing link?" asked Ray.
        I shook my head. "We never evolved from that, " I said. "Look at it. The eyes are set lower in the head than the nostrils. Its hips aren’t jointed like any human or ape I’ve ever seen. And it’s got opposing thumbs." I paused and considered that. "I’ve never seen anything with opposing thumbs." I kept cataloging the differences. "From the structure of the jaw and the few teeth I can see, I’d guess it’s an omnivore."
        "Intelligent?" asked Bonnie.
        "It’s possible," I replied. "It’s got a big enough brain pan."
        "But it’s not wearing any clothes or trinkets," said Ray.
        "Not all men wore clothes or trinkets," I said. "At least, not until they ran into other men who had better preachers or better weapons."
        Donahue let out a whoop, and we all turned to look at him.
        "A genuine Man from Mars!" he hollered happily. "We’re all going to be millionaires-the first expedition ever to discover one!"
        "We don’t know what it is yet," I pointed out. "This thing is going to require a lot of study. Tonight