SanguisAevum
2015-03-31, 03:03 AM
Folks, I need help with the title / author of a scifi book I read years ago.
The “protagonist” is a member of a spherical alien race. They use needle thin “jets” of liquid for locomotion and defence. The beginning of the story shows how the protagonist grew up on his home world, amongst his fellow aliens. They spent a great deal of time trying to avoid their natural predators, a race of scorpion like aliens, that distended their stomachs outside their bodies to digest prey. There was a third race of armoured plant-like aliens also living on the world.
The second half of the story see the “protagonist” leave his home world and team up with a human… and highlights the clash between the two very different physiologies. (for example… the alien uses the word “food” as a swear word as it is a disgusting concept to him… given he derives energy from sunlight and built in chemical process)
The “protagonist” is a member of a spherical alien race. They use needle thin “jets” of liquid for locomotion and defence. The beginning of the story shows how the protagonist grew up on his home world, amongst his fellow aliens. They spent a great deal of time trying to avoid their natural predators, a race of scorpion like aliens, that distended their stomachs outside their bodies to digest prey. There was a third race of armoured plant-like aliens also living on the world.
The second half of the story see the “protagonist” leave his home world and team up with a human… and highlights the clash between the two very different physiologies. (for example… the alien uses the word “food” as a swear word as it is a disgusting concept to him… given he derives energy from sunlight and built in chemical process)