Free The Unreasoning Mask by Philip José Farmer

half of

the globe's interior was filled with water, darkened with what looked

like blood. In the center floated a dark, shapeless thing.
     
     
The sentientologist said, "It's a native of Webn. A seal-centaur. I've

never seen one in the flesh before, but I've seen Walisk photos of one.

The globe would be the Webnite's self-contained cabin while it's being

transported in the ship. It can also be used for a lifeboat. And it

evidently has. I've heard that . . ."
     
     
     
     
Toyce stopped. Like Ramstan, she'd been watching the globe on the screen

and so was also taken by surprise. But her reaction came from forgetfulness,

whereas Ramstan's came from novelty.
     
     
The globe drooped, collapsed, ran together, poured over the being in

the center, and broke away from it with a pop like bubble gum. Bloodied

water cascaded over the deck, and the globe had disappeared. The body

sprawled in the center of blackened wetness.
     
     
"The Raushghols told me that a Webn sphere dissolves in its own water

once it's been broken open by force. Believe it or not, that's what

they said. The stuff it's made from is supposedly woven by a giant

half-sentient sea creature, and . . ."
     
     
"How can a thing be half-sentient?" Ramstan said.
     
     
"I'm just quoting the Raushghol."
     
     
A party rolled the 227-kilogram body onto an a-g sled. The sled rose

into the air, and one man directed it toward sickbay. Ramstan watched

its progress down the corridors and into the ward. Toyce supervised

the three physicians delegated to treat the Webnite. Ten minutes later,

she reported.
     
     
"Something small but hard and sharp passed entirely through her body,"

she said. "It must have been going at such a speed it passed through

the sphere, too. A tiny meteorite? Anyway, the sphere must have closed

up within microseconds after being pentrated on both sides. Otherwise,

the air and the water would have boiled off."
     
     
"Is she dying?" Ramstan said.
     
     
Toyce looked again at the oscilloscopes registering the overall state

of health of the finned and armed mass lying on its back in a shallow

basin on a broad temporary table.
     
     
"She's holding her own -- I think. How would I know? I don't know anything

about the physiology -- or anatomy, either -- of an aquatic sentient from

Webn. Hell, what's her blood pressure supposed to be? And what's her blood

type? You should see the vanadium and magnesium content. Enough to make you

drop dead on the spot if it were in your bloodstream. I'm exaggerating,

of course, but it would make you sick."
     
     
The Webnite was exactly 3.2 meters long, and covered by a sealy

chocolate-brown fur. The flippers extended straight out from her body

and made up one-third of her length. The belly was huge, though she was

not pregnant. The breasts were pendulous and small in proportion to the

size of the body. The arms were long; the hands, very broad and flat;

the fingers, webbed to the first joint. The head was humanoid. Her eyes

were deeply sunk and, at the moment, covered by a transparent inner lid.
     
     
"The lids are far enough away from the eyeballs to form a sort of goggle,"

Toyce said.
     
     
She also reported that the Webnite's nostrils could be closed tightly.

She had no external ears, and this added to the weirdness of her appearance.
     
     
"See, she has a pouch -- much like a kangaroo's," Toyce said. "She may be

of a species that's regressed, anatomically speaking, gone back to the sea.

But a reversion to marsupialism? Doesn't seem likely."
     
     
She forced her hand into the tight opening, looked startled, and withdrew it.

She opened her fist.
     
     
The three flat objects were no longer than Toyce's thumb and seemed to

be greenish soapy stones. One formed a circle; the second, a square;

the third, a triangle. All had circular holes about three centimeters

wide in their centers.
     
     
"What the hell?" Toyce said.
     
     
"Put them back," Ramstan said.