Chapter 13 Chapter Twelve

If a person falls from a 12-storey building, the speed when he lands will reach 110 km/h, enough to kill him instantly.A Hycklen falling from the same height will land at the same speed.It's true that the gravity of the Haikeli people is 40% higher than that of the earth people.They can be safe and sound in the state of sudden deceleration, while the earthlings may be disabled or even killed.But there is a limit to everything, and the same is true for the Haikeli people. The 12-storey building is only seven or eight storeys taller than Aubie.However, whether it is a human from Earth or a Heckley, falling from seven or eight floors is inevitable, and the huge momentum when falling to the ground is enough to kill.

"But he's my friend," Sandy whimpered.He couldn't get out of his mind the image of Aubier's shattered bones on the streets of Dawson—the wide, empty eyes, the mangled limbs.A dozen earthlings crowded there to watch, with mixed expressions of surprise and disgust on their faces.They have no right to stare at Obiye's naked body in this situation. "Of course he is your friend." Margery Dapp comforted him, "Sandy? I know you don't want to think about these things now, but can you tell me, do the Highkley people have any special funeral rites? "

"Funeral ceremony?" "That's what you do with the dead," she said. "They've already put Aubier's body in an ambulance. What are we going to do now?" He stared blankly at her.It was not the time to tell her about the Heckley "burial" method, and it was impossible to do it that way here. "Never mind," he said, "just ask Polly." "But Polly isn't here," Margery told him. "She's talking to someone in her room. I assume it's from the spaceship. We asked her, too, and she said it didn't matter."

"She doesn't care," Sandy murmured. "I don't think they care. How do you guys handle things like that here?" "It depends. The family of the deceased can do whatever they want, sometimes burial, cremation is more common." "Bury?" The thought made Sandy's heart shrink a little, to bury Obiye's body in the soil and let it rot?He trembled. "Do what you think is best. Cremation will do—but, oh, Margery, it's dreadful!" Polly finally stormed out of her room, not at all interested in what happened to Aubier's body.She cares about the future. "It's horrible," she said, which was exactly what Sandy had just said, but in a completely different sense, "Hocesque Tikori Kak is the only one we- what? Oh, I mean Obi Yay. Obiye is the space expert assigned to us. Ching Tai Chi Ro said the elders don't plan to send another one."

Marge Li asked tentatively: "You mean, you don't want to go to York Republic for a meeting?" Polly scoffed at this question, twisted her body and said, "That's not true! The elders ordered me to take over Aubier's job. After all, I also know a lot about aeronautics. So I think we can continue this work." A mission. And then again," she added, her face becoming almost friendly for a moment, "I thought it would be fun to ride a blimp. What do you say, Sandy?" Sandy didn't answer, he was still in mourning.