Rigellian n. 1

After the first stunned shock of surprise, however, the nations of the world rallied, sank their sectional differences, and in the great Interstellar War of 3207 overwhelmed the intruders, and slew them to the very last Rigellian. In the doing, however, a billion humans died.

‘You are sure that I would be of no help to you?’ asked the Rigellian, half pleadingly.

Without knowing how he had arrived at it, he knew the answer; just as the Posenian or the Rigellian is able to perceive every separate component particle of an opaque, three-dimensional solid, but without being able to explain to anyone how his sense of perception works.

The Rigellian named Rhoum murmured sibilantly, ‘You realize, Mr. Colby, that this operation is illegal?’

The bad news was voiced by Dr. Zdenek Kopal—whom you might think was a Rigelian or an Arcturian, but who actually is a professor at England’s Manchester University.

Our co-pilot, a nice old gal…was a Rigelian, there was Xo, and there was me.

Incidently, [sic] Rigellians should avoid America during Xmas. I saw one poor Rigellian trapped atop an Xmas tree for nearly a month; every time he got down, the American put him up again with the appropriate incantations in dialect. The poor fellow finally escaped through an exhaust vent in the roof, but only after a truly hair-raising encounter with an enormous American in a red suit who chanted continuously HOE HOE HOE.

‘I agree with Altair,’ said the multi-limbed Rigellian.

‘Off to the next port,’ Van Ryke repeated, and then he said with mock solemnity, ‘so don’t use up all that energy. You’ll be working up a fine sweat when we tackle moving cargo over to the Star.’ ‘Rigelians don’t sweat!’ she said, whistling a laugh.

Every day it was our responsibility to carefully screen and either pass through or reject travelers from all comers of the known Universe. Creatures such as green-speckled and lavender-hued Altairians, striped Melnusian miners, porcine Poldrogs, falcon-worshipping Rigelians, Archiporteyx spiritbearers, Titanian slitherers, Aldebarian musicians with their long trilling snouts, and of course the variegate new breeds from planets only recently swept by Federation troops and pronounced benign by Federation exobiologists.