Hand Flappers
拍手!
Some flying posthumans re-approached sentience in an entirely different way. Without the augmented metabolisms or the gravitational advantages of their siblings on distant planets, they had no choice but to give up their power of flight in order to develop further.
一些飞行后人类以完全不同的方式重新接近知觉。没有增强的新陈代谢或他们在遥远星球上的兄弟姐妹的低重力优势,他们别无选择,只能放弃飞行能力来进一步发展。
The Hand Flappers were one such species. Their wings, once used for butterfly-like flutters in the unearthly gardens of Qu, had shrunken and reverted back into their manual condition. Their legs were likewise re-adapted, but they bore a splayed awkwardness from their perching ancestry.
拍手鸟人就是这样一个物种。它们的翅膀,曾经在Qu的神秘花园里用来像蝴蝶一样飞翔,但现在已经萎缩,恢复到了手的形态。它们的腿也被重新适应了地面,但由于祖先的栖息,它们长着罗圈腿。
Only a singular, and an almost sadistically simple flaw held them back from developing civilization. In the course of their secondary atrophy, the wings of the Hand Flappers had become useless as hands as well. Their flag like appendages were very useful in signaling and mating dances, but they couldn't hurl missiles, construct shelter or even manufacture basic stone tools. All that they could do with their useless hands was to display each others' sexual availability, so the Hand Flappers did just that; flashing and dancing their way to oblivion.
只有一个单一的、几乎是残酷的简单缺陷阻碍了他们发展文明。在它们的二次萎缩过程中,“拍手鸟人”的翅膀作为手也一样无用。它们的旗帜状附肢在发出信号和交配舞蹈中非常有用,但它们不会投掷物品,不会建造庇护所,甚至不会制造基本的石器。他们用无用的手所能做的就是展示彼此的性能力,所以拍手鸟人就做了这些:在舞蹈信号之中走向湮灭。
A Hand Flapper on the edge of his mating territory. During their almost comical exaggeration of sexual display, his kind has begun to lose their edge at adaptation. Theirs will be a boisterous, ecstatic but ultimately ephemeral existence.
一个在他交配领地边缘的拍手鸟人。在他们滑稽夸张的性表现中,他的同类已经开始失去适应的优势。他们将是一种喧闹、狂喜但最终短暂的存在。