(illo: In all of man's explorations in the vastness of outer space, he has found only one wheeled life form, and that is the tricyclopedial reptilian called The Wheeled Wholibie of Wilson's World.)
The planet called Wilson's World is an old one where the processes of time have worn its surface into one undulating plain, and the processes of evolution have developed its main life form, a reptile, into the only wheeled animal we have encountered in all our interplanetary travels.
The Whollbie is a large three-wheeled animal not unlike Terran reptiles in its nervous and cellular systems. A full grown male reaches a height of four feet six inches to the whithers, and is dark green or brown in color.
The young Whollbie is hatched from his leathery-shelled egg three weeks after the mother lays it in one of the many shallow pools that are found on Wilson's World The young Whollbie rests in the water, living on the algae that lines the bottom of the pool, for four months. During this time, his wheels develop, and when they are finally formed and operative, he rolls out of the water and begins life as a mobile animal, joining one of the many herds that roam over the prairies.
The most interesting feature of the Whollbie is the biological structure of its wheels.
The forward wheel, which is used for steering, is not powered. It consists of a disk of bony substence with a growth on either side located at the center of the disk and serving as an axle. These protuberances fit into sockets in either branch of a bifurcated appendage on the forepart of the animal. The Whollbie directs himself by turning this appendage in the same manner as a rider turning the fork-mounted forewheel of his bicycle. The growth and development of this wheel is biologically the same as that of the rear or power wheels.
During the Whollbie's period in the water, the undeveloped axle-wheel is a bony growth within the animal's body. It consists of a rod similar to a human shin-bone, extending through the barrel in a horizontal plane, with the knob of either end resting under the thick baby-skin of the Whollbie. As time passes, those knobs grow into disks, and harden. Meanwhile a number of small growths develop on the axle, around the circumference, equidistant from the disks.
(illo: Newly hatched Whollbie with yet-unformed wheels still under skin.)
(illo: axle wheel growth, with cogs fully developed)
(illo: cross section of adult Whollbie)
These growths could be likened to the teeth of a gear, and are called cogs. Above and below the cogs, two new growths develop. These are not attached to the axle but are formed independent of it, and lie with all but one face imbedded in the muscle tissue of the Whollbie. They are at right angles to the axle, one above and one below, as shown in the accompanying diagrams. These straight bony growths develop knobs similar to the cogs on the axle, and in such a position that they will meet with the cogs in the manner of a gear, thusly:
They are called ra drivers.
(illo: CROSS SECTION OF AXLE AT COGS.)
The tissue which touches the bony growth of the axle begins to change in the second month. The Whollbie sheds its leather-like baby skin, developing a harder, more scale-like coating at this time, and the new skin, instead of covering the wheel disks, join the tissue surrounding the axle, and hardens into a surface as tough as the axle itself. Thus there is a tube of hardened skin, expanded in the center and softened to mobility to house the drivers and cogs, with the axle extended through it and a wheel on either side, the axle and wheels completely separate from the body itself.
The drivers remain set in the flesh of the Whollbie. On either end of each driver is a group of powerful muscles, connected in such a manner that the driver can be moved backward or forward with great force, and raised or lowered slightly. When the upper driver is lowered, it engages the cogs on the axle, and the lover driver automatically drops and disengages. The upper driver moves forward, turning the axle by gearing into the cogs, and the wheels turn, propelling the Whollbie forward. At the same time, the lower driver moves forward so that it is in position to engage the cogs as the upper driver is lifted. The lover driver is then pulled backward, turning the cogs, continuing the motion initiated by the upper driver. The direction of force can be reversed in order to propel the Whollbie backward, although they do not care for this direction of motion, as steering is awkward.
The action of the drivers is continuous, thereby keeping the wheels powered at all times, if the Whollbie so desires. The muscular contractions which control the drivers are as simple and easy for the Whollbie as are those which propel the human in the process of walking. And the Whollbie has the advantage of instinctive control, without the necessity of learning, such as the human must learn to walk.
The Whollbie's front wheel grows in much the same manner as the rear wheels. The same form of hardened skin which form the tube in which the rear axle rides, forms the sockets in which the axle of the forewheel sits. This skin is spotted with ducts from oil glands which keep the axles lubricated. One of the infirmities of old age among the Whollbies is the drying up of these glands, and subsequent loss of mobility on the part of the aged Whollbie. In the case of very old Whollbies, one is occasionally found that has, through much use, worn down the cogs of the axle and/or drivers to such an extent that they no longer engage, and the Whollbie is unable to move.
These very old, immobile Whollbies are left by the herd as it moves on, and a small group of young healthy Whollbies remain with it, in attendance to its needs, until it is dead. Then the young Whollbies move on in a group, never rejoining their original herd, but existing as an independent manada.
The bones of the dead Whollbie have en enduring quality. Of a naturally solid substance, exposed only to the mild climate of Wilson's World, those skeletons last indefinitely. They are much sought after by collectors of curiosities and are quite valuable in their complete form. They are often made into tee trays, coffee carts, etc., by functionalists.
Unfortunately, during the early days of the colonization of Wilson's World, before the commercial value of the skeletons was discovered, a great many were destroyed by rough usage. Early colonists used them as wheelbarrows, and children's kiddie kars.
--Lee H
Oct 1956
Data entry by Judy Bemis
Hard copy provided by Geri Sullivan
Data entry by Judy Bemis
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