Samian

Samians are a sapient spacefaring species of limbless creatures, which are known for being extremely tough and resilient, slow-thinking, friendly and good-natured.

Biology
Samians are fleshy, limbless creatures, reddish-brown in color, resembling an oversized slab of bacon. They can survive in any kind of environment and eat anything, including minerals. Their homeworld, Samia, has a higher gravity than Earth and Crotonis.

Samians have an inexplicable ability to cling to any material they want to, as if by magnetism, and use it to cling to walls and ceilings and to manipulate objects, thus compensating for their apparent lack of appendages. They can also emit electrical signals to communicate directly with technology, and communicate telepathically with each other. They are known to change sex throughout their lives.

Unknown to other species, Samians are actually composite organisms, made out of myriads of small, insect-like components with a variable number of legs and color ranging from pale beige to dark brown. These merge together into a gestalt to form an individual Samian.

Samians are notable for their extreme physical durability, as they cannot be harmed by any hand-held weapons. They can resist enormous amounts of acceleration and survive in the vacuum of space. Even their individual components, despite resembling small insects, remain undamaged when Humans attempt to stomp or crush them.

Samians have a particular taste for Earth champagne, which they drink by forming a depression on their bodies and pouring it down.

Appearances

 * "They Hide, We Seek", by Robert Silverberg (1990)
 * "The Diplomacy Guild", by David Brin (1990)
 * "Myryx", by Robert Sheckley (1990)
 * "The Burning Sky", by Poul Anderson (1990)
 * "Island of the Gods", by Harry Turtledove (1990)
 * "Thirty Pieces", by Harry Turtledove (1991)
 * "The Soul of Truth", by Karen Haber (1991)
 * "Keep the Faith", by Lawrence Watt-Evans (1991)
 * "Breakups", by Harry Turtledove (1992)
 * "Water of Life", by George Alec Effinger (1992)
 * "Liquid Assets", by Rebecca Ore (1992)
 * "Unnatural Diplomacy", by Karen Haber (1992)
 * Fossil, by Hal Clement (1993)
 * Murder at the Galactic Writers' Society, by Janet Asimov (1995)