This followup does not answer your question. Instead it shares my own
impressions of "Talk Not at All."
This thread piqued my interest in "Talk." Fortunately it's in one of the
four issues of _Nebula_ that's available for free at
archive.org. [1]
The story begins with a trio of people who embark for Thaed. When they
arrive they find Thaed in strict quarantine by the Galactic Federation.
The Federation's an advanced alien civilization that regards humanity as
"dirty little children."
###
At this point in the story my mmpb copy of _Brain_ (Cook) arrived. It
proved impossible to ignore. A quick peek quietly turned into a long
read of the whole darned story.
Most of the time, the best way to read Cook is keep a Netter's (Atlas of
Human Anatomy) at your left elbow and a Dorland's (Illustrated Medical
Dictionary) at your right. That way you can stop to look up each and
every new word that Cook tosses at you.
My intentions to take a quick peek and look up each and new word fell
by the wayside after Cook hooked me right proper. At that point the only
thing that mattered was what happens next in the story, the devil with
peeks and new words.
OK. So the ending is now known. An immediate careful re-read of _Brain_
is indicated. Once again with the Netter truly to the left of me and
the Dorland's to the right...
###
spoiler space
A planet full of deadly creatures marked my return to "Talk." They
reminded me of _Deathworld_ (Harrison).
It turns out that the Thaed are biological engineers. Serendipity now
appears. _Brain_ ends on a note of biological engineer villainy. :0)
Note.
1.
https://archive.org/details/pulpmagazinearchive?and[]=subject%3A%22fiction%22&and[]=subject%3A%22nebula%22
Thank you,
--
Don Kuenz KB7RPU
Serendipity . . . you will understand it better by the derivation
than by the definition. I once read a silly fairy tale, called "The
Three Princes of Serendip": as their highnesses traveled, they were
always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things they
were not in quest of. . . . Now do you understand serendipity? - Walpole