The Zoobi don't have a language as we know it. They communicate by laughter alone. For them laughter is not just an expression of mood. It's everything to them. It defines their very existence, their very raison d'etre, the essence of their very being (I think you get the picture - ed). They also understand all other aliens' laughs, so they're the pan-galactic laugh translators and officiate at all laughing contests. They're small and live in hives, rather like bees, constantly humming with their laughter. It never stops and they even do it in their sleep, often with great crescendoes like the one recorded here. They move around in tightly knit groups of about seventy-five thousand, especially when they go to work as merchant galaxymen. Useful, but ultimately not particularly interesting. Click on the picture above to listen. Watch out for them next time you're hitchhiking across the galaxy; they'll happily give you a lift anywhere if you're happy to put up with 75,000 hums and after dinner dishes to wash up.

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