 How does Taphetta's initial response to Halden's evidence represent a greater dynamic between species?
In repose, Taphetta the Ribboneer resembled a fancy giant bow on a package. Taphetta rattled the head fronds together in a surprisingly good imitation of speech. Obviously there was no contact throughout the ages before space travel— and yet each planetary race can interbreed with a minimum of ten others ! "It is impressive," admitted Taphetta. Actually, the four of us here, though it's accidental, very nearly represent the biological spectrum of human development. "And so, to account for the unique race that can interbreed across thousands of light-years, you've brought in the big ancestor," commented Taphetta dryly. "Something had to distribute one species so widely and it's not the result of parallel evolution—not when a hundred human races are involved, and only the human race." "You've heard of the adjacency mating principle?" asked Sam Halden. "We've got new data and are able to interpret it better. The theory is that humans who can mate with each other were once physically close. If planetary race F can mate with race E back to A and forward to M, and race G is fertile only back to B, but forward to O, then we assume that whatever their positions are now, at once time G was actually adjacent to F, but was a little further along. When we project back into time those star systems on which humans existed prior to space travel, we get a certain pattern. This is one arm of it as it is today and here are the human systems." And while stars in a given region tend to remain together, there's also a random motion. "And whereas there are humans who are relatively near and not fertile, they can always mate with those they were adjacent to two hundred thousand years ago !" We have men who could do the job in a makeshift fashion, but the region we're heading for, while mapped, is largely unknown. "I'm complimented that you like our contract so well," said Taphetta, "but I really must have our own unsimplified version. "You can read it if you want," offered Taphetta. It would do no good to explain that Taphetta wasn't a worm, that his evolution had taken a different course, but that he was in no sense less complex than Man. "It's an animal," said Firmon. Taphetta sat in a chair designed for humans.
 Like Taphetta, ribboneers are highly aware of their superior intellectual status, and are skeptical when presented with 'lower level' information
 Like Taphetta, ribboneers are highly aware of their superior intellectual status, and are skeptical when presented with 'lower level' information  Like Taphetta, ribboneers possess lower reasoning capacities than humans, and are insecure when presented with 'higher level' information  Like Taphetta, ribboneers are the most brilliant species, and are initially defensive when presented with information that contradicts what they believe to be true  Like Taphetta, ribboneers are the quickest species to evolve, and are enthusiastic when presented with information that could further their advancement