what to see on
Iris

For a scenic browse, and an answer-page for Guess The World....

bargaining with a furry native of iris

I nodded just as Biggs, grinning from ear to ear and back again, lurched into the turret. On his right arm he was carrying a queer looking little squeegee. At first I thought it was a teddy bear. Then it moved, and I realized I was in the presence of a native Irisian. He—or it—was a curious little squirrel-like creature with big, goggling eyes, a huge bushy tail and enormous whiskers.
Biggs chirruped cheerfully, "Here's one of the local boys, folks! Sparks, you speak Irisian, don't you? Well—"
(...)
He looked at me with new respect. I smiled. "If my Academy prof wasn't just fooling," I told him, "I can." And I turned to the little rodent, twisting my lips into a series of purring whistles which meant "Greetings!"

"Phwee-twurdle-twurdle-pwwht!" replied the Irisian.

Cap Hanson looked at the asterite disconsolately.

"Needs oilin, don't he, Sparks?"

"Not a bit. That's his native tongue. He said how do you do."

"Yeah? Well, it didn't sound like it to me—"

Biggs suggested, "Ask him, Sparks. Ask him where we can buy or lease some property on Iris."

So I did. And the answer was encouraging. It seemed the little feller himself chwee-fweeple-twee—meaning he owned some property a few miles outside the capital city—and he'd be glad to sell us this patch of ground for chirp-furdle-foo—

I translated. Cap Hanson turned crimson with rage.

"Four thousand Earth credits! For a hunk of ground you could cover with a handkerchief? Ridiculous! We won't pay any such price—"

"It's no skin off our nose, Skipper," I reminded him. "The Corporation's paying for it."

Hanson nodded slowly.

"We-e-ell, maybe you got something there. We can't do no diggin' for soap without something to dig in. O.Q. Go ahead and make the deal, Sparks..."

Nelson S Bond, Mr Biggs Goes to Town (Amazing Stories, October 1942)

>> Guess The World - Fifth Series

Comment from contributor Lone Wolf:

Unfortunately there are no more details and the author doesn't explain how it was possible for a native intelligent life to evolve on Iris, although he himself admits a little farther that:

"Of course you know that Iris is only a little hunk of cosmic debris, about three hundred miles in diameter, busting along in the planetoid Belt, just one of myriad specks which are all that remain of what was once upon a time a planet like Earth in the space-sector between Mars and Jupiter. It has no atmosphere of its own, so when you leave the domed cities and villages you have to wear your bulger, and since its gravitational attraction is about as strong as a two-day old kitten, you have to wear clinch-plates in your sandals."

The dimensions of the asteroid here are exaggerated almost twice and the mentioning of the domed cities and villages suggests that perhaps the "Irisians" have come from elsewhere at some time in the past or maybe they are remains from the inhabitants of the asteroid progenitor planet, but nothing is said about that and in the whole story they are referred to as natives.