Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Analog Science Fact & Fiction June 1962. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U. S. Copyright on this publication was renewed. novice by James H. Schmitz A novice is one who is inexperienced--but that doesn't mean incompetent. Nor does it mean stupid! ILLUSTRATED BY SCHOENHERR * * * * * There was, Telzey Amberdon thought, someone besides TT and herself inthe garden. Not, of course, Aunt Halet, who was in the house waitingfor an early visitor to arrive, and not one of the servants. Someoneor something else must be concealed among the thickets ofmagnificently flowering native Jontarou shrubs about Telzey. She could think of no other way to account for Tick-Tock's spookedbehavior--nor, to be honest about it, for the manner her own nerveswere acting up without visible cause this morning. Telzey plucked a blade of grass, slipped the end between her lips andchewed it gently, her face puzzled and concerned. She wasn'tordinarily afflicted with nervousness. Fifteen years old, geniuslevel, brown as a berry and not at all bad looking in her sunbriefs, she was the youngest member of one of Orado's most prominent familiesand a second-year law student at one of the most exclusive schools inthe Federation of the Hub. Her physical, mental, and emotional health, she'd always been informed, was excellent. Aunt Halet's frequentcracks about the inherent instability of the genius level could beignored; Halet's own stability seemed questionable at best. But none of that made the present odd situation any lessdisagreeable.... The trouble might have begun, Telzey decided, during the night, withinan hour after they arrived from the spaceport at the guest houseHalet had rented in Port Nichay for their vacation on Jontarou. Telzeyhad retired at once to her second-story bedroom with Tick-Tock; butshe barely got to sleep before something awakened her again. Turningover, she discovered TT reared up before the window, her forepaws onthe sill, big cat-head outlined against the star-hazed night sky, staring fixedly down into the garden. Telzey, only curious at that point, climbed out of bed and joined TTat the window. There was nothing in particular to be seen, and if thescents and minor night-sounds which came from the garden weren'texactly what they were used to, Jontarou was after all an unfamiliarplanet. What else would one expect here? But Tick-Tock's muscular back felt tense and rigid when Telzey laidher arm across it, and except for an absent-minded dig with herforehead against Telzey's shoulder, TT refused to let her attention bedistracted from whatever had absorbed it. Now and then, a low, ominousrumble came from her furry throat, a half-angry, half-questioningsound. Telzey began to feel a little uncomfortable. She managedfinally to coax Tick-Tock away from the window, but neither of themslept well the rest of the night. At breakfast, Aunt Halet made one ofher typical nasty-sweet remarks. "You look so fatigued, dear--as if you were under some severe mentalstrain ... Which, of course, you might be, " Halet added musingly. Withher gold-blond hair piled high on her head and her peaches and creamcomplexion, Halet looked fresh as a daisy herself ... A maliciousdaisy. "Now wasn't I right in insisting to Jessamine that you needed avacation away from that terribly intellectual school?" She smiledgently. "Absolutely, " Telzey agreed, restraining the impulse to fling aspoonful of egg yolk at her father's younger sister. Aunt Halet ofteninspired such impulses, but Telzey had promised her mother to avoidactual battles on the Jontarou trip, if possible. After breakfast, shewent out into the back garden with Tick-Tock, who immediately walkedinto a thicket, camouflaged herself and vanished from sight. It seemedto add up to something. But what? Telzey strolled about the garden a while, maintaining a pretense ofnonchalant interest in Jontarou's flowers and colorful bug life. Sheexperienced the most curious little chills of alarm from time to time, but discovered no signs of a lurking intruder, or of TT either. Then, for half an hour or more, she'd just sat cross-legged in the grass, waiting quietly for Tick-Tock to show up of her own accord. And thebig lunk-head hadn't obliged. Telzey scratched a tanned knee-cap, scowling at Port Nichay's parktrees beyond the garden wall. It seemed idiotic to feel scared whenshe couldn't even tell whether there was anything to be scared about!And, aside from that, another unreasonable feeling kept growingstronger by the minute now. This was to the effect that she should bedoing some unstated but specific thing.... In fact, that Tick-Tock _wanted_ her to do some specific thing! Completely idiotic! Abruptly, Telzey closed her eyes, thought sharply, "Tick-Tock?" andwaited--suddenly very angry at herself for having given in to herfancies to this extent--for whatever might happen. * * * * * She had never really established that she was able to tell, by a kindof symbolic mind-picture method, like a short waking dream, approximately what TT was thinking and feeling. Five years before, when she'd discovered Tick-Tock--an odd-looking and odder-behavedstray kitten then--in the woods near the Amberdons' summer home onOrado, Telzey had thought so. But it might never have been more than acolorful play of her imagination; and after she got into law schooland grew increasingly absorbed in her studies, she almost forgot thematter again. Today, perhaps because she was disturbed about Tick-Tock's behavior, the customary response was extraordinarily prompt. The warm glow ofsunlight shining through her closed eyelids faded out quickly and wasreplaced by some inner darkness. In the darkness there appeared thenan image of Tick-Tock sitting a little way off beside an open door inan old stone wall, green eyes fixed on Telzey. Telzey got theimpression that TT was inviting her to go through the door, and, forsome reason, the thought frightened her. Again, there was an immediate reaction. The scene with Tick-Tock andthe door vanished; and Telzey felt she was standing in a pitch-blackroom, knowing that if she moved even one step forwards, something thatwas waiting there silently would reach out and grab her. Naturally, she recoiled ... And at once found herself sitting, eyesstill closed and the sunlight bathing her lids, in the grass of theguest house garden. She opened her eyes, looked around. Her heart was thumping rapidly. The experience couldn't have lasted more than four or five seconds, but it had been extremely vivid, a whole, compact little nightmare. None of her earlier experiments at getting into mental communicationwith TT had been like that. It served her right, Telzey thought, for trying such a childish stuntat the moment! What she should have done at once was to make amethodical search for the foolish beast--TT was bound to be_somewhere_ nearby--locate her behind her camouflage, and hang on toher then until this nonsense in the garden was explained! Talented asTick-Tock was at blotting herself out, it usually was possible to spother if one directed one's attention to shadow patterns. Telzey began asurreptitious study of the flowering bushes about her. Three minutes later, off to her right, where the ground was bankedbeneath a six-foot step in the garden's terraces, Tick-Tock's outlinesuddenly caught her eye. Flat on her belly, head lifted above herpaws, quite motionless, TT seemed like a transparent wraith stretchedout along the terrace, barely discernible even when stared atdirectly. It was a convincing illusion; but what seemed to be rocks, plant leaves, and sun-splotched earth seen through the wraith-outlinewas simply the camouflage pattern TT had printed for the moment on herhide. She could have changed it completely in an instant to conform toa different background. Telzey pointed an accusing finger. "See you!" she announced, feeling a surge of relief which seemed asunaccountable as the rest of it. The wraith twitched one ear in acknowledgment, the head outlinesshifting as the camouflaged face turned towards Telzey. Then theinwardly uncamouflaged, very substantial looking mouth opened slowly, showing Tick-Tock's red tongue and curved white tusks. The mouthstretched in a wide yawn, snapped shut with a click of meshing teeth, became indistinguishable again. Next, a pair of camouflaged lids drewback from TT's round, brilliant-green eyes. The eyes stared across thelawn at Telzey. Telzey said irritably, "Quit clowning around, TT!" The eyes blinked, and Tick-Tock's natural bronze-brown color suddenlyflowed over her head, down her neck and across her body into legs andtail. Against the side of the terrace, as if materializing intosolidity at that moment, appeared two hundred pounds of supple, rangy, long-tailed cat ... Or catlike creature. TT's actual origin had neverbeen established. The best guesses were that what Telzey had foundplaying around in the woods five years ago was either a bio-structuralexperiment which had got away from a private laboratory on Orado, orsome spaceman's lost pet, brought to the capital planet from one ofthe remote colonies beyond the Hub. On top of TT's head was a large, fluffy pompom of white fur, which might have looked ridiculous onanother animal, but didn't on her. Even as a fat kitten, hanging headdown from the side of a wall by the broad sucker pads in her paws, TThad possessed enormous dignity. Telzey studied her, the feeling of relief fading again. Tick-Tock, ordinarily the most restful and composed of companions, definitely wasstill tensed up about something. That big, lazy yawn a moment ago, theattitude of stretched-out relaxation ... All pure sham! "What _is_ eating you?" she asked in exasperation. The green eyes stared at her, solemn, watchful, seeming for thatfleeting instant quite alien. And why, Telzey thought, should the oldquestion of what Tick-Tock really was pass through her mind just now?After her rather alarming rate of growth began to taper off last year, nobody had cared any more. For a moment, Telzey had the uncanny certainty of having had theanswer to this situation almost in her grasp. An answer which appearedto involve the world of Jontarou, Tick-Tock, and of all unlikelyfactors--Aunt Halet. She shook her head, TT's impassive green eyes blinked. * * * * * Jontarou? The planet lay outside Telzey's sphere of personalinterests, but she'd read up on it on the way here from Orado. Amongall the worlds of the Hub, Jontarou was _the_ paradise for zoologistsand sportsmen, a gigantic animal preserve, its continents and seasswarming with magnificent game. Under Federation law, it was beingretained deliberately in the primitive state in which it had beendiscovered. Port Nichay, the only city, actually the only inhabitedpoint on Jontarou, was beautiful and quiet, a pattern of vast butelegantly slender towers, each separated from the others by four orfive miles of rolling parkland and interconnected only by the threadsof transparent skyways. Near the horizon, just visible from thegarden, rose the tallest towers of all, the green and gold spires ofthe Shikaris' Club, a center of Federation affairs and of socialactivity. From the aircar which brought them across Port Nichay theevening before, Telzey had seen occasional strings of guest houses, similar to the one Halet had rented, nestling along the park slopes. [Illustration] Nothing very sinister about Port Nichay or green Jontarou, surely! Halet? That blond, slinky, would-be Machiavelli? What could--? Telzey's eyes narrowed reflectively. There'd been a minoroccurrence--at least, it had seemed minor--just before the spacelinerdocked last night. A young woman from one of the newscasting serviceshad asked for an interview with the daughter of FederationCouncilwoman Jessamine Amberdon. This happened occasionally; andTelzey had no objections until the newshen's gossipy persistence ininquiring about the "unusual pet" she was bringing to Port Nichay withher began to be annoying. TT might be somewhat unusual, but that wasnot a matter of general interest; and Telzey said so. Then Halet movedsmoothly into the act and held forth on Tick-Tock's appearance, habits, and mysterious antecedents, in considerable detail. Telzey had assumed that Halet was simply going out of her way to beirritating, as usual. Looking back on the incident, however, itoccurred to her that the chatter between her aunt and the newscastwoman had sounded oddly stilted--almost like something the two mighthave rehearsed. Rehearsed for what purpose? Tick-Tock ... Jontarou. Telzey chewed gently on her lower lip. A vacation on Jontarou for thetwo of them and TT had been Halet's idea, and Halet had enthused aboutit so much that Telzey's mother at last talked her into accepting. Halet, Jessamine explained privately to Telzey, had felt they wereintruders in the Amberdon family, had bitterly resented Jessamine'spolitical honors and, more recently, Telzey's own emerging promise ofbrilliance. This invitation was Halet's way of indicating a change ofheart. Wouldn't Telzey oblige? * * * * * So Telzey had obliged, though she took very little stock in Halet'schange of heart. She wasn't, in fact, putting it past her aunt to havesome involved dirty trick up her sleeve with this trip to Jontarou. Halet's mind worked like that. So far there had been no actual indications of purposeful mischief. But logic did seem to require a connection between the variouspuzzling events here.... A newscaster's rather forced looking interestin Tick-Tock--Halet could easily have paid for that interview. ThenTT's disturbed behavior during their first night in Port Nichay, andTelzey's own formless anxieties and fancies in connection with theguest house garden. The last remained hard to explain. But Tick-Tock ... And Halet ... Might know something about Jontarou that she didn't know. Her mind returned to the results of the half-serious attempt she'dmade to find out whether there was something Tick-Tock "wanted her todo. " An open door? A darkness where somebody waited to grab her if shetook even one step forwards? It couldn't have had any significance. Orcould it? So you'd like to try magic, Telzey scoffed at herself. Baby games.... How far would you have got at law school if you'd asked TT to helpwith your problems? Then why had she been thinking about it again? She shivered, because an eerie stillness seemed to settle on thegarden. From the side of the terrace, TT's green eyes watched her. Telzey had a feeling of sinking down slowly into a sunlit dream, intosomething very remote from law school problems. "Should I go through the door?" she whispered. The bronze cat-shape raised its head slowly. TT began to purr. Tick-Tock's name had been derived in kittenhood from the manner inwhich she purred--a measured, oscillating sound, shifting from high tolow, as comfortable and often as continuous as the unobtrusive pulseof an old clock. It was the first time, Telzey realized now, thatshe'd heard the sound since their arrival on Jontarou. It went on fora dozen seconds or so, then stopped. Tick-Tock continued to look ather. It appeared to have been an expression of definite assent.... The dreamlike sensation increased, hazing over Telzey's thoughts. Ifthere was nothing to this mind-communication thing, what harm couldsymbols do? This time, she wouldn't let them alarm her. And if theydid mean something.... She closed her eyes. * * * * * The sunglow outside faded instantly. Telzey caught a fleeting pictureof the door in the wall, and knew in the same moment that she'dalready passed through it. She was not in the dark room then, but poised at the edge of abrightness which seemed featureless and without limit, spread outaround her with a feeling-tone like "sea" or "sky. " But it was anunquiet place. There was a sense of unseen things on all sideswatching her and waiting. Was this another form of the dark room--a trap set up in her mind?Telzey's attention did a quick shift. She was seated in the grassagain; the sunlight beyond her closed eyelids seemed to shine inquietly through rose-tinted curtains. Cautiously, she let herawareness return to the bright area; and it was still there. She had amoment of excited elation. She was controlling this! And why not, sheasked herself. These things were happening in her mind, after all! She would find out what they seemed to mean; but she would be in norush to.... An impression as if, behind her, Tick-Tock had thought, "Now I canhelp again!" Then a feeling of being swept swiftly, irresistibly forwards, thrustout and down. The brightness exploded in thundering colors around her. In fright, she made the effort to snap her eyes open, to be back inthe garden; but now she couldn't make it work. The colors continued toroar about her, like a confusion of excited, laughing, triumphantvoices. Telzey felt caught in the middle of it all, suspended ininvisible spider webs. Tick-Tock seemed to be somewhere nearby, looking on. Faithless, treacherous TT! Telzey's mind made another wrenching effort, and there was a change. She hadn't got back into the garden, but the noisy, swirling colorswere gone and she had the feeling of reading a rapidly movingmicrotape now, though she didn't actually see the tape. The tape, she realized, was another symbol for what was happening, asymbol easier for her to understand. There were voices, or what mightbe voices, around her; on the invisible tape she seemed to be readingwhat they said. A number of speakers, apparently involved in a fast, hot argumentabout what to do with her. Impressions flashed past.... * * * * * Why waste time with her? It was clear that kitten-talk was all she wascapable of!... Not necessarily; that was a normal first step. Give hera little time!... But what--exasperatedly--could such a small-bite_possibly_ know that would be of significant value? There was a slow, blurred, awkward-seeming interruption. Its contentwas not comprehensible to Telzey at all, but in some unmistakablemanner it was defined as Tick-Tock's thought. A pause as the circle of speakers stopped to consider whatever TT hadthrown into the debate. Then another impression ... One that sent a shock of fear throughTelzey as it rose heavily into her awareness. Its sheer intensitymomentarily displaced the tape-reading symbolism. A savage voiceseemed to rumble: "Toss the tender small-bite to me"--malevolent crimson eyes fixed onTelzey from somewhere not far away--"and let's be done here!" Startled, stammering protest from Tick-Tock, accompanied by gusts oflaughter from the circle. Great sense of humor these characters had, Telzey thought bitterly. That crimson-eyed thing wasn't joking at all! More laughter as the circle caught her thought. Then a kind ofmajority opinion found sudden expression: "Small-bite _is_ learning! No harm to wait--We'll find outquickly--Let's.... " The tape ended; the voices faded; the colors went blank. In whateverjumbled-up form she'd been getting the impressions at thatpoint--Telzey couldn't have begun to describe it--the whole thingsuddenly stopped. * * * * * She found herself sitting in the grass, shaky, scared, eyes open. Tick-Tock stood beside the terrace, looking at her. An air of hazyunreality still hung about the garden. She might have flipped! She didn't think so; but it certainly seemedpossible! Otherwise ... Telzey made an attempt to sort over what hadhappened. Something _had_ been in the garden! Something had been inside hermind. Something that was at home on Jontarou. There'd been a feeling of perhaps fifty or sixty of these ... Well, beings. Alarming beings! Reckless, wild, hard ... And that red-eyednightmare! Telzey shuddered. They'd contacted Tick-Tock first, during the night. TT understood thembetter than she could. Why? Telzey found no immediate answer. Then Tick-Tock had tricked her into letting her mind be invaded bythese beings. There must have been a very definite reason for that. She looked over at Tick-Tock. TT looked back. Nothing stirred inTelzey's thoughts. Between _them_ there was still no directcommunication. Then how had the beings been able to get through to her? Telzey wrinkled her nose. Assuming this was real, it seemed clear thatthe game of symbols she'd made up between herself and TT had providedthe opening. Her whole experience just now had been in the form ofsymbols, translating whatever occurred into something she couldconsciously grasp. "Kitten-talk" was how the beings referred to the use of symbols; theyseemed contemptuous of it. Never mind, Telzey told herself; they'dagreed she was learning. The air over the grass appeared to flicker. Again she had theimpression of reading words off a quickly moving, not quite visibletape. "You're being taught and you're learning, " was what she seemed toread. "The question was whether you were capable of partialunderstanding as your friend insisted. Since you were, everything elsethat can be done will be accomplished very quickly. " A pause, then with a touch of approval, "You're a well-formed mind, small-bite! Odd and with incomprehensibilities, but well-formed--" One of the beings, and a fairly friendly one--at least not unfriendly. Telzey framed a tentative mental question. "Who are you?" "You'll know very soon. " The flickering ended; she realized she andthe question had been dismissed for the moment. She looked over atTick-Tock again. "Can't _you_ talk to me now, TT?" she asked silently. A feeling of hesitation. "Kitten-talk!" was the impression that formed itself with difficultythen. It was awkward, searching; but it came unquestionably from TT. "Still learning too, Telzey!" TT seemed half anxious, half angry. "We--" * * * * * A sharp buzz-note reached Telzey's ears, wiping out the gropingthought-impression. She jumped a little, glanced down. Herwrist-talker was signaling. For a moment, she seemed poiseduncertainly between a world where unseen, dangerous-sounding beingsreferred to one as small-bite and where TT was learning to talk, andthe familiar other world where wrist-communicators buzzed periodicallyin a matter-of-fact manner. Settling back into the more familiarworld, she switched on the talker. "Yes?" she said. Her voice sounded husky. "Telzey, dear, " Halet murmured honey-sweet from the talker, "would youcome back into the house, please? The living room--We have a visitorwho very much wants to meet you. " Telzey hesitated, eyes narrowing. Halet's visitor wanted to meet_her_? "Why?" she asked. "He has something _very_ interesting to tell you, dear. " The edge oftriumphant malice showed for an instant, vanished in murmuringsweetness again. "So please hurry!" "All right. " Telzey stood up. "I'm coming. " "Fine, dear!" The talker went dead. Telzey switched off the instrument, noticed that Tick-Tock had chosento disappear meanwhile. Flipped? She wondered, starting up towards the house. It was clearAunt Halet had prepared some unpleasant surprise to spring on her, which was hardly more than normal behavior for Halet. The otherbusiness? She couldn't be certain of anything there. Leaving out TT'sstrange actions--which might have a number of causes, after all--thatentire string of events could have been created inside her head. Therewas no contradictory evidence so far. But it could do no harm to take what _seemed_ to have happened at facevalue. Some pretty grim event might be shaping up, in a very real way, around here.... "You reason logically!" The impression now was of a voice speaking toher, a voice that made no audible sound. It was the same being who'daddressed her a minute or two ago. The two worlds between which Telzey had felt suspended seemed to glideslowly together and become one. "I go to Law school, " she explained to the being, almost absently. Amused agreement. "So we heard. " "What do you want of me?" Telzey inquired. "You'll know soon enough. " "Why not tell me now?" Telzey urged. It seemed about to dismiss heragain. Quick impatience flared at her. "Kitten-pictures! Kitten-thoughts!Kitten-talk! Too slow, too slow! YOUR pictures--too much YOU! Waittill the.... " Circuits close ... Channels open.... Obstructions clear? What _had_ itsaid? There'd been only the blurred image of a finicky, delicate, butperfectly normal technical operation of some kind. "... Minutes now!" the voice concluded. A pause, then another thoughttossed carelessly at her. "This is more important to you, small-bite, than to _us_!" The voice impression ended as sharply as if acommunicator had snapped off. Not _too_ friendly! Telzey walked on towards the house, a new feargrowing inside her ... A fear like the awareness of a storm gatherednearby, still quiet--deadly quiet, but ready to break. "Kitten-pictures!" a voice seemed to jeer distantly, a whispering inthe park trees beyond the garden wall. * * * * * Halet's cheeks were lightly pinked; her blue eyes sparkled. She lookeddownright stunning, which meant to anyone who knew her that the worstside of Halet's nature was champing at the bit again. On uninformedmales it had a dazzling effect, however; and Telzey wasn't surprisedto find their visitor wearing a tranced expression when she came intothe living room. He was a tall, outdoorsy man with a tanned, bonyface, a neatly trained black mustache, and a scar down one cheek whichwould have seemed dashing if it hadn't been for the stupefied look. Beside his chair stood a large, clumsy instrument which might havebeen some kind of telecamera. Halet performed introductions. Their visitor was Dr. Droon, azoologist. He had been tuned in on Telzey's newscast interview on theliner the night before, and wondered whether Telzey would care todiscuss Tick-Tock with him. "Frankly, no, " Telzey said. Dr. Droon came awake and gave Telzey a surprised look. Halet smiledeasily. "My niece doesn't intend to be discourteous, doctor, " she explained. [Illustration] "Of course not, " the zoologist agreed doubtfully. "It's just, " Halet went on, "that Telzey is a little, oh, sensitivewhere Tick-Tock is concerned. In her own way, she's attached to theanimal. Aren't you, dear?" "Yes, " Telzey said blandly. "Well, we hope this isn't going to disturbed you too much, dear. "Halet glanced significantly at Dr. Droon. "Dr. Droon, you mustunderstand, is simply doing ... Well, there is something veryimportant he must tell you now. " Telzey transferred her gaze back to the zoologist. Dr. Droon clearedhis throat. "I, ah, understand, Miss Amberdon, that you're unaware ofwhat kind of creature your, ah, Tick-Tock is?" Telzey started to speak, then checked herself, frowning. She had beenabout to state that she knew exactly what kind of creature TT was ... But she didn't, of course! Or did she? She.... She scowled absent-mindedly at Dr. Droon, biting her lip. "Telzey!" Halet prompted gently. "Huh?" Telzey said. "Oh ... Please go on, doctor!" Dr. Droon steepled his fingers. "Well, " he said, "she ... Your pet ... Is, ah, a young crest cat. Nearly full grown now, apparently, and--" "Why, yes!" Telzey cried. The zoologist looked at her. "You knew that--" "Well, not really, " Telzey admitted. "Or sort of. " She laughed, hercheeks flushed. "This is the most ... Go ahead please! Sorry Iinterrupted. " She stared at the wall beyond Dr. Droon with a raptexpression. * * * * * The zoologist and Halet exchanged glances. Then Dr. Droon resumedcautiously. The crest cats, he said, were a species native toJontarou. Their existence had been known for only eight years. Thespecies appeared to have had a somewhat limited range--the Baluitmountains on the opposite side of the huge continent on which PortNichay had been built.... Telzey barely heard him. A very curious thing was happening. For everysentence Dr. Droon uttered, a dozen other sentences appeared in herawareness. More accurately, it was as if an instantaneous smooth flowof information relevant to whatever he said arose continuously fromwhat might have been almost her own memory, but wasn't. Within aminute or two, she knew more about the crest cats of Jontarou than Dr. Droon could have told her in hours ... Much more than he'd ever known. She realized suddenly that he'd stopped talking, that he had asked hera question. "Miss Amberdon?" he repeated now, with a note ofuncertainty. "Yar-rrr-REE!" Telzey told him softly. "I'll drink your blood!" "Eh?" Telzey blinked, focused on Dr. Droon, wrenching her mind away from asplendid view of the misty-blue peaks of the Baluit range. "Sorry, " she said briskly. "Just a joke!" She smiled. "Now what wereyou saying?" The zoologist looked at her in a rather odd manner for a moment. "Iwas inquiring, " he said then, "whether you were familiar with thesporting rules established by the various hunting associations of theHub in connection with the taking of game trophies?" Telzey shook her head. "No, I never heard of them. " * * * * * The rules, Dr. Droon explained, laid down the type of equipment ... Weapons, spotting and tracking instruments, number of assistants, andso forth ... A sportsman could legitimately use in the pursuit of anyspecific type of game. "Before the end of the first year after theirdiscovery, " he went on, "the Baluit crest cats had been placed in theultra-equipment class. " "What's ultra-equipment?" Telzey asked. "Well, " Dr. Droon said thoughtfully, "it doesn't quite involve the useof full battle armor ... Not quite! And, of course, even with thatclassification the sporting principle of mutual accessibility must beobserved. " "Mutual ... Oh, I see!" Telzey paused as another wave of silentinformation rose into her awareness; went on, "So the game has to beable to get at the sportsman too, eh?" "That's correct. Except in the pursuit of various classes of flyinganimals, a shikari would not, for example, be permitted the use of anaircar other than as means of simple transportation. Under theseconditions, it was soon established that crest cats were beingobtained by sportsmen who went after them at a rather consistentone-to-one ration. " Telzey's eyes widened. She'd gathered something similar from her otherinformation source but hadn't quite believed it. "One hunter killedfor each cat bagged?" she said. "That's pretty rough sport, isn't it? "Extremely rough sport!" Dr. Droon agreed dryly. "In fact, when thestatistics were published, the sporting interest in winning a Baluitcat trophy appears to have suffered a sudden and sharp decline. On theother hand, a more scientific interest in these remarkable animals wascoincidingly created, and many permits for their acquisition by theagents of museums, universities, public and private collections wereissued. Sporting rules, of course, do not apply to that activity. " Telzey nodded absently. "I see! _They_ used aircars, didn't they? Asort of heavy knockout gun--" "Aircars, long-range detectors and stunguns are standard equipment insuch work, " Dr. Droon acknowledged. "Gas and poison are employed, ofcourse, as circumstances dictate. The collectors were relativelysuccessful for a while. " "And then a curious thing happened. Less than two years after theirexistence became known, the crest cats of the Baluit range wereextinct! The inroads made on their numbers by man cannot begin toaccount for this, so it must be assumed that a sudden plague wipedthem out. At any rate, not another living member of the species hasbeen seen on Jontarou until you landed here with your pet last night. " Telzey sat silent for some seconds. Not because of what he had said, but because the other knowledge was still flowing into her mind. Onone very important point _that_ was at variance with what thezoologist had stated; and from there a coldly logical pattern wasbuilding up. Telzey didn't grasp the pattern in complete detail yet, but what she saw of it stirred her with a half incredulous dread. She asked, shaping the words carefully but with only a small part ofher attention on what she was really saying. "Just what does all thathave to do with Tick-Tock, Dr. Droon?" Dr. Droon glanced at Halet, and returned his gaze to Telzey. Lookingvery uncomfortable but quite determined, he told her, "Miss Amberdon, there is a Federation law which states that when a species isthreatened with extinction, any available survivors must betransferred to the Life Banks of the University League, to insuretheir indefinite preservation. Under the circumstances, this lawapplies to, ah, Tick-Tock!" * * * * * So that had been Halet's trick. She'd found out about the crest cats, might have put in as much as a few months arranging to make thediscovery of TT's origin on Jontarou seem a regrettablemischance--something no one could have foreseen or prevented. In theLife Banks, from what Telzey had heard of them, TT would cease toexist as an individual awareness while scientists tinkered around withthe possibilities of reconstructing her species. Telzey studied her aunt's carefully sympathizing face for an instant, asked Dr. Droon, "What about the other crest cats--you said werecollected before they became extinct here? Wouldn't they be enough forwhat the Life Banks need?" He shook his head. "Two immature male specimens are know to exist, andthey are at present in the Life Banks. The others that were takenalive at the time have been destroyed ... Often under nearlydisastrous circumstances. They are enormously cunning, enormouslysavage creatures, Miss Amberdon! The additional fact that they canconceal themselves to the point of being virtually indetectable exceptby the use of instruments makes them one of the most dangerous animalsknown. Since the young female which you raised as a pet has remaineddocile ... So far ... You may not really be able to appreciate that. " "Perhaps I can, " Telzey said. She nodded at the heavy-lookinginstrument standing beside his chair. "And that's--?" "It's a life detector combined with a stungun, Miss Amberdon. I haveno intention of harming your pet, but we can't take chances with ananimal of that type. The gun's charge will knock it unconscious forseveral minutes--just long enough to let me secure it with paralysisbelts. " "You're a collector for the Life Banks, Dr. Droon?" "That's correct. " "Dr. Droon, " Halet remarked, "has obtained a permit from the PlanetaryModerator, authorizing him to claim Tick-Tock for the UniversityLeague and remove her from the planet, dear. So you see there issimply nothing we can do about the matter! Your mother wouldn't likeus to attempt to obstruct the law, would she?" Halet paused. "Thepermit should have your signature, Telzey, but I can sign in yourstead if necessary. " That was Halet's way of saying it would do no good to appeal toJontarou's Planetary Moderator. She'd taken the precaution of gettinghis assent to the matter first. "So now if you'll just call Tick-Tock, dear... " Halet went on. Telzey barely heard the last words. She felt herself stiffeningslowly, while the living room almost faded from her sight. Perhaps, inthat instant, some additional new circuit had closed in her mind, orsome additional new channel had opened, for TT's purpose in trickingher into contact with the reckless, mocking beings outside wassuddenly and numbingly clear. And what it meant immediately was that she'd have to get out of thehouse without being spotted at it, and go some place where she couldbe undisturbed for half an hour. She realized that Halet and the zoologist were both staring at her. * * * * * "Are you ill, dear?" "No. " Telzey stood up. It would be worse than useless to try to tellthese two anything! Her face must be pretty white at the moment--shecould feel it--but they assumed, of course, that the shock of losingTT had just now sunk in on her. "I'll have to check on that law you mentioned before I sign anything, "she told Dr. Droon. "Why, yes ... " He started to get out of his chair. "I'm sure that canbe arranged, Miss Amberdon!" "Don't bother to call the Moderator's office, " Telzey said. "I broughtmy law library along. I'll look it up myself. " She turned to leave theroom. "My niece, " Halet explained to Dr. Droon who was beginning to look puzzled, "attends law school. She's always so absorbed in her studies ... Telzey?" "Yes, Halet?" Telzey paused at the door. "I'm very glad you've decided to be sensible about this, dear. Butdon't take too long, will you? We don't want to waste Dr. Droon'stime. " "It shouldn't take more than five or ten minutes, " Telzey told heragreeably. She closed the door behind her, and went directly to herbedroom on the second floor. One of her two valises was stillunpacked. She locked the door behind her, opened the unpacked valise, took out a pocket edition law library and sat down at the table withit. She clicked on the library's view-screen, tapped the clearing andindex buttons. Behind the screen, one of the multiple rows of pinheadtapes shifted slightly as the index was flicked into reading position. Half a minute later, she was glancing over the legal section on whichDr. Droon had based his claim. The library confirmed what he had said. Very neat of Halet, Telzey thought, very nasty ... And pretty idiotic!Even a second-year law student could think immediately of two or threeways in which a case like that could have been dragged out in theFederation's courts for a couple of decades before the question ofhanding Tick-Tock over to the Life Banks became too acute. Well, Halet simply wasn't really intelligent. And the plot to shanghaiTT was hardly even a side issue now. Telzey snapped the tiny library shut, fastened it to the belt of hersunsuit and went over to the open window. A two-foot ledge passedbeneath the window, leading to the roof of a patio on the right. Fifty yards beyond the patio, the garden ended in a natural-stonewall. Behind it lay one of the big wooded park areas which formed mostof the ground level of Port Nichay. Tick-Tock wasn't in sight. A sound of voices came from ground-floorwindows on the left. Halet had brought her maid and chauffeur along;and a chef had showed up in time to make breakfast this morning, aspart of the city's guest house service. Telzey took the empty valiseto the window, set it on end against the left side of the frame, andlet the window slide down until its lower edge rested on the valise. She went back to the house guard-screen panel beside the door, put herfinger against the lock button, and pushed. The sound of voices from the lower floor was cut off as outer doorsand windows slid silently shut all about the house. Telzey glancedback at the window. The valise had creaked a little as the guard fielddrove the frame down on it, but it was supporting the thrust. Shereturned to the window, wriggled feet foremost through the opening, twisted around and got a footing on the ledge. A minute later, she was scrambling quietly down a vine-covered patiotrellis to the ground. Even after they discovered she was gone, theguard screen would keep everybody in the house for some little while. They'd either have to disengage the screen's main mechanisms and startpoking around in them, or force open the door to her bedroom and getthe lock unset. Either approach would involve confusion, upsettempers, and generally delay any organized pursuit. Telzey edged around the patio and started towards the wall, keepingclose to the side of the house so she couldn't be seen from thewindows. The shrubbery made minor rustling noises as she threaded herway through it ... And then there was a different stirring which mighthave been no more than a slow, steady current of air moving among thebushes behind her. She shivered involuntarily but didn't look back. She came to the wall, stood still, measuring its height, jumped andgot an arm across it, swung up a knee and squirmed up and over. Shecame down on her feet with a small thump in the grass on the otherside, glanced back once at the guest house, crossed a path and went onamong the park trees. * * * * * Within a few hundred yards, it became apparent that she had an escort. She didn't look around for them, but spread out to right and left likea skirmish line, keeping abreast with her, occasional shadows slidsilently through patches of open, sunlit ground, disappeared againunder the trees. Otherwise, there was hardly anyone in sight. PortNichay's human residents appeared to make almost no personal use ofthe vast parkland spread out beneath their tower apartments; and itstraffic moved over the airways, visible from the ground only asrainbow-hued ribbons which bisected the sky between the upper towerlevels. An occasional private aircar went by overhead. Wisps of thought which were not her own thoughts flicked throughTelzey's mind from moment to moment as the silent line of shadowsmoved deeper into the park with her. She realized she was being sizedup, judged, evaluated again. No more information was coming through;they had given her as much information as she needed. In the mainperhaps, they were simply curious now. This was the first human mindthey'd been able to make heads or tails of, and that hadn't seemeddeaf and silent to their form of communication. They were taking timeout to study it. They'd been assured she would have something ofgenuine importance to tell them; and there was some derision aboutthat. But they were willing to wait a little, and find out. They werecurious and they liked games. At the moment, Telzey and what she mighttry to do to change their plans was the game on which their attentionwas fixed. Twelve minutes passed before the talker on Telzey's wrist began tobuzz. It continued to signal off and on for another few minutes, thenstopped. Back in the guest house they couldn't be sure yet whether shewasn't simply locked inside her room and refusing to answer them. ButTelzey quickened her pace. The park's trees gradually became more massive, reached higher aboveher, stood spaced more widely apart. She passed through the morningshadow of the residential tower nearest the guest house, and emergedfrom it presently on the shore of a small lake. On the other side ofthe lake, a number of dappled grazing animals like long-necked, tallhorses lifted their heads to watch her. For some seconds they seemedonly mildly interested, but then a breeze moved across the lake, crinkling the surface of the water, and as it touched the oppositeshore, abrupt panic exploded among the grazers. They wheeled, wentflashing away in effortless twenty-foot strides, and were gone amongthe trees. Telzey felt a crawling along her spine. It was the first objectiveindication she'd had of the nature of the company she had brought tothe lake, and while it hardly came as a surprise, for a moment herurge was to follow the example of the grazers. "Tick-Tock?" she whispered, suddenly a little short of breath. A single up-and-down purring note replied from the bushes on herright. TT was still around, for whatever good that might do. Not toomuch, Telzey thought, if it came to serious trouble. But the knowledgewas somewhat reassuring ... And this, meanwhile, appeared to be as faras she needed to get from the guest house. They'd be looking for herby aircar presently, but there was nothing to tell them in whichdirection to turn first. She climbed the bank of the lake to a point where she was screenedboth by thick, green shrubbery and the top of a single immense treefrom the sky, sat down on some dry, mossy growth, took the law libraryfrom her belt, opened it and placed it in her lap. Vague stirringsindicated that her escort was also settling down in an irregularcircle about her; and apprehension shivered on Telzey's skin again. Itwasn't that their attitude was hostile; they were simply overawing. And no one could predict what they might do next. Without looking up, she asked a question in her mind. "Ready?" * * * * * [Illustration] Sense of multiple acknowledgment, variously tinged--sardonic;interestingly amused; attentive; doubtful. Impatience quivered throughit too, only tentatively held in restraint, and Telzey's forehead wassuddenly wet. Some of them seemed on the verge of expressingdisapproval with what was being done here-- Her fingers quickly flicked in the index tape, and the stir of feelingabout her subsided, their attention captured again for the moment. Herthoughts became to some degree detached, ready to dissect anotherproblem in the familiar ways and present the answers to it. Not a veryinvolved problem essentially, but this time it wasn't a schoolexercise. Her company waited, withdrawn, silent, aloof once more, while the index blurred, checked, blurred and checked. Within a minuteand a half, she had noted a dozen reference symbols. She tapped inanother of the pinhead tapes, glanced over a few paragraphs, lickedsalty sweat from her lip, and said in her thoughts, emphasizing themeaning of each detail of the sentence so that there would be nomisunderstanding, "This is the Federation law that applies to thesituation which existed originally on this planet.... " There were no interruptions, no commenting thoughts, no intrusions ofany kind, as she went step by step through the section, turned toanother one, and another. In perhaps twelve minutes she came to theend of the last one, and stopped. Instantly, argument exploded abouther. Telzey was not involved in the argument; in fact, she could grasp onlyscraps of it. Either they were excluding her deliberately, or theexchange was too swift, practiced and varied to allow her to keep up. But their vehemence was not encouraging. And was it reasonable toassume that the Federation's laws would have any meaning for mindslike these? Telzey snapped the library shut with fingers that hadbegun to tremble, and placed it on the ground. Then she stiffened. Inthe sensations washing about her, a special excitement rose suddenly, a surge of almost gleeful wildness that choked away her breath. Awareness followed of a pair of malignant crimson eyes fastened onher, moving steadily closer. A kind of nightmare paralysis seizedTelzey--they'd turned her over to that red-eyed horror! She sat still, feeling mouse-sized. Something came out with a crash from a thicket behind her. Her muscleswent tight. But it was TT who rubbed a hard head against her shoulder, took another three stiff-legged steps forward and stopped betweenTelzey and the bushes on their right, back rigid, neck fur erect, tailtwisting. Expectant silence closed in about them. The circle was waiting. In thegreenery on the right something made a slow, heavy stir. TT's lips peeled back from her teeth. Her head swung towards themotion, ears flattening, transformed to a split, snarling demon-mask. A long shriek ripped from her lungs, raw with fury, blood lust andchallenge. The sound died away. For some seconds the tension about them held;then came a sense of gradual relaxation mingled with a partly amusedapproval. Telzey was shaking violently. It had been, she was tellingherself, a deliberate test ... Not of herself, of course, but of TT. And Tick-Tock had passed with honors. That _her_ nerves had been halfruined in the process would seem a matter of no consequence to thisrugged crew.... She realized next that someone here was addressing her personally. It took a few moments to steady her jittering thoughts enough to gaina more definite impression than that. This speaker, she discoveredthen, was a member of the circle of whom she hadn't been aware before. The thought-impressions came hard and cold as iron--a personage whowas very evidently in the habit of making major decisions and seeingthem carried out. The circle, its moment of sport over, was listeningwith more than a suggestion of deference. Tick-Tock, far fromconciliated, green eyes still blazing, nevertheless was settling downto listen, too. Telzey began to understand. Her suggestions, Iron Thoughts informed her, might appear withoutvalue to a number of foolish minds here, but _he_ intended to see theywere given a fair trial. Did he perhaps hear, he inquired next of thecircle, throwing in a casual but horridly vivid impression of snappingspines and slashed shaggy throats spouting blood, any objection tothat? Dead stillness all around. There was, definitely, no objection. Tick-Tock began to grin like a pleased kitten. That point having been settled in an orderly manner now, Iron Thoughtswent on coldly to Telzey, what specifically did she propose theyshould do? * * * * * Halet's long, pearl-gray sportscar showed up above the park treestwenty minutes later. Telzey, face turned down towards the open lawlibrary in her lap, watched the car from the corner of her eyes. Shewas in plain view, sitting beside the lake, apparently absorbed inlegal research. Tick-Tock, camouflaged among the bushes thirty feethigher up the bank, had spotted the car an instant before she did andannounced the fact with a three-second break in her purring. Neitherof them made any other move. The car was approaching the lake but still a good distance off. Itscanopy was down, and Telzey could just make out the heads of threepeople inside. Delquos, Halet's chauffeur, would be flying thevehicle, while Halet and Dr. Droon looked around for her from thesides. Three hundred yards away, the aircar began a turn to the right. Delquos didn't like his employer much; at a guess, he had just spottedTelzey and was trying to warn her off. Telzey closed the library and put it down, picked up a handful ofpebbles and began flicking them idly, one at a time, into the water. The aircar vanished to her left. Three minutes later, she watched its shadow glide across the surfaceof the lake towards her. Her heart began to thump almost audibly, butshe didn't look up. Tick-Tock's purring continued, on its regular, unhurried note. The car came to a stop almost directly overhead. Aftera couple of seconds, there was a clicking noise. The purring endedabruptly. Telzey climbed to her feet as Delquos brought the car down to the bankof the lake. The chauffeur grinned ruefully at her. A side door hadbeen opened, and Halet and Dr. Droon stood behind it. Halet watchedTelzey with a small smile while the naturalist put the heavylife-detector-and-stungun device carefully down on the floorboards. "If you're looking for Tick-Tock, " Telzey said, "she isn't here. " Halet just shook her head sorrowfully. "There's no use lying to us, dear. Dr Droon just stunned her. " * * * * * They found TT collapsed on her side among the shrubs, wearing hernatural color. Her eyes were shut, her chest rose and fell in a slowbreathing motion. Dr. Droon, looking rather apologetic, pointed out toTelzey that her pet was in no pain, that the stungun had simply puther comfortably to sleep. He also explained the use of the two sets ofwebbed paralysis belts which he fastened about TT's legs. The effectof the stun charge would wear off in a few minutes, and contact withthe inner surfaces of the energized belts would then keep TTanesthetized and unable to move until the belts were removed. Shewould, he repeated, be suffering no pain throughout the process. Telzey didn't comment. She watched Delquos raise TT's limp body abovethe level of the bushes with a gravity hoist belonging to Dr. Droon, and maneuver her back to the car, the others following. Delquosclimbed into the car first, opened the big trunk compartment in therear. TT was slid inside and the trunk compartment locked. "Where are you taking her?" Telzey asked sullenly as Delquos liftedthe car into the air. "To the spaceport, dear, " Halet said. "Dr. Droon and I both felt itwould be better to spare your feelings by not prolonging the matterunnecessarily. " Telzey wrinkled her nose disdainfully, and walked up the aircar tostand behind Delquos' seat. She leaned against the back of the seatfor an instant. Her legs felt shaky. The chauffeur gave her a sober wink from the side. "That's a dirty trick she's played on you, Miss Telzey!" he murmured. "I tried to warn you. " "I know. " Telzey took a deep breath. "Look, Delquos, in just a minutesomething's going to happen! It'll look dangerous, but it won't be. Don't let it get you nervous ... Right?" "Huh?" Delquos appeared startled, but kept his voice low. "Just_what's_ going to happen?" "No time to tell you. Remember what I said. " * * * * * Telzey moved back a few steps from the driver's seat, turned around, said unsteadily, "Halet ... Dr. Droon--" Halet had been speaking quietly to Dr. Droon; they both looked up. "If you don't move, and don't do anything stupid, " Telzey saidrapidly, "you won't get hurt. If you do ... Well, I don't know! Yousee, there's another crest cat in the car.... " In her mind she added, "Now!" It was impossible to tell in just what section of the car IronThoughts had been lurking. The carpeting near the rear passenger seatsseemed to blur for an instant. Then he was there, camouflage dropped, sitting on the floorboards five feet from the naturalist and Halet. Halet's mouth opened wide; she tried to scream but fainted instead. Dr. Droon's right hand started out quickly towards the big stungundevice beside his seat. Then he checked himself and sat still, ashen-faced. Telzey didn't blame him for changing his mind. She felt he must be aremarkably brave man to have moved at all. Iron Thoughts, twice asbroad across the back as Tick-Tock, twice as massively muscled, lookedlike a devil-beast even to her. His dark-green marbled hide wascriss-crossed with old scar patterns; half his tossing crimson crestappeared to have been ripped away. He reached out now in a fluid, silent motion, hooked a paw under the stungun and flicked upwards. Thebig instrument rose in an incredibly swift, steep arc eighty feetinto the air, various parts flying away from it, before it startedcurving down towards the treetops below the car. Iron Thoughts lazilyswung his head around and looked at Telzey with yellow fire-eyes. "Miss Telzey! Miss Telzey!" Delquos was muttering behind her. "You're_sure_ it won't.... " Telzey swallowed. At the moment, she felt barely mouse-sized again. "Just relax!" she told Delquos in a shaky voice. "He's really quitet-t-t-tame. " Iron Thoughts produced a harsh but not unamiable chuckle in her mind. * * * * * The pearl-gray sportscar, covered now by its streamlining canopy, drifted down presently to a parking platform outside the suite ofoffices on Jontarou's Planetary Moderator, on the fourteenth floor ofthe Shikaris' Club Tower. An attendant waved it on into a vacant slot. Inside the car, Delquos set the brakes, switched off the engine, asked, "Now what?" "I think, " Telzey said reflectively, "we'd better lock you in thetrunk compartment with my aunt and Dr. Droon while I talk to theModerator. " The chauffeur shrugged. He'd regained most of his aplomb during theunhurried trip across the parklands. Iron Thoughts had done nothingbut sit in the center of the car, eyes half shut, looking like instantdeath enjoying a dignified nap and occasionally emitting a ripsawingnoise which might have been either his style of purring or a snore. And Tick-Tock, when Delquos peeled the paralysis belts off her legs atTelzey's direction, had greeted him with her usual reservedaffability. What the chauffeur was suffering from at the moment wasintense curiosity, which Telzey had done nothing to relieve. "Just as you say, Miss Telzey, " he agreed. "I hate to miss whateveryou're going to be doing here, but if you _don't_ lock me up now, MissHalet will figure I was helping you and fire me as soon as you let herout. " Telzey nodded, then cocked her head in the direction of the rearcompartment. Faint sounds coming through the door indicated that Halethad regained consciousness and was having hysterics. "You might tell her, " Telzey suggested, "that there'll be a grown-upcrest cat sitting outside the compartment door. " This wasn't true, butneither Delquos nor Halet could know it. "If there's too much racketbefore I get back, it's likely to irritate him.... " A minute later, she set both car doors on lock and went outside, wishing she were less informally clothed. Sunbriefs and sandals tendedto make her look juvenile. * * * * * The parking attendant appeared startled when she approached him withTick-Tock striding alongside. "They'll never let you into the offices with that thing, miss, " heinformed her. "Why, it doesn't even have a collar!" "Don't worry about it. " Telzey told him aloofly. She dropped a two-credit piece she'd taken from Halet's purse into hishand, and continued on towards the building entrance. The attendantsquinted after her, trying unsuccessfully to dispel an odd impressionthat the big catlike animal with the girl was throwing a doubleshadow. The Moderator's chief receptionist also had some doubts about TT, andpossibly about the sunbriefs, though she seemed impressed whenTelzey's identification tag informed her she was speaking to thedaughter of Federation Councilwoman Jessamine Amberdon. "You feel you can discuss this ... Emergency ... Only with theModerator himself, Miss Amberdon?" she repeated. "Exactly, " Telzey said firmly. A buzzer sounded as she spoke. Thereceptionist excused herself and picked up an earphone. She listened amoment, said blandly, "Yes.... Of course.... Yes, I understand, "replaced the earphone and stood up, smiling at Telzey. "Would you come with me, Miss Amberdon?" she said. "I think theModerator will see you immediately.... " Telzey followed her, chewing thoughtfully at her lip. This was easierthan she'd expected--in fact, too easy! Halet's work? Probably. A fewcomments to the effect of "A highly imaginative child ... Overexcitable, " while Halet was arranging to have the Moderator'soffice authorize Tick-Tock's transfer to the life Banks, along withthe implication that Jessamine Amberdon would appreciate a discreethandling of any disturbance Telzey might create as a result. It was the sort of notion that would appeal to Halet-- * * * * * They passed through a series of elegantly equipped offices andhallways, Telzey grasping TT's neck-fur in lieu of a leash, theirappearance creating a tactfully restrained wave of surprise amongsecretaries and clerks. And if somebody here and there was troubled bya fleeting, uncanny impression that not one large beast but two seemedto be trailing the Moderator's visitor down the aisles, no mention wasmade of what could have been only a momentary visual distortion. Finally, a pair of sliding doors opened ahead, and the receptionistushered Telzey into a large, cool balcony garden on the shaded side ofthe great building. A tall, gray-haired man stood up from the desk atwhich he was working, and bowed to Telzey. The receptionist withdrewagain. "My pleasure, Miss Amberdon, " Jontarou's Planetary Moderator said, "Beseated, please. " He studied Tick-Tock with more than casual interestwhile Telzey was settling herself into a chair, added, "And what may Iand my office do for you?" Telzey hesitated. She'd observed his type on Orado in her mother'scircle of acquaintances--a senior diplomat, a man not easy to impress. It was a safe bet that he'd had her brought out to his balcony officeonly to keep her occupied while Halet was quietly informed where theAmberdon problem child was and requested to come over and take charge. What she had to tell him now would have sounded rather wild even ifpresented by a presumably responsible adult. She could provide proof, but until the Moderator was already nearly sold on her story, thatwould be a very unsafe thing to do. Old Iron Thoughts was backing herup, but if it didn't look as if her plans were likely to succeed, hewould be willing to ride herd on his devil's pack just so long.... Better start the ball rolling without any preliminaries, Telzeydecided. The Moderator's picture of her must be that of a spoiled, neurotic brat in a stew about the threatened loss of a pet animal. Heexpected her to start arguing with him immediately about Tick-Tock. She said "Do you have a personal interest in keeping the Baluit crestcats from becoming extinct?" Surprise flickered in his eyes for an instant. Then he smiled. "I admit I do, Miss Amberdon, " he said pleasantly. "I should like tosee the species re-established. I count myself almost uniquelyfortunate in having had the opportunity to bag two of the magnificentbrutes before disease wiped them out on the planet. " [Illustration] The last seemed a less than fortunate statement just now. Telzeyfelt a sharp tingle of alarm, then sensed that in the minds which weredrawing the meaning of the Moderator's speech from her mind there hadbeen only a brief stir of interest. She cleared her throat, said, "The point is that they weren't wipedout by disease. " He considered her quizzically, seemed to wonder what she was trying tolead up to. Telzey gathered her courage, plunged on, "Would you liketo hear what did happen?" "I should be very much interested, Miss Amberdon, " the Moderator saidwithout change of expression. "But first, if you'll excuse me amoment.... " There had been some signal from his desk which Telzey hadn't noticed, because he picked up a small communicator now and said "Yes?" After afew seconds, he resumed, "That's rather curious, isn't it?... Yes, I'dtry that.... No, that shouldn't be necessary.... Yes, please do. Thank you. " He replaced the communicator, his face very sober; then, his eyes flicking for an instant to TT, he drew one of the upper deskdrawers open a few inches, and turned back to Telzey. "Now, Miss Amberdon, " he said affably, "you were about to say? Aboutthese crest cats.... " Telzey swallowed. She hadn't heard the other side of the conversation, but she could guess what it had been about. His office had called theguest house, had been told by Halet's maid that Halet, the chauffeurand Dr. Droon were out looking for Miss Telzey and her pet. TheModerator's office had then checked on the sportscar's communicationnumber and attempted to call it. And, of course, there had been noresponse. To the Moderator, considering what Halet would have told him, it mustadd up to the grim possibility that the young lunatic he was talkingto had let her three-quarters-grown crest cat slaughter her aunt andthe two men when they caught up with her! The office would benotifying the police now to conduct an immediate search for themissing aircar. When it would occur to them to look for it on the Moderator's parkingterrace was something Telzey couldn't know. But if Halet and Dr. Droonwere released before the Moderator accepted her own version of whathad occurred, and the two reported the presence of wild crest cats inPort Nichay, there would be almost no possibility of keeping thesituation under control. Somebody was bound to make some idiotic move, and the fat would be in the fire.... * * * * * Two things might be in her favor. The Moderator seemed to have thesort of steady nerve one would expect in a man who had bagged twoBaluit crest cats. The partly opened desk drawer beside him must havea gun in it; apparently he considered that a sufficient precautionagainst an attack by TT. He wasn't likely to react in a panickymanner. And the mere fact that he suspected Telzey of homicidaltendencies would make him give the closest attention to what she said. Whether he believed her then was another matter, of course. Slightly encouraged, Telzey began to talk. It did sound like athoroughly wild story, but the Moderator listened with an appearanceof intent interest. When she had told him as much as she felt he couldbe expected to swallow for a start, he said musingly, "So they weren'twiped out--they went into hiding! Do I understand you to say they didit to avoid being hunted?" Telzey chewed her lip frowningly before replying. "There's somethingabout that part I don't quite get, " she admitted. "Of course I don'tquite get either why you'd want to go hunting ... Twice ... Forsomething that's just as likely to bag you instead!" "Well, those are, ah, merely the statistical odds, " the Moderatorexplained. "If one has enough confidence, you see--" "I don't really. But the crest cats seem to have felt the same way--atfirst. They were getting around one hunter for every cat that gotshot. Humans were the most exciting game they'd ever run into. "But then that ended, and the humans started knocking them out withstunguns from aircars where they couldn't be got at, and hauling themoff while they were helpless. After it had gone on for a while, theydecided to keep out of sight. "But they're still around ... Thousands and thousands of them!Another thing nobody's known about them is that they weren't only inthe Baluit mountains. There were crest cats scattered all through thebig forests along the other side of the continent. " "Very interesting, " the Moderator commented. "Very interesting, indeed!" He glanced towards the communicator, then returned his gazeto Telzey, drumming his fingers lightly on the desk top. She could tell nothing at all from his expression now, but she guessedhe was thinking hard. There was supposed to be no native intelligentlife in the legal sense on Jontarou, and she had been careful to saynothing so far to make the Baluit cats look like more than ratherexceptionally intelligent animals. The next--rather large--questionshould be how she'd come by such information. If the Moderator asked her that, Telzey thought, she could feel she'dmade a beginning at getting him to buy the whole story. "Well, " he said abruptly, "if the crest cats are not extinct orthreatened with extinction, the Life Banks obviously have no claim onyour pet. " He smiled confidingly at her. "And that's the reason you'rehere, isn't it?" "Well, no, " Telzey began, dismayed. "I--" "Oh, it's quite all right, Miss Amberdon! I'll simply rescind thepermit which was issued for the purpose. You need feel no furtherconcern about that. " He paused. "Now, just one question ... Do youhappen to know where your aunt is at present?" * * * * * Telzey had a dead, sinking feeling. So he hadn't believed a word shesaid. He'd been stalling her along until the aircar could be found. She took a deep breath. "You'd better listen to the rest of it. " "Why, is there more?" the Moderator asked politely. "Yes. The important part! The kind of creatures they are, theywouldn't go into hiding indefinitely just because someone was afterthem. " Was there a flicker of something beyond watchfulness in hisexpression. "What would they do, Miss Amberdon?" he asked quietly. "If they couldn't get at the men in the aircars and couldn'tcommunicate with them"--the flicker again!--"they'd start looking forthe place the men came from, wouldn't they? It might take them someyears to work their way across the continent and locate us here inPort Nichay. But supposing they did it finally and a few thousand ofthem are sitting around in the parks down there right now? They couldcome up the side of these towers as easily as they go up the side of amountain. And supposing they'd decided that the only way to handle theproblem was to clean out the human beings in Port Nichay?" The Moderator stared at her in silence a few seconds. "You're saying, "he observed then, "that they're rational beings--above the CriticalI. Q. Level. " "Well, " Telzey said, "legally they're rational. I checked on that. About as rational as we are, I suppose. " "Would you mind telling me now how you happen to know this?" "They told me, " Telzey said. He was silent again, studying her face. "You mentioned, Miss Amberdon, that they have been unable to communicate with other human beings. This suggests then that you are a xenotelepath.... " "I am?" Telzey hadn't heard the term before. "If it means that I cantell what the cats are thinking, and they can tell what I'm thinking, I guess that's the word for it. " She considered him, decided she hadhim almost on the ropes, went on quickly. "I looked up the laws, and told them they could conclude a treaty withthe Federation which would establish them as an Affiliated Species ... And that would settle everything the way they would want it settled, without trouble. Some of them believed me. They decided to wait untilI could talk to you. If it works out, fine! If it doesn't"--she felther voice falter for an instant--"they're going to cut loose fast!" The Moderator seemed undisturbed. "What am I supposed to do?" "I told them you'd contact the Council of the Federation on Orado. " "Contact the Council?" he repeated coolly. "With no more proof forthis story than your word Miss Amberdon?" Telzey felt a quick, angry stirring begin about her, felt her facewhiten. "All right, " she said "I'll give you proof! I'll have to now. Butthat'll be it. Once they've tipped their hand all the way, you'llhave about thirty seconds left to make the right move. I hope youremember that!" He cleared his throat. "I--" "NOW!" Telzey said. Along the walls of the balcony garden, beside the ornamental flowerstands, against the edges of the rock pool, the crest cats appeared. Perhaps thirty of them. None quite as physically impressive as IronThoughts who stood closest to the Moderator; but none very far fromit. Motionless as rocks, frightening as gargoyles, they waited, eyesglowing with hellish excitement. "This is _their_ council, you see, " Telzey heard herself saying. The Moderator's face had also paled. But he was, after all, an oldshikari and a senior diplomat. He took an unhurried look around thecircle, said quietly, "Accept my profound apologies for doubting you. Miss Amberdon!" and reached for the desk communicator. Iron Thoughts swung his demon head in Telzey's direction. For aninstant, she picked up the mental impression of a fierce yellow eyeclosing in an approving wink. "... An open transmitter line to Orado, " the Moderator was saying intothe communicator. "The Council. And snap it up! Some very importantvisitors are waiting. " The offices of Jontarou's Planetary Moderator became an extremely busyand interesting area then. Quite two hours passed before it occurredto anyone to ask Telzey again whether she knew where her aunt was atpresent. Telzey smote her forehead. "Forgot all about that!" she admitted, fishing the sportscar's keysout of the pocket of her sunbriefs. "They're out on the parkingplatform.... " * * * * * The preliminary treaty arrangements between the Federation of the Huband the new Affiliated Species of the Planet of Jontarou were formallyratified two weeks later, the ceremony taking place on Jontarou, inthe Champagne Hall of the Shikaris' Club. Telzey was able to follow the event only by news viewer in hership-cabin, she and Halet being on the return trip to Orado by then. She wasn't too interested in the treaty's details--they conformedalmost exactly to what she had read out to Iron Thoughts and hisco-chiefs and companions in the park. It was the smooth bridging ofthe wide language gap between the contracting parties by a row ofinterpreting machines and a handful of human xenotelepaths which heldher attention. As she switched off the viewer, Halet came wandering in from theadjoining cabin. "I was watching it, too!" Halet observed. She smiled. "I was hoping tosee dear Tick-Tock. " Telzey looked over at her. "Well, TT would hardly be likely to show upin Port Nichay, " she said. "She's having too good a time now findingout what life in the Baluit range is like. " "I suppose so, " Halet agreed doubtfully, sitting down on a hassock. "But I'm glad she promised to get in touch with us again in a fewyears. I'll miss her. " Telzey regarded her aunt with a reflective frown. Halet meant it quitesincerely, of course, she had undergone a profound change of heartduring the past two weeks. But Telzey wasn't without some doubts aboutthe actual value of a change of heart brought on by telepathic means. The learning process the crest cats had started in her mind appearedto have continued automatically several days longer than her ruggedteachers had really intended; and Telzey had reason to believe that bythe end of that time she'd developed associated latent abilities ofwhich the crest cats had never heard. She'd barely begun to get it allsorted out yet, but ... As an example ... She'd found it remarkablyeasy to turn Halet's more obnoxious attitudes virtually upside down. It had taken her a couple of days to get the hang of her aunt'spersonal symbolism, but after that there had been no problem. She was reasonably certain she'd broken no laws so far, though thesections in the law library covering the use and abuse of psionicabilities were veiled in such intricate and downright obscuringphrasing--deliberately, Telzey suspected--that it was really difficultto say what they did mean. But even aside from that, there were anumber of arguments in favor of exercising great caution. Jessamine, for one thing, was bound to start worrying about hersister-in-law's health if Halet turned up on Orado in her presentstate of mind, even though it would make for a far more agreeableatmosphere in the Amberdon household. "Halet, " Telzey inquired mentally, "do you remember what an all-outstinker you used to be?" "Of course, dear, " Halet said aloud. "I can hardly wait to tell dearJessamine how much I regret the many times I.... " "Well, " Telzey went on, still verbalizing it silently. "I think you'dreally enjoy life more if you were, let's say, about halfway betweenyour old nasty self and the sort of sickening-good kind you are now. " "Why, Telzey!" Halet cried out with dopey amiability. "What adelightful idea!" "Let's try it, " Telzey said. There was silence in the cabin for some twenty minutes then while shewent painstakingly about remolding a number of Halet's charactertraits for the second time. She still felt some misgivings about it;but if it became necessary, she probably could always restore the oldHalet _in toto_. These, she told herself, definitely were powers one should treat withrespect! Better rattle through law school first; then, with that outof the way, she could start hunting around to see who in theFederation was qualified to instruct a genius-level novice in theproper handling of psionics. * * * * *