diff options
Diffstat (limited to '30458-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 30458-0.txt | 1650 |
1 files changed, 1650 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/30458-0.txt b/30458-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9f6e2ee --- /dev/null +++ b/30458-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1650 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30458 *** + + 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 in +the garden. Not, of course, Aunt Halet, who was in the house waiting +for an early visitor to arrive, and not one of the servants. Someone +or something else must be concealed among the thickets of +magnificently flowering native Jontarou shrubs about Telzey. + +She could think of no other way to account for Tick-Tock's spooked +behavior--nor, to be honest about it, for the manner her own nerves +were acting up without visible cause this morning. + +Telzey plucked a blade of grass, slipped the end between her lips and +chewed it gently, her face puzzled and concerned. She wasn't +ordinarily afflicted with nervousness. Fifteen years old, genius +level, 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 families +and a second-year law student at one of the most exclusive schools in +the Federation of the Hub. Her physical, mental, and emotional health, +she'd always been informed, was excellent. Aunt Halet's frequent +cracks about the inherent instability of the genius level could be +ignored; Halet's own stability seemed questionable at best. + +But none of that made the present odd situation any less +disagreeable.... + +The trouble might have begun, Telzey decided, during the night, within +an hour after they arrived from the spaceport at the guest house +Halet had rented in Port Nichay for their vacation on Jontarou. Telzey +had retired at once to her second-story bedroom with Tick-Tock; but +she barely got to sleep before something awakened her again. Turning +over, she discovered TT reared up before the window, her forepaws on +the 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 TT +at the window. There was nothing in particular to be seen, and if the +scents and minor night-sounds which came from the garden weren't +exactly what they were used to, Jontarou was after all an unfamiliar +planet. What else would one expect here? + +But Tick-Tock's muscular back felt tense and rigid when Telzey laid +her arm across it, and except for an absent-minded dig with her +forehead against Telzey's shoulder, TT refused to let her attention be +distracted from whatever had absorbed it. Now and then, a low, ominous +rumble came from her furry throat, a half-angry, half-questioning +sound. Telzey began to feel a little uncomfortable. She managed +finally to coax Tick-Tock away from the window, but neither of them +slept well the rest of the night. At breakfast, Aunt Halet made one of +her typical nasty-sweet remarks. + +"You look so fatigued, dear--as if you were under some severe mental +strain ... which, of course, you might be," Halet added musingly. With +her gold-blond hair piled high on her head and her peaches and cream +complexion, Halet looked fresh as a daisy herself ... a malicious +daisy. "Now wasn't I right in insisting to Jessamine that you needed a +vacation away from that terribly intellectual school?" She smiled +gently. + +"Absolutely," Telzey agreed, restraining the impulse to fling a +spoonful of egg yolk at her father's younger sister. Aunt Halet often +inspired such impulses, but Telzey had promised her mother to avoid +actual battles on the Jontarou trip, if possible. After breakfast, she +went out into the back garden with Tick-Tock, who immediately walked +into a thicket, camouflaged herself and vanished from sight. It seemed +to add up to something. But what? + +Telzey strolled about the garden a while, maintaining a pretense of +nonchalant interest in Jontarou's flowers and colorful bug life. She +experienced 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 the +big lunk-head hadn't obliged. + +Telzey scratched a tanned knee-cap, scowling at Port Nichay's park +trees beyond the garden wall. It seemed idiotic to feel scared when +she couldn't even tell whether there was anything to be scared about! +And, aside from that, another unreasonable feeling kept growing +stronger by the minute now. This was to the effect that she should be +doing 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?" and +waited--suddenly very angry at herself for having given in to her +fancies to this extent--for whatever might happen. + + * * * * * + +She had never really established that she was able to tell, by a kind +of 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-behaved +stray kitten then--in the woods near the Amberdons' summer home on +Orado, Telzey had thought so. But it might never have been more than a +colorful play of her imagination; and after she got into law school +and grew increasingly absorbed in her studies, she almost forgot the +matter again. + +Today, perhaps because she was disturbed about Tick-Tock's behavior, +the customary response was extraordinarily prompt. The warm glow of +sunlight shining through her closed eyelids faded out quickly and was +replaced by some inner darkness. In the darkness there appeared then +an image of Tick-Tock sitting a little way off beside an open door in +an old stone wall, green eyes fixed on Telzey. Telzey got the +impression that TT was inviting her to go through the door, and, for +some reason, the thought frightened her. + +Again, there was an immediate reaction. The scene with Tick-Tock and +the door vanished; and Telzey felt she was standing in a pitch-black +room, knowing that if she moved even one step forwards, something that +was waiting there silently would reach out and grab her. + +Naturally, she recoiled ... and at once found herself sitting, eyes +still closed and the sunlight bathing her lids, in the grass of the +guest 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 communication +with TT had been like that. + +It served her right, Telzey thought, for trying such a childish stunt +at the moment! What she should have done at once was to make a +methodical search for the foolish beast--TT was bound to be +_somewhere_ nearby--locate her behind her camouflage, and hang on to +her then until this nonsense in the garden was explained! Talented as +Tick-Tock was at blotting herself out, it usually was possible to spot +her if one directed one's attention to shadow patterns. Telzey began a +surreptitious study of the flowering bushes about her. + +Three minutes later, off to her right, where the ground was banked +beneath a six-foot step in the garden's terraces, Tick-Tock's outline +suddenly caught her eye. Flat on her belly, head lifted above her +paws, quite motionless, TT seemed like a transparent wraith stretched +out along the terrace, barely discernible even when stared at +directly. It was a convincing illusion; but what seemed to be rocks, +plant leaves, and sun-splotched earth seen through the wraith-outline +was simply the camouflage pattern TT had printed for the moment on her +hide. She could have changed it completely in an instant to conform to +a different background. + +Telzey pointed an accusing finger. + +"See you!" she announced, feeling a surge of relief which seemed as +unaccountable as the rest of it. + +The wraith twitched one ear in acknowledgment, the head outlines +shifting as the camouflaged face turned towards Telzey. Then the +inwardly uncamouflaged, very substantial looking mouth opened slowly, +showing Tick-Tock's red tongue and curved white tusks. The mouth +stretched in a wide yawn, snapped shut with a click of meshing teeth, +became indistinguishable again. Next, a pair of camouflaged lids drew +back from TT's round, brilliant-green eyes. The eyes stared across the +lawn at Telzey. + +Telzey said irritably, "Quit clowning around, TT!" + +The eyes blinked, and Tick-Tock's natural bronze-brown color suddenly +flowed over her head, down her neck and across her body into legs and +tail. Against the side of the terrace, as if materializing into +solidity at that moment, appeared two hundred pounds of supple, rangy, +long-tailed cat ... or catlike creature. TT's actual origin had never +been established. The best guesses were that what Telzey had found +playing around in the woods five years ago was either a bio-structural +experiment which had got away from a private laboratory on Orado, or +some spaceman's lost pet, brought to the capital planet from one of +the remote colonies beyond the Hub. On top of TT's head was a large, +fluffy pompom of white fur, which might have looked ridiculous on +another animal, but didn't on her. Even as a fat kitten, hanging head +down from the side of a wall by the broad sucker pads in her paws, TT +had possessed enormous dignity. + +Telzey studied her, the feeling of relief fading again. Tick-Tock, +ordinarily the most restful and composed of companions, definitely was +still tensed up about something. That big, lazy yawn a moment ago, the +attitude 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 that +fleeting instant quite alien. And why, Telzey thought, should the old +question 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 the +answer to this situation almost in her grasp. An answer which appeared +to involve the world of Jontarou, Tick-Tock, and of all unlikely +factors--Aunt Halet. + +She shook her head, TT's impassive green eyes blinked. + + * * * * * + +Jontarou? The planet lay outside Telzey's sphere of personal +interests, but she'd read up on it on the way here from Orado. Among +all the worlds of the Hub, Jontarou was _the_ paradise for zoologists +and sportsmen, a gigantic animal preserve, its continents and seas +swarming with magnificent game. Under Federation law, it was being +retained deliberately in the primitive state in which it had been +discovered. Port Nichay, the only city, actually the only inhabited +point on Jontarou, was beautiful and quiet, a pattern of vast but +elegantly slender towers, each separated from the others by four or +five miles of rolling parkland and interconnected only by the threads +of transparent skyways. Near the horizon, just visible from the +garden, rose the tallest towers of all, the green and gold spires of +the Shikaris' Club, a center of Federation affairs and of social +activity. From the aircar which brought them across Port Nichay the +evening 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 minor +occurrence--at least, it had seemed minor--just before the spaceliner +docked last night. A young woman from one of the newscasting services +had asked for an interview with the daughter of Federation +Councilwoman Jessamine Amberdon. This happened occasionally; and +Telzey had no objections until the newshen's gossipy persistence in +inquiring about the "unusual pet" she was bringing to Port Nichay with +her began to be annoying. TT might be somewhat unusual, but that was +not a matter of general interest; and Telzey said so. Then Halet moved +smoothly 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 be +irritating, as usual. Looking back on the incident, however, it +occurred to her that the chatter between her aunt and the newscast +woman had sounded oddly stilted--almost like something the two might +have rehearsed. + +Rehearsed for what purpose? Tick-Tock ... Jontarou. + +Telzey chewed gently on her lower lip. A vacation on Jontarou for the +two of them and TT had been Halet's idea, and Halet had enthused about +it so much that Telzey's mother at last talked her into accepting. +Halet, Jessamine explained privately to Telzey, had felt they were +intruders in the Amberdon family, had bitterly resented Jessamine's +political honors and, more recently, Telzey's own emerging promise of +brilliance. This invitation was Halet's way of indicating a change of +heart. Wouldn't Telzey oblige? + + * * * * * + +So Telzey had obliged, though she took very little stock in Halet's +change of heart. She wasn't, in fact, putting it past her aunt to have +some 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 various +puzzling events here.... A newscaster's rather forced looking interest +in Tick-Tock--Halet could easily have paid for that interview. Then +TT's disturbed behavior during their first night in Port Nichay, and +Telzey's own formless anxieties and fancies in connection with the +guest 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'd +made to find out whether there was something Tick-Tock "wanted her to +do." An open door? A darkness where somebody waited to grab her if she +took even one step forwards? It couldn't have had any significance. Or +could 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 help +with your problems? + +Then why had she been thinking about it again? + +She shivered, because an eerie stillness seemed to settle on the +garden. From the side of the terrace, TT's green eyes watched her. + +Telzey had a feeling of sinking down slowly into a sunlit dream, into +something 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 in +which she purred--a measured, oscillating sound, shifting from high to +low, as comfortable and often as continuous as the unobtrusive pulse +of an old clock. It was the first time, Telzey realized now, that +she'd heard the sound since their arrival on Jontarou. It went on for +a dozen seconds or so, then stopped. Tick-Tock continued to look at +her. + +It appeared to have been an expression of definite assent.... + +The dreamlike sensation increased, hazing over Telzey's thoughts. If +there was nothing to this mind-communication thing, what harm could +symbols do? This time, she wouldn't let them alarm her. And if they +did mean something.... + +She closed her eyes. + + * * * * * + +The sunglow outside faded instantly. Telzey caught a fleeting picture +of the door in the wall, and knew in the same moment that she'd +already passed through it. + +She was not in the dark room then, but poised at the edge of a +brightness which seemed featureless and without limit, spread out +around her with a feeling-tone like "sea" or "sky." But it was an +unquiet place. There was a sense of unseen things on all sides +watching 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 grass +again; the sunlight beyond her closed eyelids seemed to shine in +quietly through rose-tinted curtains. Cautiously, she let her +awareness return to the bright area; and it was still there. She had a +moment of excited elation. She was controlling this! And why not, she +asked herself. These things were happening in her mind, after all! + +She would find out what they seemed to mean; but she would be in no +rush to.... + +An impression as if, behind her, Tick-Tock had thought, "Now I can +help again!" + +Then a feeling of being swept swiftly, irresistibly forwards, thrust +out and down. The brightness exploded in thundering colors around her. +In fright, she made the effort to snap her eyes open, to be back in +the garden; but now she couldn't make it work. The colors continued to +roar about her, like a confusion of excited, laughing, triumphant +voices. Telzey felt caught in the middle of it all, suspended in +invisible 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 colors +were gone and she had the feeling of reading a rapidly moving +microtape now, though she didn't actually see the tape. + +The tape, she realized, was another symbol for what was happening, a +symbol easier for her to understand. There were voices, or what might +be voices, around her; on the invisible tape she seemed to be reading +what they said. + +A number of speakers, apparently involved in a fast, hot argument +about what to do with her. Impressions flashed past.... + + * * * * * + +Why waste time with her? It was clear that kitten-talk was all she was +capable of!... Not necessarily; that was a normal first step. Give her +a 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 content +was not comprehensible to Telzey at all, but in some unmistakable +manner it was defined as Tick-Tock's thought. + +A pause as the circle of speakers stopped to consider whatever TT had +thrown into the debate. + +Then another impression ... one that sent a shock of fear through +Telzey as it rose heavily into her awareness. Its sheer intensity +momentarily displaced the tape-reading symbolism. A savage voice +seemed to rumble: + +"Toss the tender small-bite to me"--malevolent crimson eyes fixed on +Telzey from somewhere not far away--"and let's be done here!" + +Startled, stammering protest from Tick-Tock, accompanied by gusts of +laughter 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 of +majority opinion found sudden expression: + +"Small-bite _is_ learning! No harm to wait--We'll find out +quickly--Let's...." + +The tape ended; the voices faded; the colors went blank. In whatever +jumbled-up form she'd been getting the impressions at that +point--Telzey couldn't have begun to describe it--the whole thing +suddenly stopped. + + * * * * * + +She found herself sitting in the grass, shaky, scared, eyes open. +Tick-Tock stood beside the terrace, looking at her. An air of hazy +unreality still hung about the garden. + +She might have flipped! She didn't think so; but it certainly seemed +possible! Otherwise ... Telzey made an attempt to sort over what had +happened. + +Something _had_ been in the garden! Something had been inside her +mind. 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-eyed +nightmare! Telzey shuddered. + +They'd contacted Tick-Tock first, during the night. TT understood them +better than she could. Why? Telzey found no immediate answer. + +Then Tick-Tock had tricked her into letting her mind be invaded by +these beings. There must have been a very definite reason for that. + +She looked over at Tick-Tock. TT looked back. Nothing stirred in +Telzey's thoughts. Between _them_ there was still no direct +communication. + +Then how had the beings been able to get through to her? + +Telzey wrinkled her nose. Assuming this was real, it seemed clear that +the game of symbols she'd made up between herself and TT had provided +the opening. Her whole experience just now had been in the form of +symbols, translating whatever occurred into something she could +consciously grasp. + +"Kitten-talk" was how the beings referred to the use of symbols; they +seemed contemptuous of it. Never mind, Telzey told herself; they'd +agreed she was learning. + +The air over the grass appeared to flicker. Again she had the +impression of reading words off a quickly moving, not quite visible +tape. + +"You're being taught and you're learning," was what she seemed to +read. "The question was whether you were capable of partial +understanding as your friend insisted. Since you were, everything else +that 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 and +the question had been dismissed for the moment. She looked over at +Tick-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 difficulty +then. 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 groping +thought-impression. She jumped a little, glanced down. Her +wrist-talker was signaling. For a moment, she seemed poised +uncertainly between a world where unseen, dangerous-sounding beings +referred to one as small-bite and where TT was learning to talk, and +the familiar other world where wrist-communicators buzzed periodically +in a matter-of-fact manner. Settling back into the more familiar +world, she switched on the talker. + +"Yes?" she said. Her voice sounded husky. + +"Telzey, dear," Halet murmured honey-sweet from the talker, "would you +come back into the house, please? The living room--We have a visitor +who 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 of +triumphant malice showed for an instant, vanished in murmuring +sweetness 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 chosen +to disappear meanwhile. + +Flipped? She wondered, starting up towards the house. It was clear +Aunt Halet had prepared some unpleasant surprise to spring on her, +which was hardly more than normal behavior for Halet. The other +business? She couldn't be certain of anything there. Leaving out TT's +strange actions--which might have a number of causes, after all--that +entire string of events could have been created inside her head. There +was no contradictory evidence so far. + +But it could do no harm to take what _seemed_ to have happened at face +value. 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 to +her, a voice that made no audible sound. It was the same being who'd +addressed her a minute or two ago. + +The two worlds between which Telzey had felt suspended seemed to glide +slowly 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 her +again. + +Quick impatience flared at her. "Kitten-pictures! Kitten-thoughts! +Kitten-talk! Too slow, too slow! YOUR pictures--too much YOU! Wait +till the...." + +Circuits close ... channels open.... Obstructions clear? What _had_ it +said? There'd been only the blurred image of a finicky, delicate, but +perfectly normal technical operation of some kind. + +"... Minutes now!" the voice concluded. A pause, then another thought +tossed carelessly at her. "This is more important to you, small-bite, +than to _us_!" The voice impression ended as sharply as if a +communicator had snapped off. + +Not _too_ friendly! Telzey walked on towards the house, a new fear +growing inside her ... a fear like the awareness of a storm gathered +nearby, still quiet--deadly quiet, but ready to break. + +"Kitten-pictures!" a voice seemed to jeer distantly, a whispering in +the park trees beyond the garden wall. + + * * * * * + +Halet's cheeks were lightly pinked; her blue eyes sparkled. She looked +downright stunning, which meant to anyone who knew her that the worst +side of Halet's nature was champing at the bit again. On uninformed +males it had a dazzling effect, however; and Telzey wasn't surprised +to find their visitor wearing a tranced expression when she came into +the living room. He was a tall, outdoorsy man with a tanned, bony +face, a neatly trained black mustache, and a scar down one cheek which +would have seemed dashing if it hadn't been for the stupefied look. +Beside his chair stood a large, clumsy instrument which might have +been some kind of telecamera. + +Halet performed introductions. Their visitor was Dr. Droon, a +zoologist. He had been tuned in on Telzey's newscast interview on the +liner the night before, and wondered whether Telzey would care to +discuss Tick-Tock with him. + +"Frankly, no," Telzey said. + +Dr. Droon came awake and gave Telzey a surprised look. Halet smiled +easily. + +"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, sensitive +where Tick-Tock is concerned. In her own way, she's attached to the +animal. 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 must +understand, is simply doing ... well, there is something very +important he must tell you now." + +Telzey transferred her gaze back to the zoologist. Dr. Droon cleared +his throat. "I, ah, understand, Miss Amberdon, that you're unaware of +what kind of creature your, ah, Tick-Tock is?" + +Telzey started to speak, then checked herself, frowning. She had been +about 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, her +cheeks flushed. "This is the most ... go ahead please! Sorry I +interrupted." She stared at the wall beyond Dr. Droon with a rapt +expression. + + * * * * * + +The zoologist and Halet exchanged glances. Then Dr. Droon resumed +cautiously. The crest cats, he said, were a species native to +Jontarou. Their existence had been known for only eight years. The +species appeared to have had a somewhat limited range--the Baluit +mountains on the opposite side of the huge continent on which Port +Nichay had been built.... + +Telzey barely heard him. A very curious thing was happening. For every +sentence Dr. Droon uttered, a dozen other sentences appeared in her +awareness. More accurately, it was as if an instantaneous smooth flow +of information relevant to whatever he said arose continuously from +what might have been almost her own memory, but wasn't. Within a +minute 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 her +a question. "Miss Amberdon?" he repeated now, with a note of +uncertainty. + +"Yar-rrr-REE!" Telzey told him softly. "I'll drink your blood!" + +"Eh?" + +Telzey blinked, focused on Dr. Droon, wrenching her mind away from a +splendid view of the misty-blue peaks of the Baluit range. + +"Sorry," she said briskly. "Just a joke!" She smiled. "Now what were +you saying?" + +The zoologist looked at her in a rather odd manner for a moment. "I +was inquiring," he said then, "whether you were familiar with the +sporting rules established by the various hunting associations of the +Hub 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, and +so forth ... a sportsman could legitimately use in the pursuit of any +specific type of game. "Before the end of the first year after their +discovery," he went on, "the Baluit crest cats had been placed in the +ultra-equipment class." + +"What's ultra-equipment?" Telzey asked. + +"Well," Dr. Droon said thoughtfully, "it doesn't quite involve the use +of full battle armor ... not quite! And, of course, even with that +classification the sporting principle of mutual accessibility must be +observed." + +"Mutual ... oh, I see!" Telzey paused as another wave of silent +information rose into her awareness; went on, "So the game has to be +able to get at the sportsman too, eh?" + +"That's correct. Except in the pursuit of various classes of flying +animals, a shikari would not, for example, be permitted the use of an +aircar other than as means of simple transportation. Under these +conditions, it was soon established that crest cats were being +obtained by sportsmen who went after them at a rather consistent +one-to-one ration." + +Telzey's eyes widened. She'd gathered something similar from her other +information source but hadn't quite believed it. "One hunter killed +for each cat bagged?" she said. "That's pretty rough sport, isn't it? + +"Extremely rough sport!" Dr. Droon agreed dryly. "In fact, when the +statistics were published, the sporting interest in winning a Baluit +cat trophy appears to have suffered a sudden and sharp decline. On the +other hand, a more scientific interest in these remarkable animals was +coincidingly created, and many permits for their acquisition by the +agents of museums, universities, public and private collections were +issued. Sporting rules, of course, do not apply to that activity." + +Telzey nodded absently. "I see! _They_ used aircars, didn't they? A +sort of heavy knockout gun--" + +"Aircars, long-range detectors and stunguns are standard equipment in +such work," Dr. Droon acknowledged. "Gas and poison are employed, of +course, as circumstances dictate. The collectors were relatively +successful for a while." + +"And then a curious thing happened. Less than two years after their +existence became known, the crest cats of the Baluit range were +extinct! The inroads made on their numbers by man cannot begin to +account for this, so it must be assumed that a sudden plague wiped +them out. At any rate, not another living member of the species has +been 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. On +one very important point _that_ was at variance with what the +zoologist had stated; and from there a coldly logical pattern was +building 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 of +her attention on what she was really saying. "Just what does all that +have to do with Tick-Tock, Dr. Droon?" + +Dr. Droon glanced at Halet, and returned his gaze to Telzey. Looking +very uncomfortable but quite determined, he told her, "Miss Amberdon, +there is a Federation law which states that when a species is +threatened with extinction, any available survivors must be +transferred to the Life Banks of the University League, to insure +their indefinite preservation. Under the circumstances, this law +applies 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 the +discovery of TT's origin on Jontarou seem a regrettable +mischance--something no one could have foreseen or prevented. In the +Life Banks, from what Telzey had heard of them, TT would cease to +exist as an individual awareness while scientists tinkered around with +the 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 were +collected before they became extinct here? Wouldn't they be enough for +what the Life Banks need?" + +He shook his head. "Two immature male specimens are know to exist, and +they are at present in the Life Banks. The others that were taken +alive at the time have been destroyed ... often under nearly +disastrous circumstances. They are enormously cunning, enormously +savage creatures, Miss Amberdon! The additional fact that they can +conceal themselves to the point of being virtually indetectable except +by the use of instruments makes them one of the most dangerous animals +known. Since the young female which you raised as a pet has remained +docile ... so far ... you may not really be able to appreciate that." + +"Perhaps I can," Telzey said. She nodded at the heavy-looking +instrument standing beside his chair. "And that's--?" + +"It's a life detector combined with a stungun, Miss Amberdon. I have +no intention of harming your pet, but we can't take chances with an +animal of that type. The gun's charge will knock it unconscious for +several minutes--just long enough to let me secure it with paralysis +belts." + +"You're a collector for the Life Banks, Dr. Droon?" + +"That's correct." + +"Dr. Droon," Halet remarked, "has obtained a permit from the Planetary +Moderator, authorizing him to claim Tick-Tock for the University +League and remove her from the planet, dear. So you see there is +simply nothing we can do about the matter! Your mother wouldn't like +us to attempt to obstruct the law, would she?" Halet paused. "The +permit should have your signature, Telzey, but I can sign in your +stead if necessary." + +That was Halet's way of saying it would do no good to appeal to +Jontarou's Planetary Moderator. She'd taken the precaution of getting +his 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 stiffening +slowly, while the living room almost faded from her sight. Perhaps, in +that instant, some additional new circuit had closed in her mind, or +some additional new channel had opened, for TT's purpose in tricking +her into contact with the reckless, mocking beings outside was +suddenly and numbingly clear. + +And what it meant immediately was that she'd have to get out of the +house without being spotted at it, and go some place where she could +be 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 tell +these two anything! Her face must be pretty white at the moment--she +could feel it--but they assumed, of course, that the shock of losing +TT 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 can +be arranged, Miss Amberdon!" + +"Don't bother to call the Moderator's office," Telzey said. "I brought +my law library along. I'll look it up myself." She turned to leave the +room. + +"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. But +don't take too long, will you? We don't want to waste Dr. Droon's +time." + +"It shouldn't take more than five or ten minutes," Telzey told her +agreeably. She closed the door behind her, and went directly to her +bedroom on the second floor. One of her two valises was still +unpacked. She locked the door behind her, opened the unpacked valise, +took out a pocket edition law library and sat down at the table with +it. + +She clicked on the library's view-screen, tapped the clearing and +index buttons. Behind the screen, one of the multiple rows of pinhead +tapes shifted slightly as the index was flicked into reading position. +Half a minute later, she was glancing over the legal section on which +Dr. 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 three +ways in which a case like that could have been dragged out in the +Federation's courts for a couple of decades before the question of +handing Tick-Tock over to the Life Banks became too acute. + +Well, Halet simply wasn't really intelligent. And the plot to shanghai +TT was hardly even a side issue now. + +Telzey snapped the tiny library shut, fastened it to the belt of her +sunsuit and went over to the open window. A two-foot ledge passed +beneath the window, leading to the roof of a patio on the right. +Fifty yards beyond the patio, the garden ended in a natural-stone +wall. Behind it lay one of the big wooded park areas which formed most +of the ground level of Port Nichay. + +Tick-Tock wasn't in sight. A sound of voices came from ground-floor +windows on the left. Halet had brought her maid and chauffeur along; +and a chef had showed up in time to make breakfast this morning, as +part of the city's guest house service. Telzey took the empty valise +to the window, set it on end against the left side of the frame, and +let 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 her +finger against the lock button, and pushed. + +The sound of voices from the lower floor was cut off as outer doors +and windows slid silently shut all about the house. Telzey glanced +back at the window. The valise had creaked a little as the guard field +drove the frame down on it, but it was supporting the thrust. She +returned 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 patio +trellis to the ground. Even after they discovered she was gone, the +guard screen would keep everybody in the house for some little while. +They'd either have to disengage the screen's main mechanisms and start +poking around in them, or force open the door to her bedroom and get +the lock unset. Either approach would involve confusion, upset +tempers, and generally delay any organized pursuit. + +Telzey edged around the patio and started towards the wall, keeping +close to the side of the house so she couldn't be seen from the +windows. The shrubbery made minor rustling noises as she threaded her +way through it ... and then there was a different stirring which might +have been no more than a slow, steady current of air moving among the +bushes behind her. She shivered involuntarily but didn't look back. + +She came to the wall, stood still, measuring its height, jumped and +got an arm across it, swung up a knee and squirmed up and over. She +came down on her feet with a small thump in the grass on the other +side, glanced back once at the guest house, crossed a path and went on +among 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 like +a skirmish line, keeping abreast with her, occasional shadows slid +silently through patches of open, sunlit ground, disappeared again +under the trees. Otherwise, there was hardly anyone in sight. Port +Nichay's human residents appeared to make almost no personal use of +the vast parkland spread out beneath their tower apartments; and its +traffic moved over the airways, visible from the ground only as +rainbow-hued ribbons which bisected the sky between the upper tower +levels. An occasional private aircar went by overhead. + +Wisps of thought which were not her own thoughts flicked through +Telzey's mind from moment to moment as the silent line of shadows +moved deeper into the park with her. She realized she was being sized +up, judged, evaluated again. No more information was coming through; +they had given her as much information as she needed. In the main +perhaps, they were simply curious now. This was the first human mind +they'd been able to make heads or tails of, and that hadn't seemed +deaf and silent to their form of communication. They were taking time +out to study it. They'd been assured she would have something of +genuine importance to tell them; and there was some derision about +that. But they were willing to wait a little, and find out. They were +curious and they liked games. At the moment, Telzey and what she might +try to do to change their plans was the game on which their attention +was fixed. + +Twelve minutes passed before the talker on Telzey's wrist began to +buzz. It continued to signal off and on for another few minutes, then +stopped. Back in the guest house they couldn't be sure yet whether she +wasn't simply locked inside her room and refusing to answer them. But +Telzey quickened her pace. + +The park's trees gradually became more massive, reached higher above +her, stood spaced more widely apart. She passed through the morning +shadow of the residential tower nearest the guest house, and emerged +from it presently on the shore of a small lake. On the other side of +the lake, a number of dappled grazing animals like long-necked, tall +horses lifted their heads to watch her. For some seconds they seemed +only mildly interested, but then a breeze moved across the lake, +crinkling the surface of the water, and as it touched the opposite +shore, abrupt panic exploded among the grazers. They wheeled, went +flashing away in effortless twenty-foot strides, and were gone among +the trees. + +Telzey felt a crawling along her spine. It was the first objective +indication she'd had of the nature of the company she had brought to +the lake, and while it hardly came as a surprise, for a moment her +urge 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 her +right. TT was still around, for whatever good that might do. Not too +much, Telzey thought, if it came to serious trouble. But the knowledge +was somewhat reassuring ... and this, meanwhile, appeared to be as far +as she needed to get from the guest house. They'd be looking for her +by aircar presently, but there was nothing to tell them in which +direction to turn first. + +She climbed the bank of the lake to a point where she was screened +both by thick, green shrubbery and the top of a single immense tree +from the sky, sat down on some dry, mossy growth, took the law library +from her belt, opened it and placed it in her lap. Vague stirrings +indicated that her escort was also settling down in an irregular +circle about her; and apprehension shivered on Telzey's skin again. It +wasn'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 through +it too, only tentatively held in restraint, and Telzey's forehead was +suddenly wet. Some of them seemed on the verge of expressing +disapproval with what was being done here-- + +Her fingers quickly flicked in the index tape, and the stir of feeling +about her subsided, their attention captured again for the moment. Her +thoughts became to some degree detached, ready to dissect another +problem in the familiar ways and present the answers to it. Not a very +involved problem essentially, but this time it wasn't a school +exercise. Her company waited, withdrawn, silent, aloof once more, +while the index blurred, checked, blurred and checked. Within a minute +and a half, she had noted a dozen reference symbols. She tapped in +another of the pinhead tapes, glanced over a few paragraphs, licked +salty sweat from her lip, and said in her thoughts, emphasizing the +meaning of each detail of the sentence so that there would be no +misunderstanding, "This is the Federation law that applies to the +situation which existed originally on this planet...." + +There were no interruptions, no commenting thoughts, no intrusions of +any kind, as she went step by step through the section, turned to +another one, and another. In perhaps twelve minutes she came to the +end of the last one, and stopped. Instantly, argument exploded about +her. + +Telzey was not involved in the argument; in fact, she could grasp only +scraps of it. Either they were excluding her deliberately, or the +exchange was too swift, practiced and varied to allow her to keep up. +But their vehemence was not encouraging. And was it reasonable to +assume that the Federation's laws would have any meaning for minds +like these? Telzey snapped the library shut with fingers that had +begun to tremble, and placed it on the ground. Then she stiffened. In +the 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 on +her, moving steadily closer. A kind of nightmare paralysis seized +Telzey--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 muscles +went tight. But it was TT who rubbed a hard head against her shoulder, +took another three stiff-legged steps forward and stopped between +Telzey and the bushes on their right, back rigid, neck fur erect, tail +twisting. + +Expectant silence closed in about them. The circle was waiting. In the +greenery on the right something made a slow, heavy stir. + +TT's lips peeled back from her teeth. Her head swung towards the +motion, ears flattening, transformed to a split, snarling demon-mask. +A long shriek ripped from her lungs, raw with fury, blood lust and +challenge. + +The sound died away. For some seconds the tension about them held; +then came a sense of gradual relaxation mingled with a partly amused +approval. Telzey was shaking violently. It had been, she was telling +herself, a deliberate test ... not of herself, of course, but of TT. +And Tick-Tock had passed with honors. That _her_ nerves had been half +ruined in the process would seem a matter of no consequence to this +rugged crew.... + +She realized next that someone here was addressing her personally. + +It took a few moments to steady her jittering thoughts enough to gain +a more definite impression than that. This speaker, she discovered +then, 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 who +was very evidently in the habit of making major decisions and seeing +them carried out. The circle, its moment of sport over, was listening +with more than a suggestion of deference. Tick-Tock, far from +conciliated, green eyes still blazing, nevertheless was settling down +to listen, too. + +Telzey began to understand. + +Her suggestions, Iron Thoughts informed her, might appear without +value to a number of foolish minds here, but _he_ intended to see they +were given a fair trial. Did he perhaps hear, he inquired next of the +circle, throwing in a casual but horridly vivid impression of snapping +spines and slashed shaggy throats spouting blood, any objection to +that? + +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 Thoughts +went on coldly to Telzey, what specifically did she propose they +should do? + + * * * * * + +Halet's long, pearl-gray sportscar showed up above the park trees +twenty minutes later. Telzey, face turned down towards the open law +library in her lap, watched the car from the corner of her eyes. She +was in plain view, sitting beside the lake, apparently absorbed in +legal research. Tick-Tock, camouflaged among the bushes thirty feet +higher up the bank, had spotted the car an instant before she did and +announced the fact with a three-second break in her purring. Neither +of them made any other move. + +The car was approaching the lake but still a good distance off. Its +canopy was down, and Telzey could just make out the heads of three +people inside. Delquos, Halet's chauffeur, would be flying the +vehicle, while Halet and Dr. Droon looked around for her from the +sides. 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 spotted +Telzey and was trying to warn her off. + +Telzey closed the library and put it down, picked up a handful of +pebbles 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 surface +of the lake towards her. Her heart began to thump almost audibly, but +she didn't look up. Tick-Tock's purring continued, on its regular, +unhurried note. The car came to a stop almost directly overhead. After +a couple of seconds, there was a clicking noise. The purring ended +abruptly. + +Telzey climbed to her feet as Delquos brought the car down to the bank +of the lake. The chauffeur grinned ruefully at her. A side door had +been opened, and Halet and Dr. Droon stood behind it. Halet watched +Telzey with a small smile while the naturalist put the heavy +life-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 her +natural color. Her eyes were shut, her chest rose and fell in a slow +breathing motion. Dr. Droon, looking rather apologetic, pointed out to +Telzey that her pet was in no pain, that the stungun had simply put +her comfortably to sleep. He also explained the use of the two sets of +webbed paralysis belts which he fastened about TT's legs. The effect +of the stun charge would wear off in a few minutes, and contact with +the inner surfaces of the energized belts would then keep TT +anesthetized and unable to move until the belts were removed. She +would, he repeated, be suffering no pain throughout the process. + +Telzey didn't comment. She watched Delquos raise TT's limp body above +the level of the bushes with a gravity hoist belonging to Dr. Droon, +and maneuver her back to the car, the others following. Delquos +climbed into the car first, opened the big trunk compartment in the +rear. TT was slid inside and the trunk compartment locked. + +"Where are you taking her?" Telzey asked sullenly as Delquos lifted +the car into the air. + +"To the spaceport, dear," Halet said. "Dr. Droon and I both felt it +would be better to spare your feelings by not prolonging the matter +unnecessarily." + +Telzey wrinkled her nose disdainfully, and walked up the aircar to +stand behind Delquos' seat. She leaned against the back of the seat +for 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 minute +something'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 said +rapidly, "you won't get hurt. If you do ... well, I don't know! You +see, 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 Iron +Thoughts had been lurking. The carpeting near the rear passenger seats +seemed 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 stungun +device 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 a +remarkably brave man to have moved at all. Iron Thoughts, twice as +broad across the back as Tick-Tock, twice as massively muscled, looked +like a devil-beast even to her. His dark-green marbled hide was +criss-crossed with old scar patterns; half his tossing crimson crest +appeared to have been ripped away. He reached out now in a fluid, +silent motion, hooked a paw under the stungun and flicked upwards. The +big instrument rose in an incredibly swift, steep arc eighty feet +into the air, various parts flying away from it, before it started +curving down towards the treetops below the car. Iron Thoughts lazily +swung 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 quite +t-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 of +offices on Jontarou's Planetary Moderator, on the fourteenth floor of +the 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 the +trunk compartment with my aunt and Dr. Droon while I talk to the +Moderator." + +The chauffeur shrugged. He'd regained most of his aplomb during the +unhurried trip across the parklands. Iron Thoughts had done nothing +but sit in the center of the car, eyes half shut, looking like instant +death enjoying a dignified nap and occasionally emitting a ripsawing +noise which might have been either his style of purring or a snore. +And Tick-Tock, when Delquos peeled the paralysis belts off her legs at +Telzey's direction, had greeted him with her usual reserved +affability. What the chauffeur was suffering from at the moment was +intense curiosity, which Telzey had done nothing to relieve. + +"Just as you say, Miss Telzey," he agreed. "I hate to miss whatever +you're going to be doing here, but if you _don't_ lock me up now, Miss +Halet will figure I was helping you and fire me as soon as you let her +out." + +Telzey nodded, then cocked her head in the direction of the rear +compartment. Faint sounds coming through the door indicated that Halet +had regained consciousness and was having hysterics. + +"You might tell her," Telzey suggested, "that there'll be a grown-up +crest cat sitting outside the compartment door." This wasn't true, but +neither Delquos nor Halet could know it. "If there's too much racket +before 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 tended +to make her look juvenile. + + * * * * * + +The parking attendant appeared startled when she approached him with +Tick-Tock striding alongside. + +"They'll never let you into the offices with that thing, miss," he +informed 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 his +hand, and continued on towards the building entrance. The attendant +squinted after her, trying unsuccessfully to dispel an odd impression +that the big catlike animal with the girl was throwing a double +shadow. + +The Moderator's chief receptionist also had some doubts about TT, and +possibly about the sunbriefs, though she seemed impressed when +Telzey's identification tag informed her she was speaking to the +daughter of Federation Councilwoman Jessamine Amberdon. + +"You feel you can discuss this ... emergency ... only with the +Moderator himself, Miss Amberdon?" she repeated. + +"Exactly," Telzey said firmly. A buzzer sounded as she spoke. The +receptionist excused herself and picked up an earphone. She listened a +moment, 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 the +Moderator will see you immediately...." + +Telzey followed her, chewing thoughtfully at her lip. This was easier +than she'd expected--in fact, too easy! Halet's work? Probably. A few +comments to the effect of "A highly imaginative child ... +overexcitable," while Halet was arranging to have the Moderator's +office authorize Tick-Tock's transfer to the life Banks, along with +the implication that Jessamine Amberdon would appreciate a discreet +handling 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 and +hallways, Telzey grasping TT's neck-fur in lieu of a leash, their +appearance creating a tactfully restrained wave of surprise among +secretaries and clerks. And if somebody here and there was troubled by +a fleeting, uncanny impression that not one large beast but two seemed +to be trailing the Moderator's visitor down the aisles, no mention was +made of what could have been only a momentary visual distortion. +Finally, a pair of sliding doors opened ahead, and the receptionist +ushered Telzey into a large, cool balcony garden on the shaded side of +the great building. A tall, gray-haired man stood up from the desk at +which he was working, and bowed to Telzey. The receptionist withdrew +again. + +"My pleasure, Miss Amberdon," Jontarou's Planetary Moderator said, "Be +seated, please." He studied Tick-Tock with more than casual interest +while Telzey was settling herself into a chair, added, "And what may I +and my office do for you?" + +Telzey hesitated. She'd observed his type on Orado in her mother's +circle 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 office +only to keep her occupied while Halet was quietly informed where the +Amberdon problem child was and requested to come over and take charge. + +What she had to tell him now would have sounded rather wild even if +presented by a presumably responsible adult. She could provide proof, +but until the Moderator was already nearly sold on her story, that +would be a very unsafe thing to do. Old Iron Thoughts was backing her +up, but if it didn't look as if her plans were likely to succeed, he +would be willing to ride herd on his devil's pack just so long.... + +Better start the ball rolling without any preliminaries, Telzey +decided. 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. He +expected her to start arguing with him immediately about Tick-Tock. + +She said "Do you have a personal interest in keeping the Baluit crest +cats 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 to +see the species re-established. I count myself almost uniquely +fortunate in having had the opportunity to bag two of the magnificent +brutes before disease wiped them out on the planet." + +[Illustration] + +The last seemed a less than fortunate statement just now. Telzey +felt a sharp tingle of alarm, then sensed that in the minds which were +drawing the meaning of the Moderator's speech from her mind there had +been only a brief stir of interest. + +She cleared her throat, said, "The point is that they weren't wiped +out by disease." + +He considered her quizzically, seemed to wonder what she was trying to +lead up to. Telzey gathered her courage, plunged on, "Would you like +to hear what did happen?" + +"I should be very much interested, Miss Amberdon," the Moderator said +without change of expression. "But first, if you'll excuse me a +moment...." + +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 a +few seconds, he resumed, "That's rather curious, isn't it?... Yes, I'd +try 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 desk +drawers open a few inches, and turned back to Telzey. + +"Now, Miss Amberdon," he said affably, "you were about to say? About +these 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 the +guest house, had been told by Halet's maid that Halet, the chauffeur +and Dr. Droon were out looking for Miss Telzey and her pet. The +Moderator's office had then checked on the sportscar's communication +number and attempted to call it. And, of course, there had been no +response. + +To the Moderator, considering what Halet would have told him, it must +add up to the grim possibility that the young lunatic he was talking +to had let her three-quarters-grown crest cat slaughter her aunt and +the two men when they caught up with her! The office would be +notifying the police now to conduct an immediate search for the +missing aircar. + +When it would occur to them to look for it on the Moderator's parking +terrace was something Telzey couldn't know. But if Halet and Dr. Droon +were released before the Moderator accepted her own version of what +had occurred, and the two reported the presence of wild crest cats in +Port Nichay, there would be almost no possibility of keeping the +situation 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 the +sort of steady nerve one would expect in a man who had bagged two +Baluit crest cats. The partly opened desk drawer beside him must have +a gun in it; apparently he considered that a sufficient precaution +against an attack by TT. He wasn't likely to react in a panicky +manner. And the mere fact that he suspected Telzey of homicidal +tendencies 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 a +thoroughly wild story, but the Moderator listened with an appearance +of intent interest. When she had told him as much as she felt he could +be expected to swallow for a start, he said musingly, "So they weren't +wiped out--they went into hiding! Do I understand you to say they did +it to avoid being hunted?" + +Telzey chewed her lip frowningly before replying. "There's something +about that part I don't quite get," she admitted. "Of course I don't +quite get either why you'd want to go hunting ... twice ... for +something that's just as likely to bag you instead!" + +"Well, those are, ah, merely the statistical odds," the Moderator +explained. "If one has enough confidence, you see--" + +"I don't really. But the crest cats seem to have felt the same way--at +first. They were getting around one hunter for every cat that got +shot. Humans were the most exciting game they'd ever run into. + +"But then that ended, and the humans started knocking them out with +stunguns from aircars where they couldn't be got at, and hauling them +off while they were helpless. After it had gone on for a while, they +decided 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 in +the Baluit mountains. There were crest cats scattered all through the +big forests along the other side of the continent." + +"Very interesting," the Moderator commented. "Very interesting, +indeed!" He glanced towards the communicator, then returned his gaze +to Telzey, drumming his fingers lightly on the desk top. + +She could tell nothing at all from his expression now, but she guessed +he was thinking hard. There was supposed to be no native intelligent +life in the legal sense on Jontarou, and she had been careful to say +nothing so far to make the Baluit cats look like more than rather +exceptionally intelligent animals. The next--rather large--question +should be how she'd come by such information. + +If the Moderator asked her that, Telzey thought, she could feel she'd +made a beginning at getting him to buy the whole story. + +"Well," he said abruptly, "if the crest cats are not extinct or +threatened with extinction, the Life Banks obviously have no claim on +your pet." He smiled confidingly at her. "And that's the reason you're +here, isn't it?" + +"Well, no," Telzey began, dismayed. "I--" + +"Oh, it's quite all right, Miss Amberdon! I'll simply rescind the +permit which was issued for the purpose. You need feel no further +concern about that." He paused. "Now, just one question ... do you +happen to know where your aunt is at present?" + + * * * * * + +Telzey had a dead, sinking feeling. So he hadn't believed a word she +said. 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, they +wouldn't go into hiding indefinitely just because someone was after +them." + +Was there a flicker of something beyond watchfulness in his +expression. "What would they do, Miss Amberdon?" he asked quietly. + +"If they couldn't get at the men in the aircars and couldn't +communicate with them"--the flicker again!--"they'd start looking for +the place the men came from, wouldn't they? It might take them some +years to work their way across the continent and locate us here in +Port Nichay. But supposing they did it finally and a few thousand of +them are sitting around in the parks down there right now? They could +come up the side of these towers as easily as they go up the side of a +mountain. And supposing they'd decided that the only way to handle the +problem 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 Critical +I.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 can +tell 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 had +him almost on the ropes, went on quickly. + +"I looked up the laws, and told them they could conclude a treaty with +the 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 until +I could talk to you. If it works out, fine! If it doesn't"--she felt +her 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 for +this story than your word Miss Amberdon?" + +Telzey felt a quick, angry stirring begin about her, felt her face +whiten. + +"All right," she said "I'll give you proof! I'll have to now. But +that'll be it. Once they've tipped their hand all the way, you'll +have about thirty seconds left to make the right move. I hope you +remember that!" + +He cleared his throat. "I--" + +"NOW!" Telzey said. + +Along the walls of the balcony garden, beside the ornamental flower +stands, against the edges of the rock pool, the crest cats appeared. +Perhaps thirty of them. None quite as physically impressive as Iron +Thoughts who stood closest to the Moderator; but none very far from +it. Motionless as rocks, frightening as gargoyles, they waited, eyes +glowing 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 old +shikari and a senior diplomat. He took an unhurried look around the +circle, 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 an +instant, she picked up the mental impression of a fierce yellow eye +closing in an approving wink. + +"... An open transmitter line to Orado," the Moderator was saying into +the communicator. "The Council. And snap it up! Some very important +visitors are waiting." + +The offices of Jontarou's Planetary Moderator became an extremely busy +and interesting area then. Quite two hours passed before it occurred +to anyone to ask Telzey again whether she knew where her aunt was at +present. + +Telzey smote her forehead. + +"Forgot all about that!" she admitted, fishing the sportscar's keys +out of the pocket of her sunbriefs. "They're out on the parking +platform...." + + * * * * * + +The preliminary treaty arrangements between the Federation of the Hub +and the new Affiliated Species of the Planet of Jontarou were formally +ratified two weeks later, the ceremony taking place on Jontarou, in +the Champagne Hall of the Shikaris' Club. + +Telzey was able to follow the event only by news viewer in her +ship-cabin, she and Halet being on the return trip to Orado by then. +She wasn't too interested in the treaty's details--they conformed +almost exactly to what she had read out to Iron Thoughts and his +co-chiefs and companions in the park. It was the smooth bridging of +the wide language gap between the contracting parties by a row of +interpreting machines and a handful of human xenotelepaths which held +her attention. + +As she switched off the viewer, Halet came wandering in from the +adjoining cabin. + +"I was watching it, too!" Halet observed. She smiled. "I was hoping to +see dear Tick-Tock." + +Telzey looked over at her. "Well, TT would hardly be likely to show up +in Port Nichay," she said. "She's having too good a time now finding +out 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 few +years. I'll miss her." + +Telzey regarded her aunt with a reflective frown. Halet meant it quite +sincerely, of course, she had undergone a profound change of heart +during the past two weeks. But Telzey wasn't without some doubts about +the actual value of a change of heart brought on by telepathic means. +The learning process the crest cats had started in her mind appeared +to have continued automatically several days longer than her rugged +teachers had really intended; and Telzey had reason to believe that by +the end of that time she'd developed associated latent abilities of +which the crest cats had never heard. She'd barely begun to get it all +sorted out yet, but ... as an example ... she'd found it remarkably +easy 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's +personal symbolism, but after that there had been no problem. + +She was reasonably certain she'd broken no laws so far, though the +sections in the law library covering the use and abuse of psionic +abilities were veiled in such intricate and downright obscuring +phrasing--deliberately, Telzey suspected--that it was really difficult +to say what they did mean. But even aside from that, there were a +number of arguments in favor of exercising great caution. + +Jessamine, for one thing, was bound to start worrying about her +sister-in-law's health if Halet turned up on Orado in her present +state of mind, even though it would make for a far more agreeable +atmosphere in the Amberdon household. + +"Halet," Telzey inquired mentally, "do you remember what an all-out +stinker you used to be?" + +"Of course, dear," Halet said aloud. "I can hardly wait to tell dear +Jessamine how much I regret the many times I...." + +"Well," Telzey went on, still verbalizing it silently. "I think you'd +really enjoy life more if you were, let's say, about halfway between +your old nasty self and the sort of sickening-good kind you are now." + +"Why, Telzey!" Halet cried out with dopey amiability. "What a +delightful idea!" + +"Let's try it," Telzey said. + +There was silence in the cabin for some twenty minutes then while she +went painstakingly about remolding a number of Halet's character +traits for the second time. She still felt some misgivings about it; +but if it became necessary, she probably could always restore the old +Halet _in toto_. + +These, she told herself, definitely were powers one should treat with +respect! Better rattle through law school first; then, with that out +of the way, she could start hunting around to see who in the +Federation was qualified to instruct a genius-level novice in the +proper handling of psionics. + + * * * * * + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Novice, by James H. Schmitz + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30458 *** |