Lion Loose

by James H. Schmitz

Quillan observed, "ought to drill Rubero for that stupidtrick!"

  "The Duke did--first thing after we got back to the fourth level."

  "So the Hlat's on the loose, and all we really have at the moment arethe cubicles ... and Rest Warden Kinmarten. Where's he, by the way?"

  "He tried to take off when we got down to Level Four, and somebodycold-cocked him. The doc says he ought to be coming around againpretty soon."

  Quillan grunted, shoved the Miam Devil Special into its holster, said,"O.K., you stay here where you can watch the room and those passagesand the hall. If you feel the floor start moving under, scream. I'lltake a look at the cubicle."

  * * * * *

  Lady Pendrake's cubicle was about half as big again as a standard one;but, aside from one detail, its outer settings, instruments, andoperating devices appeared normal. The modification was a recessalmost six feet long and a foot wide and deep, in one side, whichcould be opened either to the room or to the interior of the restcubicle, but not simultaneously to both. Quillan already knew itspurpose; the supposed other cubicle was a camouflaged food locker,containing fifty-pound slabs of sea beef, each of which represented ameal for the Hlat. The recess made it possible to feed it withoutallowing it to be seen, or, possibly, attempting to emerge.Kinmarten's nervousness, as reported by his wife, seemedunderstandable. Any rest warden might get disturbed over such acharge.

  Quillan asked over his shoulder, "Anyone find out yet why the thingscan't get out of the closed rest cubicle?"

  "Yeah," Baldy Perk said. "Kinmarten says it's the cubicle's defensefields. They could get through the material. They can't get throughthe field."

  "Someone think to energize the Executive Block's battle fields?"Quillan inquired.

  "Yeah. Velladon took care of that before he came screaming up to thethird level to argue with Cooms and Fluel."

  "So it can't slip out of the Block unless it shows itself down on theground level when the entry lock's open."

  "Yeah," Baldy muttered. "But I dunno. Is that good?"

  Quillan looked at him. "Well, we _would_ like it back."

  "Why? There's fifty more coming in on the liner tonight."

  "We don't have the fifty yet. If someone louses up the detail--"

  "Yawk!" Baldy said faintly. There was a crash of sound as his riot gunwent off. Quillan spun about, hair bristling, gun out. "Whathappened?"

  "I'll swear," Baldy said, white-faced, "I saw something moving alongthat passage!"

  Quillan looked, saw nothing, slowly replaced the gun. "Baldy," hesaid, "if you think you see it again, just say so. That's an order! Ifit comes at us, we get out of this level fast. But we don't shootbefore we have to. If we kill it, it's no good to us. Got that?"

  "Yeah," Baldy said. "But I got an idea now, Bad News." He nodded atthe other cubicle. "Let's leave that meat box open."

  "Why?"

  "If it's hungry," Baldy explained simply, "I'd sooner it wrappeditself around a few chunks of sea beef, an' not around me."

  Quillan punched him encouragingly in the shoulder. "Baldy," he said,"in your own way, you _have_ had an idea! But we won't leave the meatbox open. When Kinmarten wakes up, I want him to show me how to baitthis cubicle with a piece of sea beef, so it'll snap shut if the Hlatgoes inside. Meanwhile it won't hurt if it gets a little hungry."

  "That," said Baldy, "isn't the way _I_ feel about it."

  "There must be around a hundred and fifty people in the ExecutiveBlock at present," Quillan said. "Look at it that way! Even if thething keeps stuffing away, your odds are pretty good, Baldy."

  Baldy shuddered.

  * * * * *

  Aside from a dark bruise high on his forehead, Brock Kinmarten showedno direct effects of having been knocked out. However, his face wasstrained and his voice not entirely steady. It was obvious that theyoung rest warden had never been in a similarly unnerving situationbefore. But he was making a valiant effort not to appear frightenedand, at the same time, to indicate that he would co-operate to thebest of his ability with his captors.

  He'd regained consciousness by the time Quillan and Perk returned tothe fourth level, and Quillan suggested bringing him to Marras Cooms'private quarters for questioning. The Brotherhood chief agreed; he wasprimarily interested in finding out how the Hlat-control devicefunctioned.

  Kinmarten shook his head. He knew nothing about the instrument, hesaid, except that it was called a Hlat-talker. It was very unfortunatethat Eltak had been shot, because Eltak undoubtedly could have toldthem all they wanted to know about it. If what he had told Kinmartenwas true, Eltak had been directly involved in the development of thedevice.

  "Was he some Federation scientist?" Cooms asked, fiddling absentlywith the mysterious cylindrical object.

  "No, sir," the young man said. "But--again if what he told me was thetruth--he was the man who actually discovered these Hlats. At least,he was the first man to discover them who wasn't immediately killed bythem."

  Cooms glanced thoughtfully at Quillan, then asked, "And where wasthat?"

  Kinmarten shook his head again. "He didn't tell me. And I didn'treally want to know. I was anxious to get our convoy to itsdestination, and then to be relieved of the assignment. I ... well,I've been trained to act as Rest Warden to human beings, after all,not to monstrosities!" He produced an uncertain smile, glancing fromone to the other of his interrogators. The smile promptly faded outagain.

  "You've no idea at all then about the place they came from?" Coomsasked expressionlessly.

  "Oh, yes," Kinmarten said hastily. "Eltak talked a great deal aboutthe Hlats, and actually--except for its location--gave me a fairlygood picture of what the planet must be like. For one thing, it's anuncolonized world, of course. It must be terratype or very nearly so,because Eltak lived there for fifteen years with apparently only aminimum of equipment. The Hlats are confined to a single largeisland. He discovered them by accident and--"

  "What was he doing there?"

  "Well, sir, he came from Hyles-Frisian. He was a crim ... he'd beenengaged in some form of piracy, and when the authorities began lookingfor him, he decided it would be best to get clean out of the Hub. Hecracked up his ship on this world and couldn't leave again. When hediscovered the Hlats and realized their peculiar ability, he kept outof their way and observed them. He found out they had a means ofcommunicating with each other, and that he could duplicate it. Thatstopped them from harming him, and eventually, he said, he was usingthem like hunting dogs. They were accustomed to co-operating with oneanother, because when there was some animal around that was too largefor one of them to handle, they would attack, it in a group...."

  He went on for another minute or two on the subject. The Hlats--theword meant "rock lion" in one of the Hyles-Frisian dialects,describing a carnivorous animal which had some superficial resemblanceto the creatures Eltak had happened on--frequented the seacoast andsubmerged themselves in sand, rocks and debris, whipping up out of itto seize some food animal, and taking it down with them again todevour it at leisure.

  Quillan interrupted, "You heard what happened to the man it attackedon the fifth level?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Why would the thing have left him half outside the wall as it did?"

  Kinmarten said that it must simply have been moving too fast. It couldslip into and out of solid substances without a pause itself, but itneeded a little time to restructure an object it was carrying in the samemanner. No more time, however, than two or three seconds--depending moreon the nature of the object than on its size, according to Eltak.

  "It can restructure _anything_ in that manner?" Quillan asked.

  Kinmarten hesitated. "Well, sir, I don't know. I suppose there mightbe limitations on its ability. Eltak told me the one we were escortinghad been the subject of extensive experimentation during the pastyear, and that the results are very satisfactory."

  "Suppose it carries a living man through a wall. Will the man still bealive w
hen he comes out on the other side, assuming the Hlat doesn'tkill him deliberately?"

  "Yes, sir. The process itself wouldn't hurt him."

  * * * * *

  Quillan glanced at Cooms. "You know," he said, "we might be lettingYaco off too cheaply!"

  Cooms raised an eyebrow warningly, and Quillan grinned. "Our friendwill be learning about Yaco soon enough. Why did Eltak tell thecreature to attack, Kinmarten?"

  "Sir, I