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
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