STRANGE BEHAVIOR OF A HOOBAT
"All right, so we think we know a little more," Ali added a moment later. "Just what are we going to do? We can't in space forever—there're the small of fuel and and—"
Rip had come to a decision. "We're not going to space borne," he with the of one who now saw an open road him.
"Luna—" Weeks was doubtful.
"No. Not after that warn-off. Terra!"
For a second or two the other three at Rip agape. The and of what he was a little stunning. Since men had taken to space no ship had a direct landing on their home planet—all had passed through the on Luna. It was not only risky—it was so of that for some minutes they did not him.
"We try to set at Terraport," Dane his first, "and they us out—"
Rip was smiling. "The trouble with you," he them all, "is that you think of earth only in terms of Terraport—"
"Well, there is the Patrol at Stella," Weeks doubtfully. "But we'd be right in the middle of trouble there—"
"Did we have a regular port on Sargol—on Limbo—on fifty others I can name out of our log?" Rip wanted to know.
Ali a new objection. "So—we have the luck of Jones and we set out of sight. Then what do we do?"
"We seal ship until we the pest—then we in a Medic and to the of the whole thing," Rip's was contagious. Dane almost that it be done that way.
"Did you think," Ali cut in, "what would if we were wrong—if the Queen is a carrier?"
"I said—we seal the ship—tight," Shannon. "And when we earth it'll be where we won't have visitors to infect—"
"And that is where?" Ali, who the of Mars than he did the from which his stock had sprung, the question.
"Right in the middle of the Big Burn!"
Dane, Terra and bred, what Rip was and what it meant. Sealed off was right—the Queen would be protected from investigation. Whether her would was another matter—whether she make a landing there was also to be considered.
The Big Burn was the left by the last of the Atomic Wars—a of land hundreds of square miles—land which had to penetrate. Originally the of that had the whole which it disfigured. It had been close to two centuries men had gone into the still land to the west and the south. And through the years, the of the Big Burn had part of their as they from it. It was a symbol of something no Terran wanted to remember.
But Ali now had only one question to ask. "Can we do it?"
"We'll know until we try," was Rip's reply.
"The Patrol'll be watching—" that was Weeks. With his Venusian he had less respect for the of the Big Burn than he did for the of Law and order which the star lanes.
"They'll be the lanes," Rip pointed out. "They won't a ship to come in on that vector, away from the ports. Why should they? As as I know it's been since Terraport was out. It'll be tricky—" And he himself would have to most of the for it. "But I that it can be done. And we can't just around out here. With I-S out for our blood and a Patrol warn-off it won't do us any good to for Luna—"
None of his argue with that. And, Dane's to rise, after all they so little about the Big Burn—it might them just the temporary they needed. In the end they to try it, mainly none of them see any alternative, the too one of trying to the and being as a ship they themselves.
And their was not long by a on the com—a which Ali who had been the machine passed along to them.
"Greetings, pirates—"
"What do you mean?" Dane was to to Captain Jellico.
"The word has gone out—our on the E-Stat is now a of history and Patrol record—we've been Posted!"
Dane a cold along his backbone. Now they were game for the whole system. Any Patrol ship that wanted shoot them with no questions asked. Of that had always been a possibility from the after their on the E-Stat. But to that it was now true was a different altogether. This was one occasion when was than anticipation. He to keep his voice level as he answered:
"Let us we can off Rip's plan—"
"We'd better. What about the Big Burn anyway, Thorson? Is it as as the say?"
"We don't know what it's like. It's been explored—or at least those who to its reported in afterwards. As as I know it's left alone."
"Is it still all 'hot'?"
"Parts of it must be. But all—we don't know."
With the bottle of in his hand Dane to Jellico's cabin. And he was so with the problem at hand that at he did not see what was in the small room. He had the Captain up into a half-sitting position and was the liquid into his mouth a at a time when a thin his attention to the top of Jellico's desk.
From the open of a something long and dark projected, the air feebly. Dane, the Captain on the bunk, was going to when the Hoobat its of the past days with an ear-splitting of fury. Dane at the of its cage—the move its master always used to it—But this time the results were spectacular.
The up and on the which it to the of the and the against the wires. Either its had them, or some fault had developed, for they and the Hoobat came through them to land with a on the desk. Its stopped as as they had and it on its spider-toad to the compartment, acting with and paying no attention to Dane.
Its out and with it from the a as as itself—one which came and of which Dane not a very clear idea. Struggling they across the surface of the and to the floor. There the from the and with speed into the corridor. And Dane move the Hoobat was after it.
He the passage just in time to see Queex the ladder, with the of its claws, to catch up with the thing it pursued. And Dane after them.
There was no of the who on the next level. But Dane no move to the who at the of the into space. Dane waited, to the Hoobat. He had not had a good look at the thing which had from Queex—but he it was something which had no the Queen. And it might be the they were for. If the Hoobat would only lead him to it—
The Hoobat moved, up on the of its six legs, its slowly on its shoulders. Along the of its its were into a much as Sinbad's rose when the cat was or angry. Then, without any of haste, it over and the once more, toward the which the Hydro.
Dane where he was until it had almost the of the next level and then he followed, one step at a time. He was sure that the Hoobat's of it from looking up—unless it upon its back—but he did not want to do anything which would it or Queex from what he was sure was a chase.
Queex stopped again at the of the second and sat in its stance, brooding, a blot. Dane to the and prayed that no one would along to it. Then, just as he was to wonder if it had with its prey, once more it and with the same speed it had in the Captain's it along the to the hydro.
To Dane's knowledge the door of the garden was not only but sealed. And how either the or Queex through it he did not see.
"What the—?" Ali the to as Dane at him.
"Queex," the Cargo-apprentice his voice to a whisper, "it got and something out of the Old Man's here."
"Queex—!" Ali and then his mouth, moving up to join Dane.
The ended at the entrance. And Dane had been right, there they the Hoobat, at the closed panel, its against the metal as it away at the portal which would not admit it.
"Whatever it's after must be in there," Dane said softly.
And the hydro, of its of plant life, now by the of green scum, would not too many places. They had only to let Queex in and keep watch.
As they came up the Hoobat to the and its cry, at their and then against the metal hide. However, though it was prepared to them, it no of to retreat, and for that Dane was thankful. He pressed the and open the panel.
At the of its opening Queex with one of those of speed and for admittance, its against the men forgotten. And it through a space Dane would have too narrow to its body. Both men around the door it and closed the tight.
The air was not as fresh as it had been when the plants were there. And the which had taken the places of the were nothing to look at. Queex itself into a of blue, immovable, the aisle.
Dane to his breathing, to listen. The Hoobat's that the thing had taken here, though how it had through—? But if it were in the it was well hidden.
He had just to wonder how long they must wait when Queex again into action. Its upraised, it the together and one across the other, producing a which was almost a in the air. Back and forth, and forth, moved the claws. Watching them produced almost a effect, and the for such a was totally the watchers.
But Queex what it was doing all right, Ali's closed on Dane's arm in a as painful as if he had been with the of the Hoobat.
Something, a shadow, had one and was that much closer to the on the floor. By some magic of its own the Hoobat was calling its to it.
Scrape, scrape—the performance with regularity. Again the flashed—one closer. The Hoobat now presented the of one by its own art—sunk in a of music making.
At last the came into full view, though at the of a container, very to again, but under some to approach its enchanter. Dane blinked, not sure that his were not playing on him. He had the almost "bogies" of Limbo, had been by the and pictures in Captain Jellico's of tri-dee prints. But this was as in its way as the thing it out of concealment.
It walked on two of legs, with four joints easily detected. A in the of a beetle's ended in a point. Two of small legs, close to the much smaller upper of its body, were with terminations. The head, which and on the shoulders, was long and narrow and for its length by a mouth above which were which must eyes, though organs were not visible to the men. It was a in color—which Dane a little. His memory of the he had it on the Captain's had that it was much darker. And as it was, it about eighteen high.
With rapidly, it still by the of the vat, so nearly the color of the metal that unless it moved it was difficult to distinguish. As as Dane see the Hoobat was paying it no attention. Queex might be in a happy dream, the result of its own fiddling. Nor did the of that vary.
The thing the last in a of speed which it to a blur, to a the Hoobat. Its out to at its enemy. But Queex was no longer dreaming. This was the moment the Hoobat had been awaiting. One of the opened and closed, the of the from its body. And either of the men Queex had the with dispatch.
"Look there!" Dane pointed.
The Hoobat close the of the and where the came into with Queex's skin it was slowly hue—as if some of the color of its had off it.
"Chameleon!" Ali on one the to view the now in progress. "Watch out!" he added as Dane came to join him.
One of the thin upper where Queex had it. And from the was some of fluid. Poison?
Dane looked around for something which he use to up the still appendage. But he anything Queex had it. And in the end they had to allow the Hoobat its in its entirety. But once Queex had its it into its immobility. Dane for the and he and Ali got the in captivity. But all the now left were some on the of the hydro, which Ali up for in the lab.
An hour later the four who now the of the Queen in the for a conference. Queex was in its on the table them, asleep after all its activity.
"There must be more than just one," Weeks said. "But how are we going to them down? With Sinbad?"
Dane his head. Once the Hoobat had been and the more of the from the floor, he had the cat into the and him to at the site of the engagement. The result was that Sinbad had gone and Dane's hands were now with which ran deep. It was plain that the ship's cat was having none of the intruders, alive or dead. He had to Dane's where he had taken on the and wild when anyone looked in from the corridor.
"Queex has to do it," Rip said. "But will it unless it is hungry?"
He the now skeptically. They had the Captain's eat anything some which Jellico in his desk, and they were aware that the such were lengthy. If they had to wait the time for Queex to once more, they might have to wait a long time.
"We should catch one alive," Ali thoughtfully. "If we Queex to it out to where we it—"
Weeks eagerly. "A small like those the Salariki use. Drop it over the thing—"
While Queex still in its cage, Weeks to work with cord. Holding the color of the enemy in mind they not tell how many of the might be the ship. It only be proved where they weren't by where Sinbad would to stay. So they plans which the cat and the Hoobat.
Sinbad, much against his will, was into an by which he be without the too much valuable skin.
And then the started at the top of the ship, by section. Sinbad no in the cabin, in the private of the officers' thereabouts. If they his the center was free of the invaders. So with Dane in of the cat and Ali the Hoobat, they once more to the level which the galley, steward's and ship's bay.
Sinbad on his own four into the and the mess. He was not in the bay, in Mura's cabin, and this time he the without being dragged—much to their as they had that the of the stowaways.
"Could there only have been one?" Weeks wanted to know as he by with the in his hands.
"Either that—or else we're about the being their main hideout. If they're of Queex now they may have to the place they the safest," Rip said.
It was when they were on the leading to the level that Sinbad balked. He planted himself and against progress until Dane, with the harness, him along.
"Look at Queex!"
They Weeks' order. The Hoobat was no longer lethargic. It was itself, to the of its cage, and now it one of its of rage. And as Ali on the it the in a for freedom. Sinbad, and to walk. Rip to Ali.
"Let it out."
Tipped out of its the Hoobat forward, for the which opened on the large space and there waited, as if for them to open the portal and admit the to its territory.
