Illustrated by MARTIN
The Ciriimian ship waspassing in hyperdrivethrough a classic three-bodysystem, comprising in thiscase a fiercely white sun circledby a fainter companion and asingle planet that swung in precisebalance, when the CanthorianZid broke out of its cage in thespecimen hold.
Of the ship's social quartet,Chafis One and Two were asleepat the moment, dreaming wistfuldreams of conical Ciriimian citiesspearing up to a soft and plum-coloredsky. The Zid raged intotheir communal rest cell, smashedthem down from their gimbaledsleeping perches and, with theravening blood-hunger of its kind,devoured them before they couldwake enough to teleport tosafety.
Chafis Three and Four, on psishift in the forward control cubicle,might have fallen as easilyif the mental screamings of theirfellows had not warned them intime. As it was, they had barelytime to teleport themselves tothe after hold, as far as possiblefrom immediate danger, and to considerthe issue while the Zidlunged about the ship in searchof them with malignant criesand a great shrieking of claws onmetal.
Their case was the more desperatebecause the Chafis were professionalfreighters with little experienceof emergency. Hauling aZid from Canthorian jungles toa Ciriimian zoo was a prosaicenough assignment so long as thecage held, but with the ragingbrute swiftly smelling them out,they were helpless to catch andrestrain it.
When the Zid found them, theyhad no other course but to teleportback to the control cubicleand wait until the beast shouldsnuff them down again. The Zidlearned quickly, so quickly thatit was soon clear that its physicalstrength would far outlast theirconsiderable but limited telekineticability.
Still they possessed their shareof owlish Ciriimian logic and hitsoon enough upon the one practical course—tojettison the Zidon the nearest world demonstrablyfree of intelligent life.
They worked hurriedly, betweenjumps fore and aft.Chafi Three, while they were stillin the control cubicle, threw theship out of hyperdrive withinscant miles of the neighboringsun's single planet. Chafi Four,on the next jump, scanned theship's charts and identified thesystem through which theytraveled.
Luck was with them. The systemhad been catalogued somefour Ciriimian generations beforeand tagged: Planet undeveloped.Tranquil marine intelligencesonly.
The discovery relieved themgreatly for the reason that noCiriimian, even to save his ownfeathered skin, would have setdown such a monster as the Zidamong rational but vulnerableentities.
The planet was a water world,bare of continents and onlysparsely sprinkled with minorarchipelagoes. The islands suitedthe Chafis' purpose admirably.
"The Zid does not swim," ChafiFour radiated. "Marooned, it cando no harm to marine intelligences."
"Also," Chafi Three pointed outas they dodged to the controlcubicle again just ahead of theslavering Zid, "we may returnlater with a Canthorian huntingparty and recover our investment."
Closing their perception againstthe Zid's distracting ragings, theyset to work with perfect coordination.
Chafi Three set down the shipon an island that was only oneof a freckling chain of similarislands. Chafi Four projected himselffirst to the opened port; then,when the Zid charged after him,to the herbivore-cropped swardof tropical setting outside.
The Zid lunge