gone far. He called to Curry:

"Sir, there is something you ought to know—"

Thane saw, with almost disbelief, that it was one of his own men: Gorman.

Curry waited and when Gorman reached him he said:

"When I was helping inspect the Outlander section of the ship for hidden weapons this evening I saw some small animals in storage compartment Thirteen. I think they were very young kittens. I would like to volunteer to go and kill them."

Curry said something that a vagrant breeze made inaudible then his words came clear:

"—I'll send a detail to the ship as soon as the camp is searched. You will report to my guards now for orders and help them hunt for the dog."

Gorman started back to meet the guards and Curry stood for a little while before he went on his way. Thane could imagine his feeling of pleased surprise and triumph.

Thane called to Gorman as he passed some distance in front of him.

"Were you injured in the attack?" he asked.

"No," Gorman said. Then, with the same tense suspicion that Bellam had had he asked the same question: "Why do you ask?"

"Why did you report to Curry instead of me?"

The answer came quickly, mechanically, "The animals are in his ship and they must be killed. They may be mad."

"Go help Curry's men," he said and watched Gorman go, trying to fit together the incidents that did not make sense.

Herbivores had attacked without reason. There had fallen dead, without a blaster mark on them. The Outlander dog had fought nothing and almost attacked the guards. One of his own men had gone over to the other side. And there was a sudden strange urgency to kill all animals in camp.

There was nothing he could do for the time being but wait for further developments so he waited. The moon came up, so swift in its retrograde orbit that its speed was visible and so near that it had the brilliance of a dozen Earth moons. When it had lifted clear of the horizon it flooded the land with a cold silver light that made the searchlights of the guards unnecessary and revealed the camp with metallic light-and-shadow clarity.

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