Shrike, or Butcher Bird. Although the dominant form in their system, the Denebians are a completely ruthless life form, especially destructive towards all form of insects. This Denebian was brought to Regulus by an Acruxian agent and kept concealed in that box. During the past few days, the Denebian was permitted no food. It was planned to turn the Denebian loose in the Achernarian Embassy here, believing that inevitably the killing of the Achernarians would be blamed on the Regulusians and cause civil war in the Federation. This—"

Suddenly there was an interruption which Manning Draco had not planned. Velmar Shonda came running out into the Arena and threw her arms around Manning.

"My hero," she exclaimed. Her mouth pressed hotly against his.

Up in the emergency booth, the announcer quickly began an excited commentary on what they had just seen, while the cameras swung around to focus on the Acruxian. But he was no longer in the Arena.

In the meantime, with the aid of a couple of attendants, Manning succeeded in prying the Aldebaranese away from him. His mouth stung and wiping his hand across it, he discovered it was bleeding. Velmar Shonda had bitten his lip.

The announcer in his booth finished his comments and the visicast was switched back to the home studios where another announcer was ready to more clearly tie this incident in with the galactic situation.

"Visicast over," the directer shouted over the Arena audio system.

At that moment, a Vegan, in the uniform of the Federation Patrol, came running onto the field. As he neared them, there was a shrill scream from Velmar Shonda. She broke away from the attendants and started to run. But she didn't get far.

The Vegan patrolman drew a large-barrelled gun from his holster and fired. Velmar Shonda threshed around inside a force-net that held her prisoner.

"Boy," exclaimed the young patrolman, "am I glad I saw that!"

"Saw what?" Manning asked.

"I was on patrol just above this planet," the Vegan explained, "and I was watching the visicast from here when she ran out and attacked you. I blasted down and got here as fast as I could, but I don't mind admitting I was scared she'd get away."

"Attacked me?" Manning said. "I'm afraid you've made a mistake, officer. 

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