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Only a hand-lamp dispelled the gloom, and the wind whispered coldly, and Bregg walked to and fro in his curious prance as he talked. "It will be a little while before the necessary medical team can be picked up and brought here," he said. "We shall have to wait." "And then?" asked Kieran.
Bregg said something in his own language to one of the guards, who looked surprised and questioned him, then departed, springing strongly on his powerful legs. "Wait," said Bregg. They waited, and in a moment or two the guard came back leading one of the black hunting beasts on a chain.
"First to " Bregg used a word that undoubtedly named a city of the Sakae but that meant nothing to Kieran, " and then to Altair Two. This, of course, is a council matter." He stopped and looked with bright, shrewd eyes at Kieran. "You are quite the sensation already, Mr. Kieran.
I remembered that the trail ran close by this old outpost building, so I had the patrol ship drop us here with an emergency vehicle." Kieran said, "You knew the people were coming this way?" "Of course." Bregg sounded surprised. "They migrate every year at the beginning of the dry season. How do you suppose Webber found them so easily?" Kieran looked at Webber.
You Sakae may be intelligent, civilized, reasonable, but you're not human. When I see you ordering them around like beasts, I want to kill you. That's how I feel." Bregg did not change his bearing, but he made a small sound that was almost a sigh. "Yes," he said. "I feared it would be so. A man of your times a man from a world where humans were all-dominant would feel that way."
He asked, "Then they weren't running from the Sakae?" "Of course they were," Paula said. "You saw them yourself, cowering under the trees when the ship went over." "The patrol ships frighten them," Bregg said. "Sometimes to the point of stampeding them, which is why we use them only in emergencies. The people do not connect the ships with us." "That," said Paula flatly, "is a lie." Bregg sighed.
"Enthusiasts always believe what they want to believe. Come and see for yourself." She straightened up. "What have you done to them?" "We've caught them in a trap," said Bregg, "and we are presently going to stick needles into them a procedure necessitated by your presence, Doctor Ray.
"I am Bregg." He shook his head. "I'm glad I was able to reach you in time. You people don't seem to have any notion of the amount of trouble you make for us " Paula, who had not spoken since the child was carried off, suddenly screamed at Bregg, "Murderer!" She sprang at him, striking him in blind hysteria. Bregg sighed.
"Murderers," she whispered. "That little girl, those old people " Webber said, "You could exterminate those beasts. You don't have to let them hunt the people like that. It's it's " "Unhuman is the word you want," said Bregg. His voice was exceedingly weary. "Please get into the car." They climbed in. The car churned around and sped back toward the building.
It was a female, somewhat smaller than the ones Kieran had fought with, and having a slash of white on the throat and chest. She howled and sprang up on Bregg, butting her great head into his shoulder, wriggling with delight. He petted her, talking to her, and she laughed doglike and licked his cheek. "They domesticate well," he said. "We've had a tame breed for centuries."
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