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I won't have you meddling with valuable animals." "And what are you going to do about it?" "Put you where you can do no more damage. As of tomorrow you'll go to Otpen One." Douglas paled. His lips quivered, and his eyes flicked uneasily as he watched Alexander's granite face. "You don't mean that," he said finally. "You're joking." "I never joke about business." "But you can't do that!
"Which goes to prove that my theories on preventive medicine are right," Alexander said, turning to Blalok. "It looks that way," Blalok admitted, "but that could be because you picked a good man." "He's good in more ways than one," Alexander said. "Or did he tell you he saved Douglas's life out on Otpen One?" "He's never said a word." Alexander smiled. "Another point in his favor.
He was needed here and his prolonged absence would cause suspicion and investigation. Something would have to be done but what? He couldn't take Copper off the island in an airboat. They were checked with microscopic care by Otpen One's IFF. A jeep didn't have enough range to take them to the mainland. And even if they got there they couldn't get off the planet.
"It would be more sure and there are never too many old ones." Kennon shuddered, thinking of the euthanasia chambers on Otpen One. "There will be more from now on," he said. "Outworld can afford it. It'll bend us a little but we won't break and besides, the Lani will need our help for some time to come." Alexander looked at Kennon.
A vague curiosity filled him. He'd never been on the Otpens. He wondered what they were like. Otpen One was a rocky tree-clad islet crowned with the stellate mass of a Class II Fortalice. But this one wasn't like Alexandria. It was fully manned and in service condition. "Airboat!" a voice crackled from the dashboard speaker of the jeep, "Identify yourself! You are being tracked."
His hand moved a red lever and the Egg shimmered and vanished with a peculiar wrenching motion into an impossible direction that the mind could not grasp. And the interceptor missile from Otpen One nosed through the space the Egg had occupied. "We made it!"
There were a few clicks in the background. "Here's your party," she continued. "Go ahead, Doctor." "Kennon?" a nervous voice crackled from the receiver. "Yes?" "You're needed out on Otpen One." "Who is calling and what's the rush?" "Douglas Douglas Alexander. The Lani are dying! It's an emergency! Cousin Alex'll skin us alive if we let these Lani die!" Douglas!
It was a dark, red-splashed thing that struggled and writhed inside him, a fierce unreasoning rage that seethed and bubbled yet could not break free. For an instant, with blinding clarity, Kennon understood the feelings of the caged male Lani on Otpen One. And he sympathized. "Follow me," he said and started around the ship. "Stay no go ahead," Douglas said, "but remember, I'm right behind you."
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