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Updated: June 14, 2025
The third man was younger. His face didn't show anything much, but his coat showed a bulge under the left arm. After being introduced by Kellogg, Mallin introduced him as Kurt Borch, his assistant. Mallin had to introduce Borch again at the camp, not only to Ben Rainsford but also to van Riebeek, to Jimenez and even to Ruth Ortheris, which seemed a little odd.
Gerd van Riebeek, who had been trying to ignore the existence of the woman beside him, had turned to stare at her in amazement. Coombes's face was ghastly for an instant, then froze into corpselike immobility: Ernst Mallin was dithering in incredulous anger; beside him Ben Rainsford was grinning in just as incredulous delight.
Gerd van Riebeek was next to Ruth Ortheris, and Ernst Mallin was next to Ben Rainsford, with Juan Jimenez on his other side. Gus was looking up at the balcony. "I'll bet every lawyer on the planet's taking this in," he said. "Oh-oh! See the white-haired lady in the blue dress, Jack? That's the Chief Justice's wife. This is the first time she's been in court for years." "Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye!
"You mean that, Jack?" "I said it, didn't I?" Van Riebeek rose and held out his hand; Jack came around the table and shook it. Then he reached back and picked up his belt, putting it on. "Better put yours on, too, partner. Borch is probably the only one we'll need a gun for, but " Van Riebeek buckled on his belt, then drew his pistol and worked the slide to load the chamber.
"What I'm doing, now, is learning to be a Fuzzyologist, and this is the only place I can do it. I'll see you tomorrow, after I stop at the constabulary post." The people across the run Kellogg, Mallin and Borch, and van Riebeek, Jimenez and Ruth Ortheris were still up when Rainsford went out to his airjeep.
"Hell, no; they eat them. But you have to give them this, they cook them first." "Look, we won't get anywhere arguing about what Fuzzies do and Khooghras don't do," Rainsford said. "We'll have to get a definition of sapience. Remember what Ruth said Saturday night?" Gerd van Riebeek looked as though he didn't want to remember what Ruth had said, or even remember Ruth herself.
"He symbolizes a damnthing by three horns, and he symbolizes a rifle by a long thing that points and makes noises. Rifles kill animals. Harpies and damnthings are both animals. If a rifle will kill a harpy, it'll kill a damnthing too." Juan Jimenez had been frowning in thought; he looked up and asked, "What's the lowest known sapient race?" "Yggdrasil Khooghras," Gerd van Riebeek said promptly.
Ruth Ortheris hooted at that. "That's like talking about being just slightly dead or just slightly pregnant," she said. "You either are or you aren't." Gerd van Riebeek was talking at the same time. "This sapience question is just as important in my field as yours, Ruth.
Gerd van Riebeek was looking chagrined; Ernst Mallin was smirking. Gus Brannhard, however, was pleased. "Jack, they haven't any more damn definition than we do," he whispered. Captain Greibenfeld, who had seated himself after rising at the request of the court, was on his feet again. "Your Honors, during the past month we at Xerxes Naval Base have been working on exactly that problem.
"I think they're sapient, myself," Gerd van Riebeek said, "but that's not as important as the fact that they're on the very threshold of sapience. This is the first race of this mental level anybody's ever seen. I believe that study of the Fuzzies will help us solve the problem of how sapience developed in any race."
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