Zach Hughes: Tiger in the Stars

regard for an intelligent species. I, for one, will never forget that once man was considered to be nothing more than a food creature. Not by some dumb animal, some beast of the jungle of man's past, but by a being with superior abilities and dangerous talents. My grandfather and grandmother received a warning. Since I was a small child that warning has been engraved on my mind, always with me, always in my thoughts. We were told to stay in our place. We were told not to aspire beyond our abilities. We were, with some show of generosity, given our own galaxy.» «It is my belief that the knowledge that we are not alone in this universe, that somewhere out there is a being who could manipulate us at will, can be nothing but inhibiting to man's future development. I think each of us should, at some time during our lives, visit the Central African monument and remember the Eater, I will never forget.» He smiled. «Nor will I forget our university and my association with thousands of young people who are doing so much to make man more than he has ever been before. Thank you.» «I think,» John Sahara Plank III said, seated beside Ellen Walters in his personal atmoflyer as it arrowed south on autopilot, «that we'll be married aboard the Pride.» For a moment her eyes narrowed in surprise. «All right,» she said. «I think it would be fitting,» he said. «We'll be spending a lot of time there.» He took her hand and smiled at her. «We don't want to shock our young crew by living in sin.» «You are,» she said, «the very soul of romance.» «You could say no,» he said gently. «You're not a receiver, but you should be able to read my mind better than that.» «I'm sorry. I just took it for granted, I suppose, that when the time came we'd be married. Would you like for me to start all over and propose properly?» «I think I'd like for you to kiss me,» she said. After minutes during which his attention was occupied, the beeper told them of contact with Canaveral Control. Plank disengaged and sighed. «As first officer and captain we'll have to be on good behavior. No unseemly passionate displays before the crew.» «Just so you haven't arranged separate cabins,» she said. «Not a chance,» he grinned. Control landed them in the private sector of the base. There, the Sahara Pride VII rested on her pad, large as ships went, almost globular, gleaming with the blue and red of Plank University. Ellen laughed at the display of the school colors. «Will you also laugh when I tell you that the library contains films of all of last year's games?» Plank asked. «You're kidding.» «I'm going to analyze them, find out where we went wrong.» «Oh, the coach is going to love you.» «He's not my type,» Plank said, leading her toward the entrance port of the Pride. The port was opened by First Engineer Joker Osbourne, red-haired,

muscular, blunt. Osbourne, a product of the university, had Plank's gift, as it was called. He came closer to becoming a part of his equipment than any man since John Plank. Susan Lite, receiver and navigator, was in the lounge to greet them, along with Tom and Martha Peters, electronics and parakinetics. Martha Peters made Ellen's small abilities seem like the work of a minor magician. All had been carefully selected, hand-picked by Plank himself. All had worked with Plank in the lab back at the university. All had participated in the building of the Pride. Within an hour of the arrival of Plank and Ellen, the Pride lifted. An extra passenger was aboard, a civil servant who performed a simple ceremony as the ship positioned itself for the initial blink. The civil servant was picked off by a lighter, and the Pride departed from Earth. The ship received V.I.P. treatment on Plank's World. Both Mark and Frank Plank were present when the Pride lowered to the surface. The party at the home of the president of Plank Enterprises was gala. When it was over, two of the brothers sat in Mark Plank's study over brandy. «Each paired off, like Noah's ark,» Mark was saying, speaking of John's crew. «We'll be gone a long time,» John said. «Where?» «Around.» «You wouldn't care to do a little work while you're star hopping, would you?» Mark asked. «I can use you.» «Sorry, Mark. I have my own thing going.» «Yes, I know.» «Spying again?» «Keeping my knowledge up to date,» Mark said, smiling. «You are constantly amazing me with some new gadget from that lab of yours. I have to spy on you to stay ahead of you. Otherwise you'll spring some development on me, and I won't have a use in mind for it.» «How much do you know about the Pride?» John asked, reaching for a decanter to refill his glass. «Not as much as I'd like to know. I know there's a pile of electronics on her. I know you have triple the power of the most advanced ship. And you have some things that I can't even guess about. Wanta fill me in?» «There's a mental amplifier.» «A what?» «'I'll tell you about it after we test it completely.» «What does it amplify?» «Power.» «We have an infinite power source in the blink generator. Power to fill all our needs. Why an amplifier?» John shrugged. «For more power.» «For what?» «For things that require more power.» Mark laughed. «All right. I'm sure that when you're ready you'll hand it over to the firm, and I'm sure I'll find a money-making use for it. Where do you go from here?» «Out,» John said, waving a hand. «We need open space.» «The clouds?» «Not that far. At least not in that direction.» «John, you do need to file a flight plan, you know. In case of trouble we must know where to look.» «No flight plan,» John said. «Do you have all you need? Anything I can get for you?» «Yes, as a matter of fact. I'd like six cases of this brandy.» «Done,» Mark said. He filled his glass. «John. I hope you're not going to do what I'm afraid you're going to do.» «And that is?» «You're going to the barrier.» «Does anyone else suspect that?» «No.» «I would appreciate it if—» «You don't have to say it. Look, you know and I know that if the word got out that you were testing the barrier there'd be one helluva hue and cry.» «How did you guess?» «I know you. brother. I remember when you were small you showed a great deal of interest in the barrier. When grandfather was alive you used

to bug him to tell you about it, over and over. It still bothers you, doesn't it?» «Yes. Very much.» «Can't stand prosperity, huh? We have a galaxy. We're making do nicely with it, thank you. If we continue to breed at the present expansion rate

and double our population every few years, there's still enough for the race for a million years. Why the barrier? Are we ready?» «Because it's there, I suppose,» Plank said. «And the hell of it is,» Matt said, «100 credits to ten you'll break the thing, if that's your goal.» «Just a preliminary study.» «Promise me one thing?» «Perhaps.» «Promise me you won't go through, even if you can, until you talk with me. Until we can make plans. John, I don't think we are ready. There's something pretty hairy on the other side of that force field or whatever it is. Before we go out there to, as they told our grandparents, invade their privacy, we'd better be damned sure we're ready.» «If we can break the barrier we're ready.» Matt frowned. «Why not give the race a bit more time to develop? I know you have your mentalists. But from remembering grandfather's tales, your mind people are amateurs compared to those people out there. They wouldn't even be able to hold their own with the Eater, and he was retarded.» «Grandfather used to say that they were not infallible.» «He used to say a lot of things. He talked a lot about tigers.» John smiled. «When a tiger is eating members of the community, a man picks up his spear and goes tiger hunting.» «Right now the tiger is sleeping,» Matt said. «I'd feel a lot better if we sort of tippytoed around him and let him sleep.» «Do you remember one of the things that impressed grandfather most about that being he spoke with? She was explaining why she could not rebuild Matt Webb, for whom you were named by the way, and she said it was because the Eater didn't have enough willpower to give up the tastiest morsel of a human body, the brain. The description of the delight of the