nd hyperdrive?"

"They will have a nice, neat, pedantic definition of sapience, tailored
especially to exclude the Fuzzies, and they will present it in court and
try to get it accepted, and it's up to us to guess in advance what that
will be, and have a refutation of it ready, and also a definition of our
own."

"Their definition will have to include Khooghras. Gerd, do the Khooghras
bury their dead?"

"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. Jack nodded, and repeated it. "I got
the impression of non-sapient intelligence shading up to a sharp line, and
then sapience shading up from there, maybe a different color, or wavy
lines instead of straight ones."

"That's a good graphic representation," Gerd said. "You know, that line's
so sharp I'd be tempted to think of sapience as a result of mutation,
except that I can't quite buy the same mutation happening in the same way
on so many different planets."

Ben Rainsford started to say something, then stopped short when a
constabulary siren hooted over the camp. The Fuzzies looked up
interestedly. They knew what that was. Pappy Jack's friends in the blue
clothes. Jack went to the door and opened it, putting the outside light
on.

The car was landing; George Lunt, two of his men and two men in civilian
clothes were getting out. Both the latter were armed, and one of them
carried a bundle under his arm.

"Hello, George; come on in."

"We want to talk to you, Jack." Lunt's voice was strained, empty of warmth
or friendliness. "At least, these men do."

"Why, yes. Sure."

He backed into the room to permit them to enter. Something was wrong;
something bad had come up. Khadra came in first, placing himself beside
and a little behind him. Lunt followed, glancing quickly around and
placing himself between Jack and the gunrack and also the holstered
pistols on the table. The third trooper let the two strangers in ahead of
him, and then closed the door and put his back against it. He wondered if
the court might have cancelled his bond and ordered him into custody. The
two strangers--a beefy man with a scrubby black mustache, and a smaller