The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lion Loose, by James H. Schmitz

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

Title: Lion Loose

Author: James H. Schmitz

Illustrator: Schoenherr

Release Date: November 17, 2009 [EBook #30493]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LION LOOSE ***

Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from Analog Science Fact & Fiction October 1961.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright
on this publication was renewed.

LION

LOOSE

By JAMES H. SCHMITZ

_The most dangerous of animals is not the biggest and
fiercest--but the one that's hardest to stop. Add
intelligence to that ... and you may come to a wrong
conclusion as to what the worst menace is...._

_Illustrated by Schoenherr_

* * * * *

For twelve years at a point where three major shipping routes of the
Federation of the Hub crossed within a few hours' flight of one
another, the Seventh Star Hotel had floated in space, a great golden
sphere, gleaming softly in the void through its translucent shells of
battle plastic. The Star had been designed to be much more than a
convenient transfer station for travelers and freight; for some years
after it was opened to the public, it retained a high rating among
the more exotic pleasure resorts of the Hub. The Seventh Star Hotel
was the place to have been that season, and the celebrities and fat
cats converged on it with their pals and hangers-on. The Star blazed
with life, excitement, interstellar scandals, tinkled with streams of
credits dancing in from a thousand worlds. In short, it had started
out as a paying proposition.

But gradually things changed. The Star's entertainment remained as
delightfully outrageous as ever, the cuisine as excellent; the
accommodations and service were still above reproach. The fleecing, in
general, became no less e