Eijkman ignored him. "Since no plane will be in space then, time must
be extended."
"Uh--ah, yes, must," said His Perfectness, Spencer Gaius Quesnay, the
Joe Nordo Ideal, as he leaned from his box. "Er, should not force
the--um--alien to leave without a plane."
Bowing to the box, Eijkman told me, "As His Perfectness explains, must
wait here for the Ap-GG-12C. Will return at about 20:50 next Fourday.
Shuttle blasts at 18:00."
"Foreman," Bartok again interrupted. "Should see if this alien can
destroy the Hog, however long it takes."
The other Maximums began commenting. I fumbled with the head harness.
The guards restrained me, but Quesnay gestured from his box and mumbled
above the din, "Let, uh, the alien--ah, speak. Would like to, uh, hear
him."
The guards removed the straps. I massaged my chin and croaked, "Your
Perfectness." I cleared my throat noisily. "Your Perfectness, I agree
that I should hunt the Hog."
"What, ah, is he saying?" Quesnay grumbled. "Cannot understand a, uh,
word."
I spoke more distinctly. "I'll be happy to leave as soon as the
Ap-GG-12C returns, if you'll let me hunt the Hog while I'm here. I'll
guarantee to kill him, if you cooperate, but with three conditions."
"Of course, conditions," Eijkman said hopefully.
"According to GG regulations, I must investigate the place of a
carnivorous life form in the bionomics of a planet or continent and
decide if destroying it would be harmful."
"Can doubt the Hog should be killed?" Bartok yelled. "In three years,
he and sows have killed 237 Maggiese!"
Foreman Eijkman sneered, "Can import more hogs. The continent swarms
with them. Since Criminal Alien Kinlock believes should not kill the
Hog--"
"I didn't say that!" I almost snarled. My feet throbbed from too much
standing. "I'll give an example, also about hogs.
"Many centuries ago on Mother Earth, in a place called Sumatra, there
were animals like the hellcat of Four, Alpha Gruis, except they were
smaller and had stripes. These cats sometimes ate men, but hunters
liked to kill them whether they were man-eaters or not. As the cats
decreased, the wild hogs in Sumatra increased. The hogs started eating
the crops, mostly some plant, called palms, from which oil was taken.
The hogs practically destroyed the economy of Sumatra, because the
cats, which had checked the hog population, had been destroyed."
Bartok said. "Clever fable. All the Hog eats is us and domestic
animals. And killing him will not destroy his species."
"I'll accept that," I said. "The second condition is that I must learn
if the Hog has near-human intelligence, and if we can communicate with
him."