"Well, not really," Telzey admitted. "Or sort of." She laughed, her
cheeks flushed. "This is the most ... go ahead please! Sorry I
interrupted." She stared at the wall beyond Dr. Droon with a rapt
expression.
* * * * *
The zoologist and Halet exchanged glances. Then Dr. Droon resumed
cautiously. The crest cats, he said, were a species native to
Jontarou. Their existence had been known for only eight years. The
species appeared to have had a somewhat limited range--the Baluit
mountains on the opposite side of the huge continent on which Port
Nichay had been built....
Telzey barely heard him. A very curious thing was happening. For every
sentence Dr. Droon uttered, a dozen other sentences appeared in her
awareness. More accurately, it was as if an instantaneous smooth flow
of information relevant to whatever he said arose continuously from
what might have been almost her own memory, but wasn't. Within a
minute or two, she knew more about the crest cats of Jontarou than Dr.
Droon could have told her in hours ... much more than he'd ever known.
She realized suddenly that he'd stopped talking, that he had asked her
a question. "Miss Amberdon?" he repeated now, with a note of
uncertainty.
"Yar-rrr-REE!" Telzey told him softly. "I'll drink your blood!"
"Eh?"
Telzey blinked, focused on Dr. Droon, wrenching her mind away from a
splendid view of the misty-blue peaks of the Baluit range.
"Sorry," she said briskly. "Just a joke!" She smiled. "Now what were
you saying?"
The zoologist looked at her in a rather odd manner for a moment. "I
was inquiring," he said then, "whether you were familiar with the
sporting rules established by the various hunting associations of the
Hub in connection with the taking of game trophies?"