"Why, is there more?" the Moderator asked politely.
"Yes. The important part! The kind of creatures they are, they
wouldn't go into hiding indefinitely just because someone was after
them."
Was there a flicker of something beyond watchfulness in his
expression. "What would they do, Miss Amberdon?" he asked quietly.
"If they couldn't get at the men in the aircars and couldn't
communicate with them"--the flicker again!--"they'd start looking for
the place the men came from, wouldn't they? It might take them some
years to work their way across the continent and locate us here in
Port Nichay. But supposing they did it finally and a few thousand of
them are sitting around in the parks down there right now? They could
come up the side of these towers as easily as they go up the side of a
mountain. And supposing they'd decided that the only way to handle the
problem was to clean out the human beings in Port Nichay?"
The Moderator stared at her in silence a few seconds. "You're saying,"
he observed then, "that they're rational beings--above the Critical
I.Q. level."
"Well," Telzey said, "legally they're rational. I checked on that.
About as rational as we are, I suppose."
"Would you mind telling me now how you happen to know this?"
"They told me," Telzey said.
He was silent again, studying her face. "You mentioned, Miss Amberdon,
that they have been unable to communicate with other human beings.
This suggests then that you are a xenotelepath...."
"I am?" Telzey hadn't heard the term before. "If it means that I can
tell what the cats are thinking, and they can tell what I'm thinking,
I guess that's the word for it." She considered him, decided she had
him almost on the ropes, went on quickly.
"I looked up the laws, and told them they could conclude a treaty with
the Federation which would establish them as an Affiliated Species ...
and that would settle everything the way they would want it settled,
without trouble. Some of them believed me. They decided to wait until
I could talk to you. If it works out, fine! If it doesn't"--she felt
her voice falter for an instant--"they're going to cut loose fast!"