Tuesday dawned hot and windless, a scarlet sun coming up in a hard, brassy
sky. The Fuzzies, who were in to wake Pappy Jack with their whistles,
didn't like it; they were edgy and restless. Maybe it would rain today
after all. They had breakfast outside on the picnic table, and then Ben
decided he'd go back to his camp and pick up a few things he hadn't
brought and now decided he needed.
"My hunting rifle's one," he said, "and I think I'll circle down to the
edge of the brush country and see if I can pick off a zebralope. We ought
to have some more fresh meat."
So, after eating, Rainsford got into his jeep and lifted away. Across the
run, Kellogg and Mallin were walking back and forth in front of the camp,
talking earnestly. When Ruth Ortheris and Gerd van Riebeek came out, they
stopped, broke off their conversation and spoke briefly with them. Then
Gerd and Ruth crossed the footbridge and came up the path together.
The Fuzzies had scattered, by this time, to hunt prawns. Little Fuzzy and
Ko-Ko and Goldilocks ran to meet them; Ruth picked Goldilocks up and
carried her, and Ko-Ko and Little Fuzzy ran on ahead. They greeted Jack,
declining coffee; Ruth sat down in a chair with Goldilocks, Little Fuzzy
jumped up on the table and began looking for goodies, and when Gerd
stretched out on his back on the grass Ko-Ko sat down on his chest.
"Goldilocks is my favorite Fuzzy," Ruth was saying. "She is the sweetest
thing. Of course, they're all pretty nice. I can't get over how
affectionate and trusting they are; the ones we saw out in the woods were
so timid."
"Well, the ones out in the woods don't have any Pappy Jack to look after
them" Gerd said. "I'd imagine they're very affectionate among themselves,
but they have so many things to be afraid of. You know, there's another
prerequisite for sapience. It develops in some small, relatively
defenseless, animal surrounded by large and dangerous enemies he can't
outrun or outfight. So, to survive, he has to learn to outthink them. Like
our own remote ancestors, or like Little Fuzzy; he had his choice of
getting sapient or getting exterminated."
Ruth seemed troubled. "Gerd, Dr. Mallin has found absolutely nothing about
them that indicates true sapience."
"Oh, Mallin be bloodied; he doesn't know what sapience is any more than I
do. And a good deal less than you do, I'd say. I think he's trying to
prove that the Fuzzies aren't sapient."