The Project Gutenberg EBook of Collectivum, by Mike Lewis

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Title: Collectivum

Author: Mike Lewis

Illustrator: Smith

Release Date: February 7, 2010 [EBook #31208]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COLLECTIVUM ***

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Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from Space Science Fiction July 1953.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed.

COLLECTIVUM

BY MIKE LEWIS

ILLUSTRATED BY SMITH

The Oren were one and their strength was legion. They had it
all figured out, in their own parasitical, cold-blooded way.
But they'd neglected one she-cat of a girl....

* * * * *

He crossed the rickety bridge at sundown and saw the squat, fat fellow
whipping the girl with a board. His mind leaped to a conclusion: _an
Orenian prowler, convincing his victim to hold still_. He clubbed the
fat fellow with a rock and toppled him over the seawall into the
lagoon where he floated face-down.

"Are you stung?" he asked the girl.

She picked herself up weakly, and she was a gold-bronze beauty with a
black mane of hair and long, narrow eyes. She shook her head to his
question and whimpered slightly while she examined her bruises.

"He was my husband," she explained.

"Not an Orenian?" he gasped.

She shook her head. "But he was going to kill me."

Morgan shot a horrified glance at the body floating far out on the
swift tide. Three sharks were circling lazily. He looked around for a
boat, saw none. He swiftly estimated his chances of swimming out after
the fat man and towing him in. The chances appeared to be nil.
Nevertheless, he began stripping off his shirt.

"Don't bother," said the girl. "He was stung last week."

[Illustration]

Morgan stared at her silently for a moment. She seemed not in the
least perturbed. If the man had been stung