gnore it. It'll go away."

"Uh huh. Sounds easy enough. It's about what we do when we have to. But
there are things living there. They can be hard to ignore."

"You mean the carnivores?"

"That's right. If you meet one of those fellow out in normal territory,
he's no trouble at all. You hit him with a distorter and he flops. Then
you figure out whether to reduce him to slime or leave the carcass for
his friends and relations." He smiled.

"From what your brother said, you wouldn't need the distorter."

Naran smiled deprecatingly. "That's one of the things they pay me for,"
he remarked. "We run into some pretty nasty beasties at sea."

"Yeah. I've heard. Big, rough fellows. Our varmints are smaller. But
what would you do if you ran into twenty tons or so of pure murder, and
you with no more psionic power than some pseudoman?"

Naran looked at him thoughtfully. "I hadn't thought of that," he
admitted. "I might not like it. Jaws as longs as a man, you said?"

The other nodded. "Longer, sometimes. And teeth as long as your hand.
One snap and there's nothing left.

"When they kill a long-neck, they have a good meal and walk away from
whatever's left. But people are something else. They just can't get
enough and they don't leave any crumbs." He waved a hand.

"There've been several trains caught by those things. A swirl arm comes
over at night, you see, and the caravan master loses his head. He can't
think of anything but getting out. Oh, he can yell at his drivers.
They've got a language, and we all know it. That's easy. But did you
ever try to get a long-neck going without psionic control?"

"I see what you mean. It could be a little rough."

"Yeah. It could be. Anyway, about this time, everybody's yelling at
everybody else. The long-necks are squealing and bellowing. Drivers are
jerking on reins. And a herd of carnivores hears the commotion. So, they
drop around to see the fun. See what I mean?"

Naran nodded and Dar Girdek went on.

"Well, that's about it. Once in a great while, some guy manages to get
into a cave and hide out till the null swings away and another caravan
comes along. But usually, no one sees anything but a little of the cargo
and some remains of long-necks. No one's ever come up with any part of
man or pseudoman. As I said, one snap and there's nothing left."

Naran smiled wryly. "Tough to be popular, I guess." He leaned forward.

"But you've been over the trail several times since he di