thing he had
ever seen, in which lived a powerful being. He imagined himself living in
this place, enjoying the friendship and protection of this mysterious
being. So he slipped inside, made friends with Jack Holloway and lived
with him. And then he imagined his family sharing this precious comfort
and companionship with him, and he went and found them and brought them
back with him. Like so many other sapient beings, Little Fuzzy had a
beautiful dream; like a fortunate few, he made it real."

The Chief Justice allowed the applause to run on for a few minutes before
using his gavel to silence it. There was a brief colloquy among the three
judges, and then the Chief Justice rapped again. Little Fuzzy looked
perplexed. Everybody had been quiet after he did it the first time, hadn't
they?

"It is the unanimous decision of the court to accept the report already
entered into the record and just summarized by Lieutenant Ybarra, TFN, and
to thank him and all who have been associated with him.

"It is now the ruling of this court that the species known as _Fuzzy fuzzy
holloway zarathustra_ is in fact a race of sapient beings, entitled to the
respect of all other sapient beings and to the full protection of the law
of the Terran Federation." He rapped again, slowly, pounding the decision
into the legal framework.

Space Commodore Napier leaned over and whispered; all three of the judges
nodded emphatically. The naval officer rose.

"Lieutenant Ybarra, on behalf of the Service and of the Federation, I
thank you and those associated with you for a lucid and excellent report,
the culmination of work which reflects credit upon all who participated in
it. I also wish to state that a suggestion made to me by Lieutenant Ybarra
regarding possible instrumental detection of sapient mentation is being
credited to him in my own report, with the recommendation that it be given
important priority by the Bureau of Research and Development. Perhaps the
next time we find people who speak beyond the range of human audition, who
have fur and live in a mild climate, and who like their food raw, we'll
know what they are from the beginning."

Bet Ybarra gets another stripe, and a good job out of this. Jack hoped so.
Then Pendarvis was pounding again.

"I had almost forgotten; this is a criminal trial," he confessed. "It is
the verdict of this court that the defendant, Jack Holloway, is not guilty
as here charged. He is herewith discharged from