ng. They may be born as fully functioning adults!"

* * * * *

Although not at the rate it had initially set, the colony progressed.
The fast crops were slowed down and a more diversified selection was
planted. New buildings were constructed and the supplies that were
stored in them were spread out thin, for easy inspection.

The pups survived and within a year shot up to maturity. After proper
training, they were released to the fields where they joined the older
dogs. The battle against the rats went on; they were held in check,
though the damage they caused was considerable.

The original animal, unchanged in form, developed an appetite for
electrical insulation. There was no protection except to keep the
power on at all times. Even then there were unwelcome interruptions
until the short was located and the charred carcass was removed.
Vehicles were kept tightly closed or parked only in verminproof
buildings. While the plague didn't increase in numbers, it couldn't be
eliminated, either.

There was a flurry of tigers, but they were larger animals and were
promptly shot down. They prowled at night, so the colonists were
assigned to guard the settlement around the clock. Where lights failed
to reach, the infra-red 'scope did. As fast as they came, the tigers
died. Except for the first one, not a single dog was lost.

The tigers changed, though not in form. Externally, they were all big
and powerful killers. But as the slaughter went on, Marin noticed one
astonishing fact--the internal organic structure became progressively
more immature.

The last one that was brought to him for examination was the
equivalent of a newly born cub. That tiny stomach was suited more for
the digestion of milk than meat. How it had furnished energy to drive
those great muscles was something of a miracle. But drive it had, for
a murderous fifteen minutes before the animal was brought down. No
lives were lost, though sick bay was kept busy for a while.

That was the last tiger they shot. After that, the attacks ceased.

The seasons passed and nothing new occurred. A spaceship civilization
or even that fragment of it represented by the colony was too much for
the creature, which Marin by now had come to think of as the
"Omnimal." It had evolved out of a cataclysmic past, but it could not
meet the challenge of the harshest environment.

Or so it seemed.

* * * * *

Thr