ired to evolve it on
Earth."

Hafner hadn't lowered the rifle and he showed no signs of doing so.
He looked lovingly into the sights.

"Can't you see?" urged Marin. "We can't destroy the omnimal. It's on
Earth now, and on the other planets, down in the storage areas of our
big cities, masquerading as rats. And we've never been able to root
out even our own terrestrial rats, so how can we exterminate the
omnimal?"

"All the more reason to start now." Hafner's voice was flat.

Marin struck the rifle down. "Are their rats better than ours?" he
asked wearily. "Will their pests win or ours be stronger? Or will the
two make peace, unite and interbreed, make war on us? It's not
impossible; the omnimal could do it if interbreeding had a high
survival factor.

"Don't you still see? There is a progression. After the tiger, it bred
this. If this evolution fails, if we shoot it down, what will it
create next? This creature I think we can compete with. _It's the one
after this that I do not want to face._"

* * * * *

It heard them. It raised its head and looked around. Slowly it edged
away and backed toward a nearby grove.

The biologist stood up and called softly. The creature scurried to the
trees and stopped just inside the shadows among them.

The two men laid down their rifles. Together they approached the
grove, hands spread open to show they carried no weapons.

It came out to meet them. Naked, it had had no time to learn about
clothing. Neither did it have weapons. It plucked a large white flower
from the tree and extended this mutely as a sign of peace.

"I wonder what it's like," said Marin. "It seems adult, but can it be,
all the way through? What's inside that body?"

"I wonder what's in his head," Hafner said worriedly.

It looked very much like a man.

--F. L. WALLACE

* * * * *

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