y a
meaningless squiggle on a microfilm.

"The survey shows that this animal is one of only four species of
mammals on the planet. It is also the most numerous."

Hafner grunted. "So if we kill them off here, others will swarm in
from surrounding areas?"

"That's about it. There are probably millions of them on this
peninsula. Of course, if you want to put a barrier across the narrow
connection to the mainland, you might be able to wipe them out
locally."

The executive scowled. A barrier was possible, but it would involve
more work than he cared to expend.

"What do they eat?" he asked truculently.

"A little bit of everything, apparently. Insects, fruits, berries,
nuts, succulents, and grain." Dano Marin smiled. "I guess it could be
called an omnivore--now that our clothing is handy, it eats that,
too."

Hafner didn't smile. "I thought our clothing was supposed to be
verminproof."

Marin shrugged. "It is, on twenty-seven planets. On the twenty-eighth,
we meet up with a little fella that has better digestive fluids,
that's all."

Hafner looked pained. "Are they likely to bother the crops we plant?"

"Offhand, I would say they aren't. But then I would have said the same
about our clothing."

Hafner made up his mind. "All right. You worry about the crops. Find
some way to keep them out of the fields. Meanwhile, everyone sleeps in
the ship until we can build dormitories."

Individual dwelling units would have been more appropriate in the
colony at this stage, thought Marin. But it wasn't for him to decide.
The executive was a man who regarded a schedule as something to be
exceeded.

"The omnivore--" began Marin.

Hafner nodded impatiently. "Work on it," he said, and walked away.

The biologist sighed. The omnivore really was a queer little
creature, but it was by no means the most important thing on Glade.
For instance, why were there so few species of land animals on the
planet? No reptiles, numerous birds, and only four kinds of mammals.

Every comparable planet teemed with a wild variety of life. Glade, in
spite of seemingly ideal conditions, hadn't developed. Why?

He had asked Biological Controls for this assignment because it had
seemed an interesting problem. Now, apparently, he was being pressed
into service as an exterminator.

He reached in the cage and picked up the omnivore. Mammals on Glade
were not unexpected. Parallel development took care of that. Given
roughly the same kind of en