Galaxy Magazine (November 1956) by Galaxy

Author:Galaxy
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 1956-11-08T16:00:00+00:00

' said Plotvash, Jitter he had left, Maraer squeezed a couple of drops of the depilatory out onto the palm of his hand. It stung and he immediately shook it off.

"Better not fool with that till we've run an analysis," Kemridge suggested. "If it's potent enough to remove Domerangi beards, itll probably be a good skin-dissolver for Earthmen. Those babies have tough hides."

Mamer rubbed his hand clean hastily. "What do you think of the deal in general?"

"Pretty soft," Kemridge said.

"It shouldn't take more than a week to knock off both these

things, barring complications.

Seems to me they could pick

tougher projects than these*"

"Wait till the final one" warned

warm

ups

»

l^OUR DAYS later, Marner •*- called Plorvash from the lab.

The alien's bulky form filled the screen. "Hello," he said mildly. "Whafs new?"

'We've finished the job," Marner reported.

►th of them?"

•T*

UT>

"Naturally." I'll be right over."

Plorvash strode into the lab about fifteen minutes later, and the two Earthmen, who were busy with the animal-cages at the back

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of the lab, waved in greeting.

"Stay where you are," Kemridge called loudly. He reached up, pressed a switch, and thirty cages clanged open at once.

As a horde of Domerangi vermin came bounding, slithering, crawling and rolling across the

floor toward Plorvash, the alien leaped back in dismay. "What

kind of trick is this?"

"Don't worry," Marner said, from the remotest corner of the lab. "It'll all be over in a second."

The animals ignored Plorvash and, to his surprise, they made a bee-line for a complex, humming

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arrangement of gears and levers behind the door. As they approached, it began flashing a series of colors, emanating strange

odors and making curious clicking noises. When the horde drew closer, jointed arms suddenly sprang out and scooped them wholesale into a hopper that gaped open at floor level. Within a moment, they were all stowed away inside.

Marner came across the lab, followed by Kemridge. "WeVe improved on your model" he said. "We've built a better trap. Your version can deal with only one

species at a time."

Plorvash gulped resoundingly. "Very nice. Quite remarkable, in

fact."

"We have the schematics in our room," said Kemridge. "The trap

SO

GALAXY SCIENCE FICTIO

may have some commercial value

on Domerang."

"Probably," Plorvash admitted. "How'd you do on the depilator?"

"That was easy," Marner said. "With the setup you gave us, chemical analysis was a snap. Only I'm afraid we've improved on the original model there, too."

"What do you mean?"

Marner rubbed the side of his face uneasily. "I tried our stuff on myself, couple of days ago, and my face is still smooth as a baby's. The effect seems to be permanent."

"You'll submit samples, of course," Plorvash said. "But I think it's fairly safe to assume that you've passed through the first two projects — ah — reasonably well. Curiously, your counterparts on Earth also did well on their preliminaries, according to our Consul in New York."

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"Glad to hear it," Marner lied. "But the third problem tells the tale, doesn't it?"

"Exactly," said Plorvash. "Let's have that one now, shall we?"

A FEW minutes later, Marner -^*- and Kemridge found themselves staring down

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