"Yes, Mrs. Whitney. Your pet, Black Eyes." "Oh, I don't believe it!" But Judd said, "Go ahead, Dr. Jamison. I'm listening." "Well, how does an animal--any animal--protect itself?" "Why, in any number of ways. If it has claws or a strong jaw and long teeth, it can fight. If it is fleet of foot, it can run. If it is big and has a tough hide, most other animals can't hurt it anyway. Umm-mm, doesn't that about cover it?" "You left out protective coloration, defensive odors, and things like that. Actually, those are most important from our point of view, for Black Eyes' ability is a further ramification of that sort of thing. Your pet is not fast. It isn't strong. It can't change color and it has no offensive odor to chase off predatory enemies. It has no armor. In short, can you think of a more helpless creature to put down in those Venusian swamps?" After Judd had shaken his head, Dr. Jamison continued: "Very well, Black Eyes should not be able to survive on Venus--and yet, obviously the creature did. We can assume there are more of the breed, too. Anyway, Black Eyes survives. And I'll tell you why. "Black Eyes has a very uncommon ability to sense danger when it approaches. And sensing danger, Black Eyes can thwart it. Your creature sends out certain emanations--I won't pretend to know what they are--which stamp aggression out of any predatory creatures. Neither of you could fire upon it--right?" "Umm-mm, that's true," Judd said. Lindy nodded. "Well, that's one half of it. There's so much about life we don't understand. Black Eyes uses energy of an unknown intensity, and the result maintains Black Eyes' life. Now, although that is the case, your animal did not live a comfortable life in the Venusian swamp. Because no animal would attack it, it could not be harmed. Still, from what you tell me about that swamp ... "Anyhow, Black Eyes was glad to come away with you, and everything went well until you landed in New York. The noises, the clattering, the continual bustle of a great city--all this frightened the creature. It was being attacked--or, at least that's what it must have figured. Result: it struck back the only way it knew how. Have you ever heard about sub-sonic sound-waves, Mr. Whitney, waves of sound so low that our ears cannot pick them up--waves of sound which can nevertheless stir our emotions? Such things exist, and, as a working hypothesis, I would say Black Eyes' strange powers rest along those lines. The whole city is idle because Black Eyes is afraid!" In his exploration of Mars, of Venus, of the Jovian moons, Judd Whitney had seen enough of extra-terrestrial life to know that virtually anything was possible, and Black Eyes would be no exception to that rule. "What do you propose to do?" Judd demanded. "Do? Why, we'll have to kill your creature, naturally. You can set a value on it and we will meet it, but Black Eyes must die." "No!" Lindy cried. "You can't be sure, you're only guessing, and it isn't fair!"