"Don't make cracks, Iceberg. O.K., forget it. It's probably the best idea yet. How do we bait a cat trap?" "Cream--or catnip." "Very funny," interrupted Thompson. "Exceedingly amusing. You make me laugh, _haha_," he added in a flat, disgusted tone. "Shut up," chorused Lane and Downing. "All right. Then stop making light of this. Bait a cat trap. You'll just have to pirate the planet lanes and catch you one." "The trouble with you, Thompson, is that you have no sense of humor." Thompson subsided. He realized that this light banter was a cover-up for a deeper feeling. Deprive them of niggling at one another in a light way and they might take to it in a more serious vein. "It is agreed, then, that we grab us a boatload of catmen and indoctrinate them with Solarian good will and propaganda." "It is," said Downing. "Time's a-wasting. Let's grab." V. Like a contracting funnel, the Solar Guard closed down on the catman ship. They crowded the catman spacer, forced him into a pocket, and then started to drive him their way. But unlike a pocketed ship, the catman slashed back. An invisible beam came from somewhere on the craft. It slashed out, closed down upon a midsection of the nearest Solar Guard, and ripped the belly out of the ship. It was both brutal and sickening. One moment the Solarian craft was forcing the catman ship to give space or collide. The next moment the midsection had been gouged away; ripped out as with a vicious claw or a set of cruel, gigantic teeth. The crushed midsection was flung free of the stricken craft and as the ship collapsed over its open belly, and died, the catman slashed at another and another of the Solarians. "Superdrive!" exploded Lane. The slashing catman got one more ship before the Solar Guard went into the superdrive and raced away. "Did you record that?" asked Lane. "Tried to. The recorder blew." "So did all of them. Creepers! What a nasty thing to have around." Thompson said: "One of my techs is repairing a recorder now. He thinks he can give the wave analysis." "How?" "He finds that certain of the crystalline structures in the wave recorder are de-crystallized." "Meaning what?" demanded Lane. "Meaning that certain frequencies hit the nuclear resonance of the crystalline structures. I'll let you know." "Let us know quick," said Downing. "If we can analyze it, we can either reproduce it or shield against it." "Cats at seven o'clock, forty degrees!" exploded the observer in Lane's ship. "Anywhere else?" demanded Lane. No answer. "Fight 'em," snapped Lane. There were six catmen converging on Lane's command. The rest of the Solar crew flung around and headed for the local fight. Lane's dymodines flashed out and were stopped cold by barriers. "Crash stations!" ordered Lane. "Prepare for total destruction!"