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Cat and Mouse, by Ralph Williams
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cat and Mouse, by Ralph Williams This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Cat and Mouse
Author: Ralph Williams
Release Date: January 21, 2008 [EBook #24392]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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CAT AND MOUSE
BY RALPH WILLIAMS
Illustrated by van Dongen
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Astounding Science Fiction June 1959. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
The Warden needed to have a certain very obnoxious pest eliminated ... and he knew just the pest-eradicator he needed....
The Harn first came to the Warden's attention through its effect on the game population of an area in World 7 of the Warden's sector. A natural ecology was being maintained on World 7 as a control for experimental seedings of intelligent life-forms in other similar worlds. How the Harn got there, the Warden never knew. In its free-moving larval state, the Harn was a ticklike creature which might have sifted through a natural inter-dimensional rift; or it might have come through as a hitchhiker on some legitimate traveler, possibly even the Warden himself.