Orders were orders! The creature had to be killed.But just how does one destroy the indestructible?
man. "Unless they're sub-microscopic, and I'd need an electron-peeker to tell you that."
"No organ systems?"
"Not even an integument. You saw how slippery he looked? That's why. There's nothing holding him in but energy."
"Now, look," said Stone. "He eats, doesn't he? He must have waste materials of some sort."
Bowman shook his head unhappily. "Sorry. No urates. No nitrates. No CO{2}. Anyway, he doesn't eat because he has nothing to eat with. He absorbs. And that includes the lining of the tanks, which he seems to like as much as the contents. He doesn't bore those holes he makes--he dissolves them."
They sent Bowman back to quarters for a hot bath and a shot of Happy-O and looked up Hrunta, the biochemist.
Hrunta was glaring at paper electrophoretic patterns and pulling out chunks of hair around his bald spot. He gave them a snarl and shoved a sheaf of papers into their hands.
"Metabolic survey?" Jenkins asked.
"Plus," said Hrunta. "Yo
