The heavy lower half of the creature rolled down the pile of logs to the
deck and there paled to the gray of its background. None of its kind
appeared to be interested in its fate. The two which had been in the path
of the ray, continued to be humps on the wood, the others faced the
Hoobat.
But Rip was ready to waste no more time. "Ray them!" he snapped.
All three of their sleep rods sprayed the pile, catching in passing the
Hoobat. Queex's pop eyes closed, but it showed no other sign of falling
under the spell of the beam.
Certain that all the creatures in sight were now relatively harmless, the
three approached the logs. But it was necessary to get into touching
distance before they could even make out the outlines of the nightmare
things, so well did their protective coloring conceal them. Wearing
gloves Ali detached the little monsters from their holds on the wood and
put them for temporary safekeeping--during a transfer to the deep
freeze--into the Hoobat's cage. Queex, they decided to leave where it was
for a space, to awaken and trap any survivor which had been too wary to
emerge at the first siren song.
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