Spacepaw Read Online Free PDF Page B

switches and trying to locate the malfunction. But nothing responded. His hands flew to the toggle-nuts holding the face of the panel in place. Somewhere in the building there would be test equipment and with it, given time, even he ought to be able to trace down what was keeping the set from operating.
    “PICK-AND-SHOVEL!”
    It was the voice of the Hill Bluffer, roaring for him from the reception room. A second later, it was reinforced by a lighter toned, female Dilbian voice, also calling him. Grimly, Bill dropped his hands and turned away from the console. Fixing the communications equipment would have to wait.
    He went rapidly out of the room and down the hall toward the front of the building. A moment later, he stepped into the reception room and found the Bluffer there with his female companion, who was the first to break off shouting for Bill as he came through the door.
    “Well, there you are, Pick-and-Shovel!” said Sweet Thing— for this short, compact newcomer could only be that Dilbian female whom the Bluffer had gone to get, thought Bill. “It’s high time you got here to Muddy Nose!”
    “You knew I was coming?” asked Bill, in the sudden silence as the Bluffer stopped his shouting in turn and nodded genially at Bill.
    “Why, of course we knew you were coming!” said Sweet Thing sharply. “Didn’t She say She was sending for you? Of course She did. She knew how to handle the situation even if no one else did. As She said, the time had come to strike a blow for our rights. What She said was—”
    “Let him get a word in edgewise, will you?” roared the Bluffer, for Bill had valiantly been trying to speak in the face of this torrent of talk.
    “Who’s She? ” asked Bill hurriedly into the moment of silence that followed Sweet Thing’s snort.
    “She?” answered Sweet Thing, on a rising note. “Why Dirty Teeth, of course! She who has roused us at last to strike for our rights against men who have been telling us what to do all the time!”
    The Hill Bluffer snorted.
    Sweet Thing snorted.
    “Wait—” said Bill hastily, before the situation could degenerate into a private argument between the two Dilbians. “What I want to know is, why is Dirty Teeth being held by Bone Breaker, in the first place?”
    “Why, because She’s the champion of us women!” said Sweet Thing swiftly. “It comes from listening to Fatties, that’s what it does! Bone Breaker wants to force me to go live in that robber’s roost of his. Well I won’t do it! You can tell him so. Not if he should chop Dirty Teeth up for fish bait I’ve got my principles!”
    Once more, Sweet Thing’s nose elevated itself toward the ceiling.
    Bill had felt his heart lurch a little bit at the mention of Dirty Teeth being chopped up for fish bait. The matter seemed to be more serious than he had thought at first. What listening to “Fatties”—the Dilbian name for Hemnoids—had to do with it, was another mystery. Ignoring that for the moment, however, Bill decided to stick to his main line of questioning.
    “You mean the only thing that will save Dirty Teeth is if you go live in this Outlaw Valley?” Bill demanded.
    “Of course not!” retorted Sweet Thing. “All you have to do is go and take Dirty Teeth back from him. Why do you think She sent for you?”
    “Well, as a matter of fact …” Bill’s voice trailed off. He had been about to protest that it had not been Dirty Teeth at all who was responsible for his being here. Just in time, it had occurred to him that the situation was complicated enough already. There was no telling what harm he might do if he revealed that he was not specially appointed by this girl, who appeared to have become something of a local heroine to Sweet Thing, if not to the other females of Muddy Nose. “You say I just go in and get her?”
    “Well, I’d certainly teach him a lesson while you’re about it—Bone Breaker, I mean,” said Sweet Thing. “Imagine the idea of holding prisoner