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3
    M IACIS GROWLED. S HE WAS impatient to complete her task for her Master as soon as possible. But fast motion always gave her so much pleasure.
    Softly, she growled again, enjoying the thought of the capture to come. Perhaps she should run even faster in order to get the long pursuit over with. At top speed she could gallop, streaking across the dust.
    Make capture before another Nolight, she thought. Maybe. But surely I would suffer the heat, and collapse out here all alone.
    Miacis had the sense to hold herself in. She trotted southward on the course she had been on since she’d taken off in Nolight. Graylight was still some time-distance off. Steadily she closed the gap between herself and Thomas, the prey.
    Miacis set her mind free to range ahead, scanning objects at a great distance which were hidden from ordinary sight. Soon she made contact with something that leaped in her mind. It shimmered there as with a strong pulse. Miacis homed in on the prey without Thomas ever knowing.
    In the high heat of dismal light, she lowered the level of her energy and slowed down. She was aware that others came into her range. Off to her left, she sensed a group moving in her direction. Their shallow, confused thoughts—fears, mostly—flowed over her like a bad odor.
    Will they never learn to keep their minds to themselves? she wondered. She reached out to give them a thought or two of her own.
    Do not approach, she mind-traced to them. Nothing is here for you. Death and hunger be on my course. I am Miacis and I do not lie.
    She heaved her massive chest, proud of her formal mind-talk. She knew the group would obey her anyway, but she did enjoy having them know that her name was Miacis. When she howled at them, the group turned. With their last strength, they moved off in a run.
    She was not cruel. She did not hate these helpless groups. Some creatures known as Slakers Miacis did despise, but not these groups of poor, weakling humans. And now she telepathed to them what she knew: Once I have passed out of range, head across my trail . I saw yallows not far off. Dig beneath in the shadow of the surface vine to the roots. You humans, suck the roots.
    Human minds recoiled from hers. Poison! They feared making deep contact with so powerful an animal. Poison!
    Not poison, not, Miacis traced, as simply as she knew how. Make hurt you in arm and knee bends. But not kill you. Very nourishment. Humans, suck yallow root. True thought from Miacis.
    She was aware that some groups were more alert than others, the kind that knew to fear her. These were such a group. They waited until she had passed far beyond them before they moved again.
    Ranging, ever ranging, it seemed to Miacis that her hind and fore feet no longer touched the ground. Even the hip and back aching that came with a long pursuit had worked itself out of her system. She felt wonderful moving with her easy grace. Knew how she must look, with muscles so loose and smooth they made hardly a ripple under her burnished fur. Her fur turned a dark orange-yellow when she had meat. But most often she ate graygrowth for months at a time; her coat would seem a deeper hue as she licked it.
    Thoughts of the prey returned to her. Her mind might stray, but it would quickly return to the pursuit. The prey would surely be half dead by the time she reached him. And half starved.
    Likely, she thought, he’ll scream cursing at me. He’ll not take warmfood I cast up for him from my own stomach. Such a one!
    Part of her mind concentrated on the range far ahead around the prey. She allowed that part to measure the drag of the prey’s exhaustion. For the first time on this pursuit, she let it probe, sliding up Thomas’ back and into his brain.
    The prey convulsed with fear. As if hit with a club, Thomas was struck with the knowledge that Miacis was with him. He knew now, for sure, that she had tracked him down.
    Miacis touched along the prey’s pain centers. She suggested to him that he quit