The lion roared, unable to find the child. The roars of other lions joined in.
Dan was aware that he was lying atop the hard base of the statue, but he didn't know how he had come to be there. He tried to stand up.
He heard voices screaming orders, then falling still, and a scene swung into his line of sight like something watched through the rear-view mirror of a turning groundcar.
Half a dozen men, guns in their hands, their bodies and blue capes spattered and smeared till they could hardly be recognized, lay motionless on the pavement
Then the scene swung up and away, and Dan felt weightless. Something hit him hard. His head bounced and he rolled over. Soft grass was in his face. It smelled fresh.
There was a dull boom that moved the ground under him.
He twisted his head to look up.
A massive arm was stretched out over him, its hand firmly gripping the cut edges of a big metal ring.
Somewhere a drum took up a steady monotonous beat.
He fell into a deep black quiet and all the sights and sounds grew smaller and fainter and disappeared entirely.
He awoke in a Porcyn hospital. Kielgaard was there, wearing a broad grin and brilliant Porcyn clothes and promising Dan a huge bonus. But it was all like a dream.
Kielgaard said the Porcyns were as mad as hornets. They had raised a battle fleet and it had taken a corps of diplomats and the Combined Intergalactic Space Fleet to argue them out of personally chopping Trans-Space into fine bits. No one knew what would finally happen, but meanwhile Galactic had its contract and everyone was tentatively happy.
His account finished, Kielgaard grinned more broadly yet and switched on a bedside televiewer.
Dan lifted his head off the pillow and looked at the screen. Then he stared.
It was the statue, solid once more on its base, the ring grasped firmly in one hand and a big wrench in the other. But something seemed different.
Dan at last saw what it was.
It was the face. It wasn't a bad face, if one expected to see strong cheekbones, copper skin and a high-arched nose.
"What a compliment!" he said, embarrassedly pleased. "I—hell, I feel like blushing."
"Make it a good one," said Kielgaard. "After tomorrow, you'll have to blush with your own face again."
"Tomorrow?"
"Sure. You're still working for us, remember."
Dan sank back on the pillow and gazed up speculatively at the ceiling. "All right, but I want some time off. I have a fat bonus to spend."
"You could use a holiday," Kielgaard agreed. "Why not try the Andromedan cloud gardens? Pretty expensive, but with your bonus—"
"I've got a place picked out," said Dan. "I'm going to take a vacation on Porcys."
Kielgaard started. "You're joking! Or you've gone twitchy!"
"No. Before I have to give this face back to Surgery, I ought to get alittleenjoyment out of it. And what could be more enjoyable than hanging around the statue, letting people see the resemblance? Besides, they can't make me take my vacation on the Vacation Planet—I've already had it."