Hugh had noticed, indeed. He had noticed even more, the peculiar sheen and aliveness of it, as if it were surcharged with a definite energy. As he held the creature close, a warm feeling of well-being slowly diffused through him. And something, something like a faint echo in his brain was like a shadowy background to his thoughts. Yes, he knew; here was food and here was warm fur against the eternal cold of the satellite. But their space suits protected them in a measure against the cold, and if necessary they could subsist a few more days without eating. Perhaps by then they would find some of the rare crystal oxide, enough to repair their ship and leave. Perhaps....
It was a long chance, almost an impossibility, and Hugh knew it; but now, also, he knew what he must do.
He did it. With a distasteful glance at his now openly-belligerent partner, he stepped forward. Then with unexpected suddenness he lurched as if he'd lost his footing on the rough terrain. He stumbled sideways. He twisted and fell deliberately to the ground. He opened his arms wide.
It was rather clumsily done, Hugh realized that instantly.
For an infinitesimal moment, the furry creature sprawled too, immobile, where Hugh's momentum had flung it. It gazed with an uncanny intensity into the Earthman's eyes. Then in a single, graceful leap of incredible speed, it was gone into the growing red haze, as night came on and Jupiter's macabre glow shattered the surrounding crags.
"You fool, you utter damned fool!" Jim Brannigan screamed, livid with rage. "You did that deliberately!" Then his huge body was launching at Hugh, the great heavy fists lashing out with the force of pistons. Hugh, lighter but more lithe, had only time to roll to one side and regain his feet. Then he was ducking the barrage of blows, evading the murderous rushes, allowing Jim to tire out of his frantic rage. Only once did Hugh strike a blow, a terrific lashing left into the other's solar plexus that doubled the red giant into helpless nausea.
"That's all we need now," Hugh said with a measure of calm, "to maim or cripple each other. We'll never get back that way. Come out of it, man! What we've got to do is get that oxide!"
"What we've got to get is food! You let the only food go that we had!" Jim Brannigan began to weep, in great racking sobs.
Merely nerves, temporary hysterical reaction, Hugh decided. Jim wasn't really hungry yet; he was only anticipating the event. When he got over this, he would sulk. When he got over that, he would start scheming, with that unpredictable mind of his. Knowing the man, Hugh decided to watch him carefully from now on.