The pot of pansies disappeared, giving way to Honey LaRue. The snare-drums swished and chattered, and Honey, who'd rid herself of a good deal more than her gloves, winked knowingly at Miss MacIntire. Spotting Stetzel, Honey propelled her pelvis several centimeters in a horizontal direction, a movement known to the trade as the "bump." The Latin teacher uttered an unclassical yelp of outraged modesty and averted her head. Stetzel grew pink to his ear-tips. This extra-galactic polymorph had no tact at all! Honey disappeared with a regretful shrug, and the lascivious drum-rolls ceased.
"This sort of thing could become dangerous," Mr. Tedder commented.
"What can we do with it?" Mr. Coar asked. "It wouldn't do to put a cage around it. It can't move any more than a ... geranium plant can. And what will we feed it?"
"Pimento-loaf," the physics instructor suggested.
"Think of the value this thing can have!" Stetzel enthused. "Psychiatrists can see the morbid mind-images of their disturbed patients, the paranoics and the like, and devise techniques of cure."
"By studying the metabolism of this polymorph, we can deduce the physical conditions of the world it came from," Mr. Formeller observed, a glint of the hunter-instinct in his eyes.
"We might even ask it questions about the world it came from!" Guenther said. "Maybe it would show its real form to us, and talk or think to us. It's already shown a lot of initiative, you know."
Miss MacIntire, who'd recovered from the shock of Honey LaRue, spoke up. "We've got an eel by the tail, as it said. We can't handle it, and we can't let it go. We'll have to call in experts in zoology and physics...." Mr. Formeller exchanged outraged glances with Mr. Tedder "... and have them study the polymorph with the best instruments available."
"All this is very well," Mr. Formeller said, "but what I'd like to know is how this Polymorph got into your classroom, Tedder."