“It’s a morbid thought, but I suppose they’ve got a fine stuffed group of Homo sapiens in their collection by this time. I wonder who was honoured?”
“You’re probably right,” said Rupert, rather indifferently. “It would be easy to arrange through the hospitals.”
“What would happen,” continued Jan thoughtfully, “if someone volunteered to go as a live specimen? Assuming that an eventual return was guaranteed, of course.”
Rupert laughed, though not unsympathetically.
“Is that an offer? Shall I put it to Rashaverak?”
For a moment Jan considered the idea more than half seriously. Then he shook his head.
“Er — no. I was only thinking out loud. They’d certainly turn me down. By the way, do you ever see Rashaverak these days?”
“He called me up about six weeks ago. He’d just found book I’d been hunting. Rather nice of him.”
Jan walked slowly round the stuffed monster, admiring the skill that had frozen it forever at this instant of greatest vigour.
“Did you ever discover what he was looking for?” he asked. “I mean, it seems so hard to reconcile the Overlords’ science with an interest in the occult.”