"I'm listening," Cercy said.
"Say he's in danger. He turns into the thing threatening him. What if that thing were itself being threatened? And, in turn, was in the act of threatening something else? What would he do then?"
"How are you going to put that into action?" Cercy asked.
"Like this." Malley picked up the telephone. "Hello? Give me the Washington Zoo. This is urgent."
The Ambassador turned as the door opened. An unwilling, angry, hungry tiger was propelled in. The door slammed shut.
The tiger looked at the Ambassador. The Ambassador looked at the tiger.
"Most ingenious," the Ambassador said.
At the sound of his voice, the tiger came unglued. He sprang like a steel spring uncoiling, landing on the floor where the Ambassador had been.
The door opened again. Another tiger was pushed in. He snarled angrily and leaped at the first. They smashed together in midair.
The Ambassador appeared a few feet off, watching. He moved back when a lion entered the door, head up and alert. The lion sprang at him, almost going over on his head when he struck nothing. Not finding any human, the lion leaped on one of the tigers.