His first shot went off as soon as the pistol was clear of the holster.  He fired the second while it was still recoiling; there was a spot of red on Borch’s shirt that gave him an aiming point for the third.  Borch dropped the pistol he hadn’t been able to fire, and started folding at the knees and then at the waist.  He went down in a heap on his face.

Behind him, Gerd van Riebeek’s voice was saying, “Hold it, all of you; get your hands up.  You, too, Kellogg.”

Kellogg, who had fallen, pushed himself erect.  Blood was gushing from his nose, and he tried to stanch it on the sleeve of his jacket.  As he stumbled toward his companions, he blundered into Ruth Ortheris, who pushed him angrily away from her.  Then she went to the little crushed body, dropping to her knees beside it and touching it.  The silver charm bell on the neck chain jingled faintly.  Ruth began to cry.

Juan Jimenez had climbed down from the airboat; he was looking at the body of Kurt Borch in horror.

“You killed him!” he accused.  A moment later, he changed that to “murdered.”  Then he started to run toward the living hut.

Gerd van Riebeek fired a bullet into the ground ahead of him, bringing him up short.

“You’ll stop the next one, Juan,” he said.  “Go help Dr. Kellogg; he got himself hurt.”

“Call the constabulary,” Mallin was saying.  “Ruth, you go; they won’t shoot at you.”

“Don’t bother.  I called them.  Remember?”

Jimenez had gotten a wad of handkerchief tissue out of his pocket and was trying to stop his superior’s nosebleed.  Through it, Kellogg was trying to tell Mallin that he hadn’t been able to help it.

“The little beast attacked me; it cut me with that spear it was carrying.”

Ruth Ortheris looked up.  The other Fuzzies were with her by the body of Goldilocks; they must have come as soon as they had heard the screaming.

“She came up to him and pulled at his trouser leg, the way they all do when they want to attract your attention,” she said.  “She wanted him to look at her new jingle.”  Her voice broke, and it was a moment before she could recover it.  “And he kicked her, and then stamped her to death.”

“Ruth, keep your mouth shut!” Mallin ordered.  “The thing attacked Leonard; it might have given him a serious wound.”

“It did!” Still holding the wad of tissue to his nose with one hand, Kellogg pulled up his trouser leg with the other and showed a scar on his shin.  It looked like a briar scratch.  “You saw it yourself.”

“Yes, I saw it.  I saw you kick her and jump on her.  And all she wanted was to show you her new jingle.”

Jack was beginning to regret that he hadn’t shot Kellogg as soon as he saw what was going on.  The other Fuzzies had been trying to get Goldilocks onto her feet.  When they realized that it was no use, they let the body down again and crouched in a circle around it, making soft, lamenting sounds.