Transcriber's Note:
This etext was produced from Analog Science Fact & Fiction June 1962. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.
novice
by James H. Schmitz
A novice is one who is inexperienced—but
that doesn't mean incompetent. Nor does it mean stupid!
illustrated by schoenherr
There was, Telzey Amberdon thought, someone besides TT and herself inthe garden. Not, of course, Aunt Halet, who was in the house waitingfor an early visitor to arrive, and not one of the servants. Someoneor something else must be concealed among the thickets ofmagnificently flowering native Jontarou shrubs about Telzey.
She could think of no other way to account for Tick-Tock's spookedbehavior—nor, to be honest about it, for the manner her own nerveswere acting up without visible cause this morning.
Telzey plucked a blade of grass, slipped the end between her lips andchewed it gently, her face puzzled and concerned. She wasn'tordinarily afflicted with nervousness. Fifteen years old, geniuslevel, brown as a berry and not at all bad looking in her sunbriefs,she was the youngest member of one of Orado's most prominent familiesand a second-year law student at one of the most exclusive schools inthe Federation of the Hub. Her physical, mental, and emotional health,she'd always been informed, was excellent. Aunt Halet's frequentcracks about the inherent instability of the genius level could beignored; Halet's own stability seemed questionable at best.
But none of that made the present odd situation any lessdisagreeable....
The trouble might have begun, Telzey decided, during the night, withinan hour after they arrived from the spaceport at the guest houseHalet had rented in Port Nichay for their vacation on Jontarou. Telzeyhad retired at once to her second-story bedroom with Tick-Tock; butshe barely got to sleep before something awakened her again. Turningover, she discovered TT reared up before the window, her forepaws onthe sill, big cat-head outlined against the star-hazed night sky,staring fixedly down into the garden.
Telzey, only curious at that point, climbed out of bed and joined TTat the window. There was nothing in particular to be seen, and if thescents and minor night-sounds which came from the garden weren'texactly what they were used to, Jontarou was after all an unfamiliarplanet. What else would one expect here?
But Tick-Tock's muscular back felt tense and rigid when Telzey laidher arm across it, and except for an absent-minded dig with herforehead against Telzey's shoulder, TT refused to let her attention bedistracted from whatever had absorbed it. Now and then, a low, ominousrumble came from her furry throat, a half-angry, half-questioningsound. Telzey began to feel a little uncomfortable. She managedfinally to coax Tick-Tock away from the window, but neither of themslept well the rest of the night. At breakfast, Aunt Halet made one ofher typical nasty-sweet remarks.
"You look so fatigued, dear—as if you were under some severe mentalstrain ... which, of course, you might be," Halet added musingly. Withher gold-blond hair piled high on her head and her peaches and creamcomplexion, Halet looked fresh as a daisy herself ... a maliciousdaisy. "Now wasn't I right in insisting to Jessamine that you needed avacation away from that terribly intellectual school?" She smiledgently.
"Absolutely," Telzey agree