A Zloor For Your Trouble!

A Zloor For Your Trouble written by Mack Reynolds

Prescott stood to make a young fortune if he could capture a martian zloor—dead or alive! Was there a catch to it? Only for the hunter!

'Keep my size out of it,' I snapped. I indicated with a thumb a little statuette on my desk. 'The guy my mother named me after was pint size too. He got along all right.'

He looked over at Bonaparte. 'Ummm,' he said. 'Napoleon was a big name once—but he's only a bust now.' 'Listen, you're asking for a bust yourself. Why don't you run along? I'm busy.'

He ignored me, found a chair that had nothing but a few magazines on it, tossed them to the floor and sat down. 'Your name was brought up because you're the smallest professional hunter on Earth. It'd save a few thousand credits in getting you to Mars and back.' 'What in kert are you talking about?' I growled. 'The government wants a specimen, at least one, of a zloor.'

'A what?' 'A zloor. A small Martian animal.' I scowled at him. 'And just why does the government want a zloor?' 'That's a secret.'

'Okay. I'll tell you another secret. Somebody else can catch the government a zloor. I've never been off Earth and I haven't any particular hankering to go now.'

'I doubt if you could have got one anyway.' I said easily, 'If anyone else could catch it, I could.'

He reached for the doorknob, 'I'd lay a thousand credits against that,' he said. He began to leave. 'Wait a minute, buddy. Are you just sounding off or have you got a thousand credits you don't care what happens to?'

He turned and faced me. 'I am willing to wager a thousand credits that you can't capture a zloor.'

'How big are they?' 'About the size of a rabbit.' I glowered at him. 'They very fast, or very poisonous, or what?' He shrugged. 'They can't run quite as fast as a common Terran hare, and I understand they're quite gentle.'

'Then why haven't they been captured?'