"...And I want to get away from baby, renew my contract withbasics--fresh air, exercise, make cash..."

"All right, sorry I asked."

I poured him a drink, concentrating on H2SO4, but it didn't transmute.Finally I got him soused and went out into the night to walk and thinkthings over.

Around a dozen serious attempts to land _Ichthyform LeviosaurusLevianthus_, generally known as "Ikky", had been made over the past fiveyears. When Ikky was first sighted, whaling techniques were employed. Theseproved either fruitless or disastrous, and a new procedure was inaugurated.Tensquare was constructed by a wealthy sportsman named Michael Jandt, whoblew his entire roll on the project.

After a year on the Eastern Ocean, he returned to file bankruptcy.Carlton Davits, a playboy fishing enthusiast, then purchased the huge raftand laid a wake for Ikky's spawning grounds. On the nineteenth day out hehad a strike and lost one hundred fifty bills' worth of untested gear, alongwith one _Ichthyform Levianthus_. Twelve days later, using tripled lines, hehooked, narcotized, and began to hoist the huge beast. It awakened then,destroyed a control tower, killed six men, and worked general hell over fivesquare blocks of Tensquare. Carlton was left with partial hemiplegia and abankruptcy suit of his own. He faded into waterfront atmosphere andTensquare changed hands four more times, with less spectacular but equallyexpensive results.

Finally, the big raft, built only for one purpose was purchased at anauction by ANR for "marine research." Lloyd's still won't insure it, and theonly marine research it has ever seen is an occasional rental at fifty billsa day--to people anxious to tell Leviathan fish stories. I've been a baitmanon three of the voyages, and I've been close enough to count Ikky's fangs ontwo occasions. I want one of them to show my grandchildren, for personal