to go off only when objects of certain dimensions, such as Nevis's battle-suit, pass in front of it. While luring Nevis toward the trap, however, he is killed and partly eaten by the bat-like creature. Rica Dawnstar, in charge of the control room, uses reverse psychology to trick Nevis into meeting the walking web, which kills him. She then offers Tuf the chance to leave peacefully, but on his refusal, attempts to kill him with the psi-controlled T. Rex. But Tuf has discovered Lion's plasma-cannon trap; he lures Dawnstar and the dinosaur into its line of fire, killing them. Tuf then takes control of the seedship as the only surviving claimant. "Loaves and Fishes" Haviland Tuf takes his newly acquired seedship, which he has named the Ark, to the world of S'uthlam (an anagram for Malthus) for extensive repairs. S'uthlam is a world on the verge of war with all of the nearby inhabited worlds, as it requires a constant flow of resources to the planet. This is due to the world's continuing population explosion, a result of the S'uthlamese religious belief that unfettered and unchecked human reproduction will one day lead to a world of gods. This is in spite of evidence that this population explosion will lead, as it has many times in the past, to famine and S'uthlamese attempts at military conquest of adjoining star systems. Once the S'uthlamese become aware of the Ark and its capabilities, they want to seize it for themselves to use it as both a resource to wring higher caloric production from their star system's biology, and also as a powerful weapon of war. In an attempt to secure it, Portmaster Tolly Mune kidnaps one of Tuf's cats. She makes a bet with Tuf – if he will solve S'uthlam's impending famine, she will return his cat and give him monetary credits for the ship's repairs. If he loses the bet, S'uthlam will keep the seedship. Tuf at first reasonably proposes that the S'uthlamese simply restrict their incontinent reproductive practices, but because the S'uthlamese fixation is fanatic, it is impervious to reason. They will not control their population growth, and thus drive obsessively into a suicidal future of starvation and war. Tuf works on the problem, and manages to find a solution whereby he uses the seedship's capabilities to provide exotic plants and animals which can yield sustenance for the population, thus