WHEN THEY HAD REACHED the uppermost corridor of the caverns, they paused for a moment’s rest. It was then that Captain Lane found time for the question that had plagued him.
“You were right, Tim. They were sleeping. I could see that overlord’s nose-leaf quivering with slow breath just before I shot him. But—but what caused it? Anesthetic? I don’t understand.”
“No,” grinned Tim, “it was not an anesthetic. It was a simple matter of remembering a biological trait of bats, and applying a little technical knowledge. The knowledge—” He could not resist the dig. “The special knowledge of what you called a ‘hot-and-cold’ expert. Refrigeration!
“Bats are hibernating creatures. And hibernation is not merely a matter of custom, tradition, desire to sleep—it is a physical reflex which cannot be avo
