Free Breed to Come by Andre Norton

space. Then her young come forthwith changes. With hands such as these I can domuch that I could not do—"
    She paused, and he finished for her, "With such asmine." He remembered how he had used his tongue,as had Foskatt, in the cube hole. Perhaps, had he hadfingers such as Liliha's, he need not have done that.
    "Such as yours," she agreed evenly. "Now, Gammage would have you see the lairs, so come.
    "We have," she told him, "a thing to ride on. Itdoes not go outside this one lair, though we have triedto make it do so. We cannot understand such limitations. But here it is of service."
    She brought forward something which moved moreswiftly than the rumbler on which they had riddenout of the Ratton prison. But this was smaller and ithad two seats—so large Furtig was certain they hadbeen made to accommodate Demons, not People.

    Liliha half crouched well to the front of one seat.Leaning well forward, she clasped a bar in both hands.He guessed that she was uncomfortable in such astrained position, but she made no complaint, onlywaited until he climbed into the other seat.
    Then she drew the bar back toward her. With thatthe carrier came to life, moved forward smoothly andswiftly.
    That there was need for such a conveyance becameclear as they swept ahead. And things which astounded Furtig at first became commonplace as he sawother and more awesome ones succeed them.
    Some,Liliha told him, they did not understand and hadfound no way to use—though teams of workers, specially trained by Gammage, and at intervals under hispersonal supervision, still tried to solve such problems.
    But the learning machines, those Gammage hadearly activated. And the food for them was containedin narrow disks wound with tape. When Liliha fittedone of these into a box and pressed certain buttons, aseries of pictures appeared on the wall before them.
    While out of the air came a voice speaking in astrange tongue. Furtig could not even reproduce mostof the sounds.
    However, there was another thing, too large to wearcomfortably, which Furtig put on his head.
    This hadsmall buttons to be fitted into the ears. When thatwas done, the words became plain, though some hadno meaning. One watched the pictures and listened tothe words and one learned. After a while, Furtig wastold, he would not need the translator but would beable to understand without it.
    Furtig was excited as he had not been since he hadforced himself to face up to the Trials, knowing wellhe might lose. Only this time it was an excitement oftriumph and not of determination to meet defeat.Given time (now he could understand Gammage'spreoccupation with time in a way no cave dwellercould) one could learn all the Demons' secrets!
    He would have liked to have lingered there. But thechamber was occupied by Gammage's people, one ofwhom Liliha had persuaded to allow Furtig to samplethe machine, and they were plainly impatient to getalong with their work. Perhaps they had allowed suchan interruption at all only because Furtig had beensent by Gammage.
    For Furtig was not finding the warriors here friendly. They did not show the wary suspicion of strangetribesmen. No, this was more the impatience of anElder with a youngling—a none-too-bright youngling.Furtig found that attitude hard for his pride to swallow.
    Most of these Workers displayed the same bodilydifferences—the slender hands, the lessening of bodyfur—as Liliha. But there were a few among them notdifferent, save in coloring, from himself, and theywere as impatient as their fellows.
    Furtig tried to ignore the attitude of the workers,think only of what they were doing. But after a space,that, too, was sobering and disappointing. He, whowas a trained warrior, a hunter of some note, an accepted defender of the caves (a status which hadgiven him pride), was here a nothing. And the resultof his tour with Liliha was a depression and the half thought that he had much better return to his ownkind.
    Until they reached Foskatt. They stood in an