{"product_id":"2940013750715","title":"The Mad Moon","description":"\"Idiots!\" howled Grant Calthorpe. \"Fools--nitwits--imbeciles!\" He sought\u003cbr\u003ewildly for some more expressive terms, failed and vented his\u003cbr\u003eexasperation in a vicious kick at the pile of rubbish on the ground.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eToo vicious a kick, in fact; he had again forgotten the one-third normal\u003cbr\u003egravitation of Io, and his whole body followed his kick in a long,\u003cbr\u003etwelve-foot arc.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs he struck the ground the four loonies giggled. Their great, idiotic\u003cbr\u003eheads, looking like nothing so much as the comic faces painted on Sunday\u003cbr\u003eballoons for children, swayed in unison on their five-foot necks, as\u003cbr\u003ethin as Grant's wrist.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Get out!\" he blazed, scrambling erect. \"Beat it, skiddoo, scram! No\u003cbr\u003echocolate. No candy. Not until you learn that I want ferva leaves, and\u003cbr\u003enot any junk you happen to grab. Clear out!\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe loonies--_Lunae Jovis Magnicapites_, or literally, Bigheads of\u003cbr\u003eJupiter's Moon--backed away, giggling plaintively. Beyond doubt, they\u003cbr\u003econsidered Grant fully as idiotic as he considered them, and were quite\u003cbr\u003eunable to understand the reasons for his anger. But they certainly\u003cbr\u003erealized that no candy was to be forthcoming, and their giggles took on\u003cbr\u003ea note of keen disappointment.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSo keen, indeed, that the leader, after twisting his ridiculous blue\u003cbr\u003eface in an imbecilic grin at Grant, voiced a last wild giggle and dashed\u003cbr\u003ehis head against a glittering stone-bark tree. His companions casually\u003cbr\u003epicked up his body and moved off, with his head dragging behind them on\u003cbr\u003eits neck like a prisoner's ball on a chain.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGrant brushed his hand across his forehead and turned wearily toward his\u003cbr\u003estone-bark log shack. A pair of tiny, glittering red eyes caught his\u003cbr\u003eattention, and a slinker--_Mus Sapiens_--skipped his six-inch form\u003cbr\u003eacross the threshold, bearing under his tiny, skinny arm what looked\u003cbr\u003every much like Grant's clinical thermometer.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGrant yelled angrily at the creature, seized a stone, and flung it\u003cbr\u003evainly. At the edge of the brush, the slinker turned its ratlike,\u003cbr\u003esemihuman face toward him, squeaked its thin gibberish, shook a\u003cbr\u003emicroscopic fist in manlike wrath, and vanished, its batlike cowl of\u003cbr\u003eskin fluttering like a cloak. It looked, indeed, very much like a black\u003cbr\u003erat wearing a cape.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt had been a mistake, Grant knew, to throw the stone at it. Now the\u003cbr\u003etiny fiends would never permit him any peace, and their diminutive size\u003cbr\u003eand pseudo-human intelligence made them infernally troublesome as\u003cbr\u003eenemies. Yet, neither that reflection nor the loony's suicide troubled\u003cbr\u003ehim particularly; he had witnessed instances like the latter too often,\u003cbr\u003eand besides, his head felt as if he were in for another siege of white\u003cbr\u003efever.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe entered the shack, closed the door, and stared down at his pet\u003cbr\u003eparcat. \"Oliver,\" he growled, \"you're a fine one. Why the devil don't\u003cbr\u003eyou watch out for slinkers? What are you here for?\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe parcat rose on its single, powerful hind leg, clawing at his knees\u003cbr\u003ewith its two forelegs. \"The red jack on the black queen,\" it observed\u003cbr\u003eplacidly. \"Ten loonies make one half-wit.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGrant placed both statements easily. The first was, of course, an echo\u003cbr\u003eof his preceding evening's solitaire game, and the second of yesterday's\u003cbr\u003esession with the loonies. He grunted abstractedly and rubbed his aching\u003cbr\u003ehead. White fever again, beyond doubt.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe swallowed two ferverin tablets, and sank listlessly to the edge of\u003cbr\u003ehis bunk, wondering whether this attack of _blancha_ would culminate in\u003cbr\u003edelirium.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47164630073584,"sku":"2940013750715","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013750715_p0.jpg?v=1763589784","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013750715","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}