Slave Ship

When the computers which had been developed to translate one human language into another were tried out on the languages of animals, a new level of interspecies communication began. Now anyone could find out what a dog or cat was trying to tell them. It worked in the other direction, too. At first it was just a scientific curiosity, but then global war came, between the western nations and an eastern confederation of religious fanatics, and every man had to do his part (the Boy Scouts had been designated a fighting force, and drafted en masse). And every woman. And every monkey, dog, cat, bird . . . But even that might not be enough, since the enemy seemed to have a weapon which could kill members of the telepath corps far behind the battle lines. And it might start killing non-telepaths at any time.

“. . . an authentically convincing picture of a wartime navy and . . . a think-tank tickler.” —Galaxy