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But all the other girls were recipients of his untiring, sterile interest The cute green-blonde just below and to the left, for instance, Miss Phoebe Filmer (he&039;d once taken the unprecedentedly realistic step of finding out her name), why, he&039;d sacrificed a sizable chunk of his leisure tiaround in a short play robe, inspecting an assorterie - a very pro situation that normally would have held Phil helpless for twenty minutes or more But now he found he could look at her and then look aithout the faintest gnaorry heGood Lord, if he wanted to see more, in any sense, of Miss Phoebe Filmer, he&039;d scrape up an acquaintance with her

"Prrrt!" A feathery, furry ball careen face fraer and thumb

"What d&039;ya want, cat?"

Lucky ducked out of the cupped hand with a twist that let his forehead and ear be rubbed, and put his front paws on therihtly circled the cat&039;s chest He didn&039;t want Lucky to get back out on the little ledge that led to either side of theIn fact, as Phil now definitely realized, he didn&039;t want Lucky to leave hi told hireen cat really wanted to go

It occurred to Phil, with a certain shamefaced satisfaction, that all pets were strictly forbidden in the Skyway Towers (cats and dogs were pretty rare since the gerhtered as possible carriers) and so Lucky&039;s oouldn&039;t be able to do anything openly about getting hi He hopped to the floor and looked eagerly at Phil

"Prrrt!"

"Do you want so to eat? Is that it?"

"Prrrt-prt!"

Phil tookof the cranberry concentrate Wildly inappropriate - and yet soht for Lucky

It was done quickly: a dark-red olf ball at the touch of water, and then, another sudden inward pro, the syrupy contents of a vitaredient smelled rather rank and by the ti quite doubtful However, Lucky exaerness But then instead of beginning to eat, he looked up at Phil Phil thought he understood: cats have their special proprieties and delicacies The little chap wanted to eat in private

"Okay, fellow, I&039;ll go shower And I won&039;t peek"

Stepping inside the bathroom, he set the shower control to alternate tepid and very warm Instead it chose irresponsibly to alternate icy and stea, so that he leaped out with a yell But the incident didn&039;t even scratch his mood As he toweled hi robots :

We&039;re out in space, they&039;ve cut the jet,

There isn&039;t any ceiling, floor, or wall

Let&039;s dance on air, or better yet -

Hug , in free-fall!

He ca like an emperor and fully determined to inspect the world he owned, the world that was any e As he slipped on singlet, trousers, sockasins and jacket, he explained his feelings to Lucky, who had cleaned up every bit of his colorful meal

"You see, it&039;s this way, fellow: I&039;ve always been three-quarters dead But not anyscared and stand-offish and bored Nojobs, with so down s over, talk to people, find out what it&039;s all about I&039;ram, eh? And you knoho&039;s responsible for it, fellow? You are"

Lucky seeleareen fur

Phil wondered what tione dead yesterday, the cranky thing, only fivethe battery replaced He stuck his head out theand looked up the dizzy gray crack to where the portholes were tiny dots and the slit ended in a ribbon of blue sky Only the top floor to the east was yelloith true sunlight, though the false sunlight froht for this city was beginning to show about eight stories down

He scooped up Lucky without a thought of leaving hiht attract But the verdant cat sprang fro back as if to say, "I&039;ame for any adventure, too, but I don&039;t need a nurse"

Side by side they walked to the stairs and down to twenty-eight - the overworked elevator stopped only at even-numbered floors And there he ran into Phoebe Fil and apparently headed for the snack bar on twenty-eight

"Hello, Miss Fil ti at him sideways "How did you know irl was in 28-303a"

She tittered with a faintly flirtatious contempt "You don&039;t talk to the desk robot You just punch buttons and it won&039;t give out naovernment key"

"I have a ith robots," Phil explained "I win their confidence with s her head and running her hand through her green-gold hair

"Say, how do you like reen cat!" Miss Filmer exclaimed excitedly She looked down quickly and then up skeptically "Where?"

Phil looked down too Lucky wasn&039;t anywhere in sight A hunk of ice materialized inside his chest "Excuse ain"

He raced to the stub corridor Lucky was standing in front of the elevator

"Gee, fellow," Phil told hiive me heart failure"