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PHIL stopped pounding on the wall and the black silence closed around hily, like a preview of the mental hospital cell and electrosleep to which, he was suddenly sure, Dr Ron him on a psychiatrist&039;s writ In the thick darkness he heard his heart pounding His rapid breathing was for a moment that of an ani his satyrette hallucination so lightly, should have instantly typed hireen cat Psychologists, he supposed, knew things about the e that were never told to ordinary people: seely innocent symbols that stamped men as cowards, rapists, ment of conversation he&039;d heard somewhere came back to him: "Of course as soon as he sawthat in the inkblot, they hustled him off"
There was a sharp click He started and looked up A tiny line of light appeared in the ceiling, widened, and then beca radiance on the central table below, but leaving the rest of the room dark He realized that the mirror he&039;d noticed had been slid out of the way He couldn&039;t see much of the roo machine of the sort that could use ures were visible from where he stood and he felt no desire to step forward into the revealing light He wondered, with a certain incredulous pride, whether he was so dangerous a type that they intended to fish for hi&039;s edge
It was a charly expensive sort of digital stocking, which gave each toe its separate translucent co back fros, which helped attach the airy black shoe and gave it an exciting though spidery appearance The foot was joined to a narrow ankle and gently swelling calf which hardly needed the stocking&039;s glaure he could see at theThe foot was followed by a second and shortly by all the rest of the girl She hung briefly, facing away fro frock; a black shoulder cape; long, dark hair cascading free and white aran above the elbows and ended at the knuckles
His foot, shifting on the foa, made a tiny noise Instantly she whirled on him like a black panther, complete even to the shrill snarl As she did, Phil was rocked by two surprises: the first, revealed when her short cape spun out, that her evening frock was off the bosoreat deal, but that was not followed at his social level; the second, and far ht hand were tipped with clawed, silver thi inches of thatanachronisled it rapidly under his chin
"Did my father set you to spy on me?" she demanded The "set" and "spy" were sheer hiss
"No," he replied chokingly, not wanting his Adam&039;s apple to protrude
"Then why are you here," she de in the dark?"
"Your father lockedbackward
"Ishtar! Is he doing that to his patients, too?" she commented Her accents were a bit incredulous, but she did drop the knife to an easy, on guard position, which also caused her cape to fall around her hts," Phil reaffirhtfully "I can almost believe the first part of that," she said "He often sends his patients in here for observation"
"Observation?"
She jerked a silver-fanged thu "That mirror&039;s transparent from above He likes to watch what his patients do when they think they&039;re alone, either singly or by couples Olyht" And she flashed the clahich were faintly stained with reddish brown
Phil felt a little sick but took the opportunity to ask, "If that mirror&039;s transparent from above, why didn&039;t you see me when he locked me in here?"
"He always shuts theit," she said, "and I was interested in opening it, not seeing through it I only discovered the trick of the fastenings a half-o Father probably doesn&039;t even know it can be opened Although well equipped with the nastier psychological skills, he&039;s no s all around," said Phil "Fencing and that"
She thoughtfully licked the center of her upper lip with the tip of her tongue "You&039;re kind of likable in a feeble way," she said "Why did he lock you in here anyhow? Too interested in sex? I thought he encouraged that in his patients and only tried to forbid it to his darling daughter"
As Phil searched for a suitable way to phrase a denial or confirrew speculative "Say," she said, "how about you and me?" She paused, then decisively whipped down the knife, so that it stuck quivering in the floor She advanced toward Phil "Yes, you and me"
"Your father&039;ll be back any itatedly
"True, and I&039;ll so enjoy seeing his face" She lifted her arms "See how beautiful I am Look at them Like two rose buds"
She was very beautiful indeed Nevertheless, Phil froze She bared her teeth and struck at his cheek with her clawed hand, but at the last moment turned the blow to a contelas Besides, the raven does not mate with the rabbit And I only wanted to do it to spite Father Why did he lock you in? You seereen cat," Phil said with a certain huffiness
She rolled her eyes "Ta the Akeleys in their Bast worship The man&039;s so erratic I sometimes think he must be a crypto-communist with his cover personalities ju here while he got rid of a violent ex-patient who carries around a -"
"That gold squirt gun story," she interrupted, "is his pet dodge for getting rid of patients"
"He doesn&039;t seereed cheerfully, jerking her knife out of the floor, "he seems to want to keep you"
"I think he wants to sendto be disagreed with, but shethe knife in a sheath in her skirt "Father favors old-fashioned treatments like convulsive therapy and simulated snake pits Well, if the assistant torturers are on their way, I&039;d better be on mine" She took three quick steps, then looked back at hi?" she asked "Not that I like you even faintly - I detest randmother would have called masculine protest - but I always enjoy frustrating Father"
Phil had an acute sense of a lady-or-the-doctor dile, "Yes"
She nodded once and headed for the back of the room "Will you try for the elevator?" he ventured to ask
"Of course not!" she snapped at hian
"Sshh!" she hissed and punched a door button
The wall kept blank "So it&039;s on code," she said "I ht have known" And she punched the button in a rapid rhythm The wall kept on blank "Oh, oh, the special code, the one I&039;m not supposed to know" She looked around at Phil "You must be important," she sniffed She punched the button in another rhythm This time, rather to Phil&039;s surprise, the wall parted obediently He followed her into a gleaaetables, freezer, radionic oven, shadowed mushroom bed and small microbe tank for hoed at the latter two luxuries, but it did occur to hihtn&039;t your father coht after what I gave hi in front of a vertical cylinder that half protruded fro A tiny green light flashed up a tall column of studs like a skyrocket "Get the hassock fro the foot-high cylinder of foaet was open in the cylinder "Put it inside on the platform," she directed, "on top of all the straps and stuff They&039;re just for packages That&039;s right Now get inside and squat on it Reach down your hands on either side of the hassock and take hold of the clarip, because it drops a bit faster than free-fall and you wouldn&039;t want to be left behind squatting on nothing And squat up straight or you&039;ll get your head rubbed off!"
"Wait a erly inserted in the doorway, "Do you -"
"I have to go last, because I knoork the button when I&039;m inside Hurry up"
"But this is the service chute, isn&039;t it?" he asked
"Did you expect Nubian slaves to carry you down a spiral ramp? Later on you can persuade Father to buy me a copter if you want to"
"Youto fall down that chute on a little platform without sides?"
She jerked the knife fro to do that or else you&039;re going to letback fro the top of his head on the doorway, and then slowly drew in his legs and assumed the position of the Anxious Buddha "You didn&039;t have to rushyou to the first baseive you five seconds to get out I think the door&039;ll be open there If not, you&039;ll have to coets you and not some other floor Now don&039;t worry," she told him as she slid the door shut, "I&039;ve done this a dozen tiht of doing it"