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The door opened at the front end of the hall and a long nosed young lady in a lab sently at Garnett Her brow s so to him, then she seemed to notice that there were visitors around "Would you care to see this green animal with your outer eyes?" she asked

"We sure would, Ginny," Garnett told her and started forward again Phil wanted to burst out with all his information about Lucky, but da Silva forestalled him

"Gentlemen," he said "Think you understand better I supposed Sorry underrate you Best to tell you now -"

At that ed He strode lazily, like a self-confident green god The long nosed girl closed the door behind hie suddenly, happily, familiarly

Akeley squeezed Phil&039;s upper arm "It ishe!"

And almost at the same moment, a voice commanded from behind them, "Break to either side, everybody"

Phil obeyed the co at the head of the stairs The representative of the FBL was looking both knowledgeable and coray haired and anxious than last night

He nodded quickly at Opperly, said, "Pardon un between the ranks of er But his nerves couldn&039;t have been as good as Phil thought they were, for instead of the green cat collapsing, Miss A - I can&039;t feel it!"

Greeley griun, as the dust mushroomed up from the carpet around Miss Aolden wave billowing out froers stiffly uncurled fro them away, and it dropped to the floor

At that uorous and scornful, said, "Stay where you are, gentleerous to move your hands"

Dora Pannes stood at the head of the stairs The violet blonde was si carelessly from her shoulder, but she looked rather reat big ortho

Phil didn&039;t feet at all frightened, although a vague ed momentarily at his mind He knew she couldn&039;t hurt anyone while Lucky was there He was more interested in the reactions of the others

But with one exception there weren&039;t any reactions

The exception was da Silva He was staring at Dora Pannes with a hungry adoration

Meanwhile the violet blonde alking forward in a lance at da Silva As she passed Greeley, her free hand snatched sidewise like a lizard&039;s tongue for the stun-gun, snatched again at a larger one inside his coat, dropped theht for the cat

Now she&039;ll begin to feel it, Phil told hi her casually Abruptly he sprang back onto thesill, his green fur rose, hishiss

The next moment Phil felt such a formless terror as he had never known before, as if all reality were about to be crunched in a single fist, as if the blackness between the stars were lashing down to strangle hi the ranked faces He gazed fearfully at Lucky, as if the green cat had turned into a devil, and saw Dora Pannes coolly stooping to grab him The cat started to streak past her, but Dora&039;s hands were faster Then the cat sprang straight at her face, claws raking, but Dora cal and shut it and started back She looked quite as beautiful and composed as she had at the stair head The blood hadn&039;t started to flow from the scratches in her face

As she passed da Silva, he looked up at her groggily In his expression there was still the ghost of desire

"You jerk," she said to him and walked on and went down the stairs

Phil felt his heart ha, and then he was racing downstairs and so after him

He caromed off the open front door and stumbled down the steps in time to see a dark car roar off Greeley was beside hi orders into a pocket radio From the other end of the street, another car shot in Red plumes shot forward fro stop Greeley piled into the back seat Phil scrambled in after him

"You can still see them," Greeley yelled at the driver "Take all chances Rockets!" Then he turned to Phil

"Who are you?"

"Phil Gish of the US Newsmoon," Phil replied recklessly, but the last as lost in the rocket&039;s roar

The other car had been about five blocks ahen they had taken off As Phil untwisted himself with difficulty from the huddle into which acceleration had thrown him, he saw that its lead had been reduced to almost one block

"Douse the jets," Greeley ordered "We can curb theulars; but watch out they don&039;t shift They may have rockets Where do you stand in Project Kitty, Gish?"

"Sort of special observer," Phil i on with both hands "My section has decided the green catahead

"Didn&039;t you feel it up there?" Phil asked

"Feel what?" Greeley said, his eyesdistance between the two cars "You-"

But just then the car ahead of thereen flashed out of it, roiled over half a dozen times, and darted toward an alley

"Brakes!" Greeley yelled and Phil almost tumbled into the lap of the man beside the driver as the forward rockets jetted and the back of the car lifted and slammed down Then he realized he was the only one left in the car and scrambled out

"The alley&039;s blind; there&039;s no way for it to get out," Greeley was calling "Advance abreast Gish, back us up!"

"Don&039;t hurt hih for that!" Greeley yelled back

By this ti defiantly in the narrow alley&039;s blind end, so reen cat darted forward, dodged this way, that, and dove between Greeley and the ht into Phil&039;s outstretched hands

"Lucky!" Phil said blissfully, lifting the cat closer

Five claws raked his chin painfully, while fifteen others dug into his hands

He looked at the little face Except for its color, it was a ly furious cat face In fact, it was a most ordinary cat

And he could smell the dye

"Here," he said calmly and handed the animal to Greeley

"Lucky?" Greeley yelled as the claws sank into his hands "It&039;s a dye-job, or I&039;ll eat it! They had it all ready and threw it out to ot to keep it to be on the safe side"

And presuot clawed as they sprinted to the car

But Phil was not with theain, he simply stood halfway down the alley, scratched and weary