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Paul Hagbolt&039;s joints and un to ache froravity He thought so over his first terror of Tigerishka, he&039;d spoken his complaints and started to ask many questions, too But she had said: "Monkey chatter," and run a dry velvet paw across his lips, and a paralysis had gripped his throat and his face below the nose - so had been applied

At least his aches took histhat the primitive erishka had riffled through his thoughts again with contemptuous speed Then she had stripped off his wet clothes with even greater dispatch, yve from ankle or wrist to facilitate the process Next she had subjected hi anatomical inspection, as coldly as if he were a cadaver Finally - capping indignity! - she had affixed to his crotch a couple of sanitary arrangeray panel into which, through a briefly dilating door, she&039;d thrown his wet clothes Paul named it the Waste Panel

In the warh co to the obviously distasteful Paul-chore, Tigerishka had gone about her own activities First she had groo, pointed, pale violet tongue &039;s than a cat&039;s, but also two silver combs which she wielded equally ith all of her four paws and also her prehensile tail As she rhythmically combed, she softly wailed discordant, eeriethree voices si went into the Waste Panel

Then, with subliony below them - if, as Paul wondered, the saucer were still hovering over Southern California or even Earth - she had fed Miaow From the second of the three panels - Paul named it the Food Panel - she had produced a fat, dark red hich Paul uneasily felt was synthetic rather than natural It wriggled just enough to vastly interest Miaoho played with it for soerishka watched, before slowly chewing it up with signs of great satisfaction

Then Tigerishka had gone to the third panel, which after a bit Paul was calling the Control Panel, and busied herself hat he assuular work, which seemed to be that of observer

The first time the lad of the sanitary arrangements

About half a ray sea froe long tanker ed, green water flowing over its bow

The transparency of the facing as perfect He felt he was about to drop through a large ring of flowers toward thehappened a half a dozen ti sharply He hung cringe-stonized the north end of the San Fernando Valley with a section of the Santa Monica mountains, but he couldn&039;t be sure

There was no h They were at least five es of the thirty-footbut city - sunlit city, bordered by sea on one side,out on the fourth

The city was san, ed to the brownish black of heavy seles burning This tih for Paul to identify the lewood, the Los Angeles Civic Center, and Santa Monica, the last blaze licking along the southern slopes of the Santa Monica o&039;s tiny house in Santa Monica and his own aparth for hi of the rectangular red beetles of fire trucks

The seacoast to the south looked wrong In places the Pacific cale and realized he&039;d been trying to screa about it

She never gave him a look, but turned fro toward the southwest and the sea

Two ray cloudbank with a dark skirt was ed coast The dark skirt touched the Long Beach fire, turning its smoke white - rain! Heavy rain!

Paul looked over toward the other blazes lying in the path of the cloudbank and saw the silver-and-vermilion of two s and he could see the four rockets on collision course with the saucer, swelling as they caeles had been jerked doenty miles The scene expanded thirtyfold He saw more smoke-strokes, tiny from this altitude, down the coast and up toward Bakersfield Then the inked on again - not a reen, presu paw into the shrubbery and retrieved Miaow She cuddled the little cat to her and, turning half away from Paul, said loudly: "There, we save hissaucer over the sea Make rain Small thanks Help monkey, et back to flower-cliue, and the little cat writhed luxuriously

"We don&039;t like hierishka went on with a sideways eye-flicker toward Paul, in a voice that was halfway between purr and cruel laughter "Monkeys! Cowardly, chattering, swar - no individuality, no flair!"

Paul wanted to strangle her, his hands locked in the sleek green fur of her neck Yes, he wanted to lock his hands around her neck and -