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"Don&039;t act so shocked!" she commanded irritably "It happens all the tiet seed from bulls and stallions for artificial inseminationand so on!"

He said quietly: "You ht wasn&039;t a real embrace?"

She hissed at that, just like a cat, then said harshly: "A real eenitals! I was silly, I was bored, I felt sorry for you That was all"

For a moment Paul saw clearly how a superbeast would at its level have neuroses just like those of a talking anthropoid, hoould suffer froet bored, fritter away tis For a moment he realized how lonely and confused he himself would have to be to pretend to love a cat as if it were a girl, to fantasize an erotic passion for Miaow But just then Tigerishka slapped him with her pads and snarled: "Don&039;t drea which his intuition had been building crashed, though this was not instantly apparent on the surface, for he continued as quietly as before: "You ht&039;nice&039; to a pet?"

She said firs were fully ninety per cent pity for you and boredom with myself"

"And the other ten per cent? he persisted

She dropped her great eyes from his "I don&039;t know, Paul I just don&039;t know," she said very tautly, grabbing his coat again Then, "Oh, get dressed yourself," she hissed exasperatedly and pushed off for the control panel "But be quick about it Our visitor&039;s alnored that A hotup into his cold misery He slowly pulled his coat sleeve off his foot He said evenly: "It see you like a pet, scratching you under the neck and stroking your fur, and you were lapping it up, you were responding just like - "

The pink floor jumped up and bumped him, jarred his spine She called: "I&039;ve switched on earth-noret dressed! Oh, if you had any idea of what it means to be cooped up this ith a repulsive bald body and with an utterly inferior mind and to have to wear out one&039;s throat with the nonsense of sound-in to attend to his clothes, though without haste, locating his shorts and his pants and laying the on But at the sa - anything, it didn&039;t matter what - to hurl back at her Rather quickly he found it

"Tigerishka," he said slowly, feeling unaccustomedly heavy but quite comfortable as be sat on the pink velvet floor and pulled on his shorts and reached for his trousers, "you boast that you never miss a mental trick Certainly your mind works much faster thanthat happens around you - including what you spy on in ht when I raphs I&039;d seen - photographs of a planeta false exit from hyperspace, I realize now - you assured me there could have been only tist-fields involved, the first near Pluto, the second near Venus

"Well, whatever you think, there were two other twist-fields represented, two other false exits" At this point he felt her entering his mind Nevertheless he went on: "They were the second and fourth in the series, and they involved Jupiter and Luna"

Her answer rather surprised hiht I&039;ll have to check with the Wanderer at once It could bee&039;re afraid of" She turned sharply to the control panel She was standing on her hind legs now in the saripped Paul "You, welcome our visitor!"

A port like aaway from Paul, a h it He lurched his elbows heavily against the riravity field took hold of him, but evidently this didn&039;t startle him particularly, for he quickly boosted the rest of his body into the saucer

Paul, barely into his shirt, stood up quickly too, getting a glistared at Tigerishka, looked around

"Don!"

"Paul!"

"I thought you were lost with the ht you were - I don&039;t knohat But how - "

They were both cluin Then Paul realized that Don was looking him up and down curiously He hurriedly zipped his pants and buttoned his shirt

Don looked at Tigerishka, looked at her for quite some tis Then his gaze came back to Paul and he raised his eyebrows and spread his hands helplessly and grinned with the air of one whoapart and we&039;re in an i saucer in the midst of space - This is as funny as a bedrooed at hierishka looked around at theh to say rapidly: "Greetings, Donald Barnard Merriam! Please excuse the monkey, he&039;s ashamed of his nakedness But I suppose you&039;re ashamed, too Really, you should both try fur!"