"Andre Norton - Cat's eye" - читать интересную книгу автора (Norton Andre)

hidden fastening. The padded curtains fell away and
Troy looked into a very well-appointed traveling box.
The flooring, sides, and roof were padded with plasta-
foam, a precaution against the pressure of ship accel-
eration, and there were two inset feeding and watering
niches. But the occupants were close to the mesh front,
sitting on their haunches, their front paws placed neatly
together, the tips of their tails folded over those paws.

One was black, a black so deep as to have, in the
sunlight, a bluish tinge—or perhaps that was a
reflection from its companion's coat, for the second
and slightly smaller animal was blue—or parts of its
close, thick fur coat held that shade, muting into a
gray that was very dark on head, legs, and tail. And
the four eyes of the pair, regarding both men im-
partially, were as vividly blue-green as aquamarines.

"Terran," Kyger announced with a note of pride
plain in his voice. "Terran cats!"

28

Three

Troy studied the animals. Although those blue eyes
regarded him squarely, there was no other contact.
Yet he was sure it had not been only his imagination
that had stirred him earlier.

, Kyger opened the cage. The black cat arose, arched
its satin-smooth back, extended forelegs in a luxurious
stretch, and then padded out into the courtyard, its
blue companion remaining behind while the black


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scouted with eyes and nose.

"Sooooo—" Kyger subdued his usual authoritative
tone into a coaxing murmur and held out his hand for
the black to sniff.

Cats were part of the crew of every spaceship. Troy
had seen them about the docks. But centuries of such
star voyaging must have radically mutated the strain
if these were the parent stock. None of those possessed
such sleek length of limb, or the sharply pointed muzzle,