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

large, delicately shaped ears, color and rich beauty of
fur. He might have compared his own bony, work-
scarred hand to the well-kept fingers of a Korwarian
villa dweller.

The black leaped, effortlessly, to the top of the cage,
and its smaller mate emerged. From that mouth ringed
in dark gray came no soft appeal but a sound closer to
the ear-shattering wail that had screeched through
the flitter before the crash. Kyger laughed.

29

"Hungry, eh?" He spoke to one of the yardmen.
"Bring me a food packet."

Troy watched the merchant break open the sealed
container and shake a portion of its contents into the
bowls he had loosed from the interior of the cage. The
stuff—tough, dry-looking as it sifted down—turned
moist and puffy in the dishes. The cats sniffed and
then ate decorously.

They were to be Kyger's own charges, Troy dis-
covered, though the shop had a resident staff—two
yardmen to tend the cages in the courtyard and some
for interior work. Oddly enough, Troy was set to work
inside, perhaps taking over some of Zul's tasks.

His shoulder still ached from the bruising impact of
the crash, but he tried to satisfy Kyger as the other
guided him around, issuing a stream of orders, which
at least were concise and easy to obey.

Of the four cage rooms along the corridor between
office and show lounges, the first two were for birds,
or flying things that might be roughly classed under
that heading. Troy had to snatch observations between
filling water containers, spreading out a wealth of
seeds, exotic fruits, and even bits of meat and fish.
The next two chambers were dissimilar. One was filled
with tanks and aquariums holding marine dwellers;

Troy merely glanced into that since there was a trained
tankman on duty. The other was for small animals.

The cats disappeared into Kyger's own office and
Troy did not see them again. Nor, as he worked about
the cages in the animal room, did he again experience
that odd, somewhat disturbing sense of invisible contact.