A Tail of Two SKittys

“Vena, what’s the tattoo inside that cat’s ear?” he asked, urgently. She checked.

“FX-003,” she said, “and a serial number. But the X designation is for experimental, isn’t it?”

“Uh—yeah.” He got up, ignoring the medic, and came to look at the new cat. Vena’s stranger also had much more human-like hands than his SKitty; suddenly the mystery of how the cat had managed to manipulate the tangle-field controls was solved.

Shoot, he might even have been trained to do that!

:Yes,: SKitty said simply. :I go play catch-me-stupid, he open human- cages. He hear of me on station, come to see me, be mate. I think I keep him.:

Dick closed his eyes for a moment. Somewhere, there was a frantic BioTech station trying to figure out where one of their experimentals had gone. He should turn the cat over to them!

:No,: SKitty said positively. :No look. Is deaf one ear; is pet. Run away, find me.:

“He uh—must have come in as an extra with that shipment,” Dick improvised quickly. “I found an extra invoice, I just thought they’d made a mistake. He’s deaf in one ear, that’s why they washed him out. I uh—I suppose Brightwing could keep him.”

“I was kind of hoping I could—” Vena began, and flushed, lowering her eyes. “I suppose I still could . . . after this, the embassy is going to have to have a full staff with Patrol guards and a real Consul. They won’t need me anymore.”

Dick began to grin, as he realized what Vena was saying. “Well, he will need a handler. And I have all I can do to take care of this SKitty.”

:Courting?: SKitty asked slyly, reaching out to lick one of Prrreet’s ears.

This time Dick did not bother to deny it.