"Mercedes Lackey - A Tail Of Two Skittys" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lackey Mercedes)

send, Erica called out from the staircase.

"Front and centerтАФhere they come!"



Dick slumped down so that the tiny medic could reach his head to bandage it.
He knew he looked like he'd been through a war, but either the feeling of
elated triumph or the medic's drugs or both prevented him from really feeling
any of his injuries. In the end, it had come down to the crudest of
hand-to-hand combat on the staircase, as the Com Officer resent the message as
many times as he could and the rest of them held off the TriStar bullies. He
could only thank the Spirits of Space that they had no weapons stronger than
stunnersтАФor at least, they hadn't wanted to use them down in the basement
where so many circuits lay bare. Eventually, of course, they had been
overwhelmed, but by then it was too late. The Com Officer had gotten a reply
from the Patrol. Help was on the way. Faced with the collapse of their plan,
the TriStar people had done the only wise thing. They had retreated.

With them, they had taken all evidence that they were from TriStar; there was
no way of proving who and what they were, unless the Patrol corvette now on
the way in could intercept them and capture them. Contrary to what the Gray
Man had thought, Erica had recognized none of her captors.

But right now, none of that mattered. What did matter was that they had come
through thisтАФand that SKitty had finally reappeared as soon as the TriStar
ship blasted out, to take her accustomed place on Dick's shoulders, purring
for all she was worth and interfering with the medic's work.
"DickтАФ" Vena called from the door to the medic's office, "I found yourтАФ"

Dick looked up. Vena was cradling SKitty in her arms.

But SKitty was already on his shoulders.

She must have looked just as stunned as he did, but he recovered first, doing
a double-take. His SKitty was the one on her usual perchтАФVena's SKitty was a
little thinner, a little tallerтАФ

And most definitely had a lot longer tail!

:Is Prrreet,: SKitty said with satisfaction. :Handsome, no? Is bred for being
Patrol-cat, war-cat.:

"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?"

"UhтАФyeah." He got up, ignoring the medic, and came to look at the new cat.