blood human being on the staff of this hotel? I can’t seem to raise anyone but
moronic robots – and I’m stranded here with no clothes and no money.’
He shrugged. `Someone is certain to show up before long, once I report that Judge
Hardacres is dead. Are you worried about your fee? Why don’t you call the talent
agency that sent you to him? The judge probably had a running account with them.’
‘Oh! Doctor, I’m not a prostitute. Although I suppose it does look like it.’
He cocked his left brow so high that it disturbed the tilt of his toupee, and
changed the subject. `You have a beautiful pussy.’
I assumed that he was speaking of my feline companion, who is a most beautiful pussy
– a flame-coloured tomcat (just the colour of my hair) in a striking tiger pattern.
He has been much admired in several universes.
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Heinlein, Robert A – To Sail Beyond the Sunset.txt
`Thank you, sir. His name is Pixel and he is a much traveled cat. Pixel, this is Dr
Ridpath:
The doctor put out a finger close to the little pink nose. `Howdy, Pixel.’
Pixel was helpful. (Sometimes he is not – a cat of firm opinions.) He sniffed the
proffered finger, then licked it.
The doctor smiled indulgently, then withdrew his finger when Pixel decided that the
ritual kiss had gone on long enough. ‘He’s a fine boy, that one. Where did you find
him?’
‘On Tertius.’
‘Where’s Ontershus? Canada? Hmm, you say you have a money problem. What’ll you take
for Pixel, cash in hand? My little girl would love him:
(I didn’t swindle him. I could have but I didn’t. Pixel can’t be sold – he can’t
stay sold – because he can’t be locked up. For him, stone walls do not a prison
make.)
`Oh, I’m sorry! I can’t sell him; he’s not mine. He’s a member of the family of my
grandson – one of my grandsons – and his wife. But Colin and Hazel would never sell
him. They can’t sell him; they don’t own him. No one owns him; Pixel is a free
citizen:
‘So? Then perhaps I can bribe him. How about ir, Pixel? Lots of horse liver, fresh
fish, cat nibbles, all you want. Plenty of friendly girl cats around and we’ll leave
your spark plugs right where they are. Well?’
Pixel gave the restless wiggle that means ‘Let me down,’ so I did. He sniffed the
doctor’s legs, then brushed against him. ‘Nnnow?’ he enquired.
Dr Ridpath said to me, ‘You should have accepted my offer. I seem to have acquired a
cat.’
`I wouldn’t bet on it, Doctor. Pixel likes to travel but he always comes back to my
grandson Colin. Colonel Colin Campbell. And his wife Hazel.’
For the first time Dr Ridpath really looked at me. `”Grandson.” “Colonel.” Miss,
you’re hallucinating.’
(I suddenly realized how it looked to him. Before I left Tertius, Ishtar had given
me a booster treatment-it had been fifty-two years – and Galahad had given me a
cosmetic refresher and had overdone it. Galahad likes ’em young, especially redheads
– he keeps my twin daughters permanent teenagers, and now we three look like
triplets. Galahad cheats. Except for Theodore, Galahad is my favorite husband, but I
shan’t let anyone find out.)
`Yes, I must be hallucinating,’ I agreed. ‘I don’t know where I am, I don’t know
what day this is, I don’t know what became of my clothes or my money or my purse,
and I don’t know how I got here… save that I was in an irrelevancy bus for New
Liverpool and there was an accident of some sort. If Pixel were not still with me, I
would wonder if I were me.’
Dr Ridpath reached down; Pixel allowed himself to be picked up. ‘What was that bus
you mentioned?’
‘A Burroughs shifter. I was on Tellus Tertius at Boondock on time line two at
Galactic year 2149, or Gregorian 4368 if you like that better. I was scheduled for
New Liverpool in time line two, where I was to base for a field trip. But something
went wrong.’
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