All Cats Are Gray Read online

distance behind. Then he mewed loudly twice. Steena followed himand opened the door wider.

  Bat went straight on down the corridor, as intent as a hound on thewarmest of scents. Steena strolled behind him, holding her pace to theunhurried gait of an explorer. What sped before them both was invisibleto her but Bat was never baffled by it.

  They must have gone into the control cabin almost on the heels of theunseen--if the unseen had heels, which there was good reason todoubt--for Bat crouched just within the doorway and refused to move on.Steena looked down the length of the instrument panels and officers'station-seats to where Cliff Moran worked. On the heavy carpet her bootsmade no sound and he did not glance up but sat humming through set teethas he tested the tardy and reluctant responses to buttons which had notbeen pushed in years.

  To human eyes they were alone in the cabin. But Bat still followed amoving something with his gaze. And it was something which he had atlast made up his mind to distrust and dislike. For now he took a step ortwo forward and spat--his loathing made plain by every raised hair alonghis spine. And in that same moment Steena saw a flicker--a flicker ofvague outline against Cliff's hunched shoulders as if the invisible onehad crossed the space between them.

  But why had it been revealed against Cliff and not against the back ofone of the seats or against the panels, the walls of the corridor or thecover of the bed where it had reclined and played with its loot? Whatcould Bat see?

  The storehouse memory that had served Steena so well through the yearsclicked open a half-forgotten door. With one swift motion she tore looseher spaceall and flung the baggy garment across the back of the nearestseat.

  Bat was snarling now, emitting the throaty rising cry that was hishunting song. But he was edging back, back toward Steena's feet,shrinking from something he could not fight but which he faceddefiantly. If he could draw it after him, past that danglingspaceall.... He had to--it was their only chance.

  "What the...." Cliff had come out of his seat and was staring at them.

  What he saw must have been weird enough. Steena, bare-armed andshouldered, her usually stiffly-netted hair falling wildly down herback, Steena watching empty space with narrowed eyes and set mouth,calculating a single wild chance. Bat, crouched on his belly, retreatingfrom thin air step by step and wailing like a demon.

  "Toss me your blaster." Steena gave the order calmly--as if they stillsat at their table in the Rigel Royal.

  And as quietly Cliff obeyed. She caught the small weapon out of the airwith a steady hand--caught and leveled it.

  "Stay just where you are!" she warned. "Back, Bat, bring it back!"

  With a last throat-splitting screech of rage and hate, Bat twisted tosafety between her boots. She pressed with thumb and forefinger, firingat the spacealls. The material turned to powdery flakes of ash--exceptfor certain bits which still flapped from the scorched seat--as ifsomething had protected them from the force of the blast. Bat sprangstraight up in the air with a scream that tore their ears.

  "What...?" began Cliff again.

  Steena made a warning motion with her left hand. "_Wait!_"

  She was still tense, still watching Bat. The cat dashed madly around thecabin twice, running crazily with white-ringed eyes and flecks of foamon his muzzle. Then he stopped abruptly in the doorway, stopped andlooked back over his shoulder for a long silent moment. He sniffeddelicately.

  Steena and Cliff could smell it too now, a thick oily stench which wasnot the usual odor left by an exploding blaster-shell.

  Bat came back, treading daintily across the carpet, almost on the tipsof his paws. He raised his head as he passed Steena and then he wentconfidently beyond to sniff, to sniff and spit twice at the unburnedstrips of the spaceall. Having thus paid his respects to the late enemyhe sat down calmly and set to washing his fur with deliberation. Steenasighed once and dropped into the navigator's seat.

  "Maybe now you'll tell me what in the hell's happened?" Cliff explodedas he took the blaster out of her hand.

  "Gray," she said dazedly, "it must have been gray--or I couldn't haveseen it like that. I'm colorblind, you see. I can see only shades ofgray--my whole world is gray. Like Bat's--his world is gray too--allgray. But he's been compensated for he can see above and below our rangeof color vibrations and--apparently--so can I!"

  Her voice quavered and she raised her chin with a new air Cliff hadnever seen before--a sort of proud acceptance. She pushed back herwandering hair, but she made no move to imprison it under the heavy netagain.

  "That is why I saw the thing when it crossed between us. Against yourspaceall it was another shade of gray--an outline. So I put out mine andwaited for it to show against that--it was our only chance, Cliff.

  "It was curious at first, I think, and it knew we couldn't see it--whichis why it waited to attack. But when Bat's actions gave it away itmoved. So I waited to see that flicker against the spaceall and then Ilet him have it. It's really very simple...."

  Cliff laughed a bit shakily. "But what _was_ this gray thing? I don'tget it."

  "I think it was what made the _Empress_ a derelict. Something out ofspace, maybe, or from another world somewhere." She waved her hands."It's invisible because it's a color beyond our range of sight. It musthave stayed in here all these years. And it kills--it must--when itscuriosity is satisfied." Swiftly she described the scene in the cabinand the strange behavior of the gem pile which had betrayed the creatureto her.

  Cliff did not return his blaster to its holder. "Any more of them onboard, d'you think?" He didn't look pleased at the prospect.

  Steena turned to Bat. He was paying particular attention to the spacebetween two front toes in the process of a complete bath. "I don't thinkso. But Bat will tell us if there are. He can see them clearly, Ibelieve."

  But there weren't any more and two weeks later Cliff, Steena and Batbrought the _Empress_ into the Lunar quarantine station. And that is theend of Steena's story because, as we have been told, happy marriagesneed no chronicles. And Steena had found someone who knew of her grayworld and did not find it too hard to share with her--someone besidesBat. It turned out to be a real love match.

  The last time I saw her she was wrapped in a flame-red cloak from thelooms of Rigel and wore a fortune in Jovan rubies blazing on her wrists.Cliff was flipping a three-figure credit bill to a waiter. And Bat had arow of Vernal juice glasses set up before him. Just a little familyparty out on the town.

  +--------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | Transcriber's note: | | | | Inconsistent hyphenation (space-all/spaceall) has been | | retained. | | | +--------------------------------------------------------------+