Fuzzy Nation Read Online Free PDF Page B

would happen next.
    The cat thing’s head poked up again, more slowly this time, watching the “other” cat thing. Eventually it hauled itself up on the desk and walked over to the infopanel. It crouched down to peer at it, and then tapped on it. It moved a hand and appeared to watch its doppelganger do the same thing. After a few minutes of this, satisfied, it turned away from the infopanel, grabbed the bindi slice with both hands, and then sat down on the edge of the desk, feet dangling, to eat the fruit. It had recognized itself.
    “Congratulations, you are now officially as smart as a dog,” Holloway said. Carl looked up at the word dog . Holloway knew it was only his imagination that the dog appeared somewhat offended at the comparison.
    Holloway rewound the images of the cat thing, recorded them, and kept the security camera on RECORD . He put the infopanel back down and went back into the cabin, once again slipping through the door to keep the increasingly annoyed Carl on the outside.
    The cat thing noted Holloway’s entrance but didn’t move, or even stop kicking its feet leisurely as its legs dangled. It had apparently decided that Holloway wasn’t a threat. Carl appeared at the window behind the desk and barked at the creature. It looked over casually but didn’t stop eating its fruit. It had figured out that Carl couldn’t get through the window and, for the moment at least, represented no threat.
    Carl barked again.
    The cat thing set its fruit down, pulled its legs up from the edge, grabbed its fruit and then walked over to the window. Carl stopped barking, confused by what the creature was doing. The cat thing sat down, millimeters away from the windowpane, stared at Carl, and then very deliberately started eating its fruit in front of the dog. Holloway could have sworn it was intentionally chewing with its mouth open.
    Carl went nuts barking. The cat thing stayed there, eating and blinking. Carl dropped from the window; two seconds later, there was a thump as Carl’s head hit the dog door. The manual lock was still on. Carl showed back up in the window a few seconds after that, no longer barking but clearly annoyed at the cat thing.
    “Now you’re just getting cocky,” Holloway said, to the cat thing. The cat thing glanced back at Holloway, and then went back to staring at Carl, finishing up its fruit.
    Holloway decided to push his luck. He walked over to the work desk and opened one of its drawers. The cat thing watched with interest but didn’t move. Holloway retrieved a dog collar and a leash from the drawer. He almost never put them on Carl, but sometimes they were necessary when the two of them went to Aubreytown. He closed the drawer and then went back to the cabin door, slipping out before Carl could change his position from the window. Holloway went over to the dog and in full view of the creature slipped the collar around Carl’s neck and latched the leash onto the collar.
    Carl took in the collar and the leash and glanced up at Holloway, as if to say, What the hell?
    “Trust me,” Holloway said to Carl. “Heel!”
    Carl was frustrated, but he was also well trained; any dog that could wait for an order to detonate explosives was one that knew how to listen to its master. He reluctantly came down from the window and stood next to Holloway.
    “Stay,” Holloway said, and walked back the length of the leash. Carl stayed. Holloway glanced over at the cat thing, which seemed to be taking this all in with interest.
    “Sit,” Holloway said to his dog. Carl actually glanced over to the cabin window and then back at Holloway, as if to say Dude, you’re embarrassing me in front of the new guy . But he sat, an almost inaudible whine escaping as he did so.
    “Down,” Holloway said. Carl lay down, dejectedly. His humiliation was complete.
    “Heel,” Holloway said again, and Carl got up and stood by his master. Holloway was still looking at the cat thing, which had watched the whole event.