Space Pets

Jamie Da Cruz woke up and looked around his bedroom. Even after six months, he still wasn't used to the opulence. Even the bed was large and luxurious, spacious enough for four or five persons to sleep comfortably -- or do other things on it. Of course his previous apartment wouldn't have been large enough for himself, Jeannie, Kristi, and their four pets, even if John Whitmire of the Houston Enclave Security Section had allowed him to stay there, which he hadn't. Since Jamie had become so important, Whitmire was insistent that he stay within the confines of the security building to prevent a possible abduction by Moon City agents and, Jamie had to admit, the apartment Whitmire had furnished went a long way toward keeping him happy.

The bedroom was furnished with state of the art holovision fixtures keyed to his body computer and the adjoining comfort room contained facilities sufficient to bathe and refresh a bull walrus and all his family. It was more than enough for he and his consorts and anyone else they might want to invite over for a party.

The large living room was decorated with an assortment of Kristi's beautifully tanned hides, ranging from deer to rabbit and bobcat. On one wall Kristi's spare laserifle was racked on animal horns, and her extra handgun and knife dangled below on a belt and shoulder harness arrangement. The one large and several small loungers scattered around the room gave it, together with the hides and weapons, a casual, lived-in look. One wall was blank, although it contained a barely discernible door. It was used for the holovision projections. An unobtrusive accessory computer console was tucked in one corner, and another door led to a large autokitchen and dining area. To one side of the bed, another door opened out into the privacy of a large fenced yard, complete with a small pool and varied food shrubs and other nutritive plants.

Jamie removed himself from the bed and into the comfort room. Trimming his mustache, he reflected that Conan, the feral dog who had been the courier of the original alien message on a thought disk would never have been able to contact his pets -- and him -- had he been living here then rather than closer to the edge of the barriers. But in that case, he wouldn't have met Kristi, nor possibly have gotten so involved with Jeannie. Even so, he sometimes missed the simplicity of his life as it had been before Conan appeared. Then, his biggest worry had been aberrations in the hambean line of plants he had developed, and the foibles of his boss, the chief of the Genetic Engineering Section of the Houston Enclave.

Jamie heard soft footsteps behind him and knew that Jeannie had arrived home from her job with the almost completed spacecraft's computer system. The door had allowed her to enter silently, alerted by the code from her body computer. A pair of slim hands stole around his eyes.