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center of the warehouse and risk getting stuck out there, or I could climb down and try to find my way back on the floor.
    Where there were big, monster mice.
    This job was beginning to be less fun than I’d expected. It was beginning to suck, in fact.
    Suddenly I felt homesick for the nice, quiet, boring lab at Astara. I missed Jill, and Ma, and my brothers and sisters. Having an adventure had been fun, mostly, but I’d had enough.
    I was close to the top of a cargo stack, so I climbed the rest of the way up and peered toward the control console. I could see the green light clearly. It looked a million miles away.
    â€œMew,” I said.
    I didn’t see Devin. Maybe he’d picked this moment to go to the john.
    Or maybe he’d gone home and forgotten me. Or maybe he’d died.
    I could be stuck here forever.
    â€œYeeoooooow!”
    That made me feel a little better, but it didn’t solve my problem. Since Devin hadn’t responded I had to assume he wasn’t in the warehouse. Taking a deep breath, I decided to jump for it.
    I stared at the green light, straight “up” from where I clung to the cargo net. My heart was beating pretty fast, and I had trouble letting go of the net, but finally I moved out onto the flat surface of a crate. I gathered my haunches beneath me, aimed myself at the green light, and shoved off.
    When you don’t have much mass, air drag doesn’t help.
    I drifted across the warehouse at what felt like an incredibly slow pace. I had plenty of time to think about all kinds of disasters, time to regret not taking the floor route, monster mice or no.
    My knowledge of space living was limited to what I’d seen on the feeds. There was one low-gee game show that I’d liked, where the contestants had to race through an obstacle course. It had always looked interesting. I now realized it was less interesting than scary, drifting around without any ground surfaces to contact. Those game show people had spotters to help them out if they got in a jam. I had nada.
    The green light was there, straight ahead of me. It didn’t seem to be getting any bigger. I looked back at the Stratoma bay and saw that the cargo did look farther away. I was still moving, then. I tried to relax, and watched for any activity near the control console. Devin had to come back soon, right? That console was supposed to be monitored at all times, or so I assumed. I certainly would have ordered it to be constantly watched, if I’d been in charge.
    The back of my right ear began to itch. I was afraid to scratch it, thinking that might mess up my vector. I licked my nose instead and tried to take my mind off it.
    I thought about home. Curling up with Ma and the sibs, taking a nap in the sunny window by Jill’s desk. That took my mind off the itch, but it left a hollow ache in my gut instead.
    I heard a noise ahead, and looked up to see Devin coming in through the open square of the door, which was in the floor if you were oriented to the control console. He came in feet first, flipped himself around and jabbed the door control with a toe, then started toward the console. I could hear the “skletch, skletch” sound of his static-activated boots.
    â€œYeeoooooow!”
    Devin looked up. “Leon?”
    â€œYeeeOOOOOOOOOOW!”
    â€œI can’t see—oh, there you are!” He grinned. “Getting used to low gee, eh?”
    I flexed my claws. He probably couldn’t see that, either.
    â€œCome and get me, dammit!” I said.
    â€œShh!”
    â€œYYEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWRRR!!!”
    â€œOK, all right! I’m coming.”
    He peered up at me for a second, then unhooked the end of a retractable cable from his one-all and latched it to a ring on the console. He pushed off and drifted slowly toward me, the cable paying out behind him. He was grinning.
    â€œPushed straight off, eh? It might be a little faster for you to bounce from stack to