Adventures in the Far Future & Tales of Outer Space — page 258: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Center was silent, filled with those tiny sounds that only serve to emphasize and deepen a silence: the faint cluck- cluck of the machines on the floor below, the hissing and distant chortling of the atmosphere mixer, the chuckling of the water synthesizer. “Dang him,” snorted Creepy, “I Knew he couldn't do it. | knew Knut couldn't beat me at checkers honest—” From the refrigerator came a frantic sound. “Me-ow-me- Ow-ow-ow,” It wailed. Creepy moved for the refrigerator door, grabbing a broom as he went. “It’s that dang Mathilde cat again,” he said. “She’s always sneakin’ in there—every chance she gets.” Craig had leaped forward and snatched his hand away from the door lever. “Wait!” he said. Mathilde yodeled pitifully. “But, that Mathilde cat—” “Maybe it isn’t Mathilde,” Craig rasped grimly. From the doorway leading out into the corridor came a low purring rumble. The two men whirled about. Mathilde was standing across the threshold, rubbing with arched back against the jamb, plumed tail waving. From inside the refrigerator came a scream of savage feline fury. Creepy’s eyes slitted and the broom clattered to the floor. “But, there’s only one Mathilde!” “Of course, there’s only one Mathilde,” snapped Craig. “One of these is her. The other is Knut, or the thing that was Knut.” The lock signal rang shrilly, and Craig stepped swiftly to a port, flipped the shutter up. “It’s Page,” he shouted. “Page Is back again!” He turned from the port, face twisted in disbelief. Page had gone out five hours before—without oxygen. Yet here he Lf CORniclooo SS CO