l of something which Mantelish
considered to be nutritive for plasmoids, or at least for this one. Its
sides pulsed lightly and regularly against her palms. "The level of the
stuff keeps going down," she added.

"Good," said Holati. He pulled a chair up to the table and sat down
opposite her. He looked broodingly at plasmoid 113-A.

"You really think this thing _likes_ me--personally?" Trigger inquired.

Her boss said, "It's eating, isn't it? And moving. There were a couple
of days before you got here when it looked pretty dead to me."

"Hard to believe," Trigger observed, "that a sort of leech-looking thing
could distinguish between people."

"This one can. Do you get any sensations while holding it?"

"Sensations?" She considered. "Nothing particular. It's just like I said
the other time--little Repulsive is rather nice to feel."

"For you," he said. "I didn't tell you everything."

"You rarely do," Trigger remarked.

"I'll tell you now," said Holati. "The day after we left, when it
started acting very agitated and then very droopy, Mantelish said it
might be missing the female touch it had got from you. He was being
facetious, I think. But I couldn't see any reason not to try it, so I
called in your facsimile and had her sit down at the table where the
thing was lying."

"Yes?"

"Well, first it came flying up to her, crying 'Mama!' Not actually, of
course. Then it touched her hand and recoiled in horror."

Trigger raised an eyebrow.

"It looked like it," he insisted. "We all commented on it. So then she
reached out and touched it. Then she recoiled in horror."

"Why?"

"She said it had given her a very nasty electric jolt. Apparently like
the one it gave Mantelish."

Trigger glanced down dubiously at Repulsive. "Gee, thanks for letting me
hold it, Holati! It seems to have stopped eating now, by the way. Or
whatever it does. Doesn't look much fatter if any, does it?"

The Commissioner looked. "No," he said. "And if you weighed it, you'd
probably find it still weighs an exact three and a half pounds.
Mantelish feels the thing turns any food intake directly into energy."

"Then it should be able to produce a very nice jolt at the moment,"
Trigger commented. "Now, what do I do with Repulsive?"

Holati took a towel from beneath the table and spread it out. "Absorbent
material," he said. "Lay it on that and just let it dry. That's what we
used to do."

Trigger shook her head. "Next thing, I'll be c