-old copy of a newspaper recovered from the debris around the new
barracks.

When he reached the second floor he acted like a casual museum visitor,
taking his time, and working from exhibit to exhibit. But his mind was
not on the wonders of ancient Egypt. It wasn't much use to think about
the cat, either. All the ground had been covered many times. Instead, he
spent the time speculating on the meaning of the mysterious signal from
space. Admittedly, he didn't have much knowledge of astrophysics or
radio astronomy. But he had never heard of any natural phenomenon in
space that emitted pulsed signals in random fashion. Some stars pulsed,
like the Cepheid variables, but in an orderly way.

A half hour of speculation led him nowhere so far as the space mystery
was concerned, but it did bring him slowly to the museum area that
interested him. He nodded politely at the guard, and continued his
examination of exhibits, moving finally into the little room where the
cat was hidden. Soon he was close enough to see that the Egyptian cat
and its antique friend were still in place. He continued on around the
room until he came to a glassed-in case that held some rare alabaster
figures. Directly before the glass case was a stone jar. It was big
enough to hold the kitten.

Rick got ready. His coat was unbuttoned. He put a hand in the outside
pocket, ready to swing the coat out so his other hand could remove the
kitten from the inside game pocket with one swoop. He watched the guard,
using the glass-case front as a mirror.

The guard bent his head to light a cigarette, and Rick moved. By the
time the cigarette was going well, the kitten was in the jar and Rick
was looking at the figures in the case again. He waited patiently, and
tried identifying the figures so he would seem to be genuinely
interested.

The figure with the stylized jackal head was Anubis, the god of death.
The hawk-headed one must be Horus. The female figure would be Isis. The
one with the solar disc over his head was probably Amon-Re. The rest he
couldn't identify at all. He wondered if one of them was Bubaste, the
cat goddess. It would be appropriate.

He drew back a little, first checking to see if the guard was watching,
then he bent down and looked into the jar. He put a hand in and brought
out the newspaper. He turned it over and hefted it. Then he started to
unwrap it.

The guard was at his side in a flash, watching. The reddish form of the
cat came i