r
one. But Max was there and that stopped me. I didn't want to see the
hurt look that would come to his eyes every time I did something
wrong.

After the doctor finished Max led me into a gleaming white room where
I was surrounded by a gushing mob of women dressed in white uniforms.
Their "Ohs!" and "Ahs!" and "Isn't he beautiful!"--I'm not beautiful
and I detest the description--put the finishing touch to what had once
been a wonderful day. I flopped to the floor, trying to ignore them.
Then, indignities of indignities, one of the "girls" tried to pick up
my eighty pounds of blue-gray masculinity. That was the last straw!

I let out a deep-throated growl, and sprang clear of her encircling
arms. Fangs bared, ears flat against my head, I must have presented a
terrifying appearance to the women, because they fled to all corners
of the room, squealing and bleating like a bunch of sheep.

For the fun of it, I made a short dash at the one who had tried to
pick me up. With a high-pitched scream she slumped to the floor in a
dead faint. I could hardly keep from laughing as I turned to search
for a new victim. About this time Max came barging through the door
and grabbed me by the scruff of the neck, putting an end to my fun. He
wasn't mad, although he pretended to be, and I could detect the humor
in his voice while he scolded me.

Back in the car again, Max roared with laughter while patting me on
the head and saying, "You old devil, you!" in that special way he has
when amused at something I've done. When he finally got control of
himself, he started the car and drove in the direction of the funny
smells. As the smells got stronger, I began to get uneasy. Looking at
Max, I sensed that he was uneasy too. "What was going on?" I wondered
as the car dipped down a ramp and entered a dimly lit cave where the
smells became overpowering.

The cave was jammed with huge tank-trucks and that was where the
strange smells were coming from. I don't know what was in the trucks,
but Max said something about nitric acid and hydrozine fuel when he
noticed my interest in them. Leaving the car, we walked down a short
passage branching off the cave, climbed a couple flights of stairs and
emerged in the bright sunlight. I nearly yipped in surprise as I
caught sight of the over-grown thing beside me. It looked for all the
world like a giant cigar that had been cut in half and stood on end.
There were still three or four trucks around the bas