" He looked up at Jack who was still watching the creature
in the beaker almost solicitously. "I guess I made a fool of myself back
there when I jumped you."
Jack's face hardened, as though he had been caught off guard. "I guess
you did, all right."
"Well, I'm sorry. I just couldn't think straight. It was the first time
I'd ever been--apart from him."
"I still say he doesn't belong aboard," Jack said. "This is a medical
ship, not a menagerie. And if you ever lay your hands on me again,
you'll wish you hadn't."
"I said I was sorry," Dal said.
"I heard you," Jack said. "I just don't believe you, that's all."
He gave Fuzzy a final glance, and then headed back to the control room.
* * * * *
Fuzzy recovered, a much abashed and subdued Fuzzy, clinging timorously
to Dal's shoulder and refusing to budge for three days, but apparently
basically unharmed by his inadvertent swim in the deadly formalin bath.
Presently he seemed to forget the experience altogether, and once again
took his perch on the platform in the control room.
But Dal did not forget. He said little to Tiger and Jack, but the
incident had shaken him severely. For as long as he could remember, he
had always had Fuzzy close at hand. He had never before in his life
experienced the dreadful feeling of emptiness and desertion, the almost
paralyzing fear and helplessness that he had felt when Fuzzy had lost
contact with him.
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