It had even been a hot topic of conversation in my own grain futures firm, where I had worked since graduating from college four years ago.It had even been a hot topic of conversation in my own grain futures firm, where I had worked since graduating from college four years ago. Still, I had hardly expected to get off work at ten in the evening and find one of the aliens in a gay bar! I had long been interested in this particular species of alien because of its resemblance to a certain domestic animal I had a thing about. Unfortunately, the domestic animal was too small to do much with without doing it serious injury and its larger relatives were much too dangerous to fool around with. The remote ancestors of the Ailourians had been an animal that almost exactly resembled the Earthly domestic cat in external appearance. The species had taken to the trees and become arbo- real hunters, developing digited hands, opposable thumbs and a prehensile tail to aid their pursuit of prey from branch to branch. Later, when a drying of the climate caused their forest habitat to shrink, they came down from the trees, increased in size and evolved in intelligence just as we Earth humans had. Thus, what I saw on entering the bar was essentially a six-foot- six cat standing at the main bar, taking a swallow of his drink. There were some differences, of course. The forehead had moved forward as it had in humans to accommodate the larger brain and the paws had become hands with five fingers and a thumb. But there were few other changes, since the teeth and jaws had not shrunk as they have with humans. I could tell he was male from his body size and his age must have been equivalent to the late teens in humans, judging from the sleekness of his short black fur and the tautness of his powerful muscles. The jeweled medal- lion about his neck proclaimed him a member of the other world's noble class. I could not place the meaning of the gem-studded golden tiara encircling his brow, however. He was liberally adorned with numerous other expensive jewels, but the only item of clothing he wore was a gem studded cloth-of-gold loin cloth about his midsection. A jeweled cloth-of-gold cape lay on the bar stool next to him. He took another swallow of his drink as I moved towards him as if hypnotized. He drew in on a cigarette, expelling the smoke in an easy, relaxed stream through his nos- trils. |