At first he couldn't interpret the picture on the screen. It was in
shades of violet and showed a few large squares and oblongs with dark
ribbons between most of them. On the central square were a number of
dots, which slowly moved as he watched them--also three or four crosses
with blobs at their centers. Gradually the squares and rectangles
shrank, while more of the same came onto the screen from the edges. He
realized that he was looking down at the city and that the dots, which
he could hardly distinguish any more, were the men hunting them, while
the crosses were the copters.
For a bit his stomach chilled at the thought of being poised so high
above the city and going higher. But then he began to lose himself
in the wonder of the picture. Phil hadn't traveled a great deal by
air and had seen even less when he'd done so, and the growing picture
of the city was enthralling. He began to feel rather like a god and
to speculate how he'd mete out justice to mankind if he owned this
mysterious little dinghy. Visions of sudden descents on dictators
danced in his head.
"We soon high 'nough, Phil," she said. "Hold on hands, stick feet under
bar."
He obeyed her instructions, taking hold of two handles and thrusting
his legs under a large padded bar. A moment later he knew the reason,
for he began to be pulled away from the screen and had to hold on
tight. He deduced that they were decelerating. After a bit this
stopped too and he was once more "in free-fall but not falling."
Meanwhile, the picture in the screen had become one of the whole
city--a checkerboard of tiny squares not unlike a map.
Dytie produced and unfolded an ordinary street map and flattened it out
beside the screen.
"You say you know where find out pussycat is. You say in city. Show
Dytie."
Phil forced his mind to tackle this problem. His first realization was
just how flimsy the hope was on which he'd based his statement to Dytie
that he might be able to locate the green cat. It depended on Billig
having the green cat, on Jack Jones knowing where Billig had hidden
from the FBL, and on Jack being in hiding himself at the Akeleys'.
Still, it was the only way he knew of getting a line on Lucky.
And then it occurred to him that he didn't know where the Akeley house
was located. But a sudden memory of a huge show window full of marching
mannequins came to his rescue. The Akeley house was next to Monstro
Multi-Products, and everybody knew the address of that vast department
store. He located it for Dytie on the street map and then on the
screen. Soon they were accelerating downward, so that he had to cling
to the handles again, while the squares on the screen were growing
larger, with the large square that was Monstro Multi-Products moving
toward the center.
He started to ask Dytie to answer the questions he'd put to her in his
room, but she cut him off with, "Like say, very long story. No time
now. First find pussycat. Very 'portant."