Chapter Five goes Live Today at Noon EST

Excerpt from Fledgling
by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

"They didn't have any Yummifish at the co-op," she told Coyster apologetically. He flicked his ears and looked at her reproachfully from his perch on the edge of the desk.

"I know, I know. I'm a bad provider. But, look. I brought you a ball." She put it on the desk by his toes, and gave it a push. It jingled across the surface, beady red eye-lights flickering enticingly.

Coyster yawned.

Theo shook her head in mingled amusement and irritation. "You're welcome," she said, moving across the room. She shifted the cube to the front wall, one end against a corner of the closet, picked up the lid and went up the hall to the 'fresher.

The shredded paper -- unused, as far as she could tell -- went into the disposal. The lid went into the sanitizer, just in case. She washed her face while it was being zapped and dragged a comb through her hair, wincing when she pulled knots, and wishing, not for the first time, that she had sleek, well-behaved hair like Lesset's.

The sanitizer pinged and she retrieved the top, wrinkling her nose in protest of the sweet, lingering antiseptic odor.

A rapid series of jingles greeted her as she opened the door to her room, but by the time she stepped inside, Coyster was sitting in the middle of the floor washing his face, his back to the ball.

Theo grinned, but pretended not to notice as she fit the lid onto the cube and went crossed the room to her bag.

The Best in Five Worlds Kitty Pan had cost more than she'd expected -- "Twenty creds!" she told Coyster as he inserted a supervisory nose into the assembly process. "I hope you're happy."

She pushed him gently out of the way while she finished programming the cycles, but he was in it almost before she'd gotten it into the corner.

While Coyster was busy inspecting his new facilities, Theo unwrapped the self-cleaning bowls from their sanitary wrappings. One, she filled with kibble from the sack she'd picked up -- not, as it happened, the same kind that they fed the cats at home, but the only kind the co-op carried.

She stowed the opened sack in the bottom drawer of the desk and went up the hall again to put water in the second bowl, coming back just as Coyster pushed his head in the crack between the door and the jamb. Theo frowned.

"Thought I'd closed that," she said, toeing him out of the way. She made sure it latched behind her before putting the water next to the food bowl, and sitting down on the cold, smooth floor.

Read the rest at http://www.korval.com/fledgling/chap05web.html