After Lisle kitty made it to 'nine' in her countdown, Gerlinde moved in different arithmetic:<br/><br/>The multiplication of nervous tissue.  The calculus of carved cartilage.  The geometry of sinew and ligament.<br/><br/>Little thought was paid to future and past.  She caressed the notions of Lisle kitty being so subject, and though they thrilled her, Gerlinde did not linger on them long.  The terrible aspect of the Kommandant did not loom.  The Stalag vanished.<br/><br/>There was only her art:<br/><br/>The ears sliced.  The muscle and skin around them adjusted with tug and clamp and tiny cuts.  The new ears affixed.<br/><br/>This proved difficult, and like with everything difficult, Gerlinde mastered it with patience.  The ears, after all, could not just stand as they were.  Lisle kitty's hearing would be deranged.  The smooth cups of cartilage would have to be aligned in such a way as to permit her mode of hearing.  And that meant setting them at a slight angle to the head, perking out of the sides of Lisle kitty's hair.<br/><br/>It took hours.  When it was complete, Gerlinde found herself even more eager to continue.<br/><br/>She picked up the file, propped little Lisle puss' mouth open, and set to the pinnacle of her plan - the sharp points that would do good by Lisle kitty's soft heart and keep her away from the brutal use she feared so.<br/><br/><br/><hr/><br/><br/>Lisle awoke to find herself on a cot - a recovery bed - upon her belly.  The room was new and strange.<br/><br/>It was also empty.  Only the sallow light of a bulb caged and set in the ceiling's center kept her company.<br/><br/>That, and sounds from outside the solitary shuttered window.<br/><br/>The snap of a lighter.  A man's theatrical shiver.  Then a drag on a cigarette.<br/><br/>Then voices.<br/><br/>"Did you see the look on Untersturmfuhrer Hicke's face?  When she saw those teeth?"<br/><br/>"Oh yeah."<br/><br/>"That message was clear enough."<br/><br/>"Oh yeah.  The Doc's days here are numbered."<br/><br/>Then a voice Lisle kitty recognized: Kluge, the man who had come to Gerlinde's apartment.<br/><br/>"Got that right, boys.  I have a memo in my pocket with her name on it.  She fixes the kitty, or she gets turned into the kitty.  Pass it around, but keep it from her."