C.A.T.S. by Elly Blue

Author:Elly Blue [Blue, Elly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Microcosm Publishing LLC
Published: 2021-09-21T22:16:14+00:00

Case Study

Alice “Huskyteer” Dryden

Hypothesis

At the Velogalactic Company Limited (head office: Pluto), we constantly strive to understand and support the needs of our valued customers and potential future customers.

As Sales Manager, Outlying Minor Planets Division, I agreed to visit Planet K-137 and investigate, in the words of my line manager, “why the bloody cats aren’t buying the bloody bikes.”

K-137 is a horticultural planet, producing flowers and bulbs for interplanetary trade. The flower fields are irrigated by a network of canals.

The installed species is feline in form, created using genetic material from a number of small cats in the genus Felis, including the black-footed cat and the jungle or swamp cat. Referred to by traders as “tigerlilies,” they were introduced to tend the flowers and control the various species of bird and rodent either native to the planet or inadvertently imported by visiting aliens.

Bipedal, they stand approximately one metre tall, with an average weight of around 30kg in Earth gravity. Males tend to be larger and heavier. The fur may be either a solid grey or rust color, or tawny with small spots. The ears are rounded. The pads of the paws, and surrounding fur, are black. A tail is present, as it is in many created species. Although no longer necessary for balance, it is simpler to leave the tail in place than to edit it out, and tails are also perceived as aesthetically pleasing.

(See figure 1, attached: Dave, with tail visible.)

The cats are solitary, with each individual patrolling a large territory. Their diet consists mainly of rodents and birds, supplemented by fish and frogs from the canals.

The flowers of K-137 are classed as a luxury item and grown under strictly controlled conditions. The use of pesticides is banned. Larger vermin are kept in check by the cats, and insect pests by predator species such as spiders and ladybugs. The flowers are pollinated by bees; looking after the beehives is another task assigned to the cats.

Solar or wind power, or hydroelectricity, is used to prevent pollution of the flower fields. Spaceships orbit K-137’s moon with their engines powered off, and are loaded using water-powered elevators. Harvesting, the spreading of natural fertilizers, and other tasks are carried out by hand rather than using machinery, to enhance the luxury experience. Once harvested, the flowers are placed in sub-zero suspension for space travel—arriving, according to the current advertising campaign, “as fresh as the instant they were picked by kitten paws.”

The environmental legislation of the planet, combined with the need of the cats to travel long distances as they carry out their work, would seem to make the inhabitants of K-137 ideal customers for the products of the Velogalactic Bicycle Company Limited (head office: Pluto).

However, sales proved sluggish, and I was determined to drive them up.

Method

I met Rush, my host, at her home in K-137’s upper northern sector. She is 25 standard years of age, with reddish fur.

Insofar as the cats have a structured society, Rush is a local figure of some importance. As an

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.