Cats of War by Carol Van Natta

Author:Carol Van Natta [Van Natta, Carol]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chavanch Press, LLC

9

Ferra hoped Tauceti got the message she’d sent, and more importantly, figured out the hidden meaning. Otherwise, loitering after hours in the hallway near the government wing would be a magnet for guard suspicion, even though she was on official business. She didn’t want to be memorable or appear in anyone’s report.

Her quiet indenturee routine had become significantly more exciting since she’d rescued Novo and Boz.

She’d fallen in love with the cats when they’d cuddled and comforted her that first night. In her twilight dreams, the cats told her how they’d arrived on her proverbial doorstep. Their handler had been the dead man from the downed ship in the swamp. They’d all been undercover with an interstellar jack crew. After a betrayal, they’d barely made it out in an escape pod. Knowing he was dying, the handler released the cats and sent them to look for someone who could hear and help them. They’d found Ferra.

They’d nearly scared the life out of her the next morning when she could feel them in her head but couldn’t find them. They’d appeared before her eyes in the pile of blankets, by way of demonstrating that their amazing fur put chameleons to shame. They could blend in with practically anything. It took conscious effort to drop the camouflage.

She’d since learned more of what cats of war could do. For one, they’d figured out how to get into the air-handling ducts in the facility, and into the garages intended for the maintenance bots. After examining the controls, she made tiny tokens for them to wear so any bot garage door would open for them. With luck, the plant’s bot technician, Calderosh, would never notice.

For another, they’d told her where more small bots could be found so she could turn them in for the bounty. She was both amused and concerned when she started hearing rumors of the facility being overrun with giant blood-sucking bats or invaded by carnivorous miniature dinosaurs. Human science might have expanded their reach throughout the galaxy, but superstition was still alive and well.

She’d worried about feeding the cats, because she couldn’t keep buying extra mealpacks without causing comment. Fortunately, they’d discovered the kitchen on their own and had been helping themselves to meal scraps ever since, but now, she worried they’d be caught. The sneaky, stealthy cats of war were insulted by her worry.

Ferra lucked out in not having to hide or explain net searches for veterinary medicine. Argint d’Apa had an entire hypercube of regular and pet-trade reference material in the huge indenturee library. It was one of many topics in the “career rehabilitation” section.

The most astonishing discovery she made was that she might have another minder talent besides telekinesis. According to the reference, a lot of vet meds in the pet-trade business were animal-affinity minders. Most were genera- or species-specific, such as horses or dogs. The best of them could mentally connect with and heal anything in a given clade, such as mammals. A very useful talent, considering

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