Revealing the Truth
1920 Words
Chapter 12
Tanya did her level best not to start laughing. The look on Dr. Hill’s face was priceless. “You’re… you’re… talking,” he stammered.
“Yes. I am. How kind of you to notice.”
“But… but cats don’t talk.”
“I’m a cat. I talk. Thus, cats can talk. In general, however, you’re correct. There are only twenty-three of us that can easily carry on a conversation with a human.” Tanya let her smile slip farther across her face. Jasper could be funny sometimes.
“There are thirty-two more that can communicate to some extent, although most of them have trouble with certain sounds,” Dr. Daniels offered. Dr. Hill finally came up with a reasonable question.
“Where in the world did you find fifty-five cats in the middle of a world-wide evacuation?”
“We’d been setting this up for a while. The cats were already at the base.”
“And,” Jasper interrupted, “there are seventy-three cats.”
“Yes, but that’s beside the point,” Dr. Daniels informed him. “Is there anything else you wanted to say?” he asked pointedly. Jasper’s tail twitched angrily.
“No,” he snapped, stalking off, tail lashing through the air like a whip.
“Looks like you offended him,” Dr. Hill observed. Dr. Daniels shrugged.
“He’ll get over it.” After an awkward silence, the moderator announced that they’d run out of time for the debate. The holograms switched off, and the common room was immediately filled with a deluge of noise.
“I can’t believe it.”
“It must be faked.”
“How could they do that?”
“Did you know about it?” George asked, coming up behind her. Tanya jumped.
“Sorry, I didn’t realize you were there until you said that.”
“It’s fine. Adira’s office? She’ll want to hear about it.” They had to talk normally to be heard, even though they were only a foot away from each other. Tanya shook her head.
“She’s in here somewhere, interviewing people, I think. Probably won’t be free for at least a few hours.”
“Ah. Mess hall, then?” She nodded, and they set off.
The mess hall was blissfully quiet. The only sounds were the printers running on standby, a quiet hum that filled the air.
“You knew about this?” George finally asked.
“Yeah. That’s what’s behind the big metal door.”
“And that’s why Handful hasn’t been around?” She hadn’t realized he’d noticed. Although it wasn’t surprising that he hadn’t mentioned it. He was far too polite to ask what he considered “nosy” questions. It was one of her favorite things about him.
“Right again. She’s not one of the full scouts, none of the older ones are, but she can talk some. They’ve invented a whole new language, and it’s great to hear them chattering away.”
“Wait. Hold on. I’m still wrapping my mind around the idea of them talking at all, and you say they have their own language? What kind of a world is this?”
“A world where possible and impossible have switched places.”
“Nice one. I’ll have to remember that, use it on Jason. You said something about scouts?”
“Right. There are three types of cats. First are the regulars. They don’t have any of the improvements, they’re just cats. Then we have the partial scouts. Those are the ones, like Handful, who came here too old to do the genetic stuff, like the camouflage and size change, but they’ve done all the surgeries, the things where age doesn’t matter. They used them to figure out what they needed to do for the others. Then we have the full scouts. The oldest ones are about a year old, like Jasper. They’ve had all the changes bred into them, and they’re perfectly fluent in English, cat, and what we call Mrowish, the language the partials came up with. Humans can’t speak it very well, so one of the fulls usually translates.”
“I think I understand.”
“You’ll pick it up. Now that everyone knows about the scouts, the hardest part will be keeping them from sneaking in for a peek. Our hope is for the scouts to be wandering around the base in a year, but until then, we want to control who has access to them.”
“That sounds pretty ambitious.” It took a second for Tanya to realize what he meant.
“Not really. See how fast we adapted to this.” Tanya swung her arm in an encompassing gesture indicating the world around them.
“You really love this, don’t you?” George asked softly.
“I do. No more computer voices, a job I love, seeing my cat safe and healthy and loving life. I am probably the only person here who can honestly say that I prefer after to before.” Even the narrow confines of the base made her feel more connected to the people there. Everyone knew everyone or a friend who did. They had drawn together into their own little village, tucked away in a remote corner of a dangerous world. Nothing would bother them there.
“Oh, I don’t know. I like it a lot here, too. Even with Mr. Valencia and Jason.”
“Would you like to meet the scouts?” Tanya asked.
“Sure! When?”
“I’d have to clear it with my supervisors first and make sure they have a full to spare. Week from today?” She’d already discussed the possibility with Dr. Daniels, and he’d agreed. But since it had been an informal conversation and he wasn’t there, she’d have to confirm it with whoever the temporary director happened to be.
“Sure. I’ll be free any time after…” George called up his schedule. “Looks like my shift ends at 2:00 P.M. that day. Starts at six. Not bad.” He slid his thumb over his watch, and the hologram disappeared. “I’ll let you know if anything comes up.”
“Same here. If all goes well, you’ll actually get to talk with Handful soon. She’s a real sweetheart.”
“Of course she is.” They both smiled, and George stood.
“Well, my break’s almost over.”
“Mine too. Bye.”
“Bye.” Despite this, they walked together until they reached the information room. George waved before he went inside, Tanya returned it. Then she headed towards the door. Handful and the other partials would be clamoring for news.
She was right. As soon as she entered, the room was filled with “Say! Say!” as the partials came running towards her, purring ecstatically.
“All right, all right.” She sat down on the floor and let them swarm her. “I made a recording.” The purring grew louder, which Tanya hadn’t thought was possible. “Line up and I’ll show you.” She grabbed a screen, synced it with her watch, and set it on the floor.
“Play.” The partials watched the debate intensely, which gave Tanya time to look them over. She tried to imagine what George would see. They were incredibly diverse, cats of all sizes and colors. To most, they would seem like ordinary cats. But the intelligent gleam in their eyes and the ways they reacted to human voices quickly showed that while they couldn’t speak English well, they understood it perfectly and would obey… if they wanted to.
Tanya would introduce George to them first. Since they rarely spoke, it would give him a chance to get used to the idea before facing the fulls in all their strange, majestic glory. He would love them, though, especially their sense of humor. She was distracted by a gale of cat laughter when the rat head came out. Cat laughter was a strange sound, almost like they were coughing and purring at the same time. Battalion, who had renamed himself Warrior, said something in Mrowish and the laughing intensified. Catching her eye, the cat shrugged.
“You not know how see not there.” Tanya had gotten fairly good at translating the partials’ statements and understood his point.
“For some of them, the idea that a rat’s head can move itself makes more sense than that an invisible animal could actually exist. Telekinesis has always been popular in our fiction.” Warrior gave her an inquiring look.
“Moving something with your mind,” she explained. He nodded. The recording finished, and the cats slowly split up, going back to the things they’d been doing before Tanya came in. All except for Handful. She approached Tanya slowly.
“Hi.” Despite being comfortable with all the other scouts, Tanya was never sure how to act with Handful. The idea that she had owned what was now a sentient being overlaid all of Tanya’s actions. The scar from the leash implant’s removal was proof of that. Handful chirped back, a quick “Erra.”
“I thought now that the news is out, I might get George permission to visit here.” Handful made a quick series of gestures.
“Yes, that George. The one I followed here and met after the meteor shower.”
“Are you marryin’ him?” Partials usually only used English for conveying complex ideas to humans. Clearly, this was one of those times.
“No! Silly cat. Why does everyone think that?” Handful looked at her knowingly.
"You talk about him. You spend time with him. Logical."
“Stop it!” Tanya, blushing furiously, ruffled Handful’s fur affectionately. The smug purr said it all.
“We need a different subject. Are you going to change your name?” Handful shrugged.
“I see. Do you have any ideas?”
“Yes. Not right.”
“Well, I know you’ll find the right name eventually. Has anything happened?”
“No. Humans say you say about Jasper. We wait.”
“So, what you’re saying is that everyone was asleep until they heard me coming.” Handful shrugged.
“I not know. I rest. Not hear cats.”
“All right.” Tanya sighed, glancing at the clock. “I’d better go actually get started working. See you in a few hours, okay?”
“Yes.” Tanya stood up and stretched. That’s the nice thing about the fulls, she thought. You can stand up while talking to them. She headed off down the hall to the fulls’ room.
- Writer
