Falling Stars, Rising Hopes

A Shocking Revelation

    Tanya was always careful not to tell anyone what her job was, although it was hard given how small the base was. All anyone knew was that she worked behind the magic door. This didn’t stop them from pestering her about it, as she quickly discovered.

    “For the hundredth time, I’m not allowed to say anything about my job!” Tanya said, not quite yelling, on July 22. Jason, however, refused to back down.

    “Why not? Are you part of a secret information group? Do you test chemicals in there? What’s the big government project none of us are supposed to know about?” He raked his fingers angrily through his hair. Tanya had the urge to take a pair of scissors to it.

    “If we’re not supposed to know about it, one, why do you want to, and two, why do you think I do? What makes you think I’m the sort to go poking around in things that aren’t my business, huh? Can you tell me that?” She drew herself up as far as possible, a futile gesture, given that he had at least five inches on her, and probably more.

    “You don’t have to be mean about it! Just because you had snobby rich ancestors doesn’t mean you’re better than any of us.” He was weakening, she could tell. The insult made it clear. While Tanya had learned to mostly ignore such comments about how pale she was, it still stung a bit, and her reply made it clear.

    “I’m not being mean. I’m following the only rule of my job that I’m going to tell you. Everything inside that door is a secret. The base staff will tell you if they think it’s necessary. And I will follow their guidance.” He stalked off with a huff, and Tanya rolled her eyes at his back.

    “So mature,” she muttered, careful to make sure he wouldn’t hear her.

     Despite her protests, Tanya secretly thought Jason had a point. There was something about the study her employers didn’t want her to know about. All she knew was that no one seemed to think it was weird when she talked to the cats. It wasn’t exactly encouraged, but no one told her to stop. And on August 12, 2173, she discovered why.

    It seemed like a normal day, at least at first. Tanya had already cleaned Bumblebee, Demand, and Secret’s cages, and was ready for Battalion’s. She opened the cage with its strangely complicated lock and pulled him out. The orange cat purred in her arms.

    “Aren’t you a sweet baby?” she asked, shifting his weight to a more comfortable position.     “Do you want a brush?” The purring got louder and more demanding. She smiled. He always wanted a brush. She sat down, put him on her lap, and grabbed one. From experience, she knew it would take at least five minutes to remove all the loose fur. His coat was gorgeous, but it was also long, thick, and prone to shedding.

    Once his fur was sleek and shiny, she reluctantly put him in a carrier and began cleaning his cage. Thankfully, he was careful with his litter box, so there weren’t mounds of litter scattered through the cage. He was careful with everything. His cage was so clean, sometimes Tanya only had to take care of the litter box, food, and water. This wasn’t one of those times, but she only had to do a little bit of sweeping, and none of the scrubbing she sometimes had to do on the other cages.

    “Just a little bit longer, sweetheart.” she told Battalion as she passed his carrier for the trash can. The cat looked up at her with his gorgeous green eyes and purred. Finally, she was done. “There we go.” After nestling the water and food bowls into position, she picked up the carrier and let him out. “Isn’t that better?” she asked innocently.

    “Yes,” the cat said. Tanya’s jaw dropped.

    “Did you just talk?”

    “Yes.” It was a bit slurred, but clearly recognizable. Battalion calmly washed his tail, like a talking cat wasn’t important in the slightest.

    “Is someone doing this to mess with me?” She looked around for her coworkers. Maybe someone was playing at being a ventriloquist. But there was no one anywhere she could see.

    “No,” the cat answered. This word seemed to be easier. “Me.” Tanya remembered how her contract had said to report anything unusual to Dr. Daniels. This certainly qualified. She called him.

    “Dr. Daniels, this is Tanya Kerrigan. Could you come to the main room, please?”

    “Of course. What is it?”

    “I’m not sure, but I think one of your experiments has been successful.”

    “I’m on my way.” He ended the call and was there within five minutes.

    “What’s the situation?”

    “One of the cats has started talking.”

    “Which one?”

    “Battalion, the orange male. SSCR-37.”

    “Ah, good. I was hoping it would be him.” Tanya stared at him in shock.

    “That’s your reaction!? That’s what you say when a cat starts talking!?” she screeched.

    “I suppose it would be a bit of a shock to you,” he said calmly. “Which cage is it?” With a frustrated sigh, Tanya led him over to Battalion’s cage. The cat’s ears twitched back when he saw Dr. Daniels.

    “You.”

    “Yes, me.” Mr. Daniels seemed delighted, examining Battalion closely.

    “What’s going on?” Tanya asked, finally managing to make herself ask a reasonable question.

    “As you thought. One of my experiments is proving itself to be successful. What else has he said?”

    “’Yes’, ‘No’, and ‘Me’.”

    “How well could you understand it?”

    “’Yes’ was slurred, but the others were much more distinct.”

    “Perfect. Our modifications are proving successful.”

    “What modifications?”

    “That, my dear, would be telling.” Tanya glared at him.

    “Well, I already know that you’ve made cats that can not only understand English, they can speak it! I just want to know why.”

    “I’ll have to consult with my colleagues before I can tell you anything. They’re probably wondering where I went,” he said evasively, moving towards the door. Battalion growled at him, revealing an impressive set of very sharp teeth.

    “Say now,” he hissed. “Or I say.” He struggled with the words, but his intent was clear.

    “Fine.” Dr. Daniels took a deep breath. “I guess it started about ten years ago, when camouflage technology reached its height. We could make anything be any color we wanted. And some of us started thinking. Could we create an animal that was basically invisible?”

    “What would be the point?” Tanya interrupted.

    “Scientific curiosity, nothing more. But the government got wind of it and shut it down. They said invisible animals would be perfect spies, and that was too dangerous. Another of my colleagues wanted to see if we could create effective human-animal communication, but they shut that down, too. That’s what we’re working on with Battalion’s group, the SSCRs. Speaking Sentient Cat Research.”

    “As I said, what’s the point?” Tanya was starting to lose patience with him. The whole thing sounded like something cut and pasted out of a science fiction story.

    “Fighting the rats, like I told you at the beginning. Cats are a natural predator of rodents. We probably won’t get them as big as the big cats, don’t worry. We’re working with forty pounds, but we can change it if we have to. We’re using the adults for the non-genetic changes and the kittens for the genetic ones. We have twenty-three kittens with all the genes in place. Once we fine-tune the vocal cord changes, we’ll do those, put the information in for the next batch of kittens, and we’ll be done. Hopefully, we’ll have at least one prototype within six months.” Battalion purred approvingly, and Dr. Daniels smiled. “One last thing. You absolutely can not tell anyone about this.”

    “Of course not. Who’d believe me, anyway?” Tanya asked.

    “You’d be surprised. Now then, big guy. Let’s get you to the lab and run some tests.” Dr. Daniels reached in carefully, and the cat didn’t protest as he carried him away. Once again, Tanya mused about how strange her life had become. Four months ago, she was living peacefully in her little blue apartment, occasionally speaking at a pet rally. Now she was squished in a military base with five hundred other people and giant rats had driven the human race underground. There had been a vid-series in the late 1990’s about a pair of mice who tried to take over the world. How strange that that would be the prediction to come true, in a way, especially since it was intended for kids.

    And now the government was making cats that could talk. Sure, there were some old stories about cats having societies, but the idea of watching it happen shook Tanya. Such a thing shouldn’t be. She liked cats. She had a cat. But it still seemed strange. She wished there were someone she could talk to. As if the thought had summoned her, a woman appeared at her elbow.

    “Hi. I’m Adira Ramirez. Dr. Daniels asked me to come talk to you. I’m a techno-sociologist. I study how technology impacts society,” she translated. “And I would love to hear your first impressions about the research we’re doing.”  Tanya guessed she was in her forties or early fifties.

     “Okay,” she said. Adira led her to a small room off the main one. Tanya had never noticed it before because the door was always closed. Now it was open, and she followed Adira inside. It was a nice, cozy, little office. She felt herself relaxing. It was almost like she was stepping into an office before, the most commonly used term to describe anything before the fateful night of May 10, 2164. Or possibly the 11th. No one had quite decided if the dividing were when the fake meteorites landed or when the rats hatched.

    “Do you mind if I record this?”

    “No, not at all.” The older woman busied herself with a screen for a few seconds, giving Tanya time to examine her. Average height, black hair just starting to turn gray. Nothing spectacular, except this cloud of energy she put off, energizing anyone who got close.

    “So, how did you find out about the cats talking?”

    “I was putting Battalion, SSCR-37, back in his cage…” Expertly, the sociologist drew her out, moving from the day’s events to her job before. By Tanya’s estimate, they were there for more than half an hour, but the interview flew by. Finally, Adira called an end to it.

    “That’s all I need to know for today. Thank you for participating.”

    “You’re welcome. It was nice.” They shook hands, and Tanya went back to her job. It didn’t seem so menial and tedious anymore, now that she knew the truth.