When he found it, the clearing was pretty much as he had expected. There were several clear signs that someone had bedded down for the night here. There were a number of broken twigs and a rough bed made out of leaves and undergrowth. Parts of the clearing were bare where the undergrowth had been torn up to make the bed. Other parts had been trodden on, probably more by soldiers than the cat.
He could work out a few minor details, such as the maximum height of the cat, but finding this place wasn’t going to be a lot of help unless she had buried something here.
The metal detector Charles used was designed to analyze the metal content of the ground. It searched primarily for iron, gold, silver, copper, aluminum, brass and lead, though it also knew a few other metals and could report on unexpected buildups of these too. The detector would also point in the direction of where it calculated the biggest mass of metal to be and approximately how far away, though not how deep it might be buried. However, the detector only had a ten-foot radius and that included down.
Charles checked the soil in a few places, but other than the expected results for this sort of soil he found nothing. If the cat had buried anything, it either wasn’t in the clearing, or it didn’t have enough metal content to show up, or it had been buried more than ten feet down. Charles doubted that last possibility.
He returned to his car slowly, dodging a group of soldiers that seemed to be heading towards the clearing from the farm. He hoped they hadn’t noticed his car, but he’d be surprised if they hadn’t. The Colonel would just have to cover for him when they made their report. ‘Oh yes sir, there was a car parked not too far from the landing site. Maybe the cats are up to no good again.’ It’d be gone seven before he’d get to the meeting with the Colonel.
Although both Charles and the Colonel were officially stationed at nearby barracks, it was decided that for reasons of security they should actually meet in a small office elsewhere in the city. Likewise, because people might remark on the fact that a full Colonel was seen entering an office shortly before Charles did, the Colonel was dressed in normal civilian clothing.
The office itself was quite pokey. The lighting was antiquated and the desk had a thin layer of dust on it from disuse that the Colonel hadn’t bothered to wipe off. On one of the walls was a white screen of the type that might’ve once been used for computer displays to large groups of people; again, this looked antiquated. There was also a computer in the corner next to the white screen. The computer looked out of place because it was the only thing there that seemed up-to-date.
‘I expected you sooner,’ the Colonel commented as Charles entered. He sat behind the oversized desk, playing with one of his pens whilst gazing out the window behind the desk. The Colonel was in his mid-forties and had gained his rank through his family connections. His hair was turning a little gray at the edges, and he had bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. And his voice was cold, as if the Colonel could no longer find emotion to flavor his words with.
‘It’s a long drive from the field, sir,’ Charles explained simply. ‘Especially in London traffic; and it’s the rush hour!’
The Colonel nodded as if only half listening. ‘So, was there anything in the story?’
‘There were some soldiers in the area; they had already checked the site and captured a prisoner. You really should train them about loose tongues, you know. They nearly told me the location of the Cattery.’
‘A prisoner?’ the Colonel repeated. If this revelation had surprised him, he wasn’t showing it. The Colonel didn’t comment on the loose tongues of the soldiers, but he might’ve been making a mental note.
‘A cat,’ Charles said. ‘They think it got out of the shuttle that landed and had made camp in the woods nearby. They said it seemed to want to get caught. Maybe a diversion for an attack on the Cattery, though I didn’t see any traces of any more cats.’
The Colonel swiveled the chair around to face Charles. It was the only chair currently in the office; Charles had to stand. ‘Weird,’ he commented. ‘Why would the cats want to risk an attack on the Cattery? It’s filled with the Elite Guard. Even cats know not to mess with the Elite Guard. I’ve been wondering about it all day. To carry out a successful attack, they would need so many cats in the area that we would see them coming in plenty of time. I’m not even sure they can organize that many. Imagine us dropping a bomb on that sort of gathering; the cats would be mad to try.’
‘Who knows the workings of a cat’s mind, sir? Besides, it does happen—occasionally, anyway,’ Charles replied. ‘Sometimes we capture a male or female and the cat’s mate comes trying to rescue him or her. Usually that means we get both cats. Occasionally the rescuer gets killed, but he or she never gets away. The location of the Cattery is one of the best-kept secrets in the country, but it’s beginning to look more and more as if the cats know where it is. And with so many pets being handed in, now might be a great time for them to attempt a concerted rescue. And a few of them using subterfuge might achieve what an army cannot.’
The Colonel nodded. ‘But how many shuttles can they have, and why would they let us know they have them before they were ready to actually use them? I don’t like this at all. There is something very fishy about the whole setup.’
‘Who can tell with cats?’ Charles replied. ‘I’ve little doubt that us knowing about the shuttle is a mistake, though. If the farmer hadn’t seen it land we might’ve been none the wiser about it.’
‘True,’ the Colonel said. ‘Nevertheless, the Cattery will remain on full alert until I know what’s going on, and I want a full investigation made on the wild prisoners, especially the one that you mentioned. It may simply be that we have someone the cats don’t want us to have.’
‘Did you want me to do this?’ Charles asked. It would blow his cover, but that wouldn’t necessarily stop the Colonel from ordering it.
Colonel Davis seemed to be lost in thought for a moment and then replied, ‘No, I have other plans for you. Carry on with your report.’
‘I checked the landing site over; nothing matched with any known type of shuttle. No nation produces a shuttle with this size and spacing of tread. And as for the radiation emissions…’
‘Nothing at all?’ the Colonel asked.
‘I think it could be a mongrel of some sort, but I wouldn’t know where to look for that. I assumed you might have better resources, so I brought back the evidence I did find. I also brought back some rapeseed plants. I think they were touched by the shuttle’s passenger and should either confirm that the cat they caught was on board or that she was just in the area coincidentally.’
Charles handed the information he had collected over to the Colonel.
It took a few minutes for the Colonel to go through the details himself. He even double checked the figures he had been given against the same list of shuttlecraft that he’d sent to Charles. ‘Are you sure these figures are right?’
‘Absolutely, sir,’ Charles responded.
‘Hmm,’ the Colonel commented. ‘Maybe I’ll see if I can free up someone else to go and double check your findings.’
‘Sir?’ Charles exclaimed, shocked by the implication.
‘These numbers match with nothing!’ the Colonel pointed out.
‘Perhaps the passenger who was supposedly on the shuttle could explain. I’d like permission to go and question her, sir. Find out from her what craft she landed in.’ He knew he could get the answer out of her quite easily with the application of a certain little drug used especially for questioning cats.
‘No, we haven’t time to set that up. You’ll be needed elsewhere before we can get the paperwork through requesting her release into your temporary custody. And we can’t let you enter the Cattery without putting your own cover at risk,’ the Colonel told him. He swiveled the chair back to face the window for a moment and then swiveled it back again to face Charles. Charles wondered if he had been hiding an emotion in that moment.
Charles stood calmly. He so wanted to get
to the bottom of this shuttle thing, but he went where he was sent. ‘Needed elsewhere, sir? So, where will my next assignment be?’
The Colonel almost smiled. ‘At the moment our forces are spread thin, watching the police stations and transporting people’s pets to the Cattery for proper disposal.’
Charles nodded. Disposal wasn’t a word he’d wanted to hear in relation to his pets, but the Colonel obviously wasn’t in the mood for pulling his punches.
‘War is in the offing,’ the Colonel explained. ‘The cats might sit quiet while we destroy their domesticated brethren, but they are only the tip of the iceberg. Sooner or later we will have to move on the cat stronghold of Sou’nd. It needs to be sooner. People are worried in case the cats are thinking of retaliating on behalf of their domesticated kin. We need to give them something else to think about.’
‘The cat stronghold.’ Charles didn’t like the idea of attacking Sou’nd, a network of small streets and undefined alleys for which no decent map had existed for over four hundred years. It was a maze of possible ambushes. ‘So, what’s that got to do with me?’ Charles could guess what it had to do with him.
‘Can you think of anyone better suited, in the eyes of the people, to end the cat menace? In one fell swoop you will cut the cancer out of the country.’
‘When?’ Charles asked, inwardly sighing.
‘Three days from now! We need a little time to pull our troops out of the area. Can you be ready in three days?’
‘The cats will know!’ Charles exclaimed. ‘They’ll realize something’s up when we start pulling our soldiers out of the area. They aren’t stupid.’
‘Then you hit them hard so they can’t respond,’ the Colonel replied. ‘I’ll be giving you thirty tanks and plenty of support vehicles, lots of troops and air support. You should be able to wipe out most of the cats without them even being able to give you a funny look. First we’ll send troops to seal off all approaches to the area so the cats will have no way out. The strike force only will be under your direct command; those sealing off the exits will be under their own commanders with strict orders to kill anyone approaching from inside the cordon. They’ll be ordinary soldiers, which obviously we can’t use to ferry cats to the Cattery. They’ll have strict orders to hold their positions no matter what. The only way the cats could escape is if they get past you.’
Charles again remembered the looks on the faces of his pets as he’d handed them over. He had the feeling they were going to haunt him for a while yet. ‘How limited did you say we were for troops? Where will you get all these soldiers from in three days’ time? The soldiers for my strike group, I mean. I hope I’m not going to have ordinary soldiers guarding my back; they aren’t trained to handle cats.’
‘We need the three days to prepare; we expect the initial rush to dump domesticated cats at the police stations will have dropped to a trickle by then. We hope so, anyway. Also by then we’ll have the troops that are currently stationed in Sou’nd. Most will be happy to fight a quick battle to get out of the rest of their tour. It’s a very dangerous place for our soldiers; only two out of three tend to survive to complete their time there. And yes, there will be ordinary soldiers; you’ll have ordinary soldiers as well as Elite. I can’t send you with every Elite Guardsman in the city. Even if I did, your strike force wouldn’t be big enough with those alone. Anyway, who would you have man the tanks and the other vehicles? The tank regiments are trained for them; the Elite Guard is not.’
‘Three days,’ Charles agreed. ‘Okay, I suppose. I’ll be ready if you are. Hopefully the cats won’t, but I doubt it.’
‘I’m going to be posting a note to the newspaper, saying that you are fed up with the cat menace and are going to deal with it once and for all. We’ll add that anyone wanting to join in the eradication of the felines in Sou’nd should be ready on the day.’
‘That’s totally irresponsible!’ Charles shouted. The Colonel couldn’t be serious; Charles had to make him see reason. ‘The cats will definitely know then, and many will have time to escape before we get there. Do you want that?’
‘Don’t you think it’s the sort of thing the great cat killer would do? To give everyone a chance to be a hero! Besides, those that join you will leave the second you get in any danger, and we’ll make them sign a disclaimer before they join you. No one is going to sue you for putting them in danger. It’ll give the people the feeling that they can actually do something instead of just sitting around doing nothing about the cats. No cats will escape. The roadblocks are already being placed and will be ready before the release goes out. They’ll stop any cat leaving the killing zone before the killing begins. Everyone who wants to will get the chance to kill a cat before the end of that day. It will be a massacre for the history books.’
‘And I’ll go down in history as a butcher,’ Charles claimed. ‘There’ll be no hiding our plans from the cats. They’ll be ready for us. I’d be surprised if they didn’t attack one of the roadblocks to escape before we start.’
‘We won’t be broadcasting to Sou’nd,’ the Colonel replied simply.
‘No, even if the cats in Sou’nd have no access to a newspaper network, which I doubt, they’ll have friends outside of Sou’nd in broadcast range who might—no, who will—report to those in the town. This is totally irresponsible, putting men’s lives at risk, putting civilians’ lives at risk.’ Then another thought struck Charles. ‘And what about those civilians that still live in Sou’nd? It might be the cat capital of the country, but there are ten, twenty, maybe even a hundred humans there for every cat. No, no, I want no part of this.’
‘It’s lucky for us, then, that you’ve no choice. True, you could resign your commission, but how long would you last when the truth about how you became the great cat killer comes to light? I think you’re better off doing this for us.’
Charles muttered something uncomplimentary under his breath. This was the sort of thing that made him distrust the Colonel so much.
‘And don’t worry about the broadcasts. They won’t affect us; I’ll tell the newspaper the broadcast is your idea.’ The Colonel smiled coldly at Charles.
‘So I get the blame for every civilian killed,’ Charles commented.
‘No, no,’ replied the Colonel patronizingly, ‘you’ll get the credit for giving everyone a chance to become a hero. If they get killed it’s their own fault; they didn’t need to go along. Seriously, though, most might talk a good fight, but when the gauntlet is down they find any number of other things they ought to be doing instead. I think only a few gung ho types and maybe a few retired soldiers will join you. The rest will find excuses not to join you because you chose just the wrong day.’
‘Where are we meeting?’ Charles sighed, ‘And when?’
‘Six in the morning ought to be early enough to keep down the number of civilians that do join you. And I thought some sort of monument would be a good meeting place. In the end I think the best known landmark is the old houses of Parliament museum. It’ll be busy, but we’ll seal off the roads to the public. Even those wanting to join you will have to walk a bit to reach the assembly point.
Charles stood quietly, sighing. He didn’t see that there was a lot he could do. If he resigned, the army would be damaged by the setup, but no one would ever forgive him. He wished he could go home and ask his pets for advice, but they were probably at the Cattery by now, assuming they were even still alive.
Charles saluted again and turned to leave the office. The gung ho type civilian was more likely to be a danger to his force than an asset, and they wouldn’t have any training. Well, some of them might be ex-servicemen as the Colonel had suggested. He supposed the Colonel sort of had a point; the type of hero he was supposed to be might well try to offer that status to other civilians. He just wished he didn’t feel a sense of impending doom.
‘See you in three days,’ the Colonel shouted after him.
9
The Wild Life
It was nearly ten
in the morning before Kitty began to wake up. As was normal for someone waking in a strange place for the first time, she was feeling more than a little disoriented. This wasn’t her bed; this wasn’t a bed at all! Where was she? She sat up and found she had spent the night on someone’s couch. What was she doing here? She yawned as the memory of yesterday’s car chase through the streets of London and the strange cat who had saved her from a possible fate worse than death came back to her. One of those evil cats who preyed on humankind had rescued her. She remembered the body she had been carrying over her back, and she shuddered uncontrollably.
She moved to a more comfortable position; every muscle in her body seemed to ache as she did so. She glanced at the clock display on the holoviewa. It was a little blurred, since she had just woken up, but after a moment the numbers came into focus. Ten o’clock wasn’t really all that late. She’d lain in for longer occasionally when she had been under George’s roof. Not often, but it did happen.
She moved stiffly. Her head had been resting on one of her own shoulders all night, and her neck felt stiff because of it. A minute or two at the right angle, though, she hoped, and she’d be fine again.
She rubbed her eyes to clear the cobwebs and breathed in deeply, trying to get a feel for where she was. She was glad to be safe after the adventures of last night, but she wasn’t looking forward to the life that was presenting itself to her. Here she was in a strange house, with a strange cat, and a strange lifestyle and no Master. She shuddered again. For now, at least, there seemed to be no going back, but one day maybe she would see her Master again, one day.
She looked about her surroundings, wondering where February had gotten to. Was she still in bed? February didn’t strike her as the type of cat who would lie in in the mornings, not when there were things to be done.
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