Catacombs

by Anne McCaffrey

  Now, Varley came out to meet them when they arrived. His step was as vigorous as ever but there was a hardness in his face Janina hadn’t noticed before.

  “Glad you’re back, Doc,” he said, and nodded to Janina. She wasn’t sure he actually knew her name, but he did not seem to mind her presence. “Those butchers who replaced you ruined my spread.”

  Jared just shook his head. “Are the horses you want me to check in the barn?”

  “Yeah, and believe it or not, they’re more of the ones that started this whole mess. They must have hid themselves someplace until the search and destroy parties were gone. Doc, they have the fairy-dust slobber and manure but they’re healthy as—well, horses.”

  Jared nodded, carefully not saying anything to agree or disagree with Varley. What could he say, after all?

  “So were the others, of course,” Varley said bitterly. “But they’re gone now—my breeding stock, my daughter’s pony, the caretaker’s dog Rollie, my Roary and Rowan …”

  Janina felt tears stinging her eyes and looked away. Jared had told her before that in vet work a soft heart sometimes could be a liability. Hers felt like it was breaking all over again. Those horses and dogs had been so beautiful, so full of life. But they were just things to the government. People had the glittery secretions too, she knew, but nobody had suggested murdering humans. Come to think of it, nobody had suggested hospitalizing even a single two-legged person for so much as observation.

  “How will you survive?” she asked Varley, although she hadn’t intended to speak.

  “Oh. I’ll get by, young lady. I can sell off some acreage if push comes to shove. But I have other resources and I intend to use them to bring down the criminal idiots who allowed this to happen. I never wanted to use my family’s money, never wanted to go into politics. But I am going to now, and all I’ll say is there are some bozos in Galipolis who will be real sorry they drove me to it.”

  The grounds and buildings were as neat as they had been before all the trouble started, but they looked bare without the dogs in the yard. No horses were pastured beside the pad where the trackers, flitters, and shuttles landed. The pasture grasses were tall, waving in the breeze.

  As they entered the barn and her eyes adjusted to the dimmer light, Janina saw a pair of glittering eyes, low to the ground on the far side of the barn. A rat. A large one, watching them from beside one of the stalls. It seemed unafraid. Well, why not? None of the fat sleek barn cats that once prowled the premises were to be seen. The Galactic Government’s efforts had succeeded in controlling only the domesticated animals—apparently not the wild rats and other vermin, left free to roam without predators to check them. The darn rat could thumb its nose at them if it had a thumb.

  The broken-colored horses that now occupied the stalls in place of the beautiful thoroughbreds that had lived there before looked as if they felt out of place. They shook their manes, stamped and snorted, obviously restless, wanting to be elsewhere. Jared spoke to each one, checked its mouth, and moved on. Janina thought that all of the strange horses had been tagged when she and Jared last came to Varley’s ranch, but apparently some of the beasts had hidden from them then. These horses were not tagged.

  The blaze-faced black and white Jared had just finished checking suddenly screamed, reared, and shot out of the barn at a gallop.

  “What got into him?” Varley asked. He had been in the entrance when the horse bolted, and was lucky he wasn’t trampled.

  Janina pointed to some red dots on bits of straw. “He’s bleeding!”

  “I just checked—” Jared began. A rustling noise came from the back of the stall.

  “I’ll bet that rat bit him,” Janina said.

  “That’s not very likely,” Varley told her. “There’s plenty of grain and that sort of thing for the rats to feed on. They’ve never gone after the stock before.”

  But even as he spoke, three large rodent forms darted across the open door at the other end of the stable.

  “Of course not. They were afraid of the cats, I’m sure.”

  “We’re short on those since the government stepped in,” Varley said. “I’ll have to put out traps or poison, I guess.”

  That was only the first instance they saw of the growing problem with the vermin. Soon, Jared was being called upon to treat bites and infections on what seemed like every remaining farm, ranch, and town on the planet.

  Back on Sherwood Station, a familiar figure made an informal visit to the clinic. “Captain Vesey!” Janina said, delighted to see her former boss. His eyes warmed when he saw her but he didn’t look happy. “What brings you here?”

  “I was hoping you might be willing to help me find another cat. You could have your job back.”

  “Captain, the Barque Cats—”

  “It doesn’t have to be a Barque Cat. I just need a cat to catch mice and bugs. We’re overrun with them. They’re somehow getting into sealed cargo containers and have even bitten crew members. Dr. Vlast, I don’t suppose you could recommend a good poison that kills rats without getting into the ventilation system and doing in the entire crew?”

  “I am in the business of healing animals, not killing them, not unless absolutely necessary,” Jared said stiffly.

  “Of course, of course. I just thought you might know … how about it, though, Kibble? Any barn cats had litters lately that you know about?”

  “Sir, the barn cats were also caught in the epidemic scare.”

  “Yes,” Jared told him. “And because nobody set a high monetary value on them, they were disposed of much more casually.”

  “We should unload all the rats into the council chambers on Galipolis,” Captain Vesey said bitterly. “Dammit, I miss Chessie. I even miss that rotten kitten of hers.”

  CHESTER: EXPLORING BUBASTIS

  Oh this was fun! Over the rooftops and through the town, looking down on the streets below and peeping into the houses through the little cat flaps they all had in the tops.

  I left my boy sleeping, but it began to look like ours was the only quiet house in the whole city.

  The night was much cooler than the day had been, and a breeze carried the fishy smell from the river. It blew right up my tail and seemed to penetrate my whole body, enlivening me to the tips of my whiskers. They vibrated with the excitement of exploration. No ship, no cage, not even my boy to restrain me. I was a free wild cat stalking his new domain. I tried roaring but it came out as a yowl.

  Another yowl answered, I thought, but then realized the remark hadn’t been addressed to me.

  Chester? Jubal’s sleepy inquiry sounded alarmed.

  No fight, just high spirits. Sleep!

  Poor boy, he worried about me. But what he didn’t realize was that though he remained a human child, while we had been separated, I almost became a full-grown cat. I could look after myself now.

  And interesting things were happening in the streets below. I saw the rather ugly black cat Pshaw-Ra had called Bes, the feline physician, scratching on a door two down from the one behind which Jubal slept. I backtracked to sit on the roof of that house. The human inside opened the door and murmured something respectful to Bes. Behind the cat was his human assistant, carrying a little basket full of tiny wrapped packages. I sniffed the air to see if I could pick up the scent. Catnip? No. Something much different. Muskier. What was it?

  I trotted back to the upper cat flap, similar to the one I’d used to exit our lodgings, and pushed it in enough to see into the room below. Bes rubbed noses with a cloud-gray female who had arrived on the Ranzo and sniffed her tail. She reciprocated. They were establishing rapport in the way of our species.

  “Pshaw-Ra told us the tale of the awful treatment you endured at the hands of those you trusted,” he said soothingly. “I have brought a little treat for you that will undo any exposure you may have had to disease or illness there, and also calm you so you can sleep well and begin adjusting to this, your new home.”

  The human assistant folded the
contents of the packet into a gobbet of fish and offered it to her by setting it before her. “Please partake,” Bes invited, and with a little trill, she did.

  Bes and his assistant departed and the physician scratched on the next door. If they were going to visit each of us, they had a long night ahead of them. Boring!

  Jumping from one roof to the next and the next and the next, I was sure I’d left them behind, and had paused to survey the situation below me when I heard, quite nearby, another scratching. This time, though, in addition to the physician’s greeting, I heard a familiar voice—my mother’s.

  Once more I peered down through the roof flap. The old chap Bahiti, his boy, Edfu, and my mother were entering. A gray and white Barque Cat sat up from his nap. “Hello, Skitz,” Mother said, as Bahiti and Edfu consulted with the resident humans. “We just came to check on you. I am staying with this cat Bahiti. Isn’t it amazing? They don’t have vets here! They have cats who take care of other cats when they’re sick or might get sick. Bahiti brought you a treat that will counteract any bad things you might have picked up in that awful lab. It’s delicious too.” She ran her tongue around her teeth for emphasis.

  Trust Mother to have a job an hour and a half after she arrived! She was a great one for making herself useful.

  I thought about popping in to surprise her, then decided against it. I wasn’t ready yet to give up being the Night Stalker Who Pads on Invisible Paws Through the Darkness.

  As I leaped from roof to roof, toward the outskirts of town, I saw the two other cat physicians, first Heket, then Hathor, doing the same thing as Bes and Bahiti.

  Much as I enjoyed exploring, I didn’t want to miss out on a treat, so I turned around and roof-hopped back to the house where my boy slept.

  It was noisier on the way back. From the inside of the houses came the strangest cries: moaning yowling, singing. Peeking through one roof flap, I made sure that no cats were being hurt. On the contrary, the resident cat, a spotted fellow, and Ti-Min from the Ontario, before he was incarcerated in the lab in Galipolis with the others, were becoming very friendly indeed. Assured that all was well, I popped back into our new house and hopped onto the bed where Jubal lay.

  Miss me? I asked.

  Yeah, Jubal replied sleepily, raising his arm to let me snuggle.

  What’s going on out there? Are the cats sick?

  No, just making friends. Where did you put my treat?

  What treat?

  The cat doctors brought us all treats.

  Sorry, Chester, nobody came.

  You should have got up when you heard them scratch at the door. It could have been me, you know.

  I would have! Of course, I would have. He stroked me. But nobody came.

  I was left out at treat time? After all my hard work? The management was going to hear about this!

  CHAPTER 7

  Three nights after the Barque Cats settled in the city, the first catastrophe happened. It was at night, and fortunately just after the feline physicians began making the rounds they had made both of the previous nights.

  On the second night Jubal had been amused, as he watched through the beaded curtain, to see the cats scratching at the doors, as Chester had described it. The phrase “wandering mendicants” came to him from one of his old books. Chester pawed at him. Why am I being left out? It’s not fair!

  Keep your tail on. I’ll ask Edfu. Maybe they just forgot where we are. You said he came with Bahiti last night. Let’s go find them.

  He rushed Chester past the house where Bes and his servant had entered to minister to the cats inside.

  Two looped streets later they saw Bahiti, Chessie, and Edfu emerging from one of the houses. When the door had closed behind them, Jubal ran forward, waving. “Hey, Edfu, how’s it going?”

  “Going?” the other boy asked. “We are going from door to door, as you see, where Bahiti passes out these packets.”

  “Yeah, well, about that? Chester saw the packets being taken to the other cats and wondered why he didn’t get one. I told him our house probably just got overlooked.”

  Edfu looked a little shifty, like his old man did, Jubal thought, when he was trying to think of a good excuse for doing a bad thing. “Yes, yes, that must be it.”

  “Can I have one for him now?”

  “Oh, I am sorry but there are just enough doses—I mean, treats—in this basket for the cats we must see tonight. I’ll tell you what, though. When we are done with rounds, I will ask Bahiti if we can make up another treat for your Chester and bring it to him.” He gave both Jubal and Chester an inquiring look, and Bahiti purred something soothing to Chester.

  Chessie gave her son a nose kiss. “Bahiti is not really assigned to your house and has been very busy, but I will remind him about your treat. You have grown into a very fine cat and should not be left out.”

  Chester purred and rubbed his head against his mother’s cheek. “Thanks, Mother.”

  He jumped up onto Jubal’s shoulder. Let’s go back to our house now. I want to be there when they bring my treat. I thought those were fish but now I wonder if they might not be ground-up keka bugs. It’s funny. I haven’t seen any keka bugs since we left the ships, have you?

  Jubal allowed as how he hadn’t and agreed that it was kind of strange. Maybe Pshaw-Ra exported all of them, he suggested. Didn’t you say they’re part of his plan for universal domination? He might have used them all up.

  He intended to ask Edfu about it when the other boy came by with Chester’s treat, but Edfu didn’t have time to talk then either, just handed him what seemed to be a gob of rolled-up fish and left. Neither Bahiti nor Chessie were with him.

  Chester nibbled at the treat, then batted it around with his white stockinged paw. It’s just fish.

  You like fish.

  Yes, but there should be some powder or something rolled up in it. I thought it might be powdered keka bugs. Whatever the others got, I don’t think it was only fish.

  Judging from the increase in wildly operatic cat song issuing from the neighboring houses, Jubal was inclined to agree. Maybe the other cats had been given some really good nip. In which case Chester’s complaint was justified. He was the best and brightest cat there, Jubal felt sure. If the others got good nip, Chester should have it too, and he intended to ask the captain to see if he could—Well, what could he do, really? Maybe instead of asking the captain, he just needed to corner Edfu.

  Mother will know, Chester said. I will ask her when … He yawned hugely, sprawled out on the middle of the bed and fell asleep.

  Jubal had a harder time sleeping. He wished he had brought something to read. By the time Edfu had arrived, it was almost dawn again and nobody seemed to be around during the day. Eventually, he curled himself around Chester and slept fitfully.

  He woke up a few hours later to a knock on the door. Opening it, he was almost knocked backward by the heat. In the doorway was a small woman holding two pots, one full of fishy smelling bits, the other covered. “Your meal,” she said.

  “Thanks,” he told her. “I can cook a little if you’ll tell me where to find supplies.”

  But he said much of it to her back. He shrugged, refilled Chester’s dish, and set his own on the table. It was some sort of rice dish with dried fruit of undetermined origin. It was hot but bland. He looked down at Chester, whose head bobbed up and down as he snapped up his food.

  Don’t suppose you could spare me some of your fish?

  What fish? Chester asked innocently, looking up from his empty dish.

  What did he expect? Chester might be his best friend, but he was a cat and he liked fish a lot.

  Chester jumped up on the table and watched while Jubal finished his meal. Maybe we should go fishing again, the cat suggested.

  It’s really hot out there. How do these people live in this place anyway?

  Chester didn’t answer. Having eaten, he was ready for another nap.

  Jubal decided that as soon as it cooled off enough, he would as
k the captain if he could go back to the ship and get stuff—food, something to read, his pocket unit for music, games, and data, including a number of his favorite books Beulah had let him download from the ship’s computer. Somehow he had thought it would be more interesting when they got here. That they’d have adventures. The fishing trip was the most adventurous thing they’d done so far. But going back to the ship was a good idea. He’d bring their communicators too. How could these people have spaceships for cats but no coms?

  He must have fallen asleep again because when he woke up, Chester was gone. He filled Chester’s water dish, then he left the house. The evening air was much cooler, and he turned away from the temple, toward the edge of town where most of the crew was supposed to be.

  Tonight several other cats were out, lounging on the roofs or in the bead-decked open doorways of the houses. As he passed they looked at him expectantly, and he realized they were waiting for the treat that had come the previous two nights.

  As he turned into the next street, he saw Bahiti scratching on a door, with Chessie and Edfu looking on. He was about to say hello to them when he heard a noise behind him. Every cat he had seen outside quivered with attention and looked back toward the temple. Chester called him. Jubal, help! She’s losing her kittens!

  Who? he asked, running back toward their house. Edfu and Bahiti outstripped him, the basket bouncing on Edfu’s arm as he ran. The two other cat doctors, Heket and Hathor, streaked past him too, their attendants hot on their heels.

  Her name is Romina, she says. She wants her Cat Person, Gordon.

  Help is coming, Chester. All of the cat docs are on their way.

  Bes is here now, Chester said. But Romina misses her human. I think we should have the human vet look at her, Jubal.

  Where are you?

  Looking through the roof flap. I was just about to drop in for a visit when she started crying. Hurry! The room is getting crowded but nobody seems to be doing much to help.