by T S Paul
“How did you get involved in this mess?”
“Interesting question that. You roommate has the Director of Military Intelligence’s direct number. When security gave her the runaround, she called him directly. I believe you may know the term ‘Shit-storm’? That is how I became involved. I know you have questions. We will answer them soon when things are less… public. Now come along.” I followed the Commander to the administration building, Command Sergeant Major Yannos was waiting for us.
As we walked into the office, there was a squeal and a hundred and twenty pounds of roommate grabbed me in a hug. I looked down and the little redhead was hugging me and crying. “Little one, stop crying. I’m safe.” I reached down and tickled her underarm. She squealed again and pulled away.
“See? I’m just fine. Thanks for saving me.”
“All I did was call in a favor. I was so afraid when you didn’t come back from your workout!”
“Ladies, if you would have a seat please?” Commandant Yannos was pointing to the chairs in front of his desk. I grabbed Lina, and we sat down.
“While I’m glad you are safe Tisiphone, now we have a breach of trust, security, and intelligence to deal with. That is the last security company that this academy will ever use again. Several of the semi-retired Militia units are going to fill that function for us. I truly was unaware that the prison area was refurbished. All of Greevey’s connections and references will be thoroughly investigated along with his story. We will get to the bottom of it.” He took a deep breath and looked at us intently.
“You two are now a bit of a problem. We have a new unit on the campus investigating the bugging that you two again discovered.”
“Sir, we know about the cats.” Lina surprised me by speaking up.
Yannos’ head turned so fast I thought he broke it. “What cats would that be Cadet Eberly?”
“We saw a cat jump down from a four story building the other day. Then we saw either the same one or another somehow dig a hole in one of the tables outside the dorm. Tis saw a strange Navy officer carrying a cat the other day, as well.”
Yannos just stared at us. “You two are like a couple of Nancy Drew’s aren’t you?”
“Who is Nancy Drew?” She asked what I wanted to know too.
“It is a term we use in intel to describe someone who digs deep and finds out secrets. The name comes from Old Earth, but I don’t know who she was. Most likely someone really annoying who sticks their nose where they shouldn’t, like you two.”
He cut us off before we could protest. “Don’t worry about it. The CATT is out of the bag now. What you saw was a CATT. It stands for Counterspy Anti Terror Termination unit. There are two of them on campus searching for more surveillance equipment. Someone has planted stuff all over the place here. Most of it is from offworld too. We found a few receiver units in the security office but not to these. Those were attached to cameras in the changing rooms of the gymnasium and the athletic field.”
“Girls, I apologize to you for this. Somehow this pervert and his crew got into a position of power here. It will be taken care of. Both he and those that sent him here will be arrested. Tisiphone, good thinking on not eating or drinking. The food was laced with a really nasty drug called Flunitrazepam. The common name for is Rohypnol. On this planet it is strictly controlled so Drug enforcement is now involved in the investigation.”
“Sir, are those CATTs some kind of AI?”
“Cadet Eberly why do you say that?”
“We watched one enter the cafeteria. It independently did something. I have worked with Military AI’s and they are too stupid to do something like that.”
“Yes they are some kind of AI. You two just joined the Secrets Act. Expect paperwork on that soon. For now talk about this and go directly to jail and not the fun kind. Understand?” He looked intently at the both of us.
“There is at least one true AI in the galaxy. Commander Athena Lee has possession of one that she acquired a few years ago. He, the AI, agreed to make dumber copies of himself and allow us to use them. The new RAM robots and the CATTs are products of this. They follow instructions but have independent thought. The CATTs more than the RAMs, those are more like the classic droids. We don’t know about the CATTs, so far they take instructions. So far.”
We sat there in silence for a moment. There were Super Cats on the planet after all.
“This is what we are going to do. The two of you will keep your mouths shut about this whole incident. Cadet Tisiphone I promise to keep your name out of as much of this as we can. If you see a CATT ignore it. They have a job to do and so far are doing a good job. Go back to the dorms. Dismissed.”
Lina gave me another hug as we left the office. She was so happy I was OK. I promised myself that I would fight the next time that someone tried to arrest me.
We kept our word and did not seek out the CATTs. I did catch movement from time-to-time out of the corner of my eye so I knew they were still around. The possible scandal of the security group never came to light. Rumor had it they stepped over the line and gave a ticket to the commandant. If only people knew. The new Militia guards were very nice and in some cases like surrogate grandparents. Being old did not stop them from putting the hammer down on a neck or two if cadets got too rowdy. Old does not mean stupid.
It was almost two weeks to the day when we saw a CATT again.
It had been a very long day. The obstacle course class was still kicking my ass. I had gotten my time down to forty-five minutes, so I was getting there. Weapons and tactics had progressed to actual tactics. Using one of the courses we now played paintball during class. I was dead on my feet when I returned to the dorm. Lina was sitting at her desk staring at me when I walked in.
“Are you OK? You look paler than usual.” She pointed at my side of the room.
“Meow!”
Chapter 10
“Meow” There was a cat sitting on my bed watching me.
I turned toward Lina. “Why is there a cat on my bed?”
“I heard a knock on the door a short while ago and when I answered it, the cat walked in and sat on your bed. I think it’s one of those CATTs. Not a real cat at all.” As soon as she said that the CATT meowed loudly and glared at her.
“Excuse me, what I meant to say is that you are a real robotic cat.” We both looked at the CATT. It sort of shrugged its shoulders and started cleaning its ‘fur’ like a real cat.
I looked at the CATT on the bed. It really did look like a real cat. “Do you have a name?”
The CATT raised its head and a collar could be seen. Suddenly a tag lit up with the name Artemis on it. “Hello Artemis. I’m Tisiphone and that over there is Lina. May we come closer and look at you?”
The CATT made a motion with its paw. I took that as a come here gesture and approached my bed and sat down. Lina came up on the other side and sat down too. The CATT stood and spun around so we could see it. A quick search with my link told me that the CATT resembled an Egyptian Mau breed that was supposed to be extinct. “May we pet you?”
The CATT shimmered and the fur and color disappeared. The CATT was now copper metallic colored. “Is that holographic technology? It’s really cool. I had no idea that anyone made it that small.”
Trust Lina to geek out over the CATT. Reaching out I stroked the CATT, it moved and began to purr just like one of the farm cats back home. “Can you tell us why you are letting us see you? They told us what you were and why you are here.”
The CATT curled up in a ball and stared at me through the slits of its eyes. I guess it wasn’t ready to tell us yet. Unfortunately, we needed to report this. I made a quick vid of the CATT and sent it to the commandant. Hopefully this would not count against us. Artemis remained curled up on my bed for a few hours until there was a knock at the door.
A strange Naval lieutenant was outside the door with a carrying case in his hand. “Cadet Tisiphone? I’m Lieutenant Wilbur Post. I was told that one of our… charges was here. I have
been sent to return it to the administration building. May I enter please?”
I allowed the officer into our room. “Aha, there it is. You have been very naughty. Into the box and we will get going.”
Artemis just stared at him. She laid back down and pretended to go back to sleep. The officer set the box down and approached the CATT. “Come along now. Into the box! You have to do as I say. I am giving you an order. Into the damn box!” He reached for the CATT and all hell broke loose. The CATT sprang into the air and some sort of bolt shot out of it. Lieutenant Post was hit in the chest and he flew backwards slamming into the floor unconscious. Artemis left the bed and jumped up onto the computer console. One of the data ports opened and Artemis stuck her tail into it for a moment. The computer lit up and then went dark.
Lina checked the lieutenant. “He’s alive. That must have been some kind of stun bolt that hit him.”
I looked at Artemis. “Bad kitty!” I shook my finger at her.
The CATT just looked at me with a look that screamed, “really?” The CATT settled down on the console and pretended to sleep.
Our next visitor was the commandant himself with a medic in tow. “Cadet, can you tell me what happened?”
“I can do better than that.” I played a vid downloaded from my link for him. I could see a visible wince as the lieutenant was tossed to the floor.
“I guess it could have been worse. The CATTs have a variety of weapons, it could have killed him.”
“She, Sir.”
“She what? What are we talking about cadet?”
“The CATT, Sir. She is named Artemis. She is a she, not an it.” I could hear Artemis purring fairly loudly. Not helping I thought to the cat.
He just looked at me like I was crazy. “Whatever. I have reported this to higher authorities, so expect more company soon. Stay here please. I am leaving guards so don’t try to leave.” He and the medic took the lieutenant and left the room.
“Is this what being a prisoner feels like?” Lina looked scared.
“Don’t worry, I will protect you. We can always let Artemis protect us too.” The CATT curled up into a ball and went to sleep. Her ears were still extended so she may have been faking it. With cats who knew?
Twice we tried to leave to use the facilities. Both times we were allowed, but with an escort. I found it extremely funny that a Marine guard had been sent to watch me pee!
At least we had time to work on homework and study our lessons. Late that evening we had the next Christmas ghost. Not really, but it sounded good. Major Minerva Lee paid us a personal visit.
She entered the room with a CATT in her arms. This one was a very large orange tabby. “You two again.” She looked over at Artemis. “What am I to do with you?” She set the CATT down.
The large orange CATT looked at the both of us then meowed. Minerva looked at it and said. “Well, can you figure out what is wrong?”
The two CATTs stared at each other and Artemis began to chirp and meow like a real cat. Finally the larger orange cat turned back toward Minerva and meowed.
“Is everything solved? Tell her to come along she has work to do.” The orange cat meowed at Minerva and her tablet began to make a pinging noise. Minerva pulled it out and checked it.
“You have got to be kidding me! Merlin, what the hell kind of answer is this? She can’t do that! She is government property!” The tablet dinged again and Minerva’s face dropped. “I know they passed that law, but it’s a cat. She is not like Wilson at all! Damn it Merlin!”
The tablet continued to make noise as the Major yelled at the orange cat that seemed to be called Merlin. Finally the Major slumped her shoulders and sat down on the bed. She looked at the two of us. We were sitting on Lina’s bed watching everything play out. “This, is Merlin. He is the prototype CATT and the one who provided the AI programs for the others. According to him Artemis has decided to stay here with you two. She claims that you need her. Her job for the most part is done on campus. Ares the other CATT has been unable to find any more bugs. The two of them were unable to trace the person or persons that placed the bugs in the first place. I have other places to send the CATTs but she will not budge. Technically she is government property. But, as I have been reminded,” she frowned at Merlin, “there was a recent bill brought before the Assembly granting free-thinking AIs citizenship and freedom from slavery. The existence of such a bill was a surprise to the Assembly, but they passed it anyway. It’s suspected that they were paid off to do so. I have my suspicions about that. Most think it is a useless bill as there are no free-thinking AIs, but we all know better don’t we.”
Merlin the CATT meowed again, and the tablet dinged yet again. “Fine. With the passing of the Bill she is not property of the government. But she is still an employee and we have to pay her. So, she will be the CATT in residence at the School for now. When you two graduate, we will revisit this then. Try not to burn the school down please.” She looked down at Merlin. “Coming?”
Merlin looked at Artemis and meowed again. He followed the Major out the door.
I looked at Lina. “We have our own CATT!”
Chapter 11
Having a CATT living with us was really no different than not having one. Artemis didn’t eat, poop, or have special needs. She was able to open doors without help and like real cats could disappear all day and not be seen. When Lieutenant Post regained consciousness he trained us in the care and maintenance of a CATT. He also gave us instruction on bug detection and reporting. It seems that the person or persons that planted the bugs are still with us.
Artemis was very slowly integrating herself with us. We were beginning to think of her as a cat not a CATT. She did many of the things that breathing cats did. She alternated and slept with at least one of us. On school days she was a furry alarm clock. Whoa be it to she who ignored the furry alarm clock. I found that out one morning. Let’s just say she has very sharp claws! Her favorite position to sit was behind me. That is behind me in the chair I was sitting on. She would lay on top of the pillows behind my back. If I leaned back too far, I would get the claws. Real cats sleep around sixteen hours a day. Artemis did that too. At first it worried us because she did not need to sleep at all. Later we found out she was tapping the school security nets and scanning for threats.
You have not lived if you have not been woken from a deep sleep by forty pounds of cat hitting your body. I woke with a start to find Artemis standing over me looking down into my face.
I struggled to sit up. Artemis got off the bed and jumped up on my desk. She spit something out on my desk. If I was back home, it would have been a rat or tree crab. Peering at the object I realized it was some sort of electronic gizmo. I stepped over to Lina’s bed and gave her a good shake.
“… no mom, it’s my turn to ride the elephant. I’m even wearing my yellow dress…”
I smiled and shook my head. Such a weirdo even when she is sleeping. I gave her a harder shake this time. He eyes opened, and she almost screamed as she saw me looming over her. “Lina, get up. Artemis brought us something.”
Lina rubbed her eyes and glanced at the clock. “You realize that it’s four in the morning right?”
“At least I woke you up. Try having a metallic cat land on you. Come over here. Artemis found something. It is more your realm of understanding than mine.”
Lina climbed out of bed. She was wearing pajamas with little green aliens all over them. Seeing that I snickered at her. “Where do you find stuff like that?”
She glanced down at her outfit. “On the Net where else. There is this great catalog store that brings them in from Mars.”
“Only you. What do you make of this thing?” I pointed to the object on the desk.
Lina grabbed some sort of scope off her desk and peered at it. “It looks like a quantum microphone and transmitter. This is very high tech! Only the Military Intelligence or some of the Spec Op units use this stuff. I don’t recognize the maker of some of these bits. It looks lik
e off world tech.” She looked at the cat. “Artemis where did you find it?”
Both of our tablets dinged. I stared at in shock. Up until now Artemis had avoided talking to us or anyone. We both grabbed them and read the message.
“The bug was located under the commandant's desk in the administration wing. I have not had anything to say to either of you before. It was a matter of trust on both our parts. I needed to be sure about the two of you. You needed to be comfortable around me. Give and take. We CATTs are smarter and more organized than we would like the Government to be aware of. I needed to be able to trust you. Sorry.”
“Artemis, thank you for trusting us. I have the same sort of issues. My experiences with the Imperial form of government has left a bad taste in my mouth. I will keep your secrets.” I glanced over at Lina.