Chapter 12
The shuttle cruised over the Cat city. Buster leaned against the side to look out the window. “What is this city called?” he asked.
“This is Purrtoria, the largest city on all of Cattatonia,” Princess Whiskers answered. “It is our oldest city. Legends say that the very first cats came down from the trees here to live on the ground.”
“How interesting,” Dodger said.
Buster watched as Cats walked along sidewalks and drove down paths in hovercars not so different from those plying the streets of Washingdog. There didn’t seem to be much different about the Cat society at all from what he could tell, only a different form of government. Whereas the Dogs had expanded the original Bear tribal style of governing, the Cats retained a monarchy. Buster wondered how much of the governing Queen Smokey still did and how much was delegated to other officials. Was she a figurehead or a real power to be reckoned with? From what he had seen so far, he guessed the latter was true.
Ahead he saw a sprawling complex that looked like a crystal flower with a central hub surrounded by a dozen petal-shaped spokes. “Is that a spaceport?” he asked.
Princess Whiskers laughed at this. “That is a shopping center. It primarily sells clothes, shoes, and jewelry.”
Buster smiled at this. Even Cats had developed shopping malls. “I don’t suppose we could go inside? It would be interesting to see what sort of things your people buy and sell.”
“That should not be a problem.” The princess turned to one of her guards and hissed something in her native tongue. The guard scurried away. Moments later, Buster felt the shuttle begin to descend.
“Are you sure this won’t be too public?” Dodger asked.
“None would dare to assault me or anyone under my protection.”
“Good enough for me,” Buster said.
“Not me,” Jake grumbled. “What if there’s a riot?”
“Then you’ll get your chance to escape.”
“This isn’t a joke.”
“Relax,” Buster said. “No one is going to be stupid enough to attack the princess and her entourage.”
“They might try to attack us.”
“I will protect you as if you were my own kittens,” Princess Whiskers said.
“We’re not children,” Jake growled.
“It’s just an expression,” Buster said, putting a paw on Jake’s shoulder. “We’re getting the chance to go where no dog has gone before. Let’s try to enjoy it.”
“Yes, sir.” That didn’t stop Jake from going to the back to whisper instructions to the Saint Bernards. Buster let his brother be, not wanting to inflame the situation further. The Cats had kept their word so far and he hoped that would continue.
The shuttle came down with a light bump on the roof of the shopping center. The princess’s guards opened the ramp and then came down to establish a secure area. Only then did they signal for the princess to come down with the dogs. Buster stood to follow her, but Jake put a paw on his shoulder. “We’ll go first.”
“If you insist.” Keeping Buster safe was Jake’s job not only as security officer but as a brother too; there was no sense trying to talk him out of it. He waited patiently until Jake and the Saint Bernards verified everything was fine before he stepped out with Dodger.
As expected, there was no reception waiting for them. The guards led them through a door that in turn led to a staircase. They went down two flights of stairs before the guards opened a metal door.
As soon as they did, Buster heard the hissing voices of Cats. There were so many voices that it sounded like a river rushing through the building. Buster couldn’t keep the hair on the back of his head from bristling at this. He did manage to keep from baring his teeth as a defensive reflex.
“Here we are,” Princess Whiskers said, ushering them through the door.
#
The shopping mall didn’t look much different from those in the Bloc. There were stores arranged in neat rows along the “petals” of the structure. Buster couldn’t read the signs for the stores, but as Princess Whiskers had said, most of the stores seemed to be selling clothes, shoes, and jewelry. Many of these clothes even had the same overall look as those in the Bloc: blouses, skirts, dresses, and bikinis for the females and shirts, pants, suits, and trunks for the males. If not for their difference in sizes, Buster imagined the Cat clothes would fit him as easily as any Cat.
The reaction at every store to their visit was the same. The Cats stopped what they were doing, many of them dropping merchandise on the floor, to gape at the dogs. Once they came to their senses, they got down on their knees to bow before Princess Whiskers. The store manager—or highest-ranking employee—would rush from behind the counter to kiss the princess’s paw. “Your Majesty,” they would gush, “what an unexpected surprise!”
Those who imagined themselves cunning would ask, “And who are your friends?”
“These are visitors from the stars,” Princess Whiskers always said. “They have come to see the wonders of Cattatonia.”
That wasn’t strictly true, but Buster wasn’t about to argue. In a shoe store one yellow Cat tried to touch Buster’s paw. Before Jake or the Saint Bernards could react, one of the princess’s guards hit the yellow Cat in the stomach with a spear butt. The guard hissed something at Princess Whiskers. She looked thoughtfully at the fallen Cat for a moment and then said, “Leave her. She has learned the price for trying to defy my mother’s wishes.”
The central hub of the mall contained a number of eateries, along with trees like those in the queen’s throne room. Buster thought at first these were ornamental, until he saw Cats playing in the branches, hopping from one to the other, sometimes chasing each other. “Are those kittens?” he asked.
“Yes, they are our young, the future of Cattatonia,” the princess said.
“How long does it take them to learn to climb like that?”
Princess Whiskers shrugged. “Most kittens can climb at three months. By one year they have a full range of motion.”
“Amazing.”
“Why would anyone want to climb trees?” Jake grumbled.
“It’s a game. Like puppies wrestling,” Buster answered. Jake only snorted at this.
“Would you care for some refreshment?” the princess asked.
“Yes, that would be lovely,” Dodger said.
Princess Whiskers gave instructions to her guards, who cleared away two tables and then went to fetch something to eat and drink. The princess motioned for the dogs to sit down, with Buster and Dodger on either side of her.
“This has been very enlightening so far,” Dodger said.
“Yes,” Princess Whiskers answered. She turned her back to him to face Buster. “It must be far more interesting to be among the stars.”
“There are many wonders in space,” Buster said. “Haven’t you ever gone up in one of your ships?”
“No. My duties keep me here.” She leaned closer to Buster. “What is it like?”
“Well—” Buster stopped, trying to remember when he had first gone up in space on his father’s personal ship. He had still been a puppy then, his paw in his mother’s as they stared down at Batpooh State. It had looked so tiny, like one of the marbles Buster played with. “Up there you feel so insignificant. Stars, planets, even whole galaxies don’t look any bigger than a grain of sand. Up there, amongst them, you feel so tiny—and yet so in harmony with everything. It’s like being able to see the beginning and the end, the whole of being. Does that make sense?”
Princess Whiskers nodded. “Yes. I should like to go up there to see this.”
“I’m sure if you asked your mother she would let you go.”
“Perhaps, but there are many important things to do here.”
Buster looked around at the dozens of Cats, most of them pretending not to be staring at the dogs. With her mother’s health failing, the princess probably gained more and more responsibility. He thought back to dinner with his father and remembered what Jonathan had said about Buster Sr. having big plans for his son. “I know what you mean,” Buster said.
#
Dodger kept mental notes of everything he saw and heard, filing it away to report on later. His superiors would be astonished to hear just how advanced the Cats were. This was only a shopping center and yet the Cats clearly had the same technological capabilities—if not greater—than the Bloc. The situation was much worse than anyone back at HQ had thought.
He had hoped to talk the princess into letting them see more of Cattatonia’s military might, but she didn’t seem to have any interest in talking to him. She kept looking at Captain Bulldog. Then at lunch she ignored Dodger completely to talk to the captain about space travel.
The princess didn’t want to stay here on the ground. From what he had observed, she probably didn’t want to take over as the queen. Yet her mother was old and frail, on her last legs, that was for certain. That was a weakness perhaps the Bloc could exploit if it came to that.
More worrying to Dodger was this Duke Draco, the fat cat betrothed to the princess. He looked like the type who would have no problem launching an invasion of the Bloc. With him whispering into the princess’s ear, the Cats might send an invasion fleet into Bloc space within one or two years.
A lot to worry about and contingencies for which to plan. That was if they managed to get off the planet, back to Bloc space. The Cats hadn’t betrayed them yet, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t. It was probably just a matter of finding the right location to arrange for a convenient accident.
“Excuse me, Princess, but where are your restroom facilities?”
“I will have Private Cassie show you.” The princess whispered instructions to one of her minions. The guard had largely the same color scheme as Duke Draco, except no white around the mouth. Private Cassie hissed something back to the princess and then gestured at Dodger with her spear.
“Thank you,” Dodger said. He followed after the private as she led him through the food court. It was surprising that Cats and dogs would come up with the same concepts of shopping malls and food courts. Perhaps these things were universal.
Private Cassie went into the bathroom first. Listening at the door, Dodger could hear her hissing at whoever was inside, warning them to get out or face the consequences. Three Cats came rushing out, their eyes wide with fear. The door opened and the private glared at him. “You may enter now.”
Like the bathroom of the palace suite, the shopping mall bathroom contained boxes of the strange gray flakes, each separated by a stall. Dodger considered asking Private Cassie about this, but she didn’t seem like the type who played tour guide. “I’ll be just a minute,” he said. The private didn’t move. “Could you give me a little privacy?”
The Cat made a growling sound in her throat. He waited for her to try using the spear on him, but she didn’t. “I will be right outside,” she said.
Dodger waited until the door closed and locked before he stepped into one of the stalls. He reached up to his right eye with one paw to remove the recorder there. It looked like an ordinary contact lens, but Dr. Ruff had engineered it to record what Dodger’s eye saw. With proper concentration he could also add notes to the recorder. Dodger, like every operative, trained for months to learn that kind of mental dexterity.
He slipped a commpad out of his pocket and waited for the recorder to establish a connection. More difficult would be getting a connection to the Batpooh. He tapped at the controls, trying to break through the interference. Nothing.
Working furiously, Dodger searched for an outgoing signal. He found one carrier wave, probably going from a base to the Cat warships in orbit. If he could piggyback on the signal, then perhaps Dr. Ruff would be able to detect it—
The commpad flew from his hand. A spear butt hit him squarely in the midsection, knocking him back against the wall. He stared up at Private Cassie, who turned the spear around to level the point at his throat. “Liar!” she shouted. She snatched the commpad with one paw. “What were you trying to do?”
“I was making some notes,” he said. “Observations of your society.”
“We will see.” Private Cassie glanced down at the screen. One claw tapped on the controls, bringing up everything Dodger had recorded. How did she know how to use the commpad? “You are a spy!”
“No, of course not. I’m a duly-appointed ambassador—”
“Liar!” she hissed again. “I should kill you now.”
Dodger didn’t have any doubt she would do it. Somehow she had slipped into the room and snuck up on him without his knowing it. No one had done that since his first month at the Academy. Not even the raccoons could move with that kind of stealth. “What would Princess Whiskers say about that?” he asked. “Or Queen Smokey?”
“They would reward me for eliminating a traitor.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Private Cassie glared at him. Then she lowered the spear. With another growling sound she motioned for Dodger to stand. “We will see what the princess decides.”
They returned to the food court, where Princess Whiskers and Captain Bulldog were still discussing the magic of space flight. Private Cassie leaned down to whisper in the princess’s ear. She held out the commpad for Princess Whiskers to take.
The princess studied the commpad for a few moments. Like the guard, she seemed to already know how to use it. Did Cats have similar devices? With a sigh, Princess Whiskers turned to Captain Bulldog. “Did you know about this?”
“No,” Captain Bulldog said. “But he was only doing what your mother commanded. He was taking pictures of the wonders of your civilization so that we would have proof to show our superiors in Batpooh State. Isn’t that what Queen Smokey wanted?”
Princess Whiskers considered this. Dodger waited for her to order him killed in the food court; not the end he had ever expected. She finally said, “Captain Bulldog is correct. My mother decreed they should see the glories of our world. The ambassador is merely doing as she willed.”
“But—”
“I have decided the matter,” Princess Whiskers said. She turned her icy gaze at Dodger. “In the future you should not keep such things from us. We will allow you to take your pictures and to communicate with your ship, so that they might learn what you have.”
“Thank you, Your Highness,” Dodger said. “I apologize for this unfortunate misunderstanding.”
The princess continued to glare at him. “Do not let it happen again. Next time I might not be so merciful.”
Dodger nodded, wondering if he had misjudged the princess.
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