Dooon Mode

ONE Felines Cat crouched on the stand, pondering. It was not given to the stresses of emotion, but did feel troubled. The situation of their trio was not good, and the Feline nulls were suffering. Something needed to be done, but the course of action that offered was not benign. Perhaps they would be best off if they simply waited out the negative period, trusting to time to ameliorate the problem. Cat felt as if its tail were twitching nervously, though of course there was no tail. The course of action that offered had a limited period for adoption, and that period ended in one more day. Thereafter that option would be lost, and it seemed unlikely that it would be repeated. Cat suspected that it related to the Virtual Mode project; if so, it was of special interest to the Felines. Perhaps it should be mentioned to the others. Yet their emotions governed them unduly; it was their nature. They were too apt to react rashly. There was one day remaining to decide. Cat put its head down and napped, awaiting the return of the others. There was no mistaking their arrival. Tom's extended toe-claws clacked against the floor, evidence of anger. Pussy was mewling, evidence of grief. Something ill had happened. They burst into the chamber. Tom was a powerful figure of a human man, his only feline aspects being his head, retractable claws, and a certain furriness. Pussy was a lovely figure of a human female, with the facial features of her feline persuasion. They were really human androids with their features tweaked to make them suggest cats, exactly as was the case with Cat itself. Male, female, and neuter: the Feline nulls. "Oh, Cat!" Pussy cried, stepping into Cat's reassuring embrace. "It was awful!" Now, in privacy, she felt free to let her tears flow. "It was an outrage!" Tom snapped, striking the featureless dummy and raking it with his claws. "Let me guess," Cat said, letting Pussy sob into its shoulder. "The Swine?" "The Swine," Tom agreed. "We were just trying to dance at the null club. No one asked us, so Pussy addressed a Canine. Hound looked interested. They were about to dance, when Sow cut in and took Hound herself. The others laughed. They won't let us forget, even for a moment." He clawed the dummy again. "Hound would have danced with me," Pussy said brokenly. "He liked me. I could tell. He would have taken me into the private stall and humped me. I haven't been humped in a month! And Sow knew it." "And I can't hump any of the females," Tom growled. "They all look down on me, because I'm unemployed." "Becausewe'reunemployed," Cat said. "Remember, we are in this together." "I wish we could get an assignment," Pussy sobbed, not much comforted. "Why can't we?" "Youknowwhy," Tom said, clawing the dummy again. "The employers don't want us." "But it wasn't our fault!" "But they still blame us," Tom said. This time he actually gouged out a chunk of material. "It's so unfair! We're good nulls. We never fouled up." Cats was on the verge of deciding. He postponed it for a moment by clarifying their situation once again. "We are good nulls, and it is unfair to make us pariahs. But this is the way the limited minds of the Swine work, and the other take their cues from them." "Because the Swine serve Ddwng," Tom said. This time he punched the dummy, and it rocked back wAnthony, Piers is the author of 'Dooon Mode' with ISBN 9780812575422 and ISBN 0812575423.