Part 10: History of an Alien Cat

Quasi, age 2, dining with mama and papa while their craft orbited Earth.

His kitten tail snaked around his chair leg as he pawed at his synthesized tuna disinterestedly.

"Quasi, if you don't eat your supper—" Papa began.

Quasi gazed intently down at the mysterious blue orb, so many thousands and millions of miles beyond his grasp. "Mommy, what's that crater on the Earth's surface?"

"An eyesore," she said. "Pass the salt, dear."

Papa proved more informative. "Do you remember when I told you how the humans used to keep our noble species enslaved in feeding cages?"

Quasi met his father's slit eyes, seeking to understand. But he was too young.

Mama rolled her eyes. "Not this again."

"That crater was the result of the folly of humans, who kept the secret of magic bottled up as long as possible. But that blew up in their silly ape faces, didn't it?" Papa stabbed another mackerel with his claws. "Everytime you look at the Earth, remember how humans wounded the world."

Quasi's father was a dour, pontificating man, but he was not unkind. At Mama's request, he pushed off his chair and floated over to close the blinds.

It was tough enough enjoying a square meal in a zero gravity chamber without long-winded history lessons interrupting everything.

Quasipan led the two wary adventurers up the stairs to the next memory-door he wished to show them.

"As you can see, our family was quite wealthy, amongst the wealthiest in the cat colony. We could afford to sit around and pick at our salmon. Yet I still pined for Earth."

Despite himself, Finn was growing genuinely interested in the cat's life story.

Quasipan continued. "But my father's relentlessly negative interpretation of recent history started shaping my thoughts. I became secretly disgusted in myself for yearning to stretch my legs out and dash across a rolling meadow down on Earth. And even after my psychic abilities came to bear, my own mental block forbade me to envision any good humans might have done. I apologize."

Quasipan suddenly stopped and sighed. "To think the last human alive would be quite the fantastic specimen indeed."

Saying nothing, Finn simply stroked the cat's fur. Quasipan purred instinctively, and Jake laughed when Quasipan realized with an "AH!" what he'd done.

"Don't be embarrassed. It's natural!"

"I'm weak," Quasipan cried, struggling to maintain his composure. "I'm a loser."

Quasi had liked frequenting the library, though it did get a tad noisy when kittens would prank each other with muttered magic, causing bookmarks to disappear and the like.

But recently, a different kind of noise had prevented him from perusing very often. In such a quiet setting, the stray half-thoughts of others engrossed in study would always invade his own mind soon enough.

So here he was, in front of the Dean in his office.

"You're a bright one, Quasi, but nevertheless you're still required to fulfill a certain number of hours of study in the library a week. It's part of your coursework."

He couldn't admit he was psychic; the stigma would kill him. "Yes, I understand, it's just… I draw stares, sir. It's unsettling. And I don't even know why everybody stares at me like that."

"I haven't the foggiest idea, either," the Dean said hastily.

Quasi's eyes narrowed. "You do know why."

"Why, I say, boy, don't get short with—"

Quasi found himself pounding the desk. "Why is it!? Sir," he added.

"I… You!..."

Though reasonably wealthy, Quasi had no real friends, only acquaintances. And… and if he pried into the Dean's mind, he'd finally understand why.

The cat furrowed his brow and focused his mind onto his target's. The stress caused blood to spurt out of Quasi's nose. After a few seconds of an odd tunneling sensation, Quasi snapped back to preserve his own psyche, and reeled with the information he managed to scoop out.

The Dean stood dazed, but Quasi was furious.

"The Longtail Club!?"

The Dean and the Vice Principal of the Academy Craft both belonged to families of privilege that rivaled Quasi's father in the synthesized fish market. So they colluded to insinuate rumors amongst the student body that the long tails of Quasi and his father actually proved they had made some illicit pact with some demon of fortune. The "Longtail Club" stood as a vigilant society of students who monitored the movements of such unscrupulous rogues. It was a conspiracy to sabotage Quasi's later chances at success, and they were poisoning students' minds just to get at his dad through him!

"Unbelievable! You've been sewing slander against me since I was 9!?"

"But… I… how did you?"

"All those kittens skulking in the corners of my eyes, all this time, they were SPYING on me? And to think I tried to respect their privacy! What a sham! Why should I hide anything, now? I'm better than all of you!" Quasi screeched petulantly. "I refuse to live in secrecy, in shame, any longer! I'm PSYCHIC!"

"…You're what, now?"

Quasi pushed off against the desk and stormed through the office door into the spaceship's maze of halls, lost in rage.

Eventually, however, the indignation ebbed, and he was left only with the horrid conclusion that he'd be alone forever, reviled and suspected as a demon.

The cat longed only for someone he could relate to. But there was nobody in the colony who possibly could.

But the blue planet outside glinted with possibility.

"Subsequently, I steeled my resolve to live on Earth, and left my parents a note before manning an escape pod. It was the cowardly thing to do, but I didn't think I could stomach their disappointment."

"Couldn't you have just told them about the conspiracy?" asked Jake. They rounded the corner up the stairs towards a memory-door a few floors above.

"They would have never believed me. Why do you think I enrolled in that academy in the first place? My father and the Dean were cordial business associates. Papa harbored no ill will towards him. So to my parents it would have sounded as though I was making up outlandish excuses for my own failures."

"Harsh, bro."

"Why didn't you come to Earth sooner?" asked Finn.

"Apart from all the other reasons, you mean?" Quasipan snipped a little wearily. "I'd never known true gravity, none of us had. We were frail and thin, with no way of fending off against the elements in any realistic Earth-like setting. In fact, my first year on Earth was one of suffering. I didn't think I could withstand life here for much longer until that fateful day."

"You mean when you…?"

Finn glanced at the spot where Quasipan's tail ought to have been.

"I was emaciated, living on alms—hardly the proud jungle cat I imagined myself being. At times the Cosmic Owl would flash before my eyes, and fear would paralyze me. I didn't want to die, not when there was so much more to see, to do, to learn. I wanted to become a being beyond reproach, and show them all. So when a spirit genie made the offer, I signed the pact and offered my tail in exchange for a treasure trove of knowledge. Looking back, it's quite ironic—you could say I really did become a demon."

"Not a demon… more like just a bad guy," said Finn reassuringly.

"You were right, Finn. Your clear hero's insight was more accurate than any statement I've ever made: When I swallowed the big picture, it left my sight."

"Hey! You finally got my name right! You can't be a loser now."

Quasi smiled and patted his chest, his heart.

"I thank you—both of you—from the bottom of… well, you know. Now, what say we go enjoy a fresh breeze in the real world again?"

Finn wanted to tell Jake something, but before he could, his head became full of fuzzies, and the white warmth invaded his psyche. Next thing he knew, he was back on the Meerkat Plains—back in reality.