Audio Log 1: Incidental Infraction
Hello. My name is Alexander Goldsmith, an emerging sapience researcher located at 50.67702, -3.87382 or rather the former country England. I am currently assessing a potential new sapient culture of Felis Catus or cats for short. Whether they truly are or if they're just an outlier reflecting early tribal patterns is yet to be seen. If these logs are not being played for the ESRAI (Emerging Sapient Research and Integration), then a bit of background information may be required.
As of the time of making this recording, the date is May the nineteenth, 524 ARS. As is common knowledge, 524 years ago on December fifteenth, 2304 AD, the blackhole cluster known as "The Kessel Run," (named by a naming poll) collided with an unknown amount of antimatter. This resulted in a release of energy beyond anything ever recorded. This release of energy was so explosive that reality was forced to accommodate. This burst not only seemed to have forever changed reality as a whole, but it sent out a wave that we could not classify as radiation. It seemed to somehow interact with brainwaves. Thus, almost every surface dwelling species on the planet was instantly killed by what we now classify as a psionic blast. Most of humanity had retreated into bunkers or onto space cruisers who used the sun's mass and radiation as a shield against the blast.
Please note that I said surface dwelling species. The psionic blast did effect every living being on the planet, but it did not kill every species. Instead, a certain amount of them achieved a growth in problem solving, adaptive thinking, and other traits once deemed purely human. After two hundred years, we got our first emerged sapience. We just hadn't caught it until they declared war on us. The Dolphin Theocratic Empire managed to destroy most of humanity's recovering Navies in a preemptive strike, but you aren't listening to this to hear about the Dolphin War.
The major thing to note was that we discovered one way reality had been twisted by the blast, now termed the Reality Shift. You see, the dolphin god of conquest and pleasure Reminotanus had an influence on the physical world. The dolphin god managed to pull off some 'miracles' that included female soldiers happening to survive their bombing without any equipment. There is a reason we purged their culture from existence. The main point being that faith had become a quantifiable force that could produce miraculous events. This is why the ESRAI was formed. Our job is to discover emerging sapient species, identify their faiths and whether they pose a threat to all other sapients as a whole, and determine whether is appropriate to interact with them.
I have been observing the general area of the town known as Newburg after the ESRAI received reports of strange animal behavior in the area. The reported animal exhibiting strange behavior was the local stray cat population. After receiving the report, I decided to adopt a cat from the local animal shelter to act as the control… and to have a companion for what was amounting to be an extended stay. I named her McGonagall after a character in the classic Harry Potter. Funnily enough, a new research facility studying faith on reality named itself Hogwarts as well.
McGonagall is what I'd consider a fairly standard cat post ARS. She is a munchkin with Russian Blue heritage. She's a little bit of a mutt given that her other parent was a grey tabby, making her lose a bit of the blue coloring but gaining some darker stripes down her coat. She's keenly intelligent and always seems interested in what I'm up to. I've already caught her attempting to write with a pen after I left my office unattended. It was a failed attempt on her part given that she was trying to write on tile and had the pen upside down, but the attempt definitely drew my interest.
Now that the official reason for recording these logs is out of the way, I have to confess that I may have broken protocol. I do have an excuse though, and I'm taking advantage of subclause 5.31: the unofficial ambassador clause. It is 2:04 PM right now, and as of an hour ago, I may have abducted one of the cats under study. Again, I have an excuse. At 12:32 PM, a hawk swooped into one of the studied group's center, snagging a kit. After running a medical diagnostic scan on the kit, I can theorize this occurred due to the kit's condition making him virtually deaf.
I spared the kit the fate of being eaten by the hawk, but this still presents a problem. I cannot allow the kit to return to the group given that is has observed me and had some level of interaction with McGonagall. Thus, it appears I've got a new pet and research assistant. Note clause 2.41D that all studies species must be considered sapient should they be involved with a ESRAI member. I've put in for a stipend for his employment and care.
As of right now, we've got a very basic understanding of the studied groups' manner of communication. I can confirm they have identifiers, but I cannot confirm they are names given they seem to correlate to each cats' appearance. I've managed to playback some of the recorded interactions of the kit's original group and isolated his identifier. His identifier is "Snow" with an unknown suffix affixed to the end. I shall refer to the kit as Snow until a better translation can be provided or Snow lets me know otherwise.
Notes on Snow: Snow is roughly five months old, or translated to human development, roughly equivalent to a twelve-year-old in terms of lifelong development. McGonagall has taken on a guardian role as of his arrival. Snow is a pure white kit, blue eyes, perky ears of length 3.2 centimeters, weight of 2.7 kilograms, and his overall musculature and development shows no signs of being stunted. The only health issue I've found is his hearing condition. Note, he is not actually deaf. He is actually hard of hearing. The rough estimation of what his hearing is if one were to submerge oneself underwater or if one was to hear someone talking from the far end of a tin tunnel. That is the rough estimate. The condition can be overcome with hearing aids or minor corrective surgery. I will be employing the hearing aids solution due to the inability of Snow to give consent to an invasive surgery and that he is classified with full rights as a sapient being until this study is concluded and proven otherwise.
McGonagall is attempting to get my attention, so I must assume Snow is snapping out of his shock. Alexander Goldsmith signing off.