Earth Cat Zero: Last Cat Meowing

by Gary Starta

  “It was something that made me feel it was referring to myself. Let’s see…moving Earth…no…not quite – oh I know - it was: ‘I’d move the planets for you’.”

  “Cryptic and romantic…this man. What was he wearing?”

  “Blue. Blue pants, blue tie and blue jacket.”

  “Try to recall anything else, Earth Cat. I need to tell mom.”

  Miranda described the dream to Caron who gasped when Earth Cat mentioned the man in blue. “Maybe it’s the man who took you, Mom.”

  Caron’s breath was ragged. “Yes, I’m sure of it. But the necklace was engraved with a ‘V’ – not an ‘A’.”

  Miranda grunted while in thought. “Maybe it was inverted like you viewed it upside down. If it was an ‘A’ then maybe it’s part of his name – his identity.”

  “If it is, Miranda, it’s a needle. How can we narrow the search with so little to go on?”

  “Earth Cat Zero saw a glimpse of space. He felt the people were communing off planet.”

  “Are you saying they were aliens, Miranda?”

  “Uh. No. I don’t know. They appeared human to him. Just off planet.”

  “Miranda, don’t worry. We’ll figure this out. We’ve got to prepare.”

  “Prepare?” Miranda’s head swam with confusion before she realized that when Brands told her the acceleration was tomorrow, he had meant today. Philosophizing, fortunetelling and shamanic dreaming had caused Miranda to lose track of time.

  “The acceleration is this afternoon, Miranda.”

  Miranda raked a hand through her bangs. “Yes, I remember.” She fibbed.

  General McEvoy motioned for Major Gould to take a seat in the chair in front of his desk. “At ease, Major.”

  Major Gould smiled but the general could feel his subordinate’s sarcasm. “Okay, I understand the contradiction.”

  “Sir, I can hardly be at ease with the project in jeopardy. Have you considered my recommendations?”

  “I have.” The general harrumphed. “I’ve deleted all references to sabotage regarding your recommendations. And let me ask you, Major: have you taken leave of your senses? Do you think I’m going to approve an attack on my country?” The general stood up. “Well, do you, Major?”

  “No, sir. It wouldn’t be an attack – I mean – it wouldn’t be an attack on people, just the collider.”

  “No go. Forget you ever mentioned it.” The general pointed a finger. “Mention it again and it’ll be a court martial, understand?”

  “Yes, sir.” The major frowned.

  “Speak frankly, Major. You’ll get this one chance. But this conversation is entirely off the record.”

  “Yes, sir. As you know, the Department of Energy is vying to get this tech. There are no such thing as secure channels. The doctor is using microchips with something called qubits. It’s like wireless communication. I just didn’t feel I could contain…” Gould’s voice trailed off, a hint of defeat in his tone.

  The general raised a hand and took his seat. “It’s a risk we’ll have to take. Dr. Brands has assured me the collider accident will yield teleportation technology. It’s big enough to risk tangling with the DOE over. In the end, the president will side with the military when it comes to rights.”

  “But what about foreign interests?”

  “Hell, what about alien interests? I mean, you haven’t concluded that aliens aren’t a part of this, not to my satisfaction.”

  “I still think we need to control the ball so to speak, General.”

  “No. I’m not going to lose out on this find and you’re still not convincing me this isn’t some kind of alien conspiracy.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Did you listen to that broadcast today?” The general paused to replay a clip. “The cat is referencing alien intervention. Maybe this cat was sent by some extraterrestrials.”

  “For what purpose?”

  “Why to make the first galactic chess move, Major Gould. It could be a small piece of a larger puzzle. First, the aliens remove cats. Then…who knows…?” The general threw up his hands in disgust.

  “I can see your point. There weren’t any blue and green cats on this planet up until a few weeks ago.”

  “What if this is some exchange program? It makes me wonder. It makes me feel we need this tech in our hands pronto. So, no, Major Gould. I will not sabotage this endeavor – even it means losing our upper hand to the DOE.”

  Dr. Brands spoke through Bluetooth technology to Miranda and Felicity who were equipped with earbuds. Miranda felt alone without the doctor at her side. Her distorted reflection in the Bean seemed to confirm things would only get weirder. Earth Cat Zero danced on his leash earning a reprimand from the teen. Felicity raised an eyebrow. “I wished that tone worked as well on my son.”

  Miranda forced a laugh and Felicity comforted by placing a hand on the teen’s shoulder. “I know you will do just fine.”

  “But there are people at work – people who may want different outcomes.” Miranda gazed at Earth Cat Zero. He was only tethered to her at the moment by a leash that worked via force field. Once the collider was activated, there was no telling the outcome. Brands had stated the optimal outcome would be to break the wave field. But that could very well mean losing Earth Cat Zero in the process.

  Felicity, sensing the teen’s discomfort, weighed the outcomes. “We could return all our cats – send them home, Miranda. The Brookhaven team feels they can create the duplication of the first acceleration replete with ball lightning and the elemental contribution from Joule’s collar. And…just listen to that Solfeggio Frequency.” The hum of a six-tone scale repeated in succession blasted from the Pritzker Pavilion. “I just love to see all the happy and content faces around us.”

  “What do you mean? I can’t see anyone. The police have all the surrounding blocks cordoned…”

  Felicity pointed at a police officer. “She seems happy.”

  Miranda observed the female beat officer. “Hmm. Yes. She is smiling.”

  “The question is why aren’t you?” Felicity patted Miranda’s shoulder.

  “Weight of the world for one. And…I can’t – can’t lose Earth Cat.” The teen’s face crumpled as she sniffed away tears. “No. I’ve got to be strong. The cardinal and the fortune teller said we’ll see this through.” Miranda sniffed again. “I – I just don’t know how.”

  Earth Cat mewed. “If this should all be divine intervention, then we’ll take comfort in faith.”

  Miranda knelt to pet the cat. “You’ve learned so much with us. Maybe you are our savior. Maybe you can reteach us what we already should know.”

  Felicity harrumphed. “Awareness and application are two different animals. Say what you do, do what you say…” The scientist laughed. The cat mewed again.

  “How can you be so relaxed at a time like this?” Miranda asked Felicity.

  Felicity snorted. “Laughter is my go-to deflection, Miranda. Inside, I’m shaking like jelly.”

  “I am too.” Miranda cupped her hand around her earbuds, focusing on Brands’s voice. “Follow my instructions to the letter, Miranda. Everything will be fine. We just need to synch the laser projectors with the acceleration.”

  Miranda nodded and then realized Brands needed a verbal affirmation. “I’ve got it. Doctor, thank you for believing in me.”

  The doctor laughed. “Maybe you’ll want to thank your mom as well. She’s on the line with us.”

  “Mom, are you all set there?”

  “We are. Normand is in the bunker. Cheryl and Devin assure me the calculations are all set.”

  “But the blue-suited man….” Miranda’s voice trailed off.

  “No. We can’t think about him, Miranda. You’ve got to focus for the sake of Earth Cat. For all our sakes.”

  “Right, Mom.” Miranda didn’t even believe herself. Some poker player. She recalled the mantra from Earth Cat Zero’s vision. ‘
I am a being worthy of love. I am loved. I will be loved.’ These were the only truths Miranda could grasp. For the moment, science and religion were distant belief systems. I’ll just let my emotions guide me.

  With a renewed resolve, Miranda gazed into the Bean’s reflection. The projection stands were all in place, each set at an equidistant point from each other, forming a triangle. A simple press of a handheld remote would assure their operation. Brands’s chip would guide the wave version of Earth Cat Zero to the Bean where heated atomic energy would break the field and theoretically solidify the quantum cat into a solid form. What that would do to the Earth Cat Zero on the leash was any scientist’s guess. Quantum mechanics seemed to always promise different outcomes. Miranda could only grasp onto the notion of love just as tightly as she was holding onto Earth Cat Zero’s forcefield energized leash. Love has invisible reins as well. Love is all about belief…

  “I believe we are ready.” Felicity flashed a handheld scanning device at the projectors.

  Miranda felt as if her stomach was dropping down an elevator shaft as Brands initiated a countdown sequence.

  “We are ready.” She repeated the words silently in her head.

  “Now, Miranda. Activate the projectors!”

  Miranda observed a strobing green light dance up and down the projection stands indicating the photons were being fired inside the triangular field. Felicity continued perusing the stands with her scanner, moving this way and that, holding the device like it was the phaser weapon in Star Trek.

  Just as Miranda dared to breathe, Brands howled. “Something’s off. The atoms aren’t cooperating like I’ve expected. Felicity, can you compensate?” The female scientist pushed buttons, all the while her face remained expressionless as a statue.

  Hold it together! Miranda could feel tears welling.

  For an instant, the quantum cat flashed – somehow caught in the atomic trap Brands had engineered. It’s going to work! It’s going to work!

  But Miranda’s confidence plummeted as the quantum feline did not retain physicality for long, winking on and off, a translucent apparition at best. Miranda’s attention was divided between Felicity’s techno gadget and the leash which had become harder and harder to control with the particle Earth Cat Zero’s incessant tugging and pulling. The cat would not listen to Miranda’s pleas to relax. It bared its teeth with its back arched in a defensive stance, hackles raised. What is this about? Miranda could not fathom why the cat was acting so aggressively against its wave version. The constant tugging indented rope burns into the teen’s wrist as she had looped the leash about her wrist to eliminate any slack. The forcefield might still retain the cat even if she were to lose control but for Miranda, the physical retention of the leash meant everything to her now. It was the only tangible thing she could retain some modicum of control over. The projectors flashed in yellow, indicating something was off. The Bean’s distorted reflections gave no comfort to Miranda as she watched Earth Cat Zero’s body morph into elongated and unnatural shapes. Her arms tingled and shook in reaction to her struggle with the feline. Felicity shouted in her ear: “Focus on the frequency. Listen. Just listen…”

  Miranda felt caught in a dream. Every sight and every sound had become distorted from any reality she had become accustomed to prior. Worse, the wave version of the cat had completely disappeared. Fighting to grip the leash with two hands, Miranda dropped the handheld remote which clunked against unforgiving concrete. The bluish tint of windows above the Bean seemed to swirl into a kaleidoscope of colors as if transformed into paint splashes in an abstract work. Miranda closed her eyes to fend off vertigo, but the colors bled through her lids. As if a wax seal on an old letter, all Miranda could see was Earth Cat Zero’s face, his eyes wide, tongue protruded, his whiskers rotating to a vibrational beat – emblazoned like an insignia. She felt swept away on a blue river but did not feel a single drop of precipitation as the cat’s face melted away, dissolving and swirling into an undefinable goo encompassed and swallowed by the unnatural river. She felt her hands thrashing as if she had been dumped off a boat into freezing water. Her incessant cries and shaking hands were met with a cold slap.

  “Ah. What happened?” Felicity frowned in response. “Uh sorry, I didn’t mean to strike you, but I thought… you needed it.” Miranda opened her eyes to the reality of Millennium Park. Everything stood concrete and still as expected. The cat was secure on his leash, now held by Felicity. “I guess I drifted…” Miranda gasped in response to her time loss. “Doctor, doctor. Come in.”

  Her cries were met with silence except for the ringing tone of the Solfeggio Frequency. In the far distance, sirens wailed as if crying in reaction to the failure.

  “The wave cat, it’s gone.”

  Felicity nodded. “Yes, it seems we also failed to break the wave itself, Miranda.”

  “So, the cat’s…they still haven’t come home, have they?” Miranda dropped to her knees crushed at the realization. Her only consolation was that Earth Cat Zero somehow and someway still had remained tethered to her world via leash.

  As Felicity began to hug Miranda, the teen heard the scientist’s confused mumbling.

  “Who…who are you?”

  Miranda fought to focus tear-filled eyes. Standing within the triangular pattern was a man of indeterminable age with silver hair and he wore a lab coat.

  “I am Dr. Claude Brahms. Do you mind telling me who you are?”

  Miranda struggled to speak, only able to utter one word at a time. “I …am…Miranda Ellis. Do…you…know…Doctor…Brands?”

  “Oh, I see. Yes, I do.” The man grumbled. “Well…that explains a lot. I never quite believed my nephew was capable of working without a net.” The silver-haired man strolled over to Earth Cat Zero who was on hind legs and pawing at the air.

  Brahms smiled but it felt inappropriate and out of place to Miranda along with his bantering. “A blue and green kitty. Well…who would have imagined that?” The silver- haired man took the cat’s paw into his and shook it.

  Miranda fainted in Felicity’s arms.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Doctor Brands awoke with a dry mouth and fuzzy head. “Where am I?” he said aloud, confusion rippling around him like waves. The walls, flooring and even the bed he laid upon were stark white.

  In an adjacent room, Brands could make out a voice of a man who sounded like he was conversing on the phone. The doctor wondered how he had been pulled here as he had taken the precaution of constricting himself to the Rat’s Deck during the acceleration. Questions began to mount. If he had been teleported what else might have happened? Were the cats returned? Did I free the wave version of Earth Cat Zero? For that matter, did the particle version of Earth Cat Zero still exist? Questions usually intrigued Brands when it came to science, but now, as he laid far out of reach of the Rat’s Deck, each one was as if a dagger.

  The man known as ‘Jim’ tried his best to alleviate his girlfriend’s concerns. At least that’s what the woman who agreed to impersonate Felicity Mandabelle thought she was to him. But as in life, science or even quantum physics – it seemed definitions were loose. For Jim – whose actual name was Declan Adams, head of Adams Aeronautics – he wasn’t so much concerned with personal connections as he was cosmic ones. His space exploration technological company was one of the fastest growing privatized aeronautics firms, but he hadn’t become a household name yet – not like Elon Musk had. Yet groundbreaking plans were underway and now on schedule to change all that.

  Adams cleared his throat. “Sorry, you know how I have a hard time in the station. The circulated air isn’t always giving us the maximum amount of oxygen. It must be the solar panels. I’ll have my team check them out.” Adams didn’t really believe his oxygen system was failing him, but his nerves were. He had gotten his wish in building a collider on the space station using just computers, bots and nanobots. Spectacularly, he had been able to corral the wave version of Earth Cat Zero into h
is collider thanks to those bots who had built a communication system with qubits just as Dr. Brands had done. If it wasn’t for his spy tech, Adams might not have ever learned the trick. But it was a good thing he did before the DOD or DOE had. Now he had the ball in his court, the homefield advantage and even the recipe to pull off his cosmic changing event in mere days. He didn’t really need the doctor in his possession, but it was an added bonus and maybe a card he’d play if he ever needed a Plan B. Right now, the doctor was pacified on sedatives. Adams believed Brands should have been unconscious but thanks to the doctor’s chip, he wasn’t.

  The woman whose name was Maureen Taguchi allowed a moment of silence before she spoke. “You know I don’t know why you insist on staying up there so long. If you aren’t feeling well, why don’t you come home and stay with me? Or – better yet, find me a way to get up on that station with you.” She paused again. “You did mean what you said about us being together?”

  “I did. I’d move planets for you, Maureen. But I just need a little while longer and then we’ll be together always.”

  “I know. It’s just hard to wait here – alone.”

  “I understand. But believe me, once I’ve completed my project; you’ll never find yourself constricted to any one place, not anymore.”

  Adams made another excuse to disconnect the call. Maureen stared at her phone for a long while before finally making her decision.

  Brands heard footsteps coming so he closed his eyelids as tight as possible and tried to feign sleep. It was nearly impossible. Thanks to eavesdropping, Brands deduced that this man was responsible for bringing him here. He was also planning to commence a cosmic changing event. The things he had alluded to on the phone – even in roundabout and cryptic ways - had to be connected to the acceleration. It was also quite possible this was the man responsible for kidnapping and threatening Caron Ellis. Yes, that is why he was pushing us to continue. He has been spying on us and stealing our ideas all along. Brands forced himself to keep his eyelids shut as the squeak of a door hinge indicated entry into his quarters. His gut burned with anger at being duped. The real concern was not the DOD or the DOE but a privatized space firm.