Chapter Fifteen

"We were put in charge of a modern day Noah's ark to make the animals comfortable under two suns instead of one and I assure you they were even more confused than us humans in their innocence. They couldn't tell but they could feel and we tried to assuage their stress the best we could until they got used to their new world."

"When the cats arrived our lives recovered a significant part of normalcy, whatever that means, we weren't alone in an alien world anymore, we were at home, with plants and animals and rainclouds and gentle breezes. A small seedling taking root in a vast and welcoming universe."  

 

"Sister Roberta, could you please give the lab a well deserved rest and join us for a minute?" asked Seth, in her poised tone of voice. Seth had this amazing talent of making herself heard even in the lightest whisper because every time she looked like she had something to say everyone snapped to attention. Sarah could never figure out if it was well earned respect and admiration, a healthy apprehension for Seth's formidable gaze or a combination of the two that did the trick.

Everybody was already gathered around her in one of the tuna cans waiting for sister Roberta to finish fumbling with the magnetic wave generator and join them. The three pieces of metal that were gravitating in thin air connected by invisible forces to the circular wire dropped on the tin support with startling noise. Sister Joseph mumbled some well seasoned thoughts under her breath close enough to sister Jove's ear that the latter shuffled uncomfortably and started coughing.

Sister Roberta approached the group sheepishly, avoiding sister Joseph's bitter stare. Sister Joseph was even grouchier than usual; the draught, the maddening sun paths and the constant noise of the reverse osmosis pumps drove everyone crazy.

"Where do we stand on the soybeans?" Seth asked, matter of fact.

"The ones we set up six weeks ago are progressing nicely, though we haven't planted them outside yet. The third set of plantings that we set outdoors are finally taking root, I think we have just about enough water in the atmosphere to generate rain." Since they were outside they all looked overhead where a fluffy mist moved about swiftly, connecting and separating randomly, slightly distorted by different atmosphere densities, a fascinating man made tapestry of vapor. Here and there, for reasons known only to physics but not yet uncovered by the sisters, rain fell in compact fascicles, pretty much as if a large number of showerheads started and stopped randomly accompanied by the weird and fascinating sounds of the chocolate rose aurora borealis.

It is interesting how adaptable the human mind is, if anybody saw this heavenly singing fountain show for the first time they would have been so mesmerized they couldn't do anything else but stand in awe, but for the sisters after five years of pumping water and mixing smelly mud it was just another work day. Seth frowned imperceptibly when one of the random showers landed on her shoulder, but continued unperturbed.

"Are we finally going to be able to see harvest from this next set of plantings? We're running on fumes here and I don't want to request additional food provisions from the Space Science Center, we'll look like idiots."

Sarah grabbed the criticism and swallowed it whole, as unfair as it was, since she really didn't see how she could be in control of what the beans liked or disliked about the soil.

"Of course, Sarah, if you are thinking about an excuse please remember that you are the soil fertility expert, brought here for this specific purpose. Whatever the truth is, I'd like to know it now, but I hope it's good news."

Sarah had kept a little experimental tray of beans aside and kind of hidden, since she didn't want to get everyone's hopes up for no reason, but since Seth dragged that out into the open she decided to talk about it.

"We might be able to jumpstart the plant feeding with some of the bi-products from the desalination pumps, we can isolate useful ocean minerals. I started a couple of trays and one of them is showing promise."

"I saw it, I was just wandering what it was. Start more, let's see if we can get the crops to move a little faster."

"Dearly beloved", Seth started.

"We are gathered here, in the eyes of..." sister Joseph mumbled under her breath, until one of Seth stares pierced a hole through her skull and got out the other end. She became silent.

"Dearly beloved", Seth said, "I have great news for you."

"What was with her", Sarah wondered quietly, "this crazy planet must have affected her brains too, everybody was on edge and kind of zany."

"The Space Science Center is sending us the first in a long convoy of Noah's arks, yes, plants will no longer be the only sign of life on this planet. Why, you wonder, when I told them we are still having issues with the crops and just managed to saturate the medium with sufficient moisture so we don't see vapors hissing out of the scorched dirt the second water touches it? You might want to bring up that question with them. For now we're getting more mouths to feed. Fortunately for us the cattle is on the second transport, so we won't have to worry about their feed for another six months, but tomorrow we get our very first crème de la crème load of cats."

The sisters looked at Seth and then at each other, trying to ascertain if this was one of her sarcastic comments or the craziest truth ever spoken. Seth looked serious.

"Cats? What are we going to do with cats? I hate cats", sister Joseph said. "What are they for, belts and shoes?" Sarah cringed since she loved cats and wouldn't want to even think harm to them, but was just as puzzled as the grouchy sister at the Space Center's wisdom.

"Apparently they are the most adaptable animals and are sent here as test subjects. They come with their own food and the way things are moving we're going to have to steal it from them if these crops don't get on to a solid start soon." Seth frowned at Sarah again but the latter didn't notice, overjoyed as she was at the thought of tens of purring and meowing bits of happiness frolicking freely among soybeans and carrots. She even decided what kind of cat she was going to adopt and gave it a name, Solomon, that was what she was going to name it, or Lisa, depending on the gender.

"Sarah!" Seth yelled, irate. Sarah came back to reality. "So, when the transport arrives everybody is going to take responsibility for one or more cats and ensure their health and wellbeing. Of course they will have to sleep in the tuna cans with us, at least for a while until they adapt to planet life."

"Why, you're afraid that the great and mighty Chupacabra is going to get them?" protested sister Joseph. "How are we going to sleep in these cozy quarters with forty cats?"

"Remember what happened to Sarah? We'd like to keep them breathing until the atmosphere stabilizes."

 

***

 

The next morning the transport arrived with not forty but fifty fluffy and friendly kitty-cats, a little shy to the new surroundings but young enough not to care. Sarah was in heaven; she picked her four protégées, named one Solomon and one Lisa and the other two Gulliver and Missy and spent the entire day playing with them, trying to stay out of Seth's sight to avoid thunderbolts.

Seth was getting more and more tense the closer they got to the cattle transport deadline and even though the veggies had finally started growing well she couldn't see how their production would be enough to feed cows. In the meantime the cats made themselves at home filling every nook and cranny in the tuna cans, laying down on the exposed wall girts, cozying up in the nooks behind equipment and taking over both the top and the underside of the beds. They figured that the outside was unfamiliar and to be on the safe side they were staying indoors driving sister Joseph insane.

Every one of the sisters had the task (in addition to their never ending list of daily chores) to bring the cats outside and try to make them adjust to the brick colored rubble, and that was not easy to accomplish. The cats were frazzled and bolting for the door as soon as set free, stepping tentatively on somewhat unstable grounds, evidently uncomfortable.

Sarah made Solomon a little basket filled with pillows and managed to convince him to accompany her while she attended to her chores. Since none of the sisters were fond of conversations and Sarah's chatty nature suffered profoundly she found Solomon to be a very good listener and started telling him about the farm in North Dakota, her former pets, and how to grow bacterial cultures. Solomon, a blue eyed Birman, had a gentle nature and was purring and slanting his eyes in approval at times, as if he understood. In fact he found the sound of Sarah's voice soothing and preferred it to the constant racket the pumps and ATVs made, and the weird atmospheric sounds.

Solomon didn't understand why the sky changed color in his world but accepted the fact that the change was permanent, so, wise cat that he was he tried to make the best of his life. The pillows were comfortable, the food was acceptable (Sarah thought at times that switching her food rations with the cat's might actually be an improvement for her, given that they were eerily similar). After a while Solomon ventured out of his basket, not very far at first, stepping gingerly among the bean poles, finding shelter from the suns under a broad squash leaf, and negotiating territory with other brave felines.

Time passed over humans and cats and the group got used to sister Joseph's constant complains, even though everybody knew she was secretly spoiling  her pets rotten when she thought no one was looking.