Paul Linebarger was one of those writers who used a pseudonym for his fiction...in his case it was "Cordwainer Smith". His stories in the realm of science fiction, written in the mid-twentieth century, were all interconnected with his own imagined universe and timeline for future human history...and that imagination conjured up some very interesting and strange scenarios. A great example is his short story The Game of Rat and Dragon, appearing in the collection Isaac Asimov Presents: The Great SF Stories #17 (1955) (DAW Books, 1988). In it humanity is in full extraterrestrial exploratory mode, settling the far reaches of space after Earth has become unsustainable. But once spaceships passed out of our solar system and into deep space, they discovered horrible psychic predatory monsters waiting in the darkness...only disposed of through bombardment with intense light. A scheme was devised using telepathic partnership between people and cats...with the humans directing the missions and the felines, with their super-quick reflexes, attacking the enemy by setting off the light bombs. This foe, lurking in the remote darkness, was envisioned by people as dragons and as giant rats by the cats. So there's your scenario for this provocative tale...and what makes it provocative?
What intrigued me about it all, and might for you as well...especially if you're a cat-lover...is how the author explored the thought patterns of cats...and how they were translated to their human partners through the connecting "pin-sets". It's really quite a brief story and I can't recall reading any other of this nature...and it's also very, very funny!
And here's some good news...you can read this story right now, through the following site from Project Gutenberg: [link]. Enjoy!
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