In Catalyst, award-winning authors Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth Ann
Scarborough introduced listeners to the beguiling Barque Cats:
spacefaring felines who serve aboard starships as full-fledged members
of the crew. Highly evolved, the cats share an almost telepathic bond
with their minders, or Cat Persons -- until, suddenly, there is no
"almost" about it, and a particular Barque Cat, Chester, learns to ex-
change thoughts with his human friend, Jubal. Other cats soon gain the
same ability. Behind the seeming miracle is a mysterious cat named
Pshaw-Ra, who possesses knowledge and technology far beyond anything the
Barque Cats -- or their humans -- have ever seen. When fear of a
virulent plague leads the government first to quarantine and then to
kill all animals suspected of infection, Pshaw-Ra--with the help of
Chester, Jubal, and the crew of the starship Ranzo -- activates a
"mousehole" in space that carries the refugees to a place of safety:
Pshaw-Ra's home planet of Mau, where godlike cats are worshiped by human
slaves. But Pshaw-Ra's actions are less noble than they appear. The
scheming cat plans to mate the Barque Cats with his own feline stock,
creating a hybrid race of superior cats -- a race destined to conquer
the universe. Yet right from the start, his plans go awry. For one
thing, there's a new queen on Mau: Pshaw-Ra's daughter Nefure, a spoiled
brat -- er, cat -- with a temper as short as her attention span.
Pshaw-Ra's other daughter, the rightful queen Renpet, is exiled, running
for her life in the only direction available to her -- down into the
vast catacombs beneath the Mauan desert. Far from receiving the hero's
welcome he expected, Pshaw-Ra must use every bit of his considerable
cleverness just to survive. Meanwhile, as usual, Chester and Jubal
stumble right into the middle of things, in the process uncovering the
lost secrets of the Mauan civilization. But that's not all they uncover.
In the forgotten catacombs deep below the Mauan capital, something has
awakened. Something as old as the universe. Something that hungers to
devour all light and life -- and that bears an undying hatred for cats.
