Catacombs
In Catalyst, award-winning authors Anne McCaffrey and Elizabeth
Ann Scarborough introduced readers 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 exchange
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.
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Anne McCaffrey
Anne McCaffrey’s name resonates deeply in the world of science fiction, not just for her imaginative worlds but for her ability to weave emotional depth and humanity into stories about dragons, space travel, and the bonds that define us. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1926, McCaffrey’s passion for storytelling took root early, though her path to becoming one of the genre’s most beloved authors was not an immediate one. Before turning to writing full-time, she explored a variety of professions, including acting and singing, but it was the written word that eventually captured her heart.
The Barque Cats
The Barque Cats consists of two books. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
