It was 0200. He was sitting in Roberta's living room while she and Rerra were off to meet the new council. Bernie provided a special live feed for him, at least in the places with cameras, which were far fewer than he would have liked. This was made up for by Bernie's constant commentary - in Fallerian.

Finally, Rerra and Roberta appeared on the official broadcast, which was running on Roberta's large pad. It showed the lift exit to the Samul representative office on level -1, the former residence of Hopkins II. Then they stood and waited for the new council members. "Here comes the first, Kiltrani of Jatra from Samul, 34 years old, elected for Sector I." He could have read that from the subtitles. But the AI continued. "This is where most high-tier Samul live. And since it has become the most expensive area, no other clans can afford it." Rerra stood and bowed deeply, while the silver Samul cat just nodded, feeling superior and showing it. She bowed a little more to Roberta.

"Kiltrani could certainly afford it, she was third in maintenance. Since she was not from Saresh, the former leaders of maintenance, the remaining Samul agreed on her. With so many Samul in the sector, her election was a foregone conclusion. Had there been no council, she would probably have been the next station mother. You must have met her in the clinic."

"No, I do not remember her."

"Well, she was at the clinic when you reinstated me. Here comes the next member, Clarice of Yukab from Ketcher for Sector III, again no surprise." She was certainly a Ketcher, almost all of them looked like clones to him: Tall, well-built, with their characteristic fur patterns and wearing cat-formal beachwear. "Again, with the clinic in Sector III, the only question would have been the tribe. She is neither Fiyul nor Torragh and thus their compromise candidate. So far for the boring ones."

He could almost hear the AI grinning.

"Now for a real surprise." A black cat emerged from the lift, one step and then stopped, hesitating. "Hodrat of no tribe nor clan. The blacks were from Hodrat, but that clan had not survived the civil war after Hopkins' death. And she was not even born of any tribe, on top of being clanless. As underdog as a cat could be: A bad childhood, abandoned by her mother when she left for the planet. She had even been convicted of theft. But with a fairy tale twist, as you can see. She was sentenced to social service in the nursing home in sector V, a cheaper area. She must have enjoyed it there. It must have been her calling, almost all the senior cats had voted for her, 200 votes. The black cat finally walked over to a friendly smiling Rerra and bowed deeply.

Rerra bowed even deeper and then spoke to her before Roberta led her into the council room. (Where a large Petra Catering buffet was waiting, along with Eli and Kit.) He wished he could hear Rerra speak, but the official stream was still muted and Bernie did not tell him. Instead, the AI was focussed on the next member.

"This will be really interesting. Now we have another Samul for sector VI, but not a high-ranking one. A retired pilot, Kara." Oh, that cat was old, older than Roberta. The oldest cat he had ever seen. She walked crookedly, her head below the shoulders of the other cat she was getting off the lift with. A cat, so very different from all the others that he had seen so far. So he listened with only one ear. "She has no tribe and has spent all her time and money expanding and maintaining the wilderness on level 3. I am surprised so many people still remember her, but"

"And the other one?" he interrupted the AI. She was tall too, but slender, with small breasts and short fur. But what a pattern, white fur with patches ranging from pale yellow to all shades of brown and even black.

"Ah, yes, Torita from Kumar for Sector VII, adopted. This pattern is called Calico, a rare mutation found only in females. You can ask Cassandra more about it, I mean the clinic AI".

"So she is a celebrity."

"No, Torita works with street kittens. Entirely dependent on donations. There, her fur certainly helps to raise funds. I believe most of her supporters are former kittens that she has cared for. This time, Clinic AI's idea worked so well. But I am not sure if the next council will not be full of Ketcher and Samul again."

The door opened again and a grey tabby cat stepped out. Not as tall as Ketcher or Samul, but towering over Rerra and at eye level with Roberta. She bowed formally, like someone who was clearly used to it.

"Hiran of Kumar for Sector VIII, owner of the largest krantarestaurant on the station and clanmother of her tribe. Well, sector VIII has a bigger Kumar presence than all the other tribes."

Roberta had just left the stream with the tabby cat when the lift doors opened again. Another silver cat appeared.

The AI sighed as well as it could through a speaker. "Kroratz of Kyiju from Samul. A high-tier, just one level below Curragh. Must have hidden during the fighting and then used his network to get the votes. Cheapskate, that's why he lives in sector II."

This cat was as arrogant as the first. Just a nod and walking past Rerra and Roberta. Roberta shrugged and stepped aside to let her walk off in the wrong direction.

"That leaves the last member. She is a security guard, Fallit von Hetesk from Setersk in sector VI. She works for a big company and maybe that got her the votes. But she had the smallest margin, 36 votes to 35 for the second."

The door opened and a strong, tall cat stepped out of the lift. Her fur had yellow and black stripes. And she was stronger than Rerra. But Rerra smiled and bowed, and the other cat bowed too, and they began to talk. Maybe they knew each other from the gym?

The stream now switched to the council hall. The two younger silver Samul cats were talking to the obviously disinterested old Samul. Hiran, the restaurant owner, was talking to Kit, who did most of the serving, while Eli stood a bit to the side and talked with the calico cat and the black one.

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The lone Ketcher stood off to the side, eating, clearly not used to not being the centre of attention and without clear allies for Ketcher.

When Rerra entered with the guard, the sound was unmuted. But only the sound of cutlery being set down came over the speaker.

"Good evening, everyone," Bernie spoke at Rerra's request. "You know me, I am Bernie, the station AI, and I am pleased to serve this new council. Please take a seat and let me introduce you all."

There was a round table with nine seats. But neither Rerra nor Roberta sat down. Instead, they both stood near a corner, only half visible to the camera.

The first item was the election of a ninth member. But this was quickly voted down. Next was a proposal from Samul to elect a leader to make decisions instead of the council. But that too did not pass. It quickly got into some ugly politics that he, not being a station cat, could not relate to. So he went to the bathroom. When he came back, Rerra seemed to have fled the meeting, as only Roberta was there, now sitting at the table.

* * *

He stood at the docking ring with Rerra. Dead tired, despite having slept 3000 in the afternoon. It was unusual. As a pilot, he did a lot of short jumps and then he had to be alert immediately. But here, on the station, he seems to not resting well.

It was well past midnight, approaching 2000. But the docking area was not empty, there were a few workers here, cleaning and emptying the rubbish bins. It was good to see the station returning to normal operation.

The countdown timer for the A3 port ticked down. Docking ports A1 and A2 were still down, as there had been quite a bit of fighting. And the docking clamps were still damaged from the emergency de-docking when the ships fled. This mechanism had not been maintained. Like most on this dead trap of a station, to quote Bernie.

He had heard of a few places where locals had taken possession of a station and run it into the ground. But usually, these were more like squatters and best avoided as they overcharged for fuel and had few spare parts. A civilisation's only station was held in high esteem in most places, as it was their gateway to the riches of the galaxy.

He had been to weird places before. Once he had been to a station run mainly by AIs, because the whole race was agoraphobic and very few individuals could travel into space. But only once before had he contacted the station's AI via flight control. On both occasions, the communication had been strictly business. The chatty AI was fitting this very unusual island in space. Bernie was like a hatchling, always eager to talk to anyone who would listen. And so he learned more than he needed to know about the ten shuttle passengers. He was not looking forward to meeting any new cat. With the exception of Trina, the cat Rerra adored the most, and Fanny who he knew already from Fallerian. After having seen so many Ketcher clones, he was curious how she would appear to him now. He did not care about the rest, be it Trina's clansister or the two highest cats of this system. Just to please Rerra, he memorised their names, the Clanmothers Curragh from Samul and Fiyul from Ketcher. But he was not looking forward to meeting them after all the stories Rerra had told him. There was also Clanmother Krega of Kumar, and the other three cats had no file, probably the personal bodyguards of the three clanmothers.

As the countdown ticked down, spectators arrived. Here to see the first shuttle since the rebellion, and to see their leaders, who rarely left the planet. Thus a lot of silver, ocelot and tiger cats were there.

Counting down past 0100, the eight very tired members of the council arrived with guards. The six tall, broad-shouldered cats of various furs wore black leather vests. He and Rerra were ushered aside, the security unsure how to deal with a human. But they did not recognise Rerra after she had washed the fake fur off with the first water that came. She grinned, that had been the plan.

Only now did the station reception committees of Ketcher, Samul and Kumar clans arrive from three different directions, parting the crowds. Near the Ketcher delegation, hissing started, raising the few hairs on his neck, and the guards rushed over. Samul also got a cold reception, while most of the cats present cheered for Kumar.

The shuttle was on time and docked silently. First three bodyguards disembarked, all in their clan furs, grey stripes for Kumar, silver for Samul and ocelot for Ketcher. Then the old cats came out. First came Samul, just a few cheers and a few hisses. Next was Ketcher, and the hissing got intense again. And then Kumar, and more cheering. Kumar's clanmother looked younger than the others. And at the end came Trina and Fanny, both standing closer to the bodyguards than their clanmothers.

Trian and Fanny were also wearing the usual scanty clothing of cats, while the clanmothers were naked, with accessories such as a necklace of bones, a sheath with a long knife, a spear or feathers, but also sunglasses, silver chains and gold jewellery in their ears. These were probably culturally significant heirlooms, but he couldn't help chuckling.

The three parties quickly split up and joined their delegations. He glanced at Rerra's pad where Trina's 'See you at my table for breakfast' and Fanny's 'Can't get away, sorry. Let's meet for breakfast.' had arrived simultaneously. As she sent her reply, he yawned. Only to be outdone by her, who showed him how to yawn properly with a snout.

Roberta was still not there when they returned to her flat. So they took their chance to cuddle and then he fell asleep on the floor next the Rerra.

* * *

He blinked several times, then slowly sat up.

"Hello, sleepy human in my living room," Roberta greeted him in Fallerian. "Rerra left long ago, but you are just in time for lunch."

He yawned, still tired. Then his stomach growled. Well, food sounded good. He yawned again. Was it the cold air? He pulled his blanket tighter around him. His borrowed shorts and trousers lay on the couch. "A quick shower?"

"0030 left for today." Not very long, but he really needed one. So a quick shower. Again, lukewarm water at best, which did not wake him up. Yawning, he followed his nose to a table with a sweet-smelling stew and two plates.

"Enjoy your meal."

He had not finished his plate when Rerra returned, every part of her body looking tired, even her tail hanging limply. She smiled when she saw him.

"No thanks, brunch until now," she waved away Roberta's polite offer and lay down on the couch. "Too short a night."

"And you didn't even stay for the meeting. I finished after 3000, someone had to deal with the shuttle and also tomorrow will be a bigger freighter docking."

"Uh, well, Trina wanted to meet at 3500. I probably left right after you returned. So you are still in charge of flight control?"

"For now. This council is very slow to agree on anything. At least we have a new head of maintenance, Ledra of Karen from Samul. And Trina may keep her job at the shipyard."

"Ha, who else can be appointed? Only you, Traxy and Tryxa are left. They came too. We missed you." She yawned and demonstratively closed her eyes.

He finished eating and helped Roberta with the dishes. Then Roberta left, following Bernie's call to the temporary flight control office.

He snuggled up next to Rerra, who did not even stir. He soon fell asleep as well, hugging the warm short fur.