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Destination Nowhere.

The hum of the rockets propelling the ship through time and space filled the ship as we flew on and on. The time had come as it always comes when doubt begins to set in as the space ship thrusts its ways onward ever onward until one gets the feeling that all is in vain. The ship so small compared to the voids of space that one begins to feel small and helpless. What made me volunteer for this senseless journey?

Whose idea was it to bring a cat on board we have no cow’s milk just tins of sweetened condensed milk, Oh! Yes we have plenty of milk on board but nothing suitable for a cat. The cat has found the best place for its journey through space and that is on my lap. I am now not only officially the Pilot but the mother of the cat. I have one hell of a guilty conscience when I place a saucer of fresh water down for the cat. The protesting meows that she utters and the looks she gives me have given me the biggest inferiority complex that I have ever had in this life. The cat has chosen my lap for its journey through space, mind you I am pleased that it has chosen me for its mate possibly because I cannot get up every five minutes to attend to something else. The rest of the crew all have duties to see to that do not involve a cat. The cat has a warning system built in to its brain; it will tell me that something is going to go wrong. It has up until now always been right usually I have to open a valve or close a switch. How the cat knows this without any kind of engineers training I do not know but I must believe in what I see. In another life I am sure that this cat was a damned good engineer and what is more I am sure that it was the pilot of a space ship. If only I could understand the series on meows that she gives at regular intervals she must have a wonderful story to tell.

The steady humming of the rockets filled the ship, my problem was to keep alert even this was becoming more the cat’s job she waned me of approaching debris from meteors dust clouds and those small rocks or pieces of stone flying through space ready to cause havoc to those that do not keep a good lookout for such things. The cat took over this warning and I must admit she or it was much better at it than I was. The relief Pilot that took over from me did not have the company of the cat. When he entered the cockpit to take over the cat left with me to go either to my quarters or to the main rest room. How he managed all on his own for twelve hours I do not know and did not ask. The cat slept on my pillow. She probably thought to herself I share his shift at the controls it is only right that I share his pillow at rest times.

Ahead there is a planet. A planet of unknown origin, I compared it to a huge marble that a giant had been playing with that had suddenly rolled off on its own. Slowing down the speed of the space ship I approached the planet looking for a suitable landing place. Again it was the cat that saw the plateau first. I steered to the plateau and made a perfect landing. The instruments showed an oxygen atmosphere this planet was suitable for visiting without the cumbersome space suits with the life saving oxygen packs strapped to one’s back. The cat was the first to leave the space ship. She was quick and ran off as if she had a rendezvous. Later she returned but she was not alone. Behind her was another cat with three kittens. It was as if a family had been reunited. The cats took over the control room. Now there was a cat in charge of the pilot’s cockpit twenty four hours of the day and night. My cat stayed on my shift the newcomer took over the relief Pilots shift. I began to think that my cat had come on board to look for its mate and she had more or less steered the space ship directly to this unknown planet where her mate had gone to at the end of its life time on Earth.

I know I am not thinking correctly I probably need the help of a psychiatrist; I have been too long alone with this cat. The crew have made reports to the Authorities and I am at last sitting on the comfortable seat with a grey haired elderly gentleman asking me all kinds of nonsensical questions about the cat. My answer to this was why not get the cat in here and put your questions directly to the cat. The cat is intelligent you know and often put me right when something out of the ordinary took place on the space ship. Oh! You spoke to the cat then did you not. Yes of course I spoke to the cat. Such an intelligent animal one finds seldom. I was given instructions on how to fly the space ship the best possible way. You are telling me that the cat told you how to fly the space ship. Where is the cat now? The cat is with its mate that it steered the ship to, to find its mate and its kittens in Fact they are residing at my house as my guests. They will be with me until they find another ship that is going out into space. They want to bring their relatives together and have a large family on Earth.

I will be released tomorrow I have been here now for the last five years. My stay was I am sorry to say not a happy stay. I was not allowed to see the cats although they live in my house. I have also been dismissed from the Earth’s space corps but I receive a pension so I am cared for in my old age. My home is now the home of some hundred cats that are relations to the cat that kept me company on the space ship. Bern.