Jacques hands were trembling, as he reached for the can of tuna. His French accent was back full strength though he'd lost most of it over the eight months of living in the Schrodinger experimental interstellar colony in Alpha Centauri with all Americans and British colonists.
"Eh bien," he said. "This is our last can of tuna. If this doesn't work..."
Mike, aka Michaela Smith, who was American, redheaded and a full head taller than him but had kind feelings for the lone Frenchman put her hand on his shoulder. "It will work Jacques. Let it rip."
Still his hands shook and he took hold of the ring on the can, then let it go, "But what if... We remember..."
"Okay, yes," Mike said. "We all know what Ausra did. It was a stupid idea. And we all remember how it worked."
The people standing around in a ring shuddered, remembering Ausra's idea for opening ten cans at once, and the mechanism she'd rigged. It had caused a reality entanglement event which had killed ten cats. And incidentally Ausra.
"Courage," John said. "Or do you want me to open the can?" He reached for it.
"Non, no, I'll do it." Jacques pulled the ring back, then the lid of the can, with a barely audible sound as the metal parted along the scored portion.
For a long moment nothing happened. Long enough to wonder if all the cats in the Schrodinger program had died. Or perhaps the researchers. In which case it would be a long, slow starvation for the colony....
Then from very far off came a meow. Mike pressed the button of the remote viewer focused on the dock. The supply ship had materialized.
There was another muffled meow, this one indignant. And then the cat door between the supply ship and the station opened, and an orange tabby came running out and towards them along a long tunnel.
When the cat erupted into their room, Jacques had put the can of cat food down for him.
John had made it through the human airlock into the supply ship and now commed "We have supplies for 6 months ladies and gentlemen. And enough tuna for year. Also, starter kit for hydroponics."
Fifty colonists dissolved into hugs and tears. The little cat ate his tuna on the floor, undisturbed by their effusions.
Who knew, through mankind's long struggle for the stars, the key would be cat's ability to teleport at the sound of a tuna can and human ability to create a cage from which the cat could not escape or teleport until the entire ship teleported and attached to a station in the new world?
Sure, the first tuna can and structure -- a tiny dome, just large enough for the cat -- had to be sent by drone. But after that? After that humans could conquer the stars.
Thanks to cats.
And tuna.
*Yes, I know it's silly. Yes, I could make it longer and better and just as silly. Yes, I might do it later. But right now you just get this, you gonzo geeks. JUST TO GET IT OUT OF MY HEAD. And into yours. - SAH*
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