The door behind Kora had not even fully closed when Rerra's pad chimed and activated in speaker mode. "Hello Rerra, I am not sure what has happened but it must have been something grave as I am in Lenny's puter. So this is how it feels to be restored from a backup. Strange, maybe you would feel like in the wrong body. I am still accessing the state of the subsystems and the is a mess with will take some time to entangle. But to the business: Of all the cats with have authorisation, your pad was the only active one oation. But I have no authority in the ic, so the is now only w for you or we could not speak."

  "Bernie, so it worked!"

  "Yes, and I am happy to be running. I am not sure how and who did it."

  "We did it. Marik had a backup of an AI and a program to overe the WORM error."

  "Whoever Marik is, I am grateful. But please stop spreading this forbidden knowledge or we all could get into deep trouble. Since you are now in charge, what are your instrus?"

  "My instrus?"

  Only then, she seemed to realise that everybody was staring at her.

  "Restore everything t order. Fanny of Fiyul from Ketcher and Trina from Samul are on the p. tact them. I think they may work together."

  Only Roberta, the old Samul ex-pilot nodded enthusiastically.

  "No, Rerra, you hold the authority and must properly tra to a ext to you. I will be exeg the orders but the decisions are to be made by cats as long as there is still oh authorisatio. These are my core directives, and after your stunt with the backup, I am not sure these could ever altered again. As to the other tasks, I would suggest stabilising the power first, getting the regur fusion cores 4-22 up as quickly as possible and the power, circution, water aing in that order. After core 6 is up, the power should be suffit to boot up the all over the statioA is 1159. So, Stationmother Rerra of Codeson from Petra, is this ok with you?"

  Kira stared at Rerra, snout agape, while Roberta started to ugh. Rerra, his Rerra, now suddenly the Queen of this station. He gulped.

  Rerra looked forlorn at him, then sighed. "Bernie, you put me through to Trina?"

  "Please wait, the link to the p is not stable yet. Any other orders?"

  "How is dog?"

  There was a short dey. "The flight trol room is not w. The sensor work is not damaged. I could improvise some flight and dog trol for the time being. You delegate. Nominate someone who will be in charge of dog and flight operations."

  She turo Roberta, who stood still and looked serious again. "I?" The fur stood up on the back of the old cat and she tried to shrink which of course was not w. Even less since Rerra was the shortest cat in the room.

  "You are the only pilot who is here."

  "But, you know, I am not good with, with people," she whispered the st words.

  "Flight trol is not much about social iion." Even he gri Rerra's dry remark. "And you trahis to any other trustworthy cat. But you I trust. Bernie, authorise Roberta of"

  "of Kra from Samul", Roberta whispered.

  "Hello Roberta, great, another well-known voice. Please autorise your pad and then give a code which you could share."

  " you pay her a sary?" Rerra added.

  "Of course. I suggest paying the previously iated rate for the head of fight operations. That was 520 per day."

  Everybody froze for a moment.

  The old cat had a hand on the wall, breathing heavily while her tails shed out aimlessly. "So much more," she whispered.

  " you make me also head of the ic?" Kira asked mogly.

  But the AI replied. "No, but Rerra could appoint a teical liaison who holds the Ketcher part of authority over me. However, there are four former liaisons still oation, so I would advise Rerra to rather follow the suggestions of Cassandra, the ic AI."

  "She has a name?", the doctor excimed. "She old me."

  "I have a name, yes." This time the voice came from everywhere. It sounded female. "I do not like it. In human mythology, it was the name of a bringer of bad news. Also, in the old days, the doctors never used their real names, and also the patient names were pseudonyms. I uphold that tradition. Kira of Ulta from Ketcher, you are a good doctor but uo be a good teical liaison. So, Kira of Ulta from Ketcher, I will increase your sary by 5 per day, if my name is never mentioned again. And Bernie will pay for it."

  "Sorry. I am still booting up." Now also the station AI came from the speakers.

  "Bernie, you are speaking too much for your own good. You must be nearly as good as before." The previously ral voice of the Ketcher AI now carried a hint of amusement. "But I leave the station busio you." There was an audible noise as if the ic AI unplugged a mike.

  No one said something for quite some time, not eveation AI.

  He picked up the cold and squishy gratin which tasted a little metallid salty, closer to blood than anything else.

  The big silver-furred Roberta and Rerra still stared into nowhere. "Rerra?"

  She blihen turo him and sighed.

  "Why so gloomy? Most people would kill for your position?"

  "They just had, remember?" she hissed. "Anybody out there will try to get the best of me. Samul"

  "Don't be stupid. This is your ce to ge this. You said so many bad things about cats. So do better! You are fed up, with the heritage system? ge the rules."

  That got her thinking. "How is it done on Fallerian?"

  He hesitated, that system ecial. "Every year the 8 best are called to the cil for five years. There will be one from the food guild, one from the administration, one from the workers, and one from the medical guild. The rest are selected by a petition. You only serve once."

  "That won't work here," the silent Roberta said.

  "Bernie, could I do this?" Rerra asked, ign her remark.

  "You certainly authorise a cil. Ketcher is run by a cil. Maybe"

  "We have no say," interrupted Kira.

  "She is right," the Ketcher AI firmed. "the low tiers have no say, there is no equal vote icher, and never has been. For none of the s. History is my hobby, should you wonder. However, many human stations are run by something simir to a cil with its members determined by popur vote. If I had to suggest something for us, I would say a cil of eight where each of the eight sectors votes for their cil member. That cil then appoints a speaker with equal voting power. So they are nine in total, to break ties. Given your typical lifespan, oerm could be 1000 or 1500 days. And term limits have proven useful. This means, only allow serving once or twice per lifetime."

  "You have thought that through." the station AI ented.

  "As said, history is my hobby, and analysing cats is my profession."

  His Rerra stared at the ceiling. "So, I announce a vote for a cil?"

  He shook his head. Even to him, that souoo easy.

  "Teically, no problem. In 0978, the is up. It would be good to have an annou ready by then."

  "We should be somewhere else by the's get the ship ready." He put his hand on her shoulder.

  She shook her head. "No, as Bernie said, I must be oation to trahe authorisation. And as you said earlier, I should try to make a ge. Kora was right, I would have chied out. I just wish that will not backfire on my tribe."

  "Well, said, Rerra." It was the ic AI. "And you are in the right pce for pseudonyms. Kira, take her to 3-14. I am looking forward to the ation cil."

  "Yes." The doctor looked at the ic pad o her. "You are booked for a heavy make-up session." She shook her head and asked to the ceiling. "But, what of Th?"

  "She is missing and her sed is in an induced a and one hardware key was destroyed during the fighting. Sht now, I have no ohat I am obligated to sult with. The Ketcher cil also has a hardware key, but that is on the p or they would certainly have used it by now. So I am free to help."

  The Ketcher doctor was not vinced. "Sorry, it seems yoing against the ."

  "No, I am not, aher are you. They restored my power and revived Berhat alone saved lives. tinuing the bipor power distributioweecher and Samul will not lead to cooperation and accelerate the dee. No, a station cil will be more beneficial in the long term."

  "If you say so." She sighed, took up the pad again ahe door open, this time to the other, er and brighter-lit side.

  He trailed Rerra and Roberta ihought. AI's meddling with their society? Well, there was a reason why they were heavily trolled.

  * * *

  They were far away from the Ketcher i a better area of the statioe w at the shipyard, Roberta had saved enough money from her pilot days to have bought a nice apartment. Four rooms, a dedicated kit.

  They sat at Roberta's table each with a mug of instant Kranta soup and a small cup of an expensive cider. Roberta had taken out an old but very rge pad on which a timer run down. In 0015, the AI would restore normal operation. And with it, there would be the broadcast.

  He had seen it before. They had taken five tries. In the end, Berhe AI, heavily edited the whole thing until it was as much the AI doing as the real rec.

  Exactly at zero, the pad chimed five times for the emergency broadcast. As did the other pad in Rerra's pocket and some more in Roberta's ft. And then Rerra appeared, barely reisable even to him. They had painted her with some brown spots. And they had filmed her from a low angle, so she looked rger and her breasts looked so much bigger (helped by the traption she had worn). Her strong arms were almost hidden.

  "Dear fellow cats, the fighting is over. We have all lost, and the station has barely survived. The monsters are dead or dying. As you probably noticed, power and circution have beeored. Water will take longer because of the chemical processing and purging, but everyone should have water tomorrow. If you are a maintenance worker, please help. For the oarving, Ketcher ic has agreed to provide food for anyone showing up." The Ketcher ic AI had written more or less the eext, and wahat line as early as possible. Now a cut, showing her profile as the take from another rec was used. "My name is Rerra, I worked at the shipyard when I was haemporary authorisation from Trina of Kerta from Samul after her mother was murdered. Soon followed but the deletion of the two station AIs. One of the AI's could be restarted, and my authorisation was restored with it. Such a random event should not decide our leadership. Therefore, I propose to elect a cil to which I will hand over my authorisation. Until midnight, you reply to this message with a full be ahe only dition is that it must be someone living in your sector. Who has dohe most for your unity? Be it someone of Samul, Ketcher, Petra, Kumar, Setersk, or less, be it cat or tomcat. You also propose yourself. But the name must be someone from the sector where the message was sent. So who do you think will be the best for you and us all? It is our future, so please send a name.

  "Anood news is that dog operation has beeored. For the moment, Roberta from Samul, a retired pilot, will run the operation. A shuttle is currently prepared on the p and will arrive in about 5000. Again, if you have worked in dog operation, security, or maintenance, please tact Bernie for further instrus.

  Cut and again low from the front. "And if you run a business or a shop, sider to open as quickly as possible. You are the lifeblood of the station. tact Bernie for repairs. Let's get this station running again. We are strong cats, we will get out of this strohan before."

  They stared at the text following the broadcast which summarized it in short and easy words. The transition was hard, even though the end had been strongly altered. Rerra had just not been able to say the final words with the grave vi that the video had shown.

  "It is done. Bernie, how many saw it?"

  "About half of pad registered o were online and would have shown it. I will run it on any pad newly joining the and send remio all non-repliers each 1000 until midnight."

  "I wish Trina and Fanny would be already here," she sighed.