• Here's an index to help you with terms:

    Kin: A group of cats starting with a mated pair that over time blossoms into a massive extended family.

    Great Ceremony: A large, annual gathering of cats that include various activities:
    Trading of Young: Where newly matured cats from different kins are auctioned off to mate with another cat in another kin.
    Naming of Kits: Where young kits receive their names.
    Telling of Stories: Where the oldest cats, usually Kin Leaders, tell tales of great hunts, adventures, and even humorous encounters.
    Time of Friendship: A sort of social time where cats are allowed to talk, play and form friendships with others.
    Great Feast: Each adult cat brings a piece of prey with them to share with the another cat. This time is used for eating food with one another.
    Song of Remembrance: All the cats get together to caterwaul a special song to remember the good times.

    Youngling: A kitten.

    Great Tree: The remnants of New Yorks cities skyscrapers, now covered on the inside and outside with vines. Each Kin has it's own Great Tree. Most of the interior rooms are used for hunting due to the sheer space.

    Great Ones: The faint memory of human, being portrayed as gods who cared for the cats before they disappeared, leaving the Great Trees. This is more or less true.

    Flyer: A mutation in genes that makes certain cats develop large membranes in between their front legs and back legs like a flying squirrel.

    Tenth: The tenth generation of kittens in a Kin. One will eventually be chosen to choose another tenth mate and start a new Kin.

    Sky Spin: One day.

    Blue Sky: Daytime.

    Black Sky: Night Time.

    Gray Sky: Noon.

    Orange Sky: Sunrise.

    Purple Sky: Sunset.

    Moon Change: Month.

    Riverstill: Winter.

    Vinebloom: Summer.

    Preybirth: Spring.

    Brownvine: Autumn.

    Vine Cycle: Year.


    Whisper of the Cockroach
    By Frenzy100


    Prologue:

    "This planet looks quite suitable."
    "Yes, these creatures will most certainly provide us enough fuel to last generations... Start the collection process."
    "Starting..."
    "Transmitting nanocollecters,"
    "Population collected four percent..."
    "Eleven percent..."
    "Twenty three percent..."
    "Fifty one percent..."
    "Seventy eight percent..."
    "Ninety nine percent..."
    "All the humans have been collected, sir."
    "Good. Let us go."
    "Wait, what about the domestic felines?"
    "What about them?"
    "We're picking up large brainwave activity from them. Is it possible these creatures could become sentient?"
    "Of course not. And even if they did, why would we care?"
    "I'm not sure... Let's set engines to maximum."
    "Do."

    Chapter 1:
    75 Years in the Future

    Right from the start he knew he was special. He had no official name yet, but he was different from the other kittens. He was a light brown tabby with glowing green eyes. It was easy to see the youngling was different as he stretched out for a nap. The little kit had strange flaps of skin between his front leg and back leg on both sides of his body. "It is completely normal," His mother, Feather, would say. "There are many cats with skin flaps."
    All the other younglings liked calling him "Stretchy," but he didn't mind. It was simply playful teasing, and he even used it as his own name so that people would have something to call him. Unfortunately the adults did not call him "Stretchy." His father, Cliff, would greatly disapprove, saying that it was not right to have a name before the Naming of Kits at the Great Ceremony. "If you want a name, you shall have to wait." He'd say. "The other younglings have no names, so neither should you."
    Stretchy still preferred his name.
    He and his brother loved to play on the thick, rigid vines that covered the play area, hopping from one to another, bouncing giddily over the big, woody loops and arches. They would climb the walls with smaller, greener vines, their tiny claws sinking into the long plants as they scaled the walls like cockroaches. They never went out side. Their mother said it was too dangerous, and for just a youngling, it certainly was. They could easily slip off the vines and drop into the abyss below. They entire kin lived in and on one of the humongous Great Trees, gigantic structures once made out of shiny stuff and very smooth, sparkling stone, now old and deteriorated. Some of the shiny stuff cracked and burst out of the holes they occupied in the sides of the monolithic tree and vines spread out over it, engulfing the trees in a green matrix of plants.
    Pigeons, rats, mice, cockroaches, and even an occasional bird of prey all shared the tree with the kins of cats, making it a perfect hunting ground. The trees stood in massive river that flowed past them and flooded their lower levels. Pieces of shiny rock and debris floated through the water, making it possible to cross carefully to other trees, including the Tree of Celebration, which was where the Great Ceremony takes place.
    Stretchy knew all this from the long stories his mother would tell he and his brother while they curled up in her soft belly. "I can't wait for the Naming Ceremony!" His brother squeaked as the two kits hopped along the vines, watching their cousins tussle on ground below them. "I bet I'll get a ferocious name like 'Fang' or 'Claw' or 'Fire!'"
    "With your fur you'll probably be named 'Dung!'" Stretchy teased.
    "Well if I'm 'Dung', then you're 'Dumbpileoffurwithflappythings!'" His scruffy brown pelted brother shot back.
    Stretchy gave an excited squeak. "That's not even a real name you dumb roach-brain!"
    The two kits fell off the arched vine wrestling each other to the ground. A dark gray adult named Soot sat in the corner of the room. He gave an amused purr as he watched the two brothers tussle about. "You know, the Great Ceremony is in one sun spin away." The dark colored male reminded them. The two kittens stopped their play-fight, eyes wide in excitement. For the rest of the day, the two younglings bounced around the Great Tree like flightless pigeons. It was not until Black Sky when the two kits curled up with Feather to sleep, yet Stretchy swore he could feel his brother vibrating against his side as the little tabby drifted to sleep.