Cordwainer Smith's The Game of Rat and Dragon first appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction
in 1955 and became one of the most beloved and anthologized
short-stories in all of science fiction - one prime reason: the central
role given to cats.
Cordwainer frames his tale thusly: When
ships travel well beyond our solar system, through far distant outer
space, they encounter strange creatures, invisible to the human eye,
called Dragons. Dragons will either kill humans or cause instant
insanity. Dragons are formidable foes that can only be destroyed by
intense light. Since Dragons move way too fast for human reactions, a
quicker, more perceptive creature is needed to sense their presence –
and this lightning fast creature is a cat.
The tale features
four pinlighters, humans who are capable, via a special headset
(Pin-set), to communicate telepathically with cats. Each pinlighter
partners with one cat and these four teams will protect a spacecraft,
the cats traveling alongside the ship, each in its own tiny capsule.
Then, after given the order from their teammate, a cat will fire a
stream of light (a kind of nuclear bomb) which, if successful, will
destroy a dragon.
Much of the charm of the tale derives from the
feelings each human has for their feline partner. Here the narrator
reflects on the relationship a pinlighter by the name of Underhill has
with his cat: “The Lady May was the most thoughtful partner he had ever
met. In her, the finely bred pedigree mind of a Persian cat had reached
one of its highest peaks of development. She was more complex than any
human woman, but the complexity was all one of emotions, memory, hope,
and discriminated experience – experience sorted through without benefit
of words.” As perhaps to be expected, toward the end of the tale, when
Underhill is in a hospital room, an attractive female nurse (back in the
1950s, nearly all nurses were women) isn't exactly thrilled about a
handsome man of adventure being more concerned about a female cat than a
woman.
And why the title The Game of Rat and Dragon?
Here's the answer: the unseen deadly force out there in deep outer space
is viewed as a dragon by humans but a rat by the cats. Which brings us
to a key philosophic issue: since the cats sense a rat and humans sense a
dragon, what is the true nature of this "something out there underneath space itself which was alive, capricious, and malevolent"?
Recognizing
this force labeled “alive, capricious, and malevolent" could turn out
to be our very first contact with an alien lifeform, might there be a
more creative and productive way of dealing with it? True, so far the
force has caused nothing but death and insanity but might this be a
consequence of humans invading their dimension of space? Perhaps
something like the Voyager 1 space probe could be sent. Just a thought.
And
what is the nature of a dragon? It entirely dependent on a particular
culture. In the medieval period in Europe, the dragon was likened to the
devil, a bearer of evil and death. Yet in China, as the author was
acutely aware, a dragon symbolizes good luck, strength, and health. With
this in mind, we might see Cordwainer Smith has given us a tale of
warning, cautioning humans that dealing with unseen, unknown forces in
the universe is all in the perception. Perhaps humanity would be wise to
view what we encounter in other worlds with humility and caution.
The Game of Rat and Dragon can be read online: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/29614...
American author Paul Myron Anthony Linebarger aka Cordwainer Smith, 1913-1966
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