Long after extensive human settlement of the galaxy, spaceship crews comprise humans and cats. The "barque cats" control vermin, find gas leaks, and perform other tasks in spaces too small for humans. A barque cat and its keeper have unusual rapport; the trained cats and their pedigreed kittens are exceptionally valuable. Fully telepathic bonds of some barque kittens and humans, or cat--human telepathy, appears in the first novel. At the same time, cats and other animals are impounded, tested, and executed in a Galactic Government operation to control an epidemic.
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