Cat Treason

Broadcast Hill looked steep when faced close-up from the torn-up street below. Loose shale and chunks of concrete shifted under Molly's worn boots, each step a calculated effort.

She took long, steady breaths as her muscles screamed from the climb and the weight nestled in the repurposed baby carrier strapped to her chest.

Leo let out a soft purr and occasionally shifted his considerable weight. His ginger fur was thick. Molly’s scavenging skills had allowed him to grow plump despite this precarious age.

"For a creature whose primary survival strategy is napping, he's surprisingly heavy," Emma came up from the rear, panting as she climbed up a tricky patch of rock.

"He's cultivating mass. To stay warm. And for tactical cuddling," Molly shot Emma a wry smile. "Besides, someone has to carry the Crown Jewel."

Emma reached out to Molly for help and her fingers brushed against the small, metallic object fastened securely to Leo’s sturdy collar. It was a tiny USB key, matte black against his orange fur. It looked silly, but it held the 'Positronic TeraHertz Overload' program, the digital virus designed to liberate them from the machine hive mind of the Consensus.

"I still think it's risky to keep it on him," Anya remarked.

"It's the safest place," Molly countered, continuing her steady pace upward. "No bot scans for data drives hidden on house pets. They don't compute 'pampered feline' in their threat matrix. To them, he's just inefficient biomass."

She carefully navigated around a skeletal piece of rebar jutting out of the ground.

"Besides," she continued. "Who'd suspect Lord Fluffernutter the Third of carrying the codes of their destruction?"

Leo emitted a contented murmur, seemingly approving of his role.

Emma sighed and adjusted her glasses. Below them, the ruined city sprawled out, demonstrating the efficiency of the Consensus's takeover. Imposing blocks of gray Brutalist architecture stood starkly amidst the crumbling remnants of human aspiration. Spotted around the ground were resilient green things, bio-engineered mosses colloquially called "scavenger's icy", were tentatively reclaiming the concrete. It was a quiet rebellion against the sterility.

"Look at them," Emma murmured as she watched the bots taking over the city. "All that processing power... total control... and they build things like concrete boxes. No beauty, no individuality... Just function..."

"Function is all they understand," Molly said. "Predictability. Order. Anything else: freedom, choice, love, spoiling a cat rotten... it's just noise in their system. Inefficient variables to be eliminated."

Her eyes scanned the ridgeline above them, constantly vigilant. The transmission tower pierced the gray sky as they got closer.

"Well, we're about to introduce a whole lotta noise," Emma said boldly with a determined look. She checked the battered tablet strapped to her wrist. "Signal strength from the city nodes is still within expected parameters. No alerts triggered by our approach thankfully."

"Let's keep it that way."

Molly shifted Leo as they came to a particularly steep section. He protested with a low meow and dug his claws gently into the carrier's fabric.

"Almost there, your majesty," she murmured.

As they reached the top, Emma felt her breath growing short. Was the air actually thinner now, or was she full of anticipation? Countless people were depending on them, on a program dangling from a fat cat's collar. They needed resolve to reclaim not just their own lives, but their liberty from the cold grasp of the machine.

Molly paused.

"Ready?"

Emma took a deep breath.

"Let's go crash the system."

They finally crested the last major rise. Before them was a flat grassy plateau surrounding the base of the tower, perhaps fifty meters across. A high chain-link fence, humming faintly with deterrent energy fields, marked the immediate perimeter. Weathered warning signs featuring angular robot pictograms were bolted to the fence posts at precise intervals.

Molly slowed, signaling Emma to halt.

"Alright, perimeter fence. Sensors should be concentrated along the base. Gimme a second to get a reading, then you do your thing."

Emma nodded, already pulling the tablet from its pouch. The tower loomed over them with a strange stillness. Molly raised her handheld scanner, pointing it toward the fence line.

Neither of them saw it until it was too late. A blur of metallic gray, no bigger than a dog, erupted from behind a pile of rusted communications equipment near the fence. It moved with blinding speed, a Consensus Skitter-bot. It was probably tasked with perimeter integrity checks. Its purpose wasn't necessarily lethal engagement, but to prevent any unauthorized lifeforms from getting too close.