Capellan power-cat
The field notes and personal logs from Briswald and Fitzmurdle’s time on Capella IV have unfortunately been lost. However, we do have in-field recordings of their observations of the Capellan power cat, transcribed herein.
Transcripts
December 31, 2114
Fitzmurdle: Sir, you should probably see this.
Briswald: What’s that, Fitzy?
Fitzmurdle: This is the behavior I mentioned earlier. Look, she just sticks her paw into the pond—
[sound of electric zap]
Fitzmurdle: —and see, all the fish rise dead to the surface. Now she can eat them at her leisure.
Briswald: Hmm.
Briswald: Hardly sporting, is it?
Fitzmurdle: The elementropic scan shows that there is a high concentration of copper, iron, and magnetic ore in the leaves of the mint that they’re eating.
Briswald: Interesting.
Fitzmurdle: It could just be a dietary supplement, but I wonder.
Fitzmurdle: This theory is a little far out there, but—what if they’re eating metallic compounds in order to attract and thereby collect electricity? Say, during a lightning storm?
[cry of anguish]
Briswald: Dratted grimalkin—look what it’s done to my boots!
Fitzmurdle: How is it that the cactus spines don’t hurt them at all?
Briswald: Now that’s what I call a thorny question!
Fitzmurdle: It’s a very intriguing behavior.
Fitzmurdle: I wonder if it’s a means of creating friction—rubbing against the cacti causes a buildup of static electricity. Could that be the source of their electric charge?
Briswald: So in that case, I guess we could call that cactus a power plant! Eh?
Fitzmurdle: Yes sir. It would be good for us to take a core sample and a few representative cactus spines back to the lab; we could rinse them in a sulfur bath to determine…
Briswald: I mean to say, he’s been lying in the sun for hours. This must be the key to it—solar collection!
Fitzmurdle: Solar collection?
Briswald: Specially-formed fur follicles, which can trap and harness the power of the sun.
Fitzmurdle: What makes you think that, sir?
Briswald: What other reason would they have for lazing about this way?
Fitzmurdle: Well, I think they might just be cats.
Other mentions: Kirk got zapped while attempting to tranquilize a power-cat (TAS)
