Ahh. Another school entry. Also found in my family's newsletter, in the form of an excerpt.
It was dark that night, but to avoid cliche, it was not stormy. No shots rang out, but tinkling glass did. If you are especially observant, you may even see the culprit: a rock. No one knew how much trouble the rock would cause.
The next day, N’keo padded into the museum, wondering what was happening in his domain. Yellow tape and humans in black with shiny badges surrounded his favorite sunning spot. He thought, ‘Either the humans are guarding my spot for me, or something is happening. Probably the latter, but one way to find out...’ He padded in and his guardian/feeder scooped him up. “N’Keo, someone broke your window. Here, curl up in this blanket.” His breath smelled funny. N’keo listened to the people talking: “Probably just a kid.” “Pretty big rock...” What’s that smell?” Then one of the officers stumbled and fell. N'keo jumped out of his warm nest and peered into the face of the downed human. One sniff told him the human was unconscious. As everyone else was rushing around getting first-aid supplies and talking into their little sound makers, N'keo jumped as hard as he could onto the human’s chest, swarmed up onto a stool and jumped again. One of the humans with the badges shouted "What the ****? Is that cat trying CPR?!?" A red and white van making annoyingly loud noises screeched to a halt in front of the museum. When humans with blue clothes ran in, the cat did two more jumps and then ran out of the way.
A few days later, N'keo heard the humans talking again: "So, apparently, he would have died if not for an unidentified substance." "Well... What kind of substance?" "Dander, of an unidentified variety." N'keo thought, 'Hmm... I wonder if I had the dander. The human who got sick was the only one to touch the rock, or get close enough to breathe in anything on it.’
The lab results were official: A new virus, found on the rock, was the reason the man had fainted. So far, five hundred more people had caught it. Only those in the museum who had handled N’keo, or those with cats, were safe. It was never lethal, though it was serious. No one realized it was the cats that kept them from the brink of epidemic.
N’keo was at a monthly meeting of cats. All of these cats were able to do something: N’keo could read five languages, two of them dead. Antlers could write, Mr. Claw could use a cellphone and had invented cat-friendly smartphones. NTFS (Don’t ask.) could use a human computer. Bubbles the kitten had access to a laboratory, and knew how to use it (Information gleaned from a past life - he had six to go.). This team could combat any threat not holding a gun or a salmon net. Bubbles had a personal vendetta against salmon nets. Her sharp claws would rip one to shreds in an instant.
Bubbles reported that the mystery dander had been positively identified as cat. This meant that cat dander was the key. Now, they just had to find the culprit: Someone with a lab, and access to volcanic rocks in the wild. The rock had microorganisms that would die quickly if the rock had been stored without the virus. The microorganisms could survive darkness, but their food could not. So, the microorganisms would die. The virus, however, gave the food supply a way to stay alive.
NTFS found three laboratories capable of making the virus. Only one would be in range for the virus to survive in the numbers found: the one at Black Rock, Nevada. NTFS, using a synthesizer, and Mr. Claw made the arrangements via phone. Bubbles, N’keo, and Mr. Claw would fly to Nevada, and would be picked up by a friend of the museum director. There, they would be driven to Black Rock. Then they could investigate.
In Black Rock, the trio found something: The lab was giving out free rocks. When Bubbles examined a rock, it was a carrier for the correct virus. The search was coming to an end. The lab was used by only one person: Mel Douberman. Mel was later found under a salmon net with a note explaining where to find evidence against her. A vaccine was found using an oil found on cats and cat dander. The Feline Five detectives had found the solution, though preferred to stay hidden as one of the world’s best-kept secrets.
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