Chapter 7 Chapter Seven Dangerous!Invasion of furballs!

Something poked his nose and Holloway woke up. With his eyes still closed, he waved a hand across his face. "Come on, Carl," he said.Then immediately fell asleep again. stamp. Holloway snorted twice, rolled over and buried himself under the covers, away from his annoying poking dog. stamp. Now it started poking him in the back of the head.Holloway grunted angrily and waved to pat Carl, only to feint. stamp. At the same time as this poke hit the back of the head, a thought crossed Holloway's sleepy brain, which seemed to be stuffed with cotton candy: since when did Carl, a face licker, poke people?It was a short while before Holloway realized what this meant.

Now Holloway yelped in terror, jumped out of his hammock, and landed in the space between the hammock and the wall.Half of his body was still hanging on the bed, and he tugged the bed and rolled over, almost hitting the ground. Fortunately, the pillow fell out to block it, otherwise he would have a hole in his forehead. The furball, standing on the edge of the original position of the hammock, watched with interest.When the disaster finally settled, it looked at Holloway and winked at him. "Jesus!" Holloway called to the little fellow, "how did you get in here?" how did it get inHolloway looked up at the window above where the hammock had been. It was tightly shut, as were the other windows in the cabin.The door was also closed.There's no way for this little furball bastard to get in unless...

"Carl!" Holloway yelled, looking out of the sleeping compartment into the cabin. Carl peeked out from behind the desk, doing the trick I'd better not look him in the eye that he was good at. "You let the little thing in, didn't you?" Holloway asked. "You let it swagger in through your dog door, honestly admit it." Karl wagged his tail guiltily and apologized, and hid. "It's outrageous," Holloway grumbled.He looked down at the little furball, which seemed quite calm, unconcerned about the domestic disputes that erupted around him. Something beeps.Holloway looked around and found the information panel dropped next to the bedside table in the messy cubicle.He used it to consult survey reports before bed.Right now it says someone is calling.Holloway picked up the message board, tapped it, and switched on audio-only mode.

"What is it?" he said. "Jack?" Isabelle said, "Sorry, did I wake you up?" "I'm up," Holloway replied, looking at the furball. "Jack, is that video you gave me real?" Isabel asked. "What?" Holloway asked. "I mean, did you shoot this video? Didn't you find it online or somewhere?" Isabel asked again. "I did it," Holloway said. "You should recognize my cabin, Isabel." "I know, sorry," Isabelle said, "it's just... Jake, whatever creature is on the video, no one has ever seen it before."

"It's up to you," Holloway said.At this time, the little fur ball was bored watching Holloway, and began to wander around the house, as if it was the owner of the house. "Even there is nothing similar in the database." Isabel said, "Of course it doesn't mean anything. The Zara Group has always done things only to meet the minimum requirements of the exploration and mining regulations, and they only focus on intelligent creatures." "Aha," said Holloway.The little fur ball swayed to Carl's side, reached out to Carl's nose, and touched it.Carl wagged his tail and gave Holloway another guilty glance.

"You understand, you traitor," said Holloway. "What?" Isabel asked. "It's all right," said Holloway, "I'm talking to Carl." "I mean there's no data for this creature in the database either," Isabel went on, "we have data for several mammaloids, mostly rodents. There's also a flying animal that's pretty close to mammals. But nothing like this. How big is the animal, Jack?" Holloway looked at the little one, who was heading towards the kitchen. "About a cat, if you ask me," he replied. "Big cat. About the size of a standing Maine Coon."

"So it's mainly bipedal, according to your observations," said Isabel. The furball was climbing up a chair by the kitchen table. "I think so." "That's very unusual, too," said Isabelle. "Apart from the flying creatures, the other mammals found here were quadrupeds. Did you see it use its hands? Did it show any significant signs of bimanual dexterity?" The hairball is now standing on the chair, reaching up with its hands up, and then grabbed the edge of the kitchen counter, stretched it flexibly, and climbed up. "A few," said Holloway.

"Do you know how unusual this animal is, Jack?" said Isabel. "I know now," Holloway said.The furball has now reached its destination - Holloway's plastic cover covering the fruit.Holloway walked from the bedroom to the kitchen in two steps in three steps. "At least you sound excited." "Of course," said Isabelle. "The fauna here is mainly reptiles, and finding a large mammal like this one, which has never been seen before, is a big deal. Very important. It doesn't just happen by accident." .” "Looks like you've hit your luck at last," said Holloway, deliberately repeating what Isabel had said to him the last time they met.He goes to the kitchen.The little fur ball looked at him, and then at the fruit cover, as if saying "Help me get it, okay".

"Not yet," said Isabelle.She didn't notice the depth of Holloway's words. "It's not that I don't believe you, Jack, but your security footage can be easily faked." "I didn't fake it," said Jack.He removed the cover from the fruit. "I know you don't." Isabel said, "That's not what I meant. I meant that this video cannot be used as evidence. The video is too easy to manipulate. The security level of this video is not enough. If I submit this video as evidence, I would be taken as a joke." The little furball reached out to the fruit bowl, and grabbed a pendi with both hands. "What do you say then?" Holloway asked.

"Jack, do you think the creature is still in that area?" Isabel asked. "I mean, is it still around?" The little furball came over with Pendy in his arms and put it in front of Holloway. "Probably," said Holloway. "I want to come," said Isabelle. "What?" said Holloway.This sentence made him ignore the little furball. "For a second it seemed like you actually said you wanted to come here." "Yeah," Isabelle said. "You," said Holloway in a pause, "come here. Come to me." Isabel sighed. "Jack—" she was about to go on.

"Wait, no," Holloway said. "Instead of coming to me, you have to stay with me. You can only stay with me, unless you are willing to keep company with lizards." "Do you think this is fun, Jack?" said Isabelle. "A little bit," said Holloway. The furball leaned over and poked Holloway sideways to get his attention.Holloway looked over.What are you doing?He silently mouthed the little guy. The little furball lifted the Bendy and put it down, then looked at Holloway with obvious impatience on his face.Holloway suddenly remembered that the last time he gave the little guy a pendi, it was chopped.The little one is waiting for its slice yet. "You aggressive fellow," Holloway said.He reached for the knife from the drawer. "I thought you'd be willing to help me, Jack," Isabel said, "because you gave me that video first." Holloway realized that Isabel thought he was speaking to her. "I'm sorry," he said, "that didn't mean what you thought." He put down the board and went for the Pendy. "Listen, Jack," Isabel said, "I know we had a bad breakup, and I know you're mad at me. I admit I was wrong. But I thought it was all over and we could be friends. Real friends , not a 'polite in public' friend. Right? As a friend, I ask you to do me a favor this time." "As a friend," Jack said.He cut Pendi into quarters, handed one piece to the fur ball, put the rest on the counter, and went to the sink to wash his hands.The little furball looked at him, and seemed to have a strong interest in the faucet. "I hope that's not too much to ask," said Isabelle. "It might be a really important discovery. Taking a step back, it's important to me. I hope it means something to you." While Isabel was talking, Holloway reached into his cupboard, took out a small bowl, took water from the sink and handed it to the furball.The little thing squatted down to drink from the bowl, sipping with a pout like a human, not a lick like a cat or dog. "This little animal is really interesting," he said. "Then—" said Isabel. Holloway returned his attention to the message board. "Of course you can come, Isabel," he said. "I'm glad to see you. I haven't thought about where you'll sleep. But I'll be glad to see you." "Thank you, Jack," Isabel said. "Don't worry, you won't feel my presence at all." Holloway couldn't help laughing.I deeply doubt it.he said to himself. He turned back to look at the fur ball again, it had finished drinking the water.Holloway thought it was time for the little one to eat fruit, but he ran to pick up a piece of pendi and carried it, the previous one was tucked under his arm.Then, it sat down on the edge of the kitchen counter, its legs and feet tugged on its furry buttocks, and jumped down.When it landed, a piece of Bendi fell to the ground without grasping it firmly.The little guy quickly picked it up and set off towards the gate. "When do you want me to come?" Isabel asked. "What?" said Holloway, distracted by the furball. "When is it convenient for me to come to your place?" Isabel said. "I don't want to disrupt your schedule." "When would you like to come?" Holloway asked.At this moment, the little furball had already walked to the door and stood aside, as if waiting for someone to open the door.It coughed.Holloway took the information board and walked towards the door, but Carl, who was sitting, got up from the desk first. "To be honest, I want to come over in the afternoon." Isabel said, "but I still have things to finish here." "I thought you had nothing to do lately," Holloway said.Carl had run to the dog door and crawled through it.After its front legs went out, the little fur ball squeezed under Carl's body and went out, followed by the dog's hind body. "I was fine," Isabel said, "and then apparently someone discovered a large sunstone mine, and they asked me to prepare a bio-impact report twice as fast." "Sorry," said Holloway, walking towards the door. "You should say sorry," said Isabelle, "because the biological and environmental impacts would be enormous. The mining sector here submitted an ecological exception request to CEPA. They wanted to excavate that formation as fast as they could. It would be a disaster , they wanted me to sign the request." "Will you sign?" Holloway asked. "I don't think I have a choice," Isabelle said. "The area they want to mine doesn't have any rare and unique jungles. The biome scans I did in the area and the robotic sampling didn't turn up unusual species. The Zara Group will excavate the area with impunity, claiming that any damage caused by mining can be restored by replanting or transplanting jungle from elsewhere, which is of course a formality.” Holloway stepped out of the cabin door.Carl sat by the door, wagging his tail lazily.Holloway walked up to it and patted it on the head.The little furball scurried under a thorn tree, the last time Holloway had seen it go from there. "In short, the ecological special case request requires additional workload." Isabel continued, "I will complete it as soon as possible, but I estimate that it will take at least three days for me to come out, and it may take four days." "I'm fine after four days," Holloway said. "Okay," Isabel said, "I'll see you then. Don't have any major biological discoveries until then, okay?" The little furball looked up at Thornwood, and opened its mouth.It made a soft, coughing noise, just as it had done at the door.The leaves of the thornwood fluttered a few times, and four balls emerged from under the leaves, small and fluffy, like cats.They saw the little fur ball and slowly climbed down. "I'm not sure," Holloway said. "You're always so awkward," Isabel said. "I thought you liked me that way," said Holloway. "I don't really like it," Isabel said. "You could tell me sooner," Holloway said. "I'm pretty sure I told you," Isabel said. "Oh," Holloway responded, "I'm sorry." At this moment one of the new furballs had crawled up to the little guy Holloway knew.It looked like the two little furballs touched their foreheads lightly, and then the one Holloway knew picked up a pendi, broke it in half, and handed one half to the new kid.Then it gave a piece to each new furball that came down.In a blink of an eye, the newcomers were chewing pendi to their heart's content. "I'll forgive you this time, because you've done me a great favor," Isabel said. "Thank you," Holloway said. "I'll call you before I come," Isabel said. "No problem," Holloway said. "I know you bought necessities when you came to town, but do you need me to bring you anything else?" Isabel asked, "For example, did you forget to buy something?" Now the little ones have finished eating the fruit and are looking at Holloway and Carl curiously.Cal wags his tail ingratiatingly at the new visitor.traitor.Holloway said it again in his mind.Carl's ability to read his master's mind seems to be temporarily disabled for now. "I'd like some pendi," said Holloway. "No problem," Isabel said. "How much do you want?" "Don't know," Holloway said, staring at his new guest, "Take as much as you can."