Virtually, A Cat

'''Nye, Jody Lynn. "Virtually, A Cat."' In Gateways''. Ed. Elizabeth Anne Hull. New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2010. "A Tor Book" festschrift in honor of Frederik Pohl. Pp. [285]-300.

On a long, stressful spaceflight, Ardway, "the finest astrogator in the service," really, really needs a cat companion before he becomes worse than useless. A mesh sensor suit, with complex feedback systems and "hooked up to the central computer" (292) eventually supplies virtual feline companionship. Electronic storage memory becomes an issue of plot and professionalism.

In addition to the VR pet, note the precursor technology in the "retrieval suit": "Unmanned spacewalks were another of the service's bright ideas to protect the fragile human beings in the crew from being exposed to radiation or accidents. The retrieval suit went out the airlock and acted as a kind of waldo while someone in the ship wearing the corresponding receptor-motivator unit felt everything the sit did, and saw everything the camera in the helmet did" (p. 289). Cf and contrast other uses of waldos as an SF motif: in Clockworks2 in these places; and in such standard on-line resources as Wikipedia. Cf. and contrast this peaceful technological application with various fighting suits.

3. FICTION, RDE, 03/VI/11, 6Jan19