02

My senses, not yet adjusted to the new reality, did not want to reveal to me the secrets of my new life at once. Like a blind kitten, I tried to recognize the world by touch, and I paid for it immediately when I bumped my nose against another egg. It was of the same marvelous material, slippery and fleshy. I examined it as closely as I could, shaking my head in surprise. I didn't remember such eggs in my past life.

- Myar... - I reflexively tried to growl or mumble, but the pain quickly stabbed at my throat. I decided to rest for a while and catch my breath. There was no point in going anywhere, so I lay down by the egg I'd found. It seemed to be the right decision, and so little by little the noise disappearing in my ears began to seem less nasty, my sense of smell was slowly coming back to normal, and the picture before my eyes was becoming clearer by the second.

"What kind of animal am I?" - I asked myself the question that had been tormenting me since I was in the egg. - "I hatched from a strange egg, I have at least five limbs, strange black fluff covering my whole body, and antennae on my nose."

But the more I thought and thought about it, the more absurd the options became and the more implausible they were, but suddenly my measured thinking was interrupted by a new series of crackles and pops.

The sound came from the egg in front of me. At one point it began to swell, and then, like a peel, the egg wall began to spread, falling off in pieces in places. When it had completely disintegrated, I was able to get a glimpse of my fellow man. Unfortunately, the surrounding almost impenetrable shadow and my still blurred vision made it hard for me to see him properly. After gathering my strength, I got up on my trembling limbs and came closer, almost close enough to see in front of me... A kitten?

Before my eyes appeared a kitten curled up in a ball with pure white fur and blue eyes, which often-blinking, he was trying to make out his surroundings.

- Nya? - Seeing my figure, he meowed sweetly and scooted toward me. I don't know how, but with a jerk he fell out of the egg, landing successfully right on my sluggish body, causing my already not strong legs to shake. It's an oil painting - just born and already crushed by someone's furry ass.

- Sheesh. - Naturally, oriented on the appearance, I tried to express my displeasure by hissing in a feline way. My tail, as if it understood my displeasure, began to sway from side to side. It looked as if I were beating my fellow villain with it, smacking his insolent face, and the kitten whimpered and slid off me, finally releasing me from captivity.

"Wussy." - I gritted my teeth, preparing to bite him, but when I saw his hurt and naive look, I instantly cooled down. Instead of hurting the innocent kitten, I stroked him with my paw, expressing my concern. Taking a closer look at my limb, I noted that it did resemble a cat's paw. - "So I became a cat? But why did we hatch from eggs? Are these some sort of peculiar, contrived over-advanced biological incubators?"

Convinced of my appearance, I began to speculate based on the data I already had. At the same time, I kept in my head the idea that whatever I was thinking, it could still be drastically different from reality, so there was no need to build premature illusions or hopes.

It's not a fact that I'm even on my home world and not on some Mars or spaceship in the distant future.

Without feeling the seemingly logical panic or confusion for this situation, I was abnormally calm. Perhaps I was emotionally burned out, or perhaps, like all cats, I had simply become complacent about life.

After I finished pondering my emotional state, I began to wiggle my face around again. As my sensory organs, especially my eyes, began to perceive the world even better, I was able to make out the outline of a few more eggs on the sides. They, too, decided to keep up with us, slowly swelling up.

Cracks. Crackles.

Their shells cracked, and one by one, my brethren began to emerge into the light. I had already, more or less, gotten the hang of walking on my own paws, and began to walk over, peering in and inspecting each egg. In response, the other kittens, as if following some algorithm laid down in them, started throwing themselves at me at my appearance.

"What a violent family I have, huh? No sooner had they been born than they jumped on me. Were they in their previous lives more the cubs of the Alien from the movie of the same name? Where did this behavior come from? - By the way, none of them managed to fell me like the first fellow, who, not realizing what to do next, began to follow me on my heels, copying my movements. But just as quickly he lost enthusiasm for it and, having broken away, switched to our younger ones, sniffing them.

By the way, he learned to walk on his feet much faster, and now he's pontificating about it. Grr.

Upon inspection, I found that we were in a dark room, within which our strange fleshy eggs were located. Along with my egg, there were six eggs in all. And five of them had already revealed to the world new intelligent and not at all blind kittens, as we should be, in the first days of our life. The babies have already begun to explore our surroundings.

What was surprising about my fellow kittens was that each of them had their own unique and uniform coat color. I was also surprised that I could recognize the sex of my youngest only by smell:

White with bright blue eyes, brown with dark brown eyes, and I were cats. I exhaled a sigh of relief when I was convinced on my count.

The redhead with green eyes and the sandy colored one with gray eyes were cats.

Driven by curiosity, I approached the only unhatched egg, which, though belatedly, was also beginning to signal. I eagerly sat down next to it, waiting to see who would hatch and what color coat he or she would have.

BOOM. BOOM.

The egg began to throb weakly, as if preparing to hatch, but as time went on, the throbbing grew weaker and weaker, and the shell was still reluctant to open to reveal our new sibling to the world.

"I guess the cub doesn't have the strength to get out!" - I guessed. Of course, it was more logical and natural not to interfere and let the newfound predator pass or fail natural selection on its own.

It would be a mercy in a way, if the cub is unable to hatch, then it is obviously weak, which means that even once hatched, it is not a fact that its life will be normal, perhaps it will be more like torment....

"Hrr, whatever happens!" - Determined, I lifted my soft ass and approached the egg to dig my claws into the shell and in one motion tear the fleshy shell, giving my fellow access to air.

- Me! - A gray head, with the same gray eyes, came out of the hole formed after my intervention.

"And the little one is our sister!" - I calmly stated, and after a few movements helped her to the end to get out of the egg. She had not yet had time to crawl out, but already clung to me with her little claws and began to rub herself against me. Apparently thanking me for saving her.

"Oh, what's with all the calf tenderness, huh?" - I thought irritatedly, but I did not pull out, because I did not want to inadvertently hurt the younger one, who was the smallest of us, and gray fur, with the same big gray eyes only emphasized her weakness and fragility. Willingly, I wanted to protect her.

"That's it. You've been lying down and that's enough, it's time for you to meet the family. Hmm, it looks like they have something going on there," I thought and gently pushed the little sister with my body, symbolizing that it was time to get off, not hang like a baby koala.

The baby turned out to be understandable and, hesitantly unhooking herself, sank down on her paws. At last she wiggled her muzzle on my fur, apparently showing her sympathy, and timidly moved forward, clinging to me.

I, seeing that she hadn't quite figured out the controls yet, walked slowly, supporting her from the side and guarding her from a possible fall. As we walked toward the rambunctious kittens, I thought about how ironic the world is.

Paul Kotov was reborn as a cat in his new life. Heh.