John Scalzi - Fuzzy Nation

Fuzzy Nation is dedicated to the following:

To Mary Robinette Kowal, a good friend and even better writer;

and

To Ethan Ellenberg, who did more work to make this happen than either of us expected. His efforts are greatly appreciated.

The author additionally bows deeply in the direction of H. Beam Piper, for the most obvious of reasons.

Authors Note

Fuzzy Nation is a reimagining of the story and events in Little Fuzzy, the 1962 Hugo-nominated novel by H. Beam Piper. Specifically, Fuzzy Nation appropriates the general story arc of Little Fuzzy, as well as character names and plot elements, and weds them to entirely new elements, characters, and events. Think of this as a reboot of the Fuzzy universe, not unlike the recent J. J. Abrams reboot of the Star Trek film series (but hopefully with better science).

Because Fuzzy Nation is a reimagining of, rather than a sequel to, Little Fuzzy, readers do not need to have read the Piper novel to enjoy this one. That said, it is the authors sincere hope that those of you who have not read Little Fuzzy will be inspired to do so; its a wonderful book, well worth the reading. Fuzzy Nation is not intended to supplant or improve upon Little Fuzzy, which would be impossible to do. It is simply a variation on the story, events, and characters established by Piper a half century ago.

JS

Contents

Chapter One

Jack Holloway set the skimmer to HOVER , swiveled his seat around, and looked at Carl. He shook his head sadly.

I cant believe we have to go through this again, Holloway said. Its not that I dont value you as part of this team, Carl. I do. Really, I do. But I cant help but think that in some way, Im just not getting through to you. Weve gone over this how many times now? A dozen? Two? And yet every time we come out here, its like you forget everything youve been taught. Its really very discouraging. Tell me you get what Im saying to you.

Carl stared up at Holloway and barked. He was a dog.

Fine, Holloway said. Then maybe this time it will stick. He reached down into a storage bin and hoisted a mound of putty in one hand. This is acoustical blasting putty. What do we do with it?

Carl cocked his head.

Come on, Carl, Holloway said. This is the first thing I taught you. We put it on the side of the cliff at strategic points, Holloway said. Just like I already did earlier today. You remember. You were there. He pointed in the direction of Carls Cliff, a massive outcropping of rock, two hundred meters high, with geological striations peeking out of the vegetation covering most of the rock face. Carl followed Holloways finger with his eyes, more interested in the finger than in the cliff his master had named for him.

Holloway set down the putty and picked up another, smaller object. And this is the remote-controlled blasting cap, he said. Which we attach to the acoustical blasting putty, so we dont have to be near the acoustical blasting putty when we set it off. Because thats boom . How do we feel about boom, Carl?

Carl got a concerned look on his doggy face. Boom was a word he knew. Carl was not fond of boom .

Right, Holloway said. He set down the blasting cap, making sure it was nowhere near the blasting putty, and that the cap receiver was inactive. He picked up a third object.

And this is the remote detonator, Holloway said. You remember this, right, Carl?

Carl barked.

Whats that, Carl? Holloway said. You want to set off the acoustical blasting putty?

Carl barked again.

I dont know, Holloway said, doubtfully. Technically it is a violation of Zarathustra Corporation safe labor practices to allow a nonsentient species member to set off high explosives.

Carl came up to Holloway and licked his face with a whine that said please please oh please .

Oh, all right, Holloway said, fending off the dog. But this is the last time. At least until you grasp all the fundamentals of the job. No more slacking off and leaving all the hard work to me. Im paid to supervise. Are we clear?

Carl barked once more and then backed off, tail wagging. He knew what was coming next.

Holloway glanced down at the detonators image panel and checked, for the third time since he placed the charges earlier in the day, that the detonator was keyed specifically to the blasting caps placed into the charges. He pressed the panel to answer YES to each of the automated safety questions and waited while the detonator confirmed by geolocation that it was, in fact, safely outside the blast radius of any charges. This could be overridden, but it took some hacking, and anyway, Holloway preferred not to blow himself up whenever possible. And Carl was not so fond of boom .

CHARGES SET AND READY, read the detonator panel. PRESS PANEL TO DETONATE.

Okay, Holloway said, and set the detonator on the skimmer floor between him and Carl. Carl looked up expectantly.

Wait for it, Holloway said, and swiveled around in his chair to face the cliff. He could hear Carls tail thumping excitedly against a crate.

Wait for it , Holloway said again, and tried to spy the places on the cliff he had drilled into earlier in the day, using the skimmer as a platform while he inserted and secured the charges into the drill holes.

Carl gave a little whine.

Fire! Holloway said, and heard the dog scramble forward.

The cliff puffed out in four spots, spewing rock and dirt and hurling vegetation for meters. The cliff face darkened as the birds (which is to say, the local flying animal equivalent to birds) that had been nesting in the cliff faces vegetation took to the air, alarmed by the noise and sudden eruptions. A few seconds later, four closely spaced cracks snapped the air in the skimmers open cockpit, the sound of the explosions finally reaching Holloway and Carlloud, but without the Carl-worrying boom .

Holloway glanced over to his right, where his information panel lay, sonic imaging program up and running. The sonic probes hed placed on and around the cliff were spewing their raw feed into the program, which was collating and combining the data, turning it into a three-dimensional representation of the internal structure of the cliff.

All right, he said, and swiveled around to look at Carl, who still had his paw on the detonator, tongue lolling out of his mouth.

Good boy! Holloway said, and dug into the storage bin to pull out a zararaptor bone, still heavy with meat. He unwrapped it from its storage film and tossed it at Carl, who fell on it happily. That was the deal: Press the detonator, get a bone. It had taken Holloway more than a few tries to get Carl to press the detonator accurately, but it had been worth the effort. Carl had to come on the surveying trips anyway. Might as well have him be useful, or at least entertaining.

Now, it really was a violation of Zarathustra Corporation safe labor practices to let a dog blow things up. But Holloway and Carl worked alone, hundreds of kilometers from ZaraCorps local headquarters on-planet and 178 light-years from its corporate headquarters on Earth. He wasnt technically a ZaraCorp employee anyway; he was a contractor, just like every other prospector/surveyor here on Zara XXIII. It was cheaper that way.

Holloway reached down and rubbed Carls head affectionately. Carl, engrossed in the raptor bone, paid him not the slightest bit of mind.

An urgent beep came from Holloways infopanel. He picked it up to see that the data feeds were suddenly spiking through their bandwidth.