“Hey, where you going?”


Amina stopped in the hallway and glanced at her room mate lounging in front of the television. “A date. I thought I’d mentioned that?”


The tabby cat looked suddenly more interested. “First I’ve heard about it. I thought you guys were all grown in vats or something.”


“We’re not grown in vats, we …” Amina trailed off mid protest. It was a joke. Of course Ty didn’t really believe that Pierrace rats were decanted out of vats, the feline just got a kick out of winding her up.


“Seriously though.” Ty got up from the sofa and came over, “Who is it, where did you meet, and why haven’t I met ‘em yet?”


“You haven’t met him ‘cause I haven’t either. We’ve talked over a dating site specifically for Pierraces and are going for some drinks at that restaurant on Farwood street.” She made a move towards the door to indicate that she would be late if she didn’t get going but Ty evidently had more questions.


“There’s a dating site for Pierraces? How does that work? Do you tell each other your product id and brag about genetic profiles?”


It was meant as another tease but this time the cat had come surprisingly close to the truth. “I don’t have a product id.” Amina replied, “But I put my parents’ ids on so anyone who looks at my profile can get a pretty good estimate at my genome if they want. I’ve certainly done some research on Liran’s.” She indicated towards the brown envelope she had tucked under one arm.


“Seriously? And you’re taking that on a date with him?” The cat shook her head in disbelief.


“Sure. That might seem weird to you but it’s pretty normal for us. Of course, we’ve only had a couple of decades to work things like this out so what counts as normal is still being settled upon.” She took advantage of Ty’s amazement to slip past and make it to the door. “I should be back later tonight, hopefully before hunting hours begins, so I’ll see you then.”


“Sure.” Ty seemed to have given up trying to fathom oddities of Amina’s dating tactics and was already going back to her sofa. “If he’s anything less than a perfect gentleman though, just give me a call and I’ll see to it that this is the very last date he ever goes on.”


“Ha. If he does turn out to be a ‘perfect gentleman’ then I doubt he’s going to be much use to me.” Amina shot back as she closed the door. Smiling and shaking her head she walked down the road to the bus stop. Despite living with her for the better part of two years now, she’d never quite managed to figure that cat out. When she had first signed the contract to live with her, she had expected the predator to be practically drooling over her any chance she got. Hunting law normally allowed predators to devour anyone who entered their home but it made a specific exception to allow prey species to safely sublet from them. Of course that exception only applied inside the house, it said nothing about Ty not being able to eat her should they meet outside during hunting hours.


At first she had been prepared for Ty to try and trick her into leaving the house after dark, or to be waiting for her on the doorstep if she ever found herself running late, but the feline had never shown even the least interest in doing so. Even when Amina had started to temp fate and deliberately come home after hunting hours the cat had always been sitting inside, apparently unaware or uninterested in the fact that she had just missed a chance to legally devour her room mate. As a member of a subspecies bred specifically to be the perfect prey, Amina couldn’t help but find that level of disinterest just a tiny bit insulting.


It wasn’t like Ty was squeamish about sapient prey. She regularly went hunting and brought home live mice and other rodents, and had no qualms about devouring them in front of Amina either. She just didn’t seem interested in making any attempt to eat the one rodent in her life who was always in easy reach and had been painstakingly bred and genetically engineered to be delicious. Technically, Amina knew she should be grateful for that and, in truth, she often was. Still, she couldn’t help but feel a little envious whenever Ty came home with some wriggly and tearful morsel to devour.


The bus pulled into the stop and Amina got on, flashing her student card at the driver in lieu of payment. Several heads, particularly the ones belonging to species with sharp teeth, turned towards her as she got on. That made Amina feel instantly better and she sauntered down the center of the bus, cheerfully showing off to the hungry preds. The effect was a little ruined when the bus started to move and she stumbled a little. Blushing but still feeling playful she picked a large silver furred wolf and swung herself into the seat next to him. “Hi.” she stated.


He gave her a look that suggested he didn’t really want to talk but still responded and introduced himself as Karos. “Nice to meet you, I’m Amina.” she continued. This time the only reply was a low rumbling from his belly. “Wow, sounds like you missed breakfast.”


He glared at her, well aware that she was deliberately teasing him and that, hunting hours still being five hours away, there was very little he could do about it. “S’okay, I’ll get something tonight.” he mumbled then turned to stare out the window.


“Hmm. Good luck with that.” He didn’t seem willing to talk any further so instead she leaned forward in her seat seemingly just to get a better look out the far window, but also to reveal the Pierrace company logo between her shoulder blades. It had taken them several generations of selective breeding and more than a little genetic engineering to get that marking to show up on all their products. The fact that the company had been forcibly disbanded just over twenty years ago could not undo all those centuries of hard work and, although she herself had never been part of their stock, she still had their brand embedded deep in her DNA.


Despite his efforts to stare out the window, the wolf couldn’t help himself from giving her a sideways glance and noticing the logo she was flaunting. Unfortunately she seemed to have pushed things a little too far. “Look feeder,” he growled, “there are plenty of other seats you can take. Go bother someone who actually thought letting your kind out of your pens was a good idea.”


Amina stood up quickly. She’d been teasing him certainly, but she hadn’t expected such an aggressive response. Sure there were still lots of people who disagreed with the government’s ban on breeding sapient prey as well as the move to grant the freed prey full citizenship. It had increased food prices, ended a lot of jobs, kick started a black market and, at least according to some people, led to over crowding and an influx of poorly socialized prey species. Still, the view was becoming an increasingly unpopular one, and it was unusual to hear it stated in such a public place as this.


Indeed, Karos’s outburst was already earning him dirty looks from most of the rest of the bus. From somewhere further down the bus a feline loudly announced that she would be perfectly welcome to sit by him if she wanted. Several other people agreed and others muttered between themselves while glaring at the wolf. “I … You know what?” he stood up as well and tried to push past her. “You can have the seat. I’ll get off at the next stop and catch another bus.”


“No! I’m sorry. I was deliberately trying to bother you. I’ll move and you can keep your seat.” she insisted. What had first started as a fairly innocent game was rapidly getting out of hand. Several people were already joining in against the wolf and telling her not to back down like that. Karos just glared at her and stormed off the bus the moment it pulled in to a stop. Gingerly, Amina retook her original seat and spent the rest of the bus ride in silence.


When the bus finally reached her stop and she half ran to get out. As much as the other passengers had been trying to help she would have felt more comfortable if they had just ignored her and the wolf. She shook away the guilty feelings by reminding herself that it was really his own fault for harboring such views, then walked down the street until she reached the restaurant.


It wasn’t hard to find her date, even if she had not seen his photo online, he was the only other Pierrace rat present. The Pierrace corporation had once bred several dozen strains of rat to suit different tastes but, once the laws had changed, it had been one of the few companies to refuse to shut down and continue operating in secret. Of course, having to keep their storage sites secret had led to some changes. It simply wasn’t profitable to keep a large number of different breeding sites running and the company had quickly sold off the majority of its less popular strains, wiping out entire subspecies, in order to focus on keeping the few most profitable strains hidden and productive. As such, almost all the freed Pierrace rats belonged to one of the five most popular groups.


Both Liran and herself were from the same strain. As such, they both had short black and white fur, very glossy and a single brown patch over their left eye. He had the same muzzle shape ah her as well, long but with a definite bluntness that was supposed to fit comfortably into someone’s jaws and be a particularly pleasant shape to swallow. Well, assuming this evening went smoothly, Amina could think of other ways that his muzzle could be put to a pleasurable use.


“Hey?” she headed towards his table, moving as gracefully as she could. “Are you waiting for someone?”


He jumped up immediately, greeted her, and pulled out one of the chairs for her to sit in. Amina’s seductive smile broke into one of genuine delight. The chivalrous gesture was charming and done with just a touch of self-consciousness that showed he was well aware of how outdated the action was but felt obliged to do it anyway. She accepted the seat and half expected him to follow through by kissing her hand. Instead he offered her the menu and then returned to his own seat. Amina blushed and pretended to study the meals in order to hide her cheeks, she could already tell that this was going to end with him attempting to pay for everything but, as long as he relented and split the bill in the end, that suited her just fine. Unfortunately, the evening only went downhill from there.


The conversation started well enough, he’d asked what she did and she’d told him she was studying art at the university. She’d returned the question and he’d told her that he had an office job in a software company. It was a fairly innocuous start, all of that information had been on their profiles anyway so neither of them were learning much new, then Liran had mentioned that one advantage of his job was that there was nobody in the office who was not a fellow rat.


“How is that an advantage? Surely a more diverse group is better at solving problems? At the very least, the larger species tend to come in useful when getting things off high shelves.” She had joked.


“No predators.” Had been his answer. “It makes it much easier to work as a team is nobody is licking their lips at anyone else or listening in to other people’s conversations to see if they are planning on staying out after hunting hours.”


Amina hadn’t really liked that answer. She didn’t feel that the added safety outweighed her own point. It also seemed to imply that most predatory species did nothing in their spare time but think up devious ways of hunting down their smaller coworkers. If anything she felt that many of the predators she worked with could have done with paying a little more attention to her. “Well you can’t really blame them for showing an interest.” she pointed out. “Particularly in us.”


“Urg, interest is fine but the place I worked before this was just teeming with slack jawed droolers.” Liran shuddered. “Seriously, you try getting any work done when the guy sitting next to you has made it perfectly clear that he would swallow you down the second you gave him a chance.”


Amina shrugged. “They’re preds, we’re prey. You can’t blame them for needing to eat.”


Already the pleasant mood had been ruined and it was becoming clear that another topic was needed if there was to be any hope of salvaging the evening. Liran, however, did not seem willing to let go of his position. “We are not prey! Back when that vile company was allowed to keep us like cattle that might have been all we were but we’ve come a long way since then.”


Amina hesitated before answering. For starters she had rarely heard another Pierrace rat speak of their company with that much hatred. While outsiders often talked about it as though they had saved all those unfortunate victims from being eaten, her parents and the few other Pierrace rats she had met had a slightly different story.


Life in the one of the company’s warehouses was not as bad as it was often portrayed. The term ‘warehouse’ might imply some barren space where crates of stock could be piled up but to the Pierrace company ‘warehouse’ meant a furnished, heated building with large windows and plenty of comforts. Admittedly those standards had slipped a bit once the company had been forced underground but that was hardly Pierrace’s fault.


Those old enough to have lived in the warehouses while the breeding of sapient prey had still been legal described it as fairly luxurious. After all, poorly treated meat wouldn’t fetch a very high price. They had been well fed and cared for. Books, games and entertainment had all been provided in the common area (although they did admit that the selection had been carefully limited to prevent anything subversive from getting in). Even before the law change had pushed their prices through the roof Pierrace rats had not been cheap and the company had always been willing to spend money on keeping their produce well looked after.


Of course there were down sides as well. The buildings were always heavily guarded and those that tried to escape would either be shot it the process or captured and sold at a discount as defective goods. Even those who stuck to the rules and caused no trouble would eventually have to take their turn as food, but was that really such a terrible price to pay?


Amina realized she had zoned out slightly and the conversation required her input if it wasn’t going to fall into an awkward silence. “Okay, so we’re not prey, at least, not yet. We’re still a prey species.” She told him, “Any time I go out after hunting hours I risk getting grabbed by some predator. I’d definitely be prey then.”


“There’s a difference.” he insisted. “If you go outside during hunting hours then you are choosing to take that risk. That’s nothing like spending your whole life as a prisoner while some company decides when is the most profitable time to sell you.”


A waiter came to their table and asked if they were ready to order. Amina couldn’t help but notice that the fox directed his question a little more to her than to her date. That meant he had probably overheard Liran’s less than friendly comments about predators and was hoping to avoid drawing too much attention to himself. She ordered one of the cheaper meals on the basis that it might be smaller. She was already having doubts that she would be staying here for long and it would be a shame to waste the food. Liran also picked something light and she suspected it might be for the same reason.


“If that’s the important difference then why are you worrying about predators giving you hungry looks?” she countered once the waiter was out of earshot. “They aren’t planning on locking you up or something. They’re just hoping that you might get careless around hunting hours and they might get a chance at a free meal.”


“It’s not the only difference.” Liran protested. “Only having to worry about being eaten during hunting hours is an improvement, it doesn’t mean that’s the best situation we could be in.”


Amina raised one eyebrow. “So what is the best situation? Get rid of hunting hours? Make it illegal for predators to eat anything that talks? Or are you suggesting we should round up all the carnivores and shoot them?”


“No!” he insisted. “I didn’t say that I had all the answers, just that I don’t like being treated as food.” He sighed. “Look, I’m sorry if I’ve come across as biased against preds. I like the team I work with, and do enjoy being in a group where I don’t have to worry about anyone wanting to eat anyone else. I also probably shouldn’t have mentioned how I feel about Pierrace. I know some people still remember it fondly but my father was an escapee. He got out just after the law changed and spent years campaigning for the government to actually do what it had promised and shut down the illegal warehouses. I guess a little of his view point rubbed off on me.”


“I see. My parents were both ‘rescued’ in a raid on one of those warehouses. I don’t think either of them were exactly happy to be free. Neither of them ever talked about the night of that raid but from what I have heard, about half the people in there lay down when the police ordered them to, and the other half just attacked. There weren’t many survivors from that second group. I don’t think either of them felt their freedom was worth what happened on that night.” she shrugged, “So I guess I get a good deal of my perspective from my parents too.”


The mood had calmed now. They were still a long way from the romanticism that the date had started with but at least the debate was less heated now. “Why attack?” Liran asked “The police were coming to help them.”


That almost made Amina laugh. “Most of them were happy in there. They got all their news from Pierrace, and it’s not like the company offered a fair and balanced debate on both sides of the issue. The warehouses were their homes. Everyone they knew had spent their whole lives in one or another. The people around them were their friends and family. All they knew was that a group from outside was coming to take all of that away from them. If Pierrace hadn’t put so much emphasis on obedience without question then there probably wouldn’t have been any survivors at all.”


Liran gave her a sympathetic look. “I guess. I still can’t see how even something like that could have made life as a prisoner seem the better choice though.”


“I’m the first Pierrace rat other than your family that you’ve ever spoken to, aren’t I?”


Liran nodded. “It’s not like there are that many of us in terms of the whole population.” he pointed out. “And my parents’ philosophy was always that we needed to get as far away from what had been done to us as possible. That meant socializing with the general rat population instead of staying in groups of other …” he hesitated for a moment before speaking the company name with distaste “Pierrace rats.”


Amina suspected that there might be another reason for avoiding the company of other Pierraces. For those who had grown up in the company warehouses, escape attempts were viewed as one of the lowest most untrustworthy things you could do. Once outlawed the rule had become even more strict. An escapee wasn’t just damaged merchandise or someone who had turned their back on the company and its way of life, even one escape meant that the entire warehouse would have to be abandoned and everyone moved to a new location. Even after the last warehouse was freed and the company had collapsed, that view had lingered. There was still a certain pride among some at how long it had taken for their warehouse to be discovered. Escapees, on the other hand, were rarely spoken of.


She decided not to mention that and instead pushed forward with her original point. “It wasn’t just that the raids were often extremely violent, there were a lot of other reasons that some people were happier before Pierrace fell. My parents had always known what their purpose was and what they were supposed to do when the time came. They knew they would die in the end but, like most others, they just accepted that. After the raid they suddenly had to find jobs. They had to find a house to live in and pay bills. They were expected to move away from the people who they had known all their lives and were suddenly dumped into a completely different world. Sure they were no longer going to be eaten when the company decided. Instead they could be eaten if they went outside during hunting hours, or forgot to pay their rent and were evicted. A lot more of died during their first year of freedom than Pierrace sold in even their best years.”


“But there was support for them.” Liran insisted. “Everyone who was freed was given money to pay for stuff like that. They were shown how to live in the real world without being spoon fed everything. It’s not like they were just thrown out on the streets and told to fend for themselves.”


“No. Of course they were given lots of help but, honestly, how good do you think the average person from one of those warehouses would be at dealing with money. If there is resentment among a lot of us, or even a wish that they could go back to how things were before, it’s because almost no amount of assistance or advice could have prepared them for the life they were suddenly thrust into. That and the fact that a lot of people expect us to all be incredibly grateful for the amount of money that had been spent on getting us free.”


The conversation was interrupted again by the fox returning with their meals. He looked even more uncomfortable than last time and quickly slid the plates on the table then vanished back to the kitchen as quickly as he could. Liran picked up his fork and prodded at the meal miserably. “So you’re saying that it wasn’t worth it?” he asked. “That my dad was wasting his time all those years and that everything would have been better if people had just let that company carry on with what it was doing to people?”


“No. I’ve never even seen the inside of one of those warehouses so I can only tell you what others have told me about life inside them. Personally I like my freedom. I like being able to go outside whenever I feel like it. I like being able to pursue my own interests and career. I like the fact that my life has no deadline and that if I do end up as somebody’s lunch it will be entirely my own fault. That said …” she turned in her seat and pulled the back of her shirt down to reveal the black and white P between her shoulder blades. “I am a Pierrace rat and I’m very proud of that fact. I am prey. A lot of work over a long period of time has gone into guiding and manipulating my genes to make me very well suited to that roll.” She turned back to the food, “The company’s name might not show up on any official records anymore but Pierrace still exists. I’m a part of it and it is a large part of my heritage.”


Liran considered that and for a while the two of them ate in silence. “I still think it is better to move away from the past.” He tried. “The company used to sell us as food. Surely we can escape that part without giving up out heritage?”


“Being food practically is our heritage.” she held up one paw. “Look, blunt nails. Any other subspecies of rat will have little claws instead but Pierrace wanted to make sure we wouldn’t be able to scratch their customers, either on purpose or by accident. It took them six generations to fully make that change. A huge amount of time and work went into making sure that my fingers came out that way. It’s part of who I am and personally I don’t think you can separate the reason my claws are designed that way from the rest of me.” She took another bite of food. “If you really want to escape from the nasty parts of our history then why were you on a dating site for Pierraces in the first place? If you found someone from pretty much any of the other subspecies then, within a few generations, your descendants would be back to having pointed nails and Pierrace’s ‘evil’ changes would have been lost. Isn’t that pretty much what you said about your parents wanting to socialize with the general rat population instead of just Pierraces?”


“I guess? I suppose I thought that it would be better to find someone else who’d been through something similar. I thought that a different subspecies wouldn’t really understand what being a … well a Pierrace … was like.” Amina opened her mouth to speak but paused to try and word her next comment a little more tactfully. Fortunately Liran, beat her to it. “I guess what I’ve learned so far is that I’m the one who doesn’t know what that’s like.”


“To be fair, I’m only one person. If you want to get a better understanding of our subspecies you should probably speak to a few others as well. Still, I think you should probably do a little more research into our history first.” She suggested.


“Mmm.” He agreed. “And what about you? If you think that the best way to get rid of stuff like these nails is to mix with the other subspecies then why were you on that dating site?”


Amina gave a slightly exasperated sigh. “I already told you. I’m proud of being a Pierrace. I like my nails as they are. I like knowing that centuries of work has gone into perfecting my design. It’s my heritage and I want to be able to share it fully with my children.”


“But … surely it’s a blatant disadvantage? Other rats have pointed nails because it improves their grip while climbing, we have flat ones so that we can’t defend ourselves against predators. If the only thing that distinguishes our subspecies from the others is that we make better food, then why would you want to pass that on to your children? Surely we need to change or be wiped out?”


“Perhaps, but ask yourself this; when was the last time you, or any other rat you know, did any climbing? Then consider what your chances of survival would be if a predator actually got hold of you during hunting hours. Would having pointy nails improve your situation all that much? Finally, you said you work in an office with lots of other rats, who’s nails are the best shape when it comes to typing?” She pushed her empty plate away and smiled. “The world is always changing, what was an advantage yesterday is not guaranteed to be of use tomorrow. Maybe my path is a dead end and without the company to protect us all Pierrace rats will eventually be wiped out, but if we stick together I think we have a chance. On the other hand, if we all decided to breed with the other groups until our differences were completely gone then the Pierrace rat will be gone for certain.”


Liran looked skeptical. “Nails perhaps, but can you name any other cases where being bred as food gives us any kind of advantage?”


“Sure. We’re disease resistant for a start. Pierrace wanted to be able to store large populations in as little space as possible so they bred us with pretty good immune systems. You can even find data on it if you look through the company’s paperwork. They used to keep track of practically every cough or sneeze from every rat in every warehouse. The more often you were sick the lower your chances of being selected as a breeder would be. Most other subspecies are still adapted to conserving resources which hasn’t been much of an advantage since the stone age. We have a faster metabolism and so we have to eat more but because of that we are a lot less likely to get ill. That seems like a good trade off to me.”


“Still not convinced?” she continued, “You’re probably not going to like this one, but there’s also a lot of evidence that we were bred to be more compliant and cooperative. Pierrace wanted to be able to keep lots of us in a single building so they needed people who could get along and not start fights. They wanted us to follow any instructions given by their guards so obedience was rated quite highly when choosing the breeders. They also wanted prey that would be meek and submissive when brought out to a buyer and there’s a few very interesting papers on genetic engineering and neurology that suggests they were making good progress with that as well. Of course it’s difficult to say how effective the results of this were compared to the more visible stuff like the nails and logo, particularly when you consider that our parents’ generation didn’t exactly have a typical upbringing, but I’d be willing to bet that, on average, we are one of the more cooperative subspecies out there.”


“That’s all kind of incidental stuff though. They weren’t trying to make us better adapted to society.” he gave a little eye roll to indicate how skeptical he was that their attempts had had any real effect on his behavior but Amina could tell that the idea of being influenced by such a hated entity had unnerved him more than he would admit. “Do you really think that a few things that had accidental benefits will outweigh the fact that we were bred specifically to be tasty?”


“Being tasty might be more of an advantage than you’d think.” Amina suggested. “You might not have noticed it in your all-rat office but the fact that we are appealing as prey often gets us preferential treatment. Yes, if a predator finds you outside during hunting hours and there is another rat present then being the tastier of the two will do you no favors. But if you and that other rat both applied for a job, the interviewer might lean towards the one that most appeals to their appetite. They might find it distracting at the time, most predators actually like to be around plump and tasty looking prey.”


“That’s terrible.” Liran protested. “I can see that it might work but it’s still an unpleasant way of behaving.”


“I didn’t say I was advocating it.” Amina added quickly. “I wouldn’t want to think I got a job or something based on how I looked, but you wanted to know whether our subspecies could survive. That’s a factor.”


Liran pushed his empty plate into the center of the table beside hers. “I guess so.” He hesitated for a moment. “So, um … I get that this evening hasn’t exactly gone to either of our plans, but do you want to get some dessert?”


“Sure. We might not have found much common ground so far, but that doesn’t mean I’m not having fun.” She flipped open the menu and scanned the items. After both of them had made their choices, Amina waved the fox over again and ordered.


“So …” Liran struggled for a moment to come up with a safer conversation topic. “What exactly led you to pick my profile on that site. There must have been a lot of others, why me?”


“Sorry, but you’re not going to like the answer to that one.” Amina gave him a half apologetic grin then reached under her chair and pulled out the brown envelope. “You put your parents’ id numbers on the site, right?”


“Yeah?” Liran looked confused, “You have to enter either an id or the id of a relative in order to sign up. I assumed it was something to do with checking that I really was a Pierrace and weeding out any pretenders.”


“I think it’s more to do with preventing any accidental incest.” Amina replied. “Before Pierrace was shut down everyone in a warehouse was just part of one big community. Nobody knew who they were actually related to but, as the company controlled who got to breed with who and they had extensive records on everyone’s genealogy, it didn’t matter much. Part of the reason all the company’s records were put online was so that individuals could check their relatives and make sure they weren’t marrying their cousin or something, particularly given that we are all supposed to look so similar.” With that she shook out the envelope and dumped several printed web pages on the table. “Part of the reason I picked you is ‘cause we are completely unrelated.”


Liran picked up one of the sheets and inspected it. It seemed to just be a list of id numbers, but without context, even that was a guess. “That sounds good. Why is this something you think I wouldn’t like?”


“Well, there isn’t just information about who’s related and stuff.” Amina admitted, “You can also find a lot of other internal information about how Pierrace operated. Like for instance how they picked who got to be breeders, and of course, the way they decided which breeders to pair.” she picked up one of the other pieces of paper and handed it to him. “I had to do a lot of guess work to fill in all the data but, out of everyone local who was on that site, you were the one I got the highest compatibility rating with.”


Liran stared at the sheet she had given him. It was a screen shot of a web page. Near the top he could see that some of the fields had been filled in with information from his profile page, age and stuff like that. There was also a field for how closely his markings matched the ideal specifications which Amina seemed to have filled in according to some other process. He certainly hadn’t advertised himself as being an eighty four percent match to what some company thought the perfect food should look like. Underneath all that was a computer generated statement declaring them to be fifty three percent compatible, then a list of reasons why they either were or were not. It seemed to claim that his tail was four percent longer than ideal and that Amina’s negative three in that aspect would help counter it out. Under that it warned that both of them had over sized ears which would count against them being matched. The list of pros and cons was cut short at the bottom of the page. After staring at it for a good minute or more the only response he could think of was “Why?”


“Fifty three is actually quite good.” Amina assured him. “I know it sounds low but there are records of the company pairing people with scores as low as twenty percent. And scores over seventy are really rare.”


“How did you even get all this?” he demanded. “I can see that some of it was copied from my profile but I definitely didn’t put my tail length in millimeters on that.”


“Well, I had to guess a lot of the stuff but mostly I used your parents’ id numbers. The company kept all the information it needed on its products, so whenever I didn’t have a value I just told it to average the values for your parents.”


Liran didn’t really know where to begin with that. In his mind it was fair enough to do a little research about the other person before meeting for a date. Particularly when all you knew about them came from a profile picture and a couple of emails. He had certainly done a few searches for her name, checked that she existed, that she was who she said she was and that her name didn’t bring up any worrying headlines. Still he felt that there was a definite cut off point for the amount of research that was acceptable and it came a long way before making spreadsheets about the other person’s parents’ ear lengths.


He was about to say something when the fox waiter came back and placed two bowls of ice cream on their table. “I’m really sorry?” Amina hazarded, the moment the waiter had left. “I didn’t come here knowing how you felt about the company. I thought it would be an interesting topic to look at whether the company would have matched us up.”


“It’s not even about you wanting to know whether some corporation felt that any potential children we might have would make better food that some other couple’s.” Liran protested. “It is about that, but it’s more about the massive violation of privacy. You can’t just gather this kind of data about someone or their family. It’s really creepy.”


“I didn’t gather it.” Amina protested. “It was all on the same page. You only have to enter an id number and the website will tell you everything bit of information the company had about that person. People can get their page taken down, or choose to hide just some of the information if they want but most don’t bother. You left your parents’ id numbers publicly visible on your profile. I didn’t even look at the data much, I just used a tool to auto fill all the fields I’d left blank.”


Liran looked a little less uncomfortable. “I’m still not happy that you had access to that data, or that picked me ‘cause some website told you I was the person some nasty company would have wanted you to date. Particularly as that company was only interested in producing ‘ideal’ prey for them to sell.”


“But that’s not the point!” Amina protested. “Yes the scoring system was designed to increase the Pierrace company’s profits but it’s also the system that created Pierrace rats. It made us who we are. So what if it coincides with what some company analyst thought would sell better? You were the one who was telling me that we shouldn’t let ourselves be defined as prey. I’m not using it because I want my children to be perfect food but because I want them to be Pierrace rats like me. You can forget about your heritage if you want. Go home from this date and go look for a rat from some other subspecies to help dilute your shameful ‘prey’ genes, but I’m proud of who I am. I like my body. I like being a Pierrace rat. I like myself. Whatever you may think of it, I’m still going to try my hardest to abide by and live up to that legacy.” She glared at him.


“I … I’m sorry.” Liran mumbled, handing the sheet back to her. Did he just apologize to her for complaining that she had stalked him? He frowned, maybe she was on to something when she had told him that Pierrace rats had been bred to be submissive and compliant. For a while they both ate their ice creams in silence. The mood had darkened and by now they were both regretting their decision to get dessert.


“Me too.” Amina replied. “I know the company was terrible, but it’s still part of my identity. When you insult them it feels like you’re insulting me. It shouldn’t make me so angry, but it does.”


He nodded, saying nothing, finished his ice cream then got up to pay. Amina jumped up as well. Had the date gone well she would not have wanted him to pay for her meal. As it was she would feel really guilty if she left having spent the whole time lecturing him on their history and then let him pay for her food.


As predicted, there was a brief debate about it at the till but Amina quickly won that one and they each payed for half. With that settled, they headed back out together into the street. It was getting cooler now and the sun was dipping lower. They still had a couple of hours until hunting hours began though so there was no hurry.


“Well. It was nice meeting you.” Liran stated. “Sorry I was pretty much the opposite of what you were looking for.”


“Yeah. I guess I wasn’t really what you were hoping for either.” she laughed.


He smiled. “Maybe not what I was hoping for in terms of a date, but I really have learned a lot about my lineage and culture. We might not agree on a lot of it, but it’s clear you know more about the history than I do. You’ve kind of inspired me to find out more about the company that created us and question some of the things I’ve just always assumed were true. So … well … thank you for that.”


Amina blushed a little, then something occurred to her. “This probably isn’t very appropriate but, I’ve got several files of old paperwork from the company back home, as well as some accounts written by the first Pierraces to be freed. If you want to learn more about our history, I could show you some of them.”


Liran blushed slightly. After how badly the date had gone he had not expected her to invite him home, even for a different reason. “It … it’s getting kind of late.” he protested. “I’m not sure I’d have time to do that and get back to my place before hunting hours.”


“It wouldn’t take long.” Amina pushed, “And if it does get too close to hunting hours I can always make you a bed on the sofa. Up to you of course, but if you really want to learn more about being a Pierrace then I promise it will be informative.”


Liran wavered for just a second more before nodding. “Thank you. I really appreciate that.”


Amina nodded and waved for him to follow her. The two waited at the bus stop for a while, then took seats near the back. When they got on the sun had been just on the point of setting and the light was already starting to fade. By the time Amina nudged Liran to indicate that they had reached her stop there was very little daylight left.


Amina led Liran to her house then ushered him inside. “I should probably introduce you to my room mate before we go any further.” She decided. Taking Liran by the paw she pulled him towards one of the doors and knocked. “Hey Ty?”


There was a series of thuds from inside then the tabby cat pulled open her door. “Yeah?”


Liran squeaked in alarm and tried to back away. Amina, however, had been prepared for this reaction and tightened her grip on his arm. “I wanted to introduce my date, Liran.” She told her.


Ty inspected the near identical rodents in front of her. “You see this isn’t helping convince me that you didn’t come out a vat. You sure he’s not a clone or something.” She smirked a little as Amina glared at her. “I take it the date went well then?”


“Actually, it was kind of a disaster.” Amina responded, “That’s why I brought him here for you to eat.”


Prior to that comment, Liran had been trying to wriggle out of Amina’s grip without drawing excessive attention to himself. Now he gave up on any attempt at subtlety, yanked himself free of her grasp and ran in the direction of the door.


Ty was on top of him before he even reached the half way point. Bringing her full weight down on his shoulders she slammed him to the floor and pinned him there. “Sorry about this.” she gloated, “But nobody hurts my friends and lives to tell about it.” Extending her claws she started to tear through the fabric of his shirt.


“He didn’t hurt me.” Amina insisted. “The date went okay but it was pretty clear we weren’t compatible so I decided you might like him instead. If anything, delivering a live meal to your room should count for my half of this month’s rent.”


Ty gave her an annoyed look. “I thought I was doing you a favor here.” Liran attempted to say something from his awkward position but Ty stifled it by shoving his face back into the carpet. “Do you want rid of him or not?”


Amina shrugged. “I don’t really care. If you’re not interested, then let him up and I’ll pay my rent as usually. But, while the company was still running, a plump little feeder like him would have gone for a lot more than I’m asking.”


Ty weighed the options for a while. “Fine. But you could have told me that at the start.” she finished shredding Liran’s shirt then rolled him onto his back to start on his pants.


Gasping slightly as he recovered from being pushed face first into the carpet, Liran gave Amina a pitiful look. “Please?” he begged. “I really don’t know what I did to deserve this, but I swear I won’t do it again. Please don’t let her eat me.”


“Hey, you wanted to know what it meant to be a Pierrace.” Amina leaned back against the door and watched the proceedings with a smirk, she had always enjoyed watching Ty with her prey. “I honestly can’t think of a better way to get a good understanding of our culture than to be sold as food.”


“I didn’t mean it!” Liran’s struggles were becoming frantic as Ty pulled his pants down to his ankles. “I don’t care about Pierrace, or our culture, or anything! Just please, make her stop!”


Amina’s smile widened a little and she paced closer for a better look. “I don’t believe you. You might want to believe that we’ve left our past behind, but that isn’t enough to undo centuries of selective breeding. You’re enjoying this. I know you are ‘cause I feel exactly the same way around predators. I’d bet anything that that’s why you’ve gone to such lengths to avoid them. You don’t want to admit, even to yourself, how they make you feel. You want to keep pretending that you’re not prey, that you’ve somehow escaped what you were designed to be. But here you are, firmly in the grip of a hungry carnivore. Nothing but food. Go on, tell me that you aren’t enjoying this just a little bit.” 


Having ripped away his pants, Ty started on the helpless rat’s boxers. He blushed a little as she pulled them down, revealing his semi-erect penis, but still tried to deny it. “I’m not… this isn’t… please… I really, really don’t…” then the cat ran her coarse tongue over his body, starting low and working her way upwards against the grain of his fur. Liran shuddered in guilty pleasure and ceased trying to speak.


“See. Feels good doesn’t it.” Amina gloated. “Probably better than I can imagine. I’ve never been in your situation but I’ve often wondered what it must be like.” Liran’s only answer was a tormented groan as Ty’s tongue reached his face. “I get that you want to survive. For all their work, the company never quite managed to suppress that instinct entirely, but I’m sure they would have got there eventually if they’d been allowed to continue.”


Ty began a second pass of Liran’s body, working her way from pelvis up again and provoking another conflicted groan from her prey.


“Okay. That’s probably enough.” Amina decided. “You can let him go now.”


She had expected Ty to release the saliva coated rat. Liran seemed to expect it as well as, for one moment, a glimmer of hope shone in his eyes. Then Ty opened her jaws had shoved his entire head inside.


Amina squeaked in alarm, almost as shocked by this development as poor Liran was. “Ty! I didn’t mean for you to actually eat him.” she protested. “He wanted to know more about our history and I thought this would be a good way to show him some of it. I really thought you’d realized that and were just playing along.”


The cat gave her a sideways glance, unable to speak without letting her prey back out her mouth and it soon became apparent that she had no intention of letting Liran go. Pinning his arms to his sides, she pulled him further into her jaws getting his shoulders down with little difficulty.


Liran’s screams were muffled by her throat and he thrashed from side to side as he was rapidly consumed. Amina took a step back, covering her mouth in shock. She had often watched Ty do this to her prey but it had never been someone she knew. Never been a fellow Pierrace, let alone someone who was only in this situation due to her own interference. “Please? Ty? Spit him out.” She insisted. “I didn’t mean it. You weren’t supposed to …” she trailed off as the cat straightened up. There was nothing left of Liran now but a pair of twitching paws and his frantically waving tail. If Ty had any intention of letting her meal go, she would have done it by now.


Indeed, the next moment, Ty jerked back her head and rapidly gulped the last traces of her dinner down. The bulges ran down her neck before being lost to the rest of her body. There was barely even a sign that an entire person was now inside her. Her belly stuck out a little but anyone that didn’t know her would not have been able to guess that an unfortunate rat was currently squirming inside.


Ty gave a satisfied belch and wiped her mouth. “I know that wasn’t what you had planned.” she told Amina, “But perhaps you shouldn’t have roped a real predator into your game without getting permission first.” She paused to adjust her clothing, trying to stretch her shirt back over her full belly. “Besides, it was obvious that you didn’t really care for him that much and, as you said, half a month’s rent is a pretty good deal for live prey.”


Amina has almost forgotten that part of the deal. She had only included it as she felt that knowing someone was profiting from your role as food was a fairly important part of the point she was trying to make. “So you’re really going to pay my rent this month?” she asked.


“It’s what I agreed to, isn’t it?” Ty countered. “Besides, your designers did a really good job. That was probably the best rodent I’ve ever tasted.”


“I …” Amina was momentarily lost for words. “You’re welcome, I guess. Actually, could I talk to him for a moment?” 


Ty sighed as she had just got her shirt tucked in again but consented to roll it back up and allow Amina to place one ear against her full belly. “Liran? Can you hear me in there?” Amina asked.


There was a muffled shout for inside. The layer of cat between them made the words hard to understand, but she was pretty sure it was something on the lines of “Get me out!”


“I … I guess I owe you an apology.” she began, speaking clearly so he would be able to understand through the stomach walls. “I meant to show you what being pursued by a predator was like. I thought it would help you understand a bit of what life would have been like if the company hadn’t been closed. I guess you got a far more authentic experience than I’d intended.”


More muffled shouts came from within, pleading with her, begging her not to leave him like this.


“Sorry. I’ve got to go now.” she told him. “I’ve got an assignment for class that I’m supposed to be working on and I’m sure Ty is eager to get started on you. Thanks for the evening though. It was surprisingly enjoyable despite our differences. Oh, and thanks for ensuring that I don’t have to pay rent this month, I really appreciate that as well.”


Liran started to say something else but, whatever it was, it was drowned out by a loud gurgling from Ty’s belly.


“Heh, sounds like Ty’s stomach isn’t going to hold back any longer.” Amina commented “I have to admit that I’m a tiny bit envious of you in there. I know it’s not survivable but I can’t help but wonder how that feels. To be in your proper place at last, fulfilling the purpose you were designed for.” She moved one paw in a circle round Ty’s belly, feeling the weight of the prey trapped inside. She also found herself blushing again. She’d never admitted any of these desires to her feline room mate and, with one ear pressed against Ty’s belly, the whole situation felt surprisingly intimate.


Another muffled protest rose above the gurgles but it was weaker now and she thought she could detect a hint of pleasure in his voice. Then again, maybe that was just what she wanted to believe. At any rate, she couldn’t make out what he was trying to say so she gave Ty’s belly a friendly pat, whispered “You’re just food now. You should try to enjoy it and be a good meal for my kitten. Bye Liran.” then stepped back.


Ty noticed the slight hint of concern in Amina’s expression as she tucked her shirt in again. “Thank you for the meal, Amina but don’t worry. I promise I’ll be as gentle with him as possible. Also … ” here she leaned down so her head was level with Amina’s as if to whisper something.


The little rat leaned closer expectantly but, before saying anything, Ty ran her sandpaper tongue against Amina’s ear. “Now that I know how you feel about this, it might not be too long ‘til you get your turn in there.” She teased. Then she straightened up and slipped back into her room, moving with the kind of grace that only felines could muster despite the weight of her still wriggling meal. “See you tomorrow, Kit.” She laughed, then closed her door.


Amina stood still for several minutes, her fur standing on end and whole body tingling from the unexpected lick, as she tried to work out how serious Ty’s comment had been. Eventually she shook herself, smoothed back her puffed up fur, then headed upstairs to her own room. Whatever followed, it had been a memorable evening.