There had always been Puttis -- round and soft, made for children. She had kept hers because it was the last thing her mother had made... Puttis were four-legged and tailed. Their heads were round, with shining eyes made of buttons or beads, upstanding ears, whiskers above the small mouth. Puttis were loved, played with, adored in the child world; their origin was those brought by children on the First Ships. [loc. 2219]
This was the first science fiction book I remember reading, from Rochford Library, probably pre-1975. I don't think I've read it since, though I did briefly own a paperback copy. Apparently the blurbs of newer editions mention 'university complex' and 'epidemic virus': aged <10, I was hooked by the cat on the front.
Furtig is one of the People, who are mutated and uplifted cats. The People have a truce with the Tuskers, and a standoff with the Barkers. All are united in their hatred and disgust for the Rattons, who torture and eat their captives. When Furtig fails to win a mate at the Trials, he heads for the Lairs -- the place where the Demons once lived, and where his relative Gammage has been discovering new technologies. Those who dwell in the Lairs now are the Inborn, even more mutated / uplifted than the People: often they have little or no fur, but their paws are much more handlike and agile. They are learning to use some delightfully retro tech, including tape drives ...
Gammage warns that the Demons might return -- and, quite a long way into the novel, we encounter Ayana, a human, who's on a spaceship nearing Earth. How Ayana and her crew react to and interact with the mutated animals, and with Earth itself, forms the rest of the story, though the focus remains firmly on Furtig and his friends and relations.
I remembered quite a bit about Furtig and his adventures, but very little about the humans (or Demons). One thing that did stick in my pre-adolescent mind, though, was how Ayana recognised what she was seeing. 'Not Putti but cat!'... Ayana is open-minded and well-meaning, but her society doesn't seem that great. The crew of her ship consists of two heterosexual couples, whose various skills fulfil all the requirements of the mission. There are hints that Ayana, at least, was psychologically manipulated into pairing with Tan. When they reach Earth, Tan seems to change -- could it be the plague that killed off the human race, apart from a few who escaped to space 500 years ago? -- and becomes abusive, cruel and physically violent. No wonder Ayana sides with the People.
Breed to Come is a darker story than I remember, but it has a happy ending (at least for Furtig and the People) and some intriguing ideas. And it was the novel that started me on the path to where, and who, and what I am today.
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