BUBBLECAT

     The tiny island of Pingu was roughly the size of Manhattan. Its population was 2.7 million. Main export: neurotransmitters. The country’s flag was a circle of seven 14-point stars in a field of turquoise. Each star represented a god from the earliest tome of their culture, the Kosh-Ne, dating back to 3,000 B.C.

     All that history, all of it, wiped out in less than 10 minutes.

     The Bru-Lun Corporation started back in the 50’s, manufacturing low-grade toys. Its most popular toy, Bubblecat, sold more than 50,000 units in its first year alone. By the 80’s, Bru-Lun had been sold so many times, very few people could remember its humble beginnings. And by the year 2014, the same year as the destruction of Pingu, the corporation was in the business of high-tech weaponry.

     Through a contract with the Pingu government, Bru-Lun had built its first "mecha," a 63 foot tall robot that was comprised of seven separate mechas. Two for the arms, two for the legs, one for its head, one for its torso and one that strapped to its back, providing a jetpack.

     On the morning of Pingu’s demise, some survivors describe a scene straight out of the Kosh-Ne, Book 80, last verse,

"Seven gods from out of the east
Sun splashes on their forms, blinding all who see
Fire rains down on all peoples, rich and poor
Leaving none to tell the tale."

     One old woman swears she had a toy that looked just like these "gods" when she was a child. Most all who hear her story write her off as senile.

     On a drafting table, somewhere in the Bru-Lun design building, sits seven of the original Bubblecats, broken apart and then clicked together to fit like a jigsaw puzzle.




-SLL