Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons
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Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons is a classic science fiction short story written by Cordwainer Smith, first published in Galaxy Magazine in 1961. It is collected most recently in The Rediscovery of Man. It details the methods by which the Norstrilians (or "Old North Australians") of Smith's fictional "Instrumentality" universe maintain their monopoly on the precious immortality drug stroon. The story details part of the background to the novel Norstrilia (which references the Kittons once in its introduction as a sure method of death).
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[edit] Background
Cordwainer Smith, a noted China expert, wrote most of his published science fiction stories within the setting of the Instrumentality of Mankind. For many millennia, the rather static structure of this society (on those planets which the Instrumentality directly administered) was of Lords of the Instrumentality ruling over humans (who were allowed a fixed 400-year lifespan) and a large number of exploited animal-derived "Underpeople" servants. The use of the immortality drug "stroon" from the world of Norstrilia was a vital tool in maintaining this order.
[edit] Norstrilia
The planet of Norstrilia, or in full the Commonwealth of Old North Australia, was settled by sheep farmers ultimately from a post-nuclear-war Australia (though with many historical vicissitudes — such as a stay on the hell-world Paradise VII — before they found their current prosperity). The political system is based on a monarchy with "her absent majesty" the Queen as nominal head of state. However, the Queen has been lost for millennia, and a local deputy and Commonwealth Council fulfill her role until she returns. The organization of the planet is based on Stations, or large farm allotments passed down through generations.
[edit] Stroon
The sheep that were brought to this planet by the Australian immigrants have over time been affected by the planet's environment in two ways. Firstly, the sheep have grown enormously due to a local disease and are now larger than houses and completely immobile, requiring constant attention. Secondly, the sheep began to produce the immortality drug stroon.
Norstrilia is the richest planet in the entire Instrumentality due to the value of the immortality drug stroon, and as such it and its people are targets of kidnap and theft attempts. The citizens are highly trained in self-defense, but the planet maintains "Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons" for its defense.
[edit] Viola Siderea
This is a robber planet, once rich and civilized, but now reduced to a dog-eat-dog existence which has created a ruling class of highly sophisticated thieves. Benjacomin Bozart is a Warden of the Thieves' Guild, trained and prepared to raid Norstrilia for its stroon. He ruthlessly drugs and kills a small Norstrillian boy on a vacation world to find out the nature of the planet's defenses, but the only information he gets is the name "Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons" scrawled in the sand at a beach.
[edit] Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons
A 21-faceted moon and a network of relay stations are placed around the planet of Norstrilia. Resident on the moon is Mother Hitton, an extremely-long lived woman who is the "weapons mistress" and in charge of the care and feeding of the "Littul Kittons" which are in fact mink that have been selectively bred for centuries. The selective breeding has enhanced the ferocious nature of the mink into psychosis and self-destructive madness: they (necessarily) spend almost all their lives under anaesthesia, only allowed to waken when needed for defense. The brain patterns of these mad mink are focused into an intense telepathic beam that can be directed at any incoming space ship through the relay station. Being in this concentrated beam of psychosis drives all humans mad — as attempted thief Benjacomin Bozart discovers.
