Hi PeterZ,
Yes, there are all kinds of people and all kinds of treecats, but there are some rather critical differences.
They "know what evil lurks in the hearts of men"
and are prepared to do something quite violent about it as when Nimitz detected the Masadan assassins in HotQ.
I don'y intend this to turn into a metaphysical discussion of the differences and definitions of good and evil between treecats and two-legs at this point in the thread since it a bit far from the current thread focus, NTM we all know they're already pretty close if not effectively the same.
From the textev, treecats are attracted to open happy emotions, and very wary of dark or deceitful ones; and given they know when humans are lying, the People's empathic society evidently cannot tolerate that kind of evil; driving those demented or potentially if not already criminal treecats away if not killing them out right, as in in 'The Stray' IIRC, [albeit a very tiny minority] before they pollute 'the People's' mind glows and their general public mental society and certainly rather different from almost all human societies.
In Changer of Worlds, Samantha/Golden Voice says:
"There have been those with whom no person would bond, of course, for they are no more perfect than the People are,-"
Remember too that treecats don't like whining, complaining, lying, excuses or most of the mental baggage of the teenage/puberty period, particularly the general emotional immaturity of their two-legs, but by loving them, guiding them, and encouraging them to become better and more moral than they otherwise might be thanks to their moral suasion, they help their two legs often exceed what they wanted to achieve.
Those high standards indicate the kind of society the treecats prefer, even from the mind blind, who don't or didn't realize what the treecats could feel about their emotional states and how it affected the treecats.
Treecats have never had a war, think about that; their anti-Hexapuma or Peak bear operations etc are more in the nature of varmint control or sanitation duty.
After some 500 years of contact, treecats know man is a rather rationalizing animal, regardless of his moral professions, and just one reason they hesitated to reveal their full cleverness, NTM they are in a position to judge the human race, and are respected by the people of both the old SKM and Grayson for their ability as living lie detectors.
I doubt very strongly RFC is going to let the treecats go over to the dark side
, mainly because that's not a story he wants to tell or have the time for.
RFC will be 65 this year, what stories do you want him to tell in the all too limited time he has in mortality?
Since Audrey O'Hanrahan is likely to meet either Alfredo or 'Lurks in Branches' if not both rather soon, I'll be very interested in their take of those interviews, could she be the first break in finding a MAlign agent?
Given the reaction of the nano-tech assassins to Nimitz and Ghendis, I doubt she'll be able to hide her distress if not shock at suddenly meeting them, and like Hongbo reveal far more than she intended, which is just one set of scenes I'm looking forward to in 2018.
All the very best,
L
[quote="PeterZ"][quote="cthia"]"Treecats are attracted to [u]Rational positive attitude[/u]." LOL
Which is a relative thing. And man will surely purport to know what rational and positive is to another species. Of course we know. We are man. Hu-man is also quite certain that WE are the epitome of rational and positive.
At any rate, the initial bonding mechanism cannot be controlled but the treecats can have second thoughts much like we as humans do after several dates. LOL Whereby, quite often, the damage is already done.
I merely wanted to point out the possibility of a triggered bonding between the treecats and the MAlign.
Love is in the eye of the beholder—or in the mind, as the case may be with the 'Cats. Perhaps I should apologize for my "Ahead of its time" conceptions. And for seeing what just may materialize in future series.[/quote]
I am not a believer that the MAlign are necessarily psychotic. Audrey O'Hanrahan is not psychotic but firmly supports the MAlign and would likely deal with enemies very much like a treecat would. There are some members who are psychotic, but that's true for any group of humans.
Now, that doesn't mean the MAlign members are likely to be adopted. They view the world too starkly as Us vs. Them with any being not a MAlign member as Them. This would include treecats. I somehow doubt that any telepathic being would bond to someone who views them as a specimen to be studied rather than a partner.[/quote]
