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Description
'Nursids' Pepsi and Kola, the first of their species to find a home on Sherman's Planet, play at their leisure while serious discussions about their future play out in the halls of government. Picture by Dylan Bajda

The latest craze to touch down in Port Emily comes with its own prehistory attached - long, long ago on Mother Earth cave men and cave bears competed for the same real estate but now the distant descendants of those primordial rivals have put their spelunking past behind them and finally decided to share. At the house of the Belyayev family, a beautifully put-together log cabin in the foothills of the Wilderness Range, Pepsi and Kola have come to stay, with every sign of a warm welcome and a happy family.

"When we came in from Gault we knew we wanted to live away from the Bay Area, we wanted to live up where the wild things are but we wanted to be safe" says Marina Belyayeva, the head of the family, "and nothing makes you feel safer than knowing Kola loves you enough to fight for you."

Kola and her 'little sister' Pepsi (the two are clearly from different breeds, but have been raised together as siblings) are representatives of the latest species to enter the pet markets of the Galaxy, usually marketed as the 'Nursid' (Madam Belyayeva pronounces it 'Nurse-it') but originally known as the Neo-ursid: a breed of animal built from the inside out to be to bears what dogs are to wolves - a fully domesticated and entirely trainable friend & partner created from the genetic stock of an old rival, neighbour and occasional enemy.

According to the publicity, Neo-ursids were first developed when the first settlers on Gault found that their guard dogs simply weren't able to stand up to local predators and decided to create something better able to do the job - in the centuries since the creation of those first 'Guardian Bears' the species has become a staple of life on Gault and has been bred in a variety of shapes & sizes (Kola herself, I am told, is a 'Hunk' bear i.e. of Medium size while her little sister is a 'Teddy' - the Nursid equivalent of a toy breed of dog; the largest breeds belong to the 'Hulk' category).

They have also inspired a wide range of responses in those populations introduced to them and this mixed reputation appears to have preceded Pepsi & Kola to their new Homeworld; the Legislature has taken notice and spirited discussions about the proper response to these brand new residents are already under way. (see page 4).

Description
'Nursids' Pepsi and Kola, the first of their species to find a home on Sherman's Planet, play at their leisure while serious discussions about their future play out in the halls of government. Picture by Dylan Bajda

The latest craze to touch down in Port Emily comes with its own prehistory attached - long, long ago on Mother Earth cave men and cave bears competed for the same real estate but now the distant descendants of those primordial rivals have put their spelunking past behind them and finally decided to share. At the house of the Belyayev family, a beautifully put-together log cabin in the foothills of the Wilderness Range, Pepsi and Kola have come to stay, with every sign of a warm welcome and a happy family.

"When we came in from Gault we knew we wanted to live away from the Bay Area, we wanted to live up where the wild things are but we wanted to be safe" says Marina Belyayeva, the head of the family, "and nothing makes you feel safer than knowing Kola loves you enough to fight for you."

Kola and her 'little sister' Pepsi (the two are clearly from different breeds, but have been raised together as siblings) are representatives of the latest species to enter the pet markets of the Galaxy, usually marketed as the 'Nursid' (Madam Belyayeva pronounces it 'Nurse-it') but originally known as the Neo-ursid: a breed of animal built from the inside out to be to bears what dogs are to wolves - a fully domesticated and entirely trainable friend & partner created from the genetic stock of an old rival, neighbour and occasional enemy.

According to the publicity, Neo-ursids were first developed when the first settlers on Gault found that their guard dogs simply weren't able to stand up to local predators and decided to create something better able to do the job - in the centuries since the creation of those first 'Guardian Bears' the species has become a staple of life on Gault and has been bred in a variety of shapes & sizes (Kola herself, I am told, is a 'Hunk' bear i.e. of Medium size while her little sister is a 'Teddy' - the Nursid equivalent of a toy breed of dog; the largest breeds belong to the 'Hulk' category).

They have also inspired a wide range of responses in those populations introduced to them and this mixed reputation appears to have preceded Pepsi & Kola to their new Homeworld; the Legislature has taken notice and spirited discussions about the proper response to these brand new residents are already under way. (see page 4).