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"SF is a controlled way to think and dream about the future."
- Gregory Benford

Flat Cat  
  A nearly two-dimensional furry little beast.  

"Say, Mr. Angelo, what is this? At first I thought it was a fur cap; now I see it's alive." Castor pointed to the furry heap on the counter. It was slowly slithering toward the edge.

The shopkeeper reached out and headed it back to the middle. "That? That's a 'flat cat.' ...It has a Latin name but I never bothered to learn it. Angelo tickled it with a forefinger; it began to purr like a high-pitched buzzer. It had no discernable features, being merely a pie-shaped mass of sleek red fur... [Castor] looked down and three beady little eyes stared trustfully back up at him, then closed and disappeared completely.

Technovelgy from The Rolling Stones, by Robert Heinlein.
Published by Scribner's in 1952
Additional resources -

Okay, this isn't really a piece of technology, and it wasn't a bioengineered beast, either. However, if I included Clifford Simak's hunting robes, I should certainly put this one in, too.

Fans of Star Trek: TOS have some idea of what a flat cat is like:

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Additional resources:
  More Ideas and Technology from The Rolling Stones
  More Ideas and Technology by Robert Heinlein
  Tech news articles related to The Rolling Stones
  Tech news articles related to works by Robert Heinlein

Flat Cat-related news articles:
  - Flatcat Robot Recalls Both Heinlein And Simak

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