Star Cat: Exodus: A Science Fiction & Fantasy Adventure (The Star Cat Series - Book 5)

by Andrew Mackay

  CLING-CLANG.

  The two metal talons hit the floor. Two ropes of blood fountained out from the wounds on her fingers and painted across the air.

  SWIPE-SMASH.

  She landed paws-first on Jaycee’s face and smashed his shoulders against the wall.

  “Jaycee,” she screamed in his featureless, mechanical face, “Stop.”

  “No.”

  GROOOAAAAANNN.

  Jelly slid back along the walkway. The floor lifted up a few degrees, causing the surface to act as a ramp.

  “Ugh,” she scrambled forward as the ground continued to lift. Jaycee tumbled away from the wall.

  The howls and gnashing from outside grew louder and louder.

  “Charlie,” Jelly whimpered, “It’s moving.”

  SHUNT.

  Jaycee slid down the walkway on his behind. He reached out with both arms and extended his fingers.

  CLUMP.

  He halted his descent by grabbing onto a pipe on the left-hand wall. His weight bent it around and pulled it from the ceramic.

  He now had a weapon to use on Jelly, who gripped the edge of the battered airlock as it rotated forty-five degrees onto its side.

  She peered over the edge to see the hundred-strong wolves wrenching the ship back with their teeth.

  “It’s working,” she muttered, and then turned to her feet.

  Below her, Jaycee propped himself up on an extended ridge on the wall and swiped at Jelly’s feet with the pipe.

  “Jelly, come here.”

  “No!”

  She kicked the end of the pipe away, “Alex?” she screamed for help, “Help. Help. Jaycee’s lost his mind. He’s trying to kill me.”

  “I’m not trying to kill you,” he roared at the soles of her boots, “I’m trying to save you.”

  Beep-beep-beep.

  He scanned his stomach and watched the seconds roll down on his stomach, “In less than two minutes, we’ll be in paradise. Away from this nightmare.”

  Jelly kicked her feet against the floor - which now acted as a wall - to the airlock hatch, “Please. Jaycee. Deactivate the bomb—”

  CRRRUNNNCCCHH.

  The ship now stood upright. Without the benefit of zero gravity, the interior acted as a chasm which threatened to swallow everything - and everyone - all the way down to the back of the ship.

  Jelly swung her right foot over into the airlock hatch and kept looking up at the far end of the walkway.

  A voice came amid the sound of hastened footsteps several feet above her head.

  “Jelly?”

  “Alex?”

  Alex hit the deck knees-first and slid to the end of the corridor. A view of the throat-like walkway was about to swallow both Jaycee and Alex.

  He gripped the edge of the corridor door wall and looked down, “Jelly.”

  “Alex, Alex,” she panted, “Jaycee’s got a bomb.”

  “A bomb?”

  “C4. He’s armed his self-destruct mechanism,” she yelped, “We’re all going to die.”

  Alex looked past Jelly’s head and saw Jaycee trapped on the detail on the wall which crumbled due to his weight, “Jesus Christ.”

  “Alex,” Jaycee roared up the corridor.

  “Are you out of your mind, Nayall?” Alex yelled back at him.

  “You could say I’m in my mind,” Jaycee gripped his thigh and unbolted the magnetic plate from the flesh, “Alex, get out of here. It’s between me and her. I’m taking her with me.”

  “Oh, G-God,” Alex blinked over and over again as he watched Jaycee aimed his K-SPARK II up at Jelly. She turned around and moved her head behind the airlock wall.

  KA-BLAAAAAM.

  “Whoa,” Alex ducked behind the corridor and gasped as the bullet clipped the side of the airlock and punched a section of ceramic into the walkway.

  “Get back, Alex,” Jaycee said. “Keep her there.”

  Alex looked around for a solution, “Oh God, oh God.” His heart thumped against his chest, threatening to blow him into unconsciousness.

  “Alex, do something,” Jelly’s voice rifled up the corridor and into his ear.

  “Jaycee?” Alex shouted at the ceiling.

  “Shut up, Hughes—”

  KER-RAAATCH.

  The K-SPARK II reloaded and produced a loud hum which echoed past Jelly.

  “Jelly Anderson is a dead cat.”

  Alex jumped to his feet and placed his hands on the floor. He turned over his shoulder and saw a dim blue light coming from behind the control deck door.

  “Manny?”

  No response.

  KER — BLAAAAAAAM.

  The ceiling exploded by Alex’s arm, pushing him into a somersault and onto his knees, “Gaaah.”

  “Hughes, get to the control deck and jump out,” Jaycee screamed. “We have less than one minute to detonation.”

  “Manny?” Alex screamed at the door. “Can you hear me?”

  WHOOSH.

  The control deck door slid open. Manny flew out like an enraged pigeon, “What’s all this commotion, Alex?”

  “It’s Jaycee, he’s gone nuts—”

  KA — BLAAAAMMMM.

  Jaycee’s bullet punctured the ceiling, creating a gigantic hole in the wall. A burst of dusk light whizzed through and lit the walkway up.

  “Manny, Jaycee’s set himself to detonate. We’re all dead.”

  “What?”

  Manny couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing. She flew over to the drop and lowered herself a few inches. Then, she caught sight of Jaycee reloading his firearm. A few feet above him, Jelly cowered and whined within the airlock.

  “Manny, please help.”

  “Oh dear,” Manny turned to Jaycee, “Nayall?”

  “Get out of the way you encyclopedic imbecile,” Jaycee screamed at her.

  “Now, you listen here, you plus-sized heap of junk,” Manny squealed at him, “This is my spacecraft. You’re just a guest. Now, put that gun down and deactivate your bomb.”

  “Or else what?” Jaycee aimed his gun at her.

  “Or,” Manny thought aloud, “I’ll, umm—”

  BLAAAMMM.

  The bullet roared out of the barrel and right through her holographic frame, causing the book to ripple out to the sides. Manny twisted around and opened out her covers.

  “You shot me.”

  “Ugh,” Jaycee tossed the gun at the wall. It bounced away and tumbled down the seemingly endless walkway pit. He thumped his stomach and held out his arms, “Thirty seconds.”

  “Is that a bomb?”

  “No, it’s a jukebox,” Jaycee said, angrily, “Of course it’s a bomb. I need to end this.”

  Quick-thinking, Manny froze and beeped, “Initiate zero G.”

  Jaycee pressed his shoulders on the wall and balanced himself on his one, good leg, “What? No.”

  “Zero gravity activated,” Manny confirmed as loudly as she could.

  Jelly’s behind lifted away from the airlock. She grabbed the lip of the wall, propelled herself into the walkway and spun around in mid-air.

  “Hey, Nayall.”

  Jaycee planted his boot on the wall and pushed himself up the walkway, “Come here,” he screamed as he extended his arms, ready to grab her and take her with him.

  Manny sprang to life. Her rectangular framed stretched out into the shape of a dart and flew up towards the control deck, “Alex?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Come with me.”

  WHOOOOSH.

  Manny bolted past Alex as he grabbed the wall and pushed himself along with her.

  “We have to get out of here,” Alex screamed.

  “I can’t leave the ship,” Manny said. “If she goes down, I go down with her.”

  Jaycee flew towards Jelly and clenched his fist.

  SWIPE.

  His attempt to sock her in the face proved fruitless. He missed and slammed his fist into the wall, which broke around his fingers.

  “Hey, Nayall,” she b
arked from behind his shoulder. “Over here.”

  She clocked the seconds counting down on his stomach’s red digital readout his stomach: 20, 19, 18…

  “You Androgynes,” she yelled, “You’re all the same. Always scared of yourselves.”

  Jaycee slammed his palm on Jelly’s forehead and squeezed with all his considerable might.

  “Gaaaaahh,” Jelly yelled and grabbed his wrist with both hands.

  “We are superior in every way, Anderson. Now, be a good little girl and die.”

  CREEAAAAK-CRAAA-AACCK.

  “Nggggg,” Jelly wailed as she felt the bone in her face crack, “L-Let g-go of me.”

  She lifted her right leg and booted Jaycee in the stomach. A clump of fur tore away from Jelly’s ears as he crashed into the airlock.

  The tufts of fur hung in zero gravity.

  Jelly ran her fingers along her face. Her nose bled up a storm, producing glorious strings of pink blood negotiating a path through the air.

  ROAR.

  Jelly kicked herself away from the wall and bent her elbow back, ready to punch the life out of Jaycee.

  He pressed both hands on the adjacent walls within the airlock and braced himself for detonation.

  “Come to Daddy, Anderson.”

  “You’re not my Daddy.”

  THWOCK — CLAAA-AAANG.

  Her fist connected with the giant’s mechanical face, busting the wires and bolts from his cheek.

  “My Daddy left me and my sisters for dead on a freeway when we were kittens. And guess what? I survived that, and I’ll survive this. You won’t.”

  She opened her mouth and hung her tongue out.

  “Feeding t-time?” Jayce’s voice stammered, “Shaaa-aaaanttaaaahhhh.”

  CHOMP — CLAAATTCCHH.

  “Ngggrrrrr,” she chewed through the connectors in his shoulder and yanked her head back, wrenching his electronic innards and newly-formed second limb away from his arm.

  Jaycee struggled with the evisceration, “J-Jelly—”

  GNASH — CRUU-UNNCCH.

  Without mercy, she clamped her teeth and his face and grabbed his torso in both hands.

  “Jaaah-Jaaah—”

  She chomped onto the surface metal of his skull and lifted her head away. A million wires fizzed and sparked as she spat the face plate into the infinite drop out of the airlock.

  “You try and kill me and my family?” she screamed.

  Jaycee’s heavy body lilted into her arms. The stem protruding from his neck slammed against her shoulder.

  His voice box was barely audible, “I’m s-sorry.”

  Jelly licked her mouth and punched into the neck cavity. Her fingers hit something hard and rectangular.

  “Not good enough, Jaycee,” she squeezed whatever the thing was and hit the panel on the wall with her left hand.

  SWISH.

  The outer airlock hatch slid open, creating a physical rift between the interior and exterior.

  Zero gravity didn’t behave the way either of them expected - the force of the pull from outside body-slammed both of them to the ground in the airlock.

  She shifted the rectangular object inside Jaycee’s chest in her infinity claws.

  His neck plate lifted up, seeming to beg for forgiveness - not that it had a head or any facial expressions.

  “P-Please—”

  Jelly rolled onto her side and planted both boots on his stomach.

  “No mercy,” she drooled into his hole with the eyes of a woman scorned.

  Jaycee’s face contorted as a fleshy limb punched out through his mouth, “SHAAANTAAA—”

  Biddip-biddip-beeep.

  “Go to hell you sonofabitch.”

  Jelly wrenched her right elbow back as she kicked both feet forward.

  WHUMP — KRAAATTCCH.

  Jaycee’s battery shunted through the neck hole, buried between her fingers. His body blasted out of the airlock and succumbed to the gravity outside.

  His body plummeted all the way down to the ground, headed straight for the wolves.

  WHOOOSH.

  The wolves released the ropes and looked up the side of Opera Charlie.

  HOWL — WHINE!

  The gargantuan lump of infused metal and fleshy limbs formerly known as Jaycee Nayall hurtled towards them.

  The wolves dispersed as quick as they could. Each one released the carbon rope from their teeth and hit the deck.

  KER-BLAAAAAAAAM.

  Jaycee’s body exploded upon impact, reducing the nearest wolves to barbecued smithereens.

  A dozen wolves caught in the explosion launched into the air and burst into flames.

  Jelly slammed the outer airlock hatch and slammed both hands against the window.

  “Oh my God—”

  NEEEERRRRAAAWWWWW.

  The impact of the blast chewed through the Opera Charlie’s thrusters. The ceramic back-end cracked and exploded, toppling the spacecraft over in slow motion.

  Alex and Manny made it to the control deck.

  “Jeez, what’s going on?” Alex looked around as the upright deck - once again - returned to its horizontal state.

  “Hold onto something,” Manny said. “There’s been an explosion outside.”

  Alex bolted over to the flight deck and made for the sleeping Furie, “Quick, Jelly’s daughter.”

  Furie woke up just as the deck rotated and angled itself for a heavy fall.

  Jelly pressed all four limbs on both airlock walls and braced herself for Charlie to fall over and slam to the ground.

  She closed her eyes and inhaled, “Aggghhhhhhhh.”

  GRROOOAAAAAN…

  The airlock spun forty-five degrees to the side. Her body lifted and pushed against the right wall, seconds away from punching her lights out permanently.

  SCHLAAAA-AAAAAM.

  Charlie’s tip and body smashed to the ground. The walls and floor pushed inside and shattered, bursting into hundreds of pieces.

  A violent crack shattered along the walkway, bursting the lights one by one in a wave of obliteration.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  My name is Dreenagh Remix.

  I come today with an appeal. To you, and everyone else who may be watching my Viddy Media feed.

  I have spent my entire life devoted to the pursuit of fair journalism. I have covered major events both here in the United States and in Russia.

  Until a few months ago, I thought I had seen it all.

  But nothing prepared me for this.

 

  Three months ago I was taken against my will, thinking it was a common kidnapping.

  I thought wrong.

  The people who took me have saved my life so that I may play a part in saving our future.

  The Rebels Against Genetic Engineering have dedicated their life’s work to saving animals through the philanthropy of others. Your donations kept their cause going, and for good reason.

  What they have uncovered, and what I know now, has astonished me, as it will you.

  The United States and Russian Intergalactic Confederation is guilty. Guilty of genocide, international espionage, and the admonishment of the ethical playbook. It is little wonder that their actions were uncovered.

  Someone had to do it.

  As an outsider, it is clear that USARIC has engaged in improper conduct and must be taken to task. Brought before justice or, failing that, revenge.

  The government has failed on the former, and now we must enact the latter.

  We are a great dual nation, now divided. Your loved ones are being punished. Our future with our neighbors is threatened and now compromised.

  RAGE has asked me to ask you to join the fight.

  We, the law-abiding citizens of the United States must rise up and take a stand.

  Whomever you are, and wherever you may be, we want you to join us to take back our nation.

  Find us.

  Thank you.

  Dreenagh finished
her sentence into the hovering mini-drone.

  “That’s great,” Siyam said. “Transmission complete.”

  Dreenagh ignored him and continued to look at her shoes. She hadn’t the heart to stare anyone in the face.

  “I can’t believe what I’ve just seen,” she murmured.

  Siyam grabbed the drone out of the air and shut it off, “What’s that?”

  “I feel so stupid.”

  “Funny you mention that. You look kinda silly. Feeling all sorry for yourself, and stuff.”

  A little orange cat trundled into Dreenagh’s view and clawed at the end of her shoe. She crouched down and scooped it off the floor.

  “How long has it been since the Star Cat Project?” Dreenagh said as she nosed around the cat’s cute face.

  “That was back in 2117,” Siyam said. “Six years ago.”

  “Feels just like yesterday.”

  The sound of metal shifting around beneath the cat’s arm as it clawed at Dreenagh’s face was undeniable. A stark reminder of the outlandish actions of a company she once admired.

  “I think she likes you, Remix,” Siyam chuckled.

  “Yeah,” she said. “I think she does.”

  Dreenagh set the cat down on the floor.

  “Do you think we’ll get many responses?”

  Siyam shrugged his shoulders, “Who knows.”

  The Next Morning

  07:30

  BANG — BANG — BANG.

  Someone, or something, knocked on the front door. Everyone turned to face it.

  Jamie woke up from his slumber on the mattress by the holoscope, “What was that?”

  Sierra ran over to the van and opened the back doors, “I’m not sure. Wait here. Noyin, open the door.”

  Noyin raced over to the wall and held his palm to the glass panel.

  “Who’s there?”

  BANG — THUD.

  Sierra reached into the van and pulled out her shotgun. She nodded to Noyin, “Open it.”

  WHIIRRRRRR.

  The door lifted up the railings and, at first, revealed three pairs of legs in jeans and boots.

  “Who’s there?”

  The door lifted past three individual’s faces. Two men and a woman in leather jackets.