Star Cat: Killer Instinct

by Andrew Mackay

  What looked like a thick, blue vein lit up and shook the turret around, preparing to fire.

  “Oooh, not yet. Not yet—”

  “—Jaycee, man,” Tripp’s croaked, “Get to the airlock on Level One, now. Don’t tell the others.”

  Jaycee took the command seriously. He kissed his fingertips and planted them on the side of his new toy, “Wait up for me?”

  The K-SPARK II lilted, performing a subtle ‘nodding’ action and slipped into pause mode.

  Jaycee turned around and hightailed it out of the chamber, “Did you say Primary Airlock, Level One?”

  Tripp answered without haste, “Yes, yes. I don’t know what to do. Christ, I—”

  “—I’m coming. Whatever it is, wait for me,” Jaycee lowered his wrist and ran through the door.

  STOMP-STOMP-STOMP.

  Jaycee’s boots slammed up each step that took him to the first level of Opera Charlie.

  He gripped the rail and hoisted himself up in a mad dash to find his Captain.

  “Tripp?” he hollered as he reached the final step and turned the corner, “Where are the damn signs on this ship?”

  No indication of any levels or directions from one area to the other.

  The ship wasn’t big enough to waste money on signage.

  Jaycee bounded through the walkway and slowed down, taking in the clean surroundings.

  Just one, long cylindrical tunnel led to what surely should be the flight deck and control room. If only he’d taken more care in remembering how he’d gotten to the second floor.

  A three-pronged fork in the central walkway would take him back where he’d come from, or to Tripp at the airlock. Worse, it might lead him right into Jelly and Alex at the control deck.

  He looked left, and then right, unsure of where to turn.

  Then, he heard a sniffing sound coming from the second turn.

  “Is that you?” Jaycee asked and peered around the bend, “God, I hope it is. I can’t find anything on this damn ship.”

  “Yeah,” Tripp’s voice came from the far end of the second walkway, “I’m here.”

  Jaycee glanced at the remaining walkway and pursed his lips, taking care not to alert anyone other than Tripp to his presence.

  “Hey, what’s up?”

  He turned another corner and reached the Primary Airlock. Tripp stood in front of the shattered, bloodied hatch in a state of near-catatonia.

  “What the hell happened to—”

  Jaycee stopped speaking when he saw clumps of thin film slung over the shards in the first airlock hatch. A string of blood slid down towards the floor.

  “I d-don’t know wh-what to do,” Tripp said, on the verge of tears.

  Jaycee squinted at the object laying across Tripp’s palms and gasped.

  “Oh no.”

  Tripp nodded, shaking tears from his eyes.

  For the first time in his relatively young life, Jaycee had no words. He didn’t know how to react.

  “I can’t even—”

  “—What are we going to tell her?” Tripp whispered. “We can’t keep it from her, can we?”

  “Can’t we?” Jaycee tried, hoping to avert certain catastrophe.

  “Of course we can’t,” Tripp spat.

  Enveloped in a state of shock, Jaycee stepped forward and decided to get the inevitable out of the way. He needed to see it up close and personal.

  A dead kitten. Its torso lacerated in three sections due to its impact with the inner airlock hatch.

  Now he knew what had caused the damage.

  “It must have happened when we crashed.”

  Jaycee’s heart turned to stone, doubled in weight and crashed through his lungs and into the pit of his stomach.

  Jaycee mustered up the courage to speak, “What do we do?”

  “That’s what I asked you.”

  “I dunno, you fool,” Jaycee screamed back, before adjusting his voice, “I’m not a dead cat expert.”

  Tripp lowered his hands and covered the ball of fur with his left hand, “You wanna take this and go back there and show her what happened to her baby?”

  “Hell no. Who knows how she’ll react?” Jaycee asked, hoping his paranoia wasn’t shared by his Captain.

  “On this occasion, I’m pretty damn sure I know what her reaction will be.”

  “No arguments here. She’ll kick ten bells of crap out of us.”

  Scratch-scratch-scratch.

  A muffled ‘meow’ came from Jaycee’s crotch. He and Tripp looked down at his groin in confusion.

  “What the hell is that?” Tripp asked.

  Squeak-critch.

  “You didn’t take Landaker’s genitals while you were at it, did you?”

  “Of course I didn’t. Don’t be stupid,” Jaycee shook his head and double-took, “No, wait. It’s Jelly’s second kitten.”

  He thumped the catch on his thigh.

  WHUMP.

  It opened up and revealed a shivering cat clutching at one of the dumb bombs.

  “Whoa, whoa. No,” Jaycee slid his glove under the kitten’s back and tried to lift her out, “That’s not a toy, little one.”

  “We told you about those damn grenades.”

  It sank its teeth into the pin, trying to get back to the comfort of Jaycee’s thigh compartment.

  “Come out of there, you little—”

  TCHING.

  The pin came free in the kitten’s mouth as Jaycee lifted her out. He and Tripp looked at each other in terror.

  “Oh dear.”

  Tick-tick-tick…

  “Damn it, you idiot,” Tripp yelped and pointed at Jaycee’s thigh compartment, “Get it out of there. Please tell me it’s a smart bomb.”

  “Uh, not as such, no,” Jaycee pulled the red dumb bomb out and observed the lights appear on the side. “Can’t be reversed.”

  “Great,” Tripp yelped, “So if Jelly doesn’t kick our asses, the grenade will.”

  Jaycee looked around the airlock for an answer. In fifteen seconds’ time, the grenade would reduce the entire first level to smithereens.

  SCHLAMMM.

  Jaycee thumped his glove against the airlock panel, “Leave it with me,” he said, pushing the kitten into his right hand.

  SWISH.

  The first hatch slid up and allowed Jaycee inside, “Give me a moment.”

  “Hurry up, for God’s sake,” Tripp barked. “Be quick, we don’t know what’s out there.”

  SLAMMM.

  The first hatch slid down as the outer hatch pushed up.

  “Bon voyage,” Jaycee tossed the grenade out of the ship, taking the opportunity to glean where they were.

  Nothing but darkness and rocks. A few trees loomed in the distance. Before the outer hatch shut, a cool breeze drifted into the airlock proper.

  Tripp waved at Jaycee, “Quick, get back in.”

  Jaycee stepped into the ship and let both hatches shut.

  “Well?”

  “Well, what?” Jaycee took a look at the kitten in his hand, “Taken care of.”

  “What was out there?”

  “Dunno. A few rocks. We’ve landed somewhere.”

  “The atmosphere didn’t suck you out of the ship, so I guess we’re safe,” Tripp lifted the dead kitten over to Jaycee. “What are we going to do—”

  BOOOOOOOOM.

  An explosion occurred several feet away outside the ship, making it rock from side to side.

  “Better out than in, eh?” Jaycee offered to swap his kitten for Tripp’s. “Let’s swap, I have an idea. One that’ll keep the peace and get us back home without being killed.”

  “Miew,” the dirty, white kitten struggled to free herself from Jaycee’s hands as he passed her to his Captain.

  A familiar female voice rumbled from the far end of the walkway, “Tripp? Jaycee? Where are you? Ugh, why are there no signs here for Christ’s sake?”

  “Damn. She’s coming,” Jaycee took the dead kitten into his hands with extreme haste, “Qu
ick, give me it.”

  “What are you going to do?” Tripp nodded as he passed the dead kitten to Jaycee.

  “Trust me.”

  Three Minutes Earlier…

  Alex typed away on the keyboard at the comms deck, “Manny? This is First Officer Alex J. Hughes of S&D Space Opera Charlie. Do you read me?”

  “I read you,” the holographic book remained static in mid-air above the flight deck.

  “Awaiting sit-rep on Opera Charlie. Geo-location, geo-data. Can you confirm?”

  “Completing final report, now, Alex. Standby.”

  Jelly paced around the deck with great impatience. She swished her tail around and scowled at the stupid holographic book.

  “Are we home?”

  Alex punched more commands into the computer and looked up at the giant screen, “I don’t think so, Jelly.”

  A flood of green-transparent text rolled up the middle, representing the code, “We’re definitely not on Earth, that’s for sure.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Two things. Booting up Charlie’s drones. See if we can get an idea of where we are. I want Manny to report back on our specific location if she can.”

  Jelly sat into the flight deck chair and released her firstborn to the ground, “Okay, honey. Have a bit of a play around. Get it out of your system.”

  Alex cast a wry eye at Jelly’s boots as he typed on the keyboard. He was very curious, as was Jelly, as to where the kitten would want to go.

  Instead of scrambling around she sat back on her hind legs and meowed at Alex.

  “She’s quite the cutie, huh?” he chuckled.

  Satisfied that her daughter was safe, Jelly sat back in the chair and stretched out all four limbs, “She’s perfect.”

  “You thought of a name for her, yet?” Alex asked.

  Jelly watched her daughter race around the floor after her tail.

  “Not yet,” Jelly slapped her knees with her paws and beckoned the brown bundle of fluff over to her boots, “She’s full of energy—”

  The kitten fell to her side and attacked her own hind legs in a fit of rage, “Miew.”

  “She’s certainly feisty, I’ll give her that,” Alex said.

  Jelly looked at the white ‘F’ on her daughter’s forehead, “Feisty?”

  “Yeah. As you say, full of energy. A bit mischievous.”

  “Hmm,” Jelly clapped her paws together and caught her daughter’s attention.

  The kitten lifted her ears, confused as to what had created the startling clapping sound.

  Jelly turned her paw up and offered her daughter a helping paw, “Come here. Feisty.”

  “Miew,” the kitten squealed and tried to attack her mother’s paw.

  “Ah, nah-nah,” Jelly pulled her paw back. “Stop being so angry.”

  Schwip-swipe.

  The kitten threw her arms forward and took a few swipes at Jelly’s paw, “Control your anger, honey.”

  “Miew.”

  “Come here, silly,” Jelly leaned over and scooped the kitten in her arms, “Let me look at you.”

  The kitten wouldn’t relax in her mother’s arms. A permanent expression of anger ran across her face as she exercised her forearms against her mother’s bosom.

  “You’re furious aren’t you? What’s gotten you so upset?”

  The kitten’s claw scraped against Jelly’s exo-suit breastplate. Then, she calmed down and purred.

  Jelly stared into her daughter’s eyes, “Furie.”

  “Huh?” Alex asked.

  “Furie. I’ll call her Furie.”

  “Not furry?” Alex suggested.

  “No,” Jelly moved her arms back and forth, trying to get Furie to fall asleep. The hour-old kitten had run herself ragged.

  Exhausted, the girl closed her eyelids and nestled into her mother’s arms. And then—

  BOOOOOOOM.

  The entire flight deck shunted back and forth. The lights dipped and flashed back on.

  Jelly and Alex look up at the ceiling. The kitten opened her eyes and clung to her mother for security.

  “What was that?” Jelly asked.

  “That didn’t sound good at all,” Alex snapped his fingers, “Manny?”

  The holographic book appeared in above the flight deck and threw a beam of light into the middle of the control deck, “Standby. Nothing to be overly concerned with.”

  Alex turned to the projected image. The exterior of the ship buzzed to life against the darkened, rocky background.

  “Is that us?”

  “Yes, we’re grounded,” Manny advised. “Location unknown at this time.”

  “You mean to say we have no idea where we are—”

  An orange and white blossom of light flared at the corner of the image, shaking a few silhouetted trees behind it.

  “An explosion. Approximately fifty yards from Opera Charlie,” Manny advised. “Clearly unsafe to go outside, despite the atmosphere readings.”

  “What are they?” Alex asked.

  “Twenty-one percent oxygen. The closest match to Earth I’ve encountered.”

  Jelly released her daughter to the flight deck and stood up to her feet, “Where outside Opera Charlie?”

  “Primary Airlock, Level One.”

  Jelly stormed towards the control deck door, “I’ll take a look on my way.”

  “Where are you going?” Alex asked.

  “I want to find my other children.”

  “Come straight back, Jelly,” Alex returned to the live holographic feed in the middle of the room, “We don’t know what’s out there.”

  “Yeah, I know that,” Jelly palmed the panel on the wall expecting the door to slide open, “Huh?”

  Bop-bop-bop.

  She pressed her digipad against the glass again and again, but the door refused to open.

  BZZZZ.

  “What the hell?” Jelly spun around and shot Manny an evil look, “Why won’t the door open?”

  “You don’t have authorization, Miss Anderson. You’re a guest on the ship, and have no control—”

  “—No control, huh?” Jelly snarled and clenched her claws, “You sure about that?”

  “Quite sure, yes,” Manny explained. “Only First Officer Alex Hughes and assumed Captain Tripp Healy have authorization for navigation between levels.”

  Jelly threatened to punch the glass panel, “You do know who’s in charge here, right? Or do you want me to remind you?”

  “Jelly, no. Don’t do that,” Alex gulped, knowing that Jelly would smash the wall down if she had to, “Uh, Manny. Issue navigation clearance to Jelly, please.”

  “You want me to issue clearance to a cat?”

  Jelly snarled at the floating book and pulled her elbow back, ready to cause some destruction.

  “Yeah. I’d just do it, really.”

  “Very well,” Manny beeped three times and tilted her covers. “Authorization granted to Miss J. Anderson. I don’t have a record for anyone, or anything, named Jelly.”

  Jelly slammed her paw against the panel.

  Success. The door slid across and offered her a way out.

  “You won’t have a record at all if I rip your head off and puke down the neck hole, dickhead.”

  Jelly stormed off in a huff, somewhat relieved that she had been afforded the opportunity to assert her authority - what little she had of it, anyway.

  Manny sprang to life and flew over to Alex, “Hughes?”

  “Yes, Manny?”

  “Is she always like that?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve only just met her.”

  Manny wrapped her front and back covers together and turned to see Furie licking her private parts on to the flight deck.

  “Like mother like daughter, huh?” Manny posited.

  Furie looked up at the book with a ‘what are you looking at, bitch?’ expression on her face.

  Manny spun around and flew into a huff, “Huh. Charming.”

  CHAPTER SIX

&n
bsp; The Anderson Household

  Chrome Valley - United Kingdom

  Jamie’s mother, Emily, paced around the kitchen in a state of extreme concern. Her five-year-old daughter, Jolene, sat at the table eating her breakfast. She knew something was wrong but chose to ignore it.

  “What do you mean he’s not there?” Emily spat into the Individmedia ink in her forearm, “Where is he?”

  A stern voice came from the pinpricks in her wrist, “He didn’t show for tutorial, Mrs. Anderson. We were hoping you could shed some light as to why.”

  “No, no,” Emily began to panic, “He left home like he always does, just before eight. Are you sure he’s not at the school?”

  “He’s missed first period. He didn’t show up to registration, either.”

  Emily turned to Jolene, who smiled back as best she could, “Mommy? Where’s Jamie?”

  “Mrs. Anderson?” the voice asked. “Are you there?”

  Before Emily lost her mind entirely, her attention was drawn to a cacophony of small buzzing sounds coming from outside the kitchen window.

  “Mrs. Anderson?” the voice asked once again, “I’ll have security check once again, but I think we may have to call in the police and report him missing.”

  Emily ignored the call and approached the window to find hundreds of drones whizzing around the garden, all trying to get a glimpse through the window.

  “What in the name of—” she muttered in confusion.

  “Mrs. Anderson?”

  Emily lowered her arm and turned to the hallway.

  BANG-BANG-BANG.

  Someone knocked on the front door, startling Emily and Jolene.

  “Mrs. Anderson, are you there?”

  She ran back to the window and saw dozens of vans enter the road and make their way to the front garden. Jolene burst into tears and dropped her spoon to the table.

  “Mommy, I’m scared. What’s going on?”

  The incessant buzzing sounds grew louder amid the roar of engines and shuffling of feet coming from outside.

  Emily pulled the curtains shut and thought about her next action. She stared at her daughter’s frightened face, “Jojo?”

  “What’s happening, mommy?”

  Emily pinched the girl’s shoulder and ran into the landing, “Don’t move. Stay right there.”