Star Cat: War Mage

by Andrew Mackay

  Tripp took Jelly’s newborn in his hands. The gunk slopped between his fingers, “What are you going to call her?”

  “—Tripp, man,” Jaycee screamed, “Not now. We need to leave.”

  He stormed into the airlock compression chamber and waved the pair in with him, “Let’s go.”

  Jelly took the kitten from Tripp as they made their way into the airlock.

  He double-took and looked at the door. A pang of déjà vu throttled through his body, “There’s something very familiar about all this.”

  Jaycee grunted, “You don’t say.”

  “Guys, wait for me,” Alex reached the door and immediately spotted Jelly carrying her kitten. “My God, what happened?”

  “She gave birth,” Tripp said. “You know how to operate Charlie when we get in, right?”

  “Yes,” Alex hopped into the airlock and pressed his fingers around his mask, “Where are your outer-suits?”

  “We don’t have time.”

  Jelly ran the side of her face against her kitten, “Hey, honey. Don’t be scared.”

  “What about that thing?” Alex pointed to the kitten, only for Jelly to take offense.

  “She’s not a thing.”

  SCHWUMP.

  The inner-door slammed down, instigating the start of the decompressions process. A blast of white gas filled the chamber.

  “Right,” Jaycee grabbed the lever next to the outer-door, “Let’s get out of here and go home.”

  “Wait, let me go first,” Alex pushed his way to the front, “Jaycee, when we get there, Manny might not open the door for you. She will for me, though.”

  “Okay,” Jaycee turned over his shoulder, “Everyone ready?”

  Tripp nodded, “Jelly, cover the kitten’s mouth.”

  “Okay,” she exhaled and stood poised to blast through the door.

  “ETA sixty seconds, here we go,” Jaycee yanked the lever down.

  SWISH!

  The door slid up, allowing them onto the bridge. They had expected it to be a silent journey. The white bridge seemed whiter than usual.

  GRRROOOOOAAARRRRRR!

  Jaycee gripped the shuddering railings and pulled himself forward, “What the hell?”

  He squinted at the blinding light coming from Saturn, above. The fiery Enceladus sunk into it, throwing the planet’s surface out like an exploded balloon sticking to the stars.

  He held his hand over his eyes and ignored it, pulling himself forward.

  Alex followed, clocking some of the celestial event as he moved forward, “Jesus Christ. Look at that.”

  His feet drifted across the bridge floor. Saturn’s rings began to gyrate as if wading through a magnificent lump of treacle. The stars pushed aside as the planet’s body pounded away like an aggressive boom box.

  “What the hell is happening up there?” Alex muttered, wide-eyed at the spectacular light show. He held out his hand for Tripp, “Come on.”

  Tripp covered his eyes with his left palm. He grabbed Alex’s hand with his right.

  “Come on, let’s go. Quick.”

  Jelly cradled her daughter in her elbow and protected her with her claws. She used her free hand for balance as she traversed the bridge.

  GWAAAARRRR… WVHOOSH…

  A shower of light bleached out their surroundings. Saturn seemed to be growing. Jaycee and Alex saw a giant black hole form like a crazy, liquid cartwheel over its surface.

  “Go, go, go—” Alex pushed Jaycee along the bridge and gripped the rails, propelling himself after him, “Tripp, come on.”

  Alex’s voice may have fallen on deaf ears in the vacuum of space, but his haste in ushering Jelly and her newborn couldn’t be ignored.

  “Jelly, please.”

  She opened her eyes and clutched her baby tighter than ever, “I’m coming.”

  SWISH!

  Oxade ran into the airlock with his K-SPARK and thumped the outer door, “Look at them. They think they can abscond on our ship?”

  Nutrene held her arm as she stepped inside the chamber with her Rez-9.

  Poz and Neg rolled in with them, “Commencing decompression. Standby.”

  SPRIISHHH!

  Jelly turned to face him with her daughter’s scruff in her mouth. The kitten hung in against of her chin and thrashed its spindly legs around.

  “Hey,” Oxade thumped the outer airlock door in an attempt to catch Jelly’s attention, “Get back here and die like a good little pussy.”

  The decompression stopped as soon as the outer airlock hatch flung open. Oxade kicked himself away from the frame of the door and arrowed behind Jelly.

  Alex caught his action just in time and pointed behind her, “Jelly. Behind you.”

  “What?”

  FWUMP!

  Oxade bolted across the bridge and socked Jelly in the face. Her jaw opened, releasing her newborn into space, and away from the bridge.

  “There’s a good girl,” Oxade shouted under his mask, “Let daddy pass.”

  “Jeez,” Alex placed the sole of his boot on the railing. He pushed himself after the flying kitten as it headed away from the bridge. He just about caught her in his hands.

  Jelly massaged her jaw, taken aback by the attack. She flung her claws out at Oxade. Her eyes felt fit to burst in the airless void.

  Tripp and Jaycee reached Opera Charlie’s outer airlock door. They hadn’t seen the commotion - their attention was on Charlie’s outer airlock hatch.

  “Open up,” Tripp said with his last breath, “Now.”

  A miracle.

  Opera Charlie’s outer hatch opened up and allowed him and Jaycee inside. They pulled themselves in and immediately felt the pressure inside, as if their bodies were about to burst.

  “Get in,” Tripp pushed himself against the chamber and turned to Alex. A few blobs of pink liquid streaked across the air from Tripp’s tear ducts. He tried to grab a few of them, but missed.

  Jaycee moved forward and hit the lever on the wall.

  SCHWUNT-SWISSSH!

  The outer hatch closed, forcing the chamber to decompress.

  Tripp staggered to his knees and took a lungful of oxygen, “Gaaaah.”

  Jaycee did the same, coughing the infinite void of space from his lungs, “Ugh, I thought my chest was going to explode.”

  “Jelly,” Tripp pushed himself to the window. Alex blocked the view as he carried the kitten in his arms, “They’re going to die.”

  Alex waved his hands, forcing them to open the door. The events on the bridge - Alex barreled toward them, and Jelly preparing to attack Oxade - seemed to play-out in ultra-slow motion.

  WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP.

  Alex thumped the door, “Let us in.”

  Jaycee stormed over to the inner-door and grabbed the lever.

  The door slid up, “Tripp, get in.”

  “Yeah,” he turned around and launched himself into Opera Charlie proper, “Is there anyone else on board?”

  “How should I know?” Jaycee stepped after him and yanked the lever down on the inner door wall, “You got your firearm on you?”

  Tripp unhooked the Rez-9 from his belt and armed it, “Oh, yeah. We made it, Jaycee.”

  “We haven’t made it, yet. We don’t know who - or what - is on board Charlie.”

  “I’ll head for the control deck. Try to get us out of here.”

  “Good idea. I’ll make sure Charlie team doesn’t get in,” Jaycee turned watched Alex thumping the wall yet again, presenting the kitten at the window, “Go, go, go…”

  “Okay,” Tripp looked around and ran off in the direction he thought would take him to the control deck.

  Jaycee hit the second lever, opening the outer airlock door.

  Alex pushed the newborn kitten into the airlock and followed her in, giving Jaycee the ‘thumbs up’ through the window.

  His jaw dropped as he turned to the blinding-white bridge. Saturn’s rings gyrated faster and faster. A liquid circle formed over its surface. It appeared to sing as it
enveloped the two ships with a brilliant white light.

  “My G-God…”

  SCHWUMP.

  Alex couldn’t believe his eyes. A wondrous event was in full swing. He caught the newborn in his arms as the decompression thundered around them, “What’s happening up there?”

  Jaycee yanked the second lever down and opened the inner door, “Give me the baby.”

  Alex bolted through the door and passed the kitten to Jaycee, “Something insane is happening up there.”

  “I know. We saw it,” Jaycee inspected the kitten. She’d bled a little form her facial orifices but was still breathing, “We need to protect Anderson’s baby.”

  “What about Jelly?” Alex pointed at the door.

  Oxade and Jelly faced-off in the middle of the bridge. He aimed his gun at her and threatened to shoot, “My name is Oxade Weller. I am the captain of Opera Charlie,” he said before realizing Jelly couldn’t hear a word. She could see he was speaking through his mask, but little else.

  Nutrene sidled past him on the bridge with her Rez-9 drawn. Her monocle rotated and focused on Jelly, “Let me take care of this putrid ball of fluff.”

  Jelly lowered her claws and huffed. The absence of atmosphere began to crack the fur and skin on her arms. She harnessed the pain and used it to psyche herself up, ready for war.

  “It’s very pretty out here, isn’t it?” Nutrene looked up at the angry blue planet spinning its rings. She pointed her gun at Jelly’s heart, “Now surrender. You’re a perversion of science.”

  Jelly whined. Her muscles tensed up as she held her claws out in surrender.

  “Good girl,” Nutrene laughed through her mask, “Who’s a good girl? Yes, you are,” she pulled herself along the bridge with her free arm, “Come here for a murdering, you fluffy little—”

  SCHWUPP!

  Nutrene’s gun lifted away from her palm and shot up to Saturn’s spinning rings, “Huh?”

  She grabbed at it - to no success. The gun sped at that bizarre circular formation smothering Saturn’s surface.

  Nutrene made the mistake of looking up at the spectacle, “Oh, m-my,” Her monocle swirled around, focusing on her gun drifting towards the planet, “It is God!”

  “Meow,” Jelly snarled and swiped her claws across Nutrene’s face. Her mask burst apart. The lens in her monocle cracked.

  The gelatin frontage sucked into her face and blasted three perfect streams of gas towards Saturn, depriving the woman of oxygen.

  “H-Help m-me…”

  Nutrene let go of the rails. The pull from Saturn yanked her eyeball through her broken monocle, forcing her head away from the bridge. Her chest cracked out and made its way towards the blackened surface of Saturn as she suffocated to death.

  “Aaggghhhh…” Nutrene’s suit tore open and punched a hole in her torso. Her organs plumed out and stretched away from her body.

  “Oh God,” Oxade raced forward and kicked himself down to his back. He spun around on his side and watched what little remained of Nutrene fold out.

  The bones in her body crunched together and threw her remains at Saturn like a stretched piece of chewing gum.

  Jelly’s hair began to lift toward the cataclysmic black event on Saturn, “Miew.”

  She turned around and held onto the bridge railing and yanked herself toward Opera Charlie.

  “Oh, God, Nutrene.”

  He witnessed the bottom half of her body, and legs, stretch over thousands of miles and melt into the fantastic light show above his head. Her monocle elongated as her messy amalgam of bone, flesh and skin snaked toward the angry planet.

  Oxade felt his feet drift up and away from the bridge, “Come back here,” he screamed, pulling himself toward Jelly.

  Poz and Neg peeked out from Opera Beta’s outer airlock hatch and scanned the bridge, “Seems stable enough.”

  “Yes, but what about that black hole?” Neg tilted her eyebulbs directly above their heads.

  “We can make it,” Poz said. “I don’t want to die on this crappy spaceship.”

  “Okay, let’s go,” Neg rolled across the bridge at speed, headed toward Oxade and Jelly.

  Oxade clung to the bridge and felt his shin bones crack apart, “Oh, oh…”

  Jelly spun around and slammed the outer airlock door, “Let me in.”

  Alex hit the lever on the wall. The hatch flew up and let Jelly into the decompression chamber. She tumbled backwards and hit her tail on the wall, “Mieewww.”

  Oxade grabbed the outer door edges, trying to fight back the force of the event taking place above them. He looked at the ground and tried for one last push.

  “Nyaaarrggghhhhhh…”

  WHIZZ…

  Neg rolled into the chamber underneath his chest as he pulled forward.

  “Hello, Captain.”

  “Gah, gah,”

  Oxade wrenched the top half of his body through the frame of the airlock door.

  SCHWUNT-SMASH!

  The hatch sliced down on his right foot and severed it from his ankle.

  “Gaaooww,”

  The compressed air blasted around Jelly, Neg, and Oxade, sealing them in from the bridge.

  Jelly caught her breath and held the end of her tail. The pain was sensational and angered her to the core.

  Oxade and Neg looked up at her.

  “N-Neg…” Oxade looked through the window and saw his severed foot drift through space, headed for Saturn, “Touch Jelly for me.”

  “My pleasure,” Neg twisted around and rolled forward, threatening to make contact.

  Jelly back up to the inner door, “Stay away from me.”

  “Come here, girl,” Neg slid forward and beeped, “I want to absorb you.”

  Jelly elbowed the inner door behind her, “Alex. Open the hatch.”

  “Touch her, you useless marble,” Oxade shouted at Neg.

  “Okay, okay,” She rolled further forward, nanoseconds away from making contact.

  Jelly gripped the inner hatch, closed her eyes and squealed.

  Neg almost made contact with Jelly’s knee. Her cylindrical body lifted ten inches into the air and rocketed back toward the outer airlock door.

  CLANNNGGG!

  Her frame smashed against the bottom of the door like a super-powerful magnet, “What the hell?”

  Neg looked around and saw Poz on the other side of the door slowly drifting up toward Saturn’s event.

  “Neg, Neg,” Poz’s muffled squeals blasted from the window, “Help me. Don’t let me go.”

  “Ah, ah, ah,” Neg slid up the door with Poz, their magnetized surfaces keeping them bound together.

  “Don’t l-let me go up there, I’m scared.”

  Jelly and Oxade’s watched the magnetic droids share a moment together as Poz’s body dragged Neg further up the outer airlock door.

  “Work with me, here, Neg,” Poz said. “Let me in.”

  Jelly screamed and clanging her claws against the window, “Alex, open the damn hatch.”

  Alex kept his grip on the lever and eyed the pressure inlet dial, “I’m waiting for the chamber to reset. C’mon, c’mon, c’mon…”

  Biddip-beeeeeeeep.

  The lever lit up, indicating the decompression had concluded.

  SWISH!

  Alex yanked the lever down. The inner airlock hatch flew up. Jelly backward-rolled inside Opera Charlie..

  She thumped her claws to the ground and growled at Oxade and Neg.

  “Come here, you defiant cow,” Neg attempted to break away from Poz’s magnetic charge from the other side of the outer airlock hatch.

  “Alex,” Jelly shouted, “Now.”

  He thumped the lever down.

  SLAMM-SCHWUNT!

  The inner hatch slammed shut, sealing Neg and Oxade inside the airlock chamber.

  Jelly grunted and slapped her tail against the ground. Alex let go of the lever and turned to her, “What d-do we do, now?”

  She trained her eyes on the window as she stood to her
feet and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

  “Jelly?” Alex asked in fright.

  She pushed him aside and made her way to the yellow pressure inlet dial. She punched through the glass and turned the dial counter-clockwise, raising the pressure.

  Screeeeeeeeee… the spindle on the dial daggered to the right, flying up the atmosphere pressure numbers.

  “Oh no,” Oxade’s muffled voice splashed against the window of the inner airlock door. He scrambled to his bleeding stump, realizing what was about to happen, “Please, Anderson. Don’t...”

  Jelly ran her tongue along her bottom lip and scowled at Neg, then at Oxade, imprisoned in her little playground.

  “Anderson, p-please,” Oxade begged. He pressed his gloved palms to his ears in an attempt to block the pressure increase.

  “Let us out of here,” Neg threw bolts of electricity out from her body. Each multi-pronged whip of lightning crawled along the four chamber walls, “Don’t do it.”

  “Jelly,” Alex placed his hand on top of Jelly’s as she held onto the dial, “Don’t do this.”

  Jelly purred and threw his hand off her paw, “They killed my mommy.”

  “I know, but don’t do it. They’re trapped. They can’t get out. Let USARIC deal with them when we get back.”

  “They are nothing but vermin to me. Useless, stinking rodents. Look at them,” Jelly rolled her shoulders wanting death. Her long, dark orange hair flowed down her back as she turned to watch the execution, “You might want to look away.”

  “Oh God, don’t—” Alex couldn’t bear to watch any longer.

  Jelly took one last look at Oxade’s face. Fissures and blisters cracked across his forehead and exposed facial skin. He shook his head ‘no’ and pressed his palms together, “You’re a monster.”

  “I’m not a monster, Alex,” Jelly screwed her face and allowed the anger in her heart to flow up her torso and rocket into her arm. “I’m a mother.”

  SCHWUNT!

  “For God’s sake, Jelly,” Alex grabbed her hand and tried to remove it from the compression lever, “What do you think you’re doing—”

  “—Don’t touch me,” Jelly shoved Alex onto his ass. She kept the dial forced to the right and watched the spindle reached its maximum pressure point.