“Until Manny gets us the diagnostic report, yes. Where are you?”
Tripp glanced at the kitten in Jaycee’s arms as they made for the control deck, “We’re on our way without Jelly.”
“Where is she?”
“She’s gone out to investigate.”
“What? What do you mean investigate?” Alex asked. “She can’t go out there on her own.”
Tripp reached the control deck and opened the door, “Yeah. You wanna come down here and stop her?”
Alex looked up from the comms deck to see Tripp and Jaycee walk in. He dropped the keyboard and marched up to them.
“What do you mean she’s gone to investigate? Why did you let her go out there on her own?”
“You try telling her not to and see how it pans out for you,” Tripp said. “She’s still a cat, remember.”
“And we all know what curiosity does to them” Jaycee huffed.
Alex saw the white kitten in Jaycee’s arms, “I see she’s safe and sound?”
“For now,” Jaycee lowered the white bundle of fluff to the ground and let her run free. She hit the deck and spotted her sister, Furie.
“Hiss—”
“—Hissss,” the white kitten returned fire, giving as good as she got.
Jaycee watched the two kittens square off ten feet away from each other in the middle of the control deck.
“Shall we leave them in here to fight it out?”
“Wait, wait. They’ve just met,” Tripp held him back and hushed his voice. “Let’s see what happens.”
The white kitten trundled closer to Furie, careful not to get too close, and froze.
Furie trained her eyes on her younger sibling and flapped her tail. A distant whine came from her belly as she sized up her opponent.
Alex shook his head, “We don’t have time for this, guys—”
“—No, Alex,” Tripp nodded at the girls on the floor, “Wait. Watch. I’m not sure they’re going to fight.”
White tested Furie’s temperament by throwing her left paw forward and scraping the floor.
Furie shuffled forward cautiously. She wasn’t about to back down anytime soon.
“Grrrrr,” White retracted her arm, somehow managing to startle herself. She half-expected her new foe to attack, but found the lack of action even more scary.
“Miew,” White shifted to the side, getting a good look at Furie, who enacted the same movement.
The two kittens circled one another, slapping their tails against the ground.
“Hissss,” Furie’s tail bushed out, threatening to pounce.
White reached Jaycee’s leg quite unannounced and bopped her head on his shin.
“Whoa,” he said. “Be careful with that head.”
White looked up and wiggled her nose at him. Something seemed wrong, “Miew.”
“What do you want, little one? Mommy’s not here.”
Without warning, White jumped up at Jaycee’s right knee and clawed at his exo-suit.
“Maaooww.”
“Hey, get off,” Jaycee complained.
Tripp and Alex chuckled as they watched White attack Jaycee’s leg with her paws.
Alex covered his mouth, embarrassed on Jaycee’s behalf, “Aww. Seems she’s made a new friend.”
“Meow,” White added, hopping from her hind legs in an attempt to climb up Jaycee’s leg.
“What are they doing?” Tripp asked as Furie wandered over to Jaycee’s left leg and sniffed around.
“How should I know? They’re trying to scratch my suit off.”
“Miew,” Furie hollered at her sister and shook her head. White scowled and pawed at Jaycee’s knee once again.
Furie sprinted over to her sister and tilted her head up to Jaycee’s face, “Hissss.”
“Okay. They’re creeping me out, now,” Jaycee said.
“Meow,” Furie batted White away and pushed her across the floor.
The two kittens engaged in a tussle, clawing and pawing at each other.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Alex barked at them. “Stop that.”
“They really don’t like your leg, Jaycee,” Tripp said.
“Must be the suit.”
He was greeted by a dual-hiss from both kittens. They eventually calmed down and slumped to their sides, exhausted.
“Like mother like daughters, huh?” Tripp asked.
“In the sense that they’re insane? I’d say that assessment is spot on,” Jaycee added.
***
Opera Charlie had landed somewhere unknown. A barren, rock-covered wasteland surrounded the ship.
GRUNT.
A shuffling came from within the trees a few yards away from the ship.
SHUFFLE.
“Heh,” a low-pitched grunt came from behind the bark. “Mah-shta-zee-taaaaaah.”
LAP-LAP.
A pair of yellow eyes formed in the darkness accompanied by a loud snort.
The pyramid-shaped retinas closed.
A row of razor-sharp, silver fangs spread under the bulbous eyes like an accordion.
The beast grunted and scraped the ground. It pushed forward through the foliage by the tree and growled with anger.
“Whuh,” a much bigger beast shuffled forward and prevented the beast from exiting.
The smaller beast looked into the sky.
Saturn seemed to float like a blob in a lava lamp against the dark blue palette of space. A fireball tore a streak of pink and purple across the canvas of space, headed straight for the giant Goddess.
The shaft of light bled up the face of the beast.
A jagged contour of a skull resembling a wolf. Its silver fangs reflected the light from Saturn.
“Grrrr,” it took a step back and sidled up to its master, who remained in the darkness.
SCHWIP.
The beast’s lengthy tongue hung down its chin as it turned to face Opera Charlie.
The outer airlock hatch slid up.
“Grrrr,” the beast lowered its body and scowled at the image unfolding a hundred feet away.
Jelly had to lower her head and shoulders in order to exit Opera Charlie’s outer airlock hatch.
Her left boot was first out of the ship and hit the soft, muddy ground.
She straightened her back and rolled her shoulders, finally free from the height constrictions of the airlock.
No one seemed to be around.
Unaware she was being watched, she took another step forward and inhaled.
“Grrrrr,” the beast wanted to approach her, but the master in the darkness wouldn’t let him forward.
“Muh… schta,” the voice said. “Zee-tah.”
The beast whined as it felt a carpal ball from a much larger paw run across the top of his head. The creature whined and closed his eyes shut - it knew what was coming next.
One by one, four razor sharp talons rolled down the front of its face. It found the paw from its master comforting, but knew he was not to make his presence known to the foreign entity exiting the new toy that had landed on their turf.
“Mashta,” its master grunted into its ear and removed his paw from the creature’s face, “Heh.”
Both beasts, small and large, shuffled back into the trees and made themselves scarce.
Jelly lifted her knee and wiggled her foot around before exploring the vast wasteland before her.
She sniffed three times. The undeniable stench of death filled the air. Her ears twitched against her will.
Saturn seemed to smile down on her from hundreds of the thousands of miles away in the sky.
She clutched her chest in reverence at the magnificent sight and stepped forward.
Jelly had gotten used to Jaycee’s exo-suit hand-me-down. Despite being a clear six inches taller than him, the gear fit like a glove.
She was armed and ready for anything coming her way.
Or so she thought.
Jelly exercised her infinity claws before walking off and exploring her new environs. The air was as
breathable as it had been back on Earth. It was quite unlike Pink Symphony, which had a decidedly metallic taste.
As she moved forward and stepped over the rocks, she saw a smoldering patch of black on the floor. Next to it lay a discarded grenade shell.
“Huh?”
She crouched down to inspect the battered, smoking red shell.
“A dumb bomb?”
Why on Earth - or any planet, for that matter - would a dumb bomb have exploded outside the ship? How could it have happened here?
A quick glance at Opera Charlie from the distance filled the blanks in her mind.
The ceramic surrounding the airlock hatch had been the result of a battering. Scratch marks up and down the sides of the exterior door she’d walked through only moments ago.
Curious, still, was whatever had caused the damage to the airlock had also managed to push the ship forty-five degrees onto its side.
It made Jelly scan the horizon in haste. Something was definitely out here, and she knew it.
Jelly Anderson faced a choice.
She could turn back to the safety of the ship and await good news.
The second choice was more enticing, though - investigate further and try to find answers on her own.
She couldn’t live with herself if she returned to the ship without a thorough rummage around. That, and her catty instincts compelled her to stick her nose in where it might not be wanted.
The beautiful view was too welcoming to refuse.
Haze from Saturn’s glare formed over the horizon, creating a serene and calming visual effect. If Heaven existed, it might have looked like the view Jelly had.
Full of energy and confidence, she extended her arms and prepared herself for a new adventure.
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
The ground cracked as she walked over it. Remnants of dried mud jumped up at the side of her boots. Keeping one’s balance proved to be something of a challenge around here.
The only available light came from the giant planet hanging in the sky. It cast eerie shadows along the ground from the surrounding trees and voluminous rocks.
Then, something shone in the distance. Something white and lopsided. It seemed so out of place given the cadaverous nature of the setting.
WHUMP-WHUMP-CRACK.
The knee-high rocks busted apart like charcoal as Jelly sprinted along them. They weren’t quite as strong as they appeared to be.
Jelly stood seven-and-a-half-feet tall but she didn’t consider herself especially heavy. The ground confused her. It was like walking through a discarded bonfire.
The white object in the distance grew larger the closer she got to it. It seemed to have wings, diving nose-first into what looked like a series of miniature trees.
The foliage drifted around in the gentle breeze that brushed past Jelly’s shoulders as she continued to towards it.
BZZZZZ. SHHHHH.
The sound of radio static emanated from the white thing stuck in the distance. An undecipherable dialog followed before being swamped by the hiss it produced.
There it was.
A crashed spacecraft.
It wasn’t from USARIC’s fleet.
Strange writing adorned the side of the ship.
No one was around, but that strange hissing noise continued to rumble from the shattered door.
“Miew,” Jelly sniffed around the front and peered inside the shattered windshield. A blood-covered pilot’s seat hung towards the ground.
She placed her infinity claws on the side as she walked around to the open side door - not so much ‘open’ as absolutely decimated by something - or someone.
A bizarre squeal came from the radio inside, as if trying to tune itself to a frequency where someone may hear the call. The voice was unintelligible. It didn’t sound American or English. If anything, it had a distinctly eastern European bent to it.
Jelly hoisted herself in through the door, quenching her curiosity. The back cabin was a disaster area; shattered bunk beds, broken up and twisted around the metal housing clamped to the ceiling and floor.
The walls had been pulverized beyond recognition.
The pilot area didn’t fare much better.
The glass had cracked out like a cobweb. A fight had taken place, and the passengers evidently hadn’t survived.
But where were they?
A pool of dried-up blood lay where the pilot’s seat would have been. The holes in the floor suggested that the seat had been torn away.
The area was large enough for two or three human beings, if, indeed, they were human at all.
Jelly reached the pilot control bank and analyzed the main levers.
All of them were covered in blood, and clearly built for the size of a regular human hand.
“Huh?”
Jelly moved her paw away from the gore-soaked controls and felt a rush of anxiety tear through her body.
BOOM. BOOM.
The ship rocked from side to side in an instant, throwing Jelly back-first to the wall.
SCHTOMP-SCHTOMP-SCHTOMP.
Jelly could just about make out a shape moving out of the light; a disgusting snoring sound moving in time with the footsteps.
Then, a hungry slavering sound like that of a dog reverberated through the walls.
“Oh, God,” Jelly began to hyperventilate as she felt the walls start to close in and trap her, “I gotta get outta here.”
The lights dimmed, slightly, and snapped shut.
SCHWUMP.
“Uh, uh,” Jelly felt her mouth turn to sand. She panicked and closed her eyes.
GROOOOWWWWWLLLL.
She held her breath, daring not to make the slightest movement or sound.
Stupid Jelly, she thought over and over again. There she was, as usual, treading into waters she didn’t know. Her own mortal curiosity may prove to be her undoing if she wasn’t careful.
Her mind flew into overdrive, curtailed by something entering the spacecraft with her.
A single sliver of light from Saturn pierced through the windshield and folded across the wall, offering little in the way of illumination.
GUG-GUG-GUG-GUG-GHUUG.
The sound of throaty breathing flew around her head as she squeezed her eyes shut. Hopefully, whatever had entered the ship would get fed up and disappear soon enough.
Jelly didn’t have any concept of prayer, but if she had, she’d be reciting one over and over again in her mind.
Her nostrils flared at the unmistakable scent of something she truly hated. A particular type of animal. She couldn’t see it, but she knew what it was.
And it wasn’t feline.
The shuffling from whatever had entered the ship stopped for a moment and continued its investigation. A pungent stench emanated from his body.
BARK. HOWL.
The cries were of wolves, or large dogs - sounds Jelly knew all-too well, but hadn’t heard in years, and hoped never to experience again.
No such luck.
SHUFFLE-SCHTOMP.
“Uh, uh, uh,” the pit of her stomach whined.
She kept her shoulders pressed firmly against the pilot cabin wall, lamenting the moment she stupidly trapped herself inside.
She should have known better.
Then, she made the mistake of opening her eyes.
Instead of seeing an empty cabin, a row of silver teeth streaked across her field of vision.
The creature faced her…
GUG-GUG-GUG-GHUUG.
It closed its eyelids over its pyramid-shaped pupils and held its gargantuan, ugly face a couple of inches in front of hers.
The pit of Jelly’s stomach whined once again.
It came from her vocals chords, and she knew it; it just felt like it had come from the depths of her stomach.
Her eyes widened at the sight of the creature in front of her. Its head hung down due to the sheer size of its frame. The beast’s shoulders scraped along the ceiling as it moved toward her, confused by Jelly’s presence .
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The thing opened its eyelids and stared into her face.
One ugly creature.
Rows and rows of teeth, and urine-colored pupils that shut sideways. Jelly clocked sections of the ship’s exterior fastened around its arms and torso.
Finally, it whipped its furry tail against the flight deck, causing the plastic facade to crack and break apart.
“Huh-huh-huh,” Jelly kept her breathing to a minimum, but it was no use.
The creature sniffed around Jelly’s face. She looked in any direction but the beast’s, as far away as possible from its terrifying eyes.
Four silver talons on each paw could ravage her to within an inch of her life.
The beast snorted and snored as it moved closer to her. Each step forward rocked the ship, further antagonizing her.
“P-Please, d-don’t—”
GROWL.
The beast lowered its arms and tilted its head as it screamed a blast of pure energy at her face.
It shut her up in an instant.
Why wasn’t the creature tearing her apart? A fractured image of several howling wolves in their dozens swam across the cracks in the windshield.
Even if she escaped the ship, she’d get mauled to death by the beast’s cohorts outside.
GUG-GUG-GUG.
The beast sniffed around the wall, taking its time to arrive at Jelly. She extended her infinity claws, ready to strike.
Saliva roped down between its teeth, its hound-like nose inch in front of her own.
She winced and pressed the side of her face against the wall in a state of delirium.
It sniffed around, unsure of what was squirming in front of it.
Jelly held her breath in utter silence. Her heart thumped against her ribcage. The beast couldn’t hear it, though.
She looked the thing right in its soulless eyes.
“Huh,” she whispered. “You c-can’t see m-me?”
THCLAP-TCHLAP-GULP.
The beast pulled its head back a couple of inches and swung its tongue over its teeth. Jelly squinted at the beast as it tried to lift its head and stand up straight. It was unable to due to the height of the ceiling in the cabin.
Jelly licked her mouth and repeated her view, “You can’t see me—”
Star Cat The Complete Series Page 77
