The holographic book turned to him, “Yes, Alex?”
“Any update on when I can take this damn mask off? I feel like I’m suffocating in here.”
“I advise you leave it on. High toxicity levels are present on the ship. The original Manuel on Beta reported a substance known as Symphonium.”
Alex moved over to the flight deck and pointed at the two kittens, “I don’t understand. How come it isn’t affecting them?”
“They don’t seem to be affected. My most accurate assertion is that they’ve likely built an immunity to it.”
“Ugh,” Alex shook his head and snapped his fingers, “Manny, bring up the drone feed, please.”
“Certainly.”
Manny flapped its way to the middle of the control deck and projected a medium-sized live feed of the drone.
“Where are we? What do we know?” Alex asked.
“Awaiting reports on precise location. Location unknown. However, the atmosphere levels are similar to Earth. Gravity is the same.”
“Are we home?” Alex raised his eyebrows, entertaining the futile idea that, somehow, the black hole had returned them to Earth.
“No, this is not Earth. The coordinates suggest we are in our solar system. That’s all I know.”
“You’re telling me that there’s a planet that’s identical in most every way to Earth right here in our solar system?”
“I never said we were on a planet, Alex,” Manny continued. “A celestial plane, perhaps. Similar properties to Earth.”
“Great,” Alex huffed sarcastically and lifted his forearm to his face. The Individimedia ink swirled up to his wrist and formed three lines, “That’s all we need. I think Jaycee and Tripp should be informed.”
“Do as you please, Alex. It won’t help us any. Not yet, anyway.”
Alex lifted his Individimedia to his mouth and was about to speak, when Manny shuffled over to him.
“I’d like to remind you of our original remit, Alex Hughes. Our task was to destroy Opera Beta. Three of her crew remain alive and well.”
Alex ignored Manny and spoke into his wrist, “This is Alex. Do you read me?”
The Motary
Space Opera Charlie - Level Three
Tripp and Jaycee approached a large sliding door at the end of Charlie’s Level Three walkway.
“You’ll never believe what I found on my hunt around this godforsaken piece of USARIC crap-heap, my friend.”
Jaycee held out his glove and hit the panel on the wall.
“I don’t understand why you just don’t tell me?” Tripp said.
“Better to show you,” Jaycee hit the panel and opened the door, “You know how Maar and Dimitri and USARIC were complaining about saving money?”
“Yeah?”
“I’ll show you how they redistributed their savings. You won’t believe it.”
Jaycee ushered Tripp into a veritable vehicular warehouse. At least fifty feet in height, its position at the back of the ship allowed for a sprawling area that housed several vehicles of all shapes and sizes.
Tripp couldn’t believe his eyes, “Jesus.”
“Yup.”
“Not only is Charlie carrying the latest military firepower, they’re also carrying a fleet of vehicles, too?”
“Seeing is believing, my friend,” Jaycee moved forward to a huge globe-shaped pod with extended claws. He thumped the side, sending echoes around the vast facility, “God knows what some of this stuff is for.”
“If they weren’t going to shoot us dead, they’d crush us to pieces,” Tripp marveled at the motors on display and pointed to another, “What’s that?”
Jaycee squinted at a smaller-sized ship with K-BOLT written on the side of it.
“Not sure. Some sort of mini version of the ship. Probably used for exploration.”
“You mean you don’t know?”
“I’m Weapons and Armory, Tripp. I never got to see motary. Alex probably knows more about this stuff than me.”
“The motary?”
“Yeah,” Jaycee walked to the back of the area, “USARIC’s cheap solution to universal domination. You should see W&A upstairs. Kitted-out in all the latest firepower. It’s madness.”
“They really wanted to kill us, didn’t they?” Tripp said.
Jaycee moved over to a medium-sized glacier white tank on conveyors, “I think this is my favorite, though.”
Tripp’s forearm buzzed to life. His Individimedia flashed on his wrist, “This is Alex. Do you read me?”
“Yes,” Tripp winked at Jaycee and spoke into his arm, “We read you. We’re in The Motary.”
“What?” Alex asked. “What are you doing in there?”
Tripp surveyed his surroundings, impressed, “Just checking it out. We’ve never seen it before.”
“Look, Manny’s sent a drone outside to try and find out where we are.”
“Any update on that?” Tripp asked as he watched Jaycee jump on top of the tank.
“Not yet. Manny advised we take a manned party outside. The atmosphere levels check out, but I still have to wear my mask. Charlie’s been infected by that pink stuff.”
“Yes, keep your mask on. We can go out and find Jelly and see what we can find.”
“How do you plan to do that?” Alex asked.
Jaycee opened the tank lid and placed his right leg inside, “Hey, Alex?”
“Yeah?” his voice came from Tripp’s arm. “Is that you, Jaycee?”
“Yes. We’ll use this tank. Can you start it up for us?”
Five Minutes Later…
Jaycee sat in the tank cabin with a semi-circle of controls in front of him. He slung the headgear hanging from the roof around his shoulders and clamped the cans around his head.
“Okay, we’re in.”
“Good,” Alex’s voice came from the headset as Jaycee pressed them over his ears, “Microphone on? Give me a reading.”
“Testing, testing, one, two, three,” Jaycee rubbed his hands together and went for a red button below the dashboard. “What does this button do?”
“For God’s sake, don’t touch that,” Alex blurted. “It’s the ejector seat. You have absolutely no business pressing that. It’s under the dashboard for a good reason. Do you understand me?”
Jaycee removed his finger from the red button, “Understood.”
“And be careful your big, fat knee doesn’t actually hit it, either,” Alex continued. “For Christ’s sake, we don’t want you blasting your ass to smithereens like an idiot.”
“How are the kittens holding up?” Jaycee said as the tank fired to life, “Are they with you?”
“Nice. A change of subject,” Alex spat. “They’re fine, they’re sleeping. Now pay attention. See the gears in front of you?”
“Yeah,” Jaycee grabbed the giant dual gear stick in both hands.
“Push the main one away to move forward. Very slowly. Always initiative all movements gingerly to get used to their sensitivity.”
“Okay,” Jaycee pushed the gear forward, enabling the conveyors to rumble toward the wall.
“No. Don’t do it now,” Alex barked. “The door isn’t open, yet.”
“Sorry.”
Alex continued, “Tripp? Are you there?”
Tripp climbed into a white cage atop the tank with a mounted turret in front of him, “All good.”
“Good. The turret is three-hundred-and-eighty, which means you have full rotation. You can use both triggers, or just the left and right. Each spends five hundred bullets per minute. The chain runs down to the armory at the back of the tank.”
“Understood.”
“Which means Jaycee must be careful not to back into anything that could break it open,” Alex advised. “If you’re using the turret, which, hopefully, you won’t have to, lay off for every ten seconds to allow for cool down. The spools get very hot.”
“Okay.”
“There is no trip switch on the tank. If you keep your finger on the trigger duri
ng overheat, you’ll blow yourself up and probably take half the place with you, as well.”
Tripp released the handles instinctively, “Uh, do you think I should drive and Jaycee handle the weaponry?”
“No,” Alex said. “You’re not using the turret to shoot. You’re using it to inspect. The sight on top records everything it sees.”
Tripp leaned forward and looked down the sight. Red lines appeared on the image of the wall and shot to the bottom right-hand-corner.
“Okay, got it.”
“Good. We’ll use that data to configure a terrain report for Manny. Get some clue as to where we are.”
“Let’s get this show on the road,” Jaycee said, eagerly.
“Hang on, big fella,” Alex said. “Okay, opening the exit for you, now. Standby.”
SHUUUUUURRRRRMMMMMMM.
The back wall lifted upwards with an infuriating slowness. The grind of ceramic-on-metal rolled around the Motary as Jaycee pushed the gears forward.
VROOOOOOOOM.
Six huge rollers careened through the conveyor, shifting the entire unit forward.
“Good luck, gentlemen. Retain comms at all times,” Alex said.
“Thanks, Alex. We will,” Jaycee said. “Let’s do this.”
“Be careful,” Alex quipped. “It looks boring out there,”
***
Jelly held the frame of the battered spaceship door and scanned the scores of hungry wolves howling and barking like dogs at her.
They wanted her to jump down and provide a well-earned meal for them. There probably wasn’t enough of her to go around, or so she thought.
A curious thing to think when faced with certain death. She’d developed the critical thoughts and considerations of a human and found the morbid curiosity fascinating at times.
“Not enough of me to go around, dickheads. No,” she shouted at them and teased the first row of hungry, vicious wolves with her boot.
They ran forward and hopped up on their hind legs, scratching and battering the underside of the ship.
“Wow, vicious,” she clung to the frame for dear life, knowing she had to make a decision - and fast.
SCHTOMP-SCHTOMP-SCHTOMP.
The ship rattled back and forth once again, this time due to Mastazita’s exit from the cockpit.
The light from Saturn hit the incredible beast, offering Jelly a clear view of his body and face.
A view she’d regret committing to memory.
Mastazita - an ungainly force of nature. Two feet taller than Jelly, his wolf body looked to be extremely agile. It wouldn’t have taken a rocket scientist - fortunately - to figure out that he, or she, or whatever sex it was, was in charge.
And it was headed straight for Jelly’s back.
“God,” Jelly turned to the wolves and scratched her infinity claws around the frame of the door.
“Muh-shtaaaaaa-zee-taaah,” it growled as it stomped ever closer to Jelly with its paws scraping along the walls. Its nose twitched, trying to following Jelly’s scent.
“Please. Send me some help,” Jelly took a deep breath and committed herself to jumping out of the ship.
Just as her left leg moved away, a sound came from the sky.
BZZZZZZZZZZ.
“Huh”?” Jelly looked up to see a white drone with USARIC written on the side of it. “Tripp?” she yelled at the device as it whizzed around and surveyed the area.
“No, not Tripp, you silly cat,” Alex waved his arm across a live 3D image from the drone in the control deck. “It’s me, Alex. You have gotten yourself in a bit of a pickle, haven’t you?”
The view of the drone sank a few feet and flew in front of Jelly’s face. Alex ran his middle finger up from the bottom of the image all the way to the top, heightening the volume.
“Jelly, this is Alex. You can’t stay in there—”
Jelly’s ears flew up as she scanned the whizzing drone.
“—you have to jump,” his voice flew out from the circular drone which hovered a few feet above her head.
“Alex?” Jelly screeched at the drone. “There’s something on the ship. You have to help me.”
“I will, Jelly,” the drone carried Alex’s voice along with it as it zoomed over the heads of the wolves, “I’ll distract them and clear a path.”
HOOWWWWLLLLLLLL.
“Hurry up,” Jelly looked over her shoulder.
Mastazita would be dining on the flesh in her back and neck ten seconds from now.
“He’s coming.”
“Who’s coming?” the drone asked as it lowered further and blasted a beam of white light at the faces of the wolves.
“No time to explain, just get me out of here.”
“Okay,” the drone shifted towards the trees, successfully diverting the wolves away from the ship.
“Whoa,” the drone whizzed up as one of the wolves jumped in the air and swiped its claws at it.
“Wow, that was close.”
“Go, go, go,” Jelly spied the wolves turn their back, “Do it.”
“I’m doing my best,” Alex’s voice came from the drone. It whizzed towards the tree and affected a daft tone of voice at the wolves, “Cootchie-coo. Who’s a cute little doggie, huh?”
“Don’t flirt with them, Hughes. Just get them away from me.”
“Muuuh-shtaaa-zeeee-taaaaah.”
Jelly felt a thick blaze of fire rocket between her shoulder blades, “Gahhh.”
Her chest pushed out and launched her away from the door, followed by her limbs.
“Whuh.”
Mastazita had punched her so hard the front of her exo-suit bust open in mid-air.
GROOOWWWWLLLLL.
Jelly somersaulted into the air in intense agony. Her legs flipped over her head, and then her tail. The ground whizzed toward her left cheek at an alarming rate.
WHOOOOSH.
“Noooooo,” Jelly’s instinct kicked in. She fanned out her forearms and hind legs and spun around, darting to the ground chest-first.
SCHLAMMMMM.
She landed on all four paws - as nature intended. Her left knee bent under her abdomen. She was in the perfect prone position to bolt forward like the scurrilous cat she was - and away from the diverted wolves.
“Run, Jelly. Run,” the drone yelled, shifting from side to side, further distracting the wolves.
BOLT.
Jelly ran as quick as she could - which wasn’t very fast. Her suit slowed her down, but the terrain itself was unpredictable. Sludgy and muddy one step, and rock hard the next.
CLOMP-SCHPLATCH-CLATCH.
She darted faster, crunching her boots into the breakable ground as she ran.
The wolves weren’t stupid - and no longer fooled. They grew tired of the drone and took an interest in the prey that tried to make her escape from the vicinity.
HOWWLLL.
The wolves tore across the terrain in her direction.
Mastazita beat his chest with his paws and let out a deathly, guttural growl of murder.
ROOOAAAARRRRR.
“Jesus Christ, Jelly,” the drone zipped up the side of the tree and whizzed through the air in an attempt to catch up with her. The live feed provided a perfect aerial shot of Jelly’s progress - or lack thereof.
She slowed down, almost out of breath and attempted to climb a thick rock in front of her, “I c-can’t g-go on,” she huffed and puffed, lifting herself over the rock.
The packs of wolves bounded forward at a furious rate.
“Nggg. Help m-me,” she huffed, clinging to the side of the rock, “They’re going to kill me.”
HOOWWWLL.
The wolves sped along the terrain with great expertize and balance. They ran so fast they nearly fell over one another in a fierce battle to get to the front.
“Muuuh-shtaaa-zeeee-taaaaah,” the voice from the gargantuan shattered its way across the ground. Jelly was too far away from Mastazita to see him, but his voice was present.
A slow and violent death was immi
nent.
The first wolf slowed to enjoy the torment it dished out to its exhausted prey.
“Grrrrr.”
Jelly slung one leg over the top of the rock, a few inches away from its nose. All four of her limbs hurt her whenever she moved.
“No, no, d-don’t—” she tried, before letting out a low-pitch growl, “Grrrrr.”
SNASH.
The first wolf turned its head left, and then right. The rest of its pack lined around it, ready to feast.
The wolf snarled at Jelly. It trundled forward with a deathly sincerity and swiped at the end of her tail.
SWISH.
“Naaooww,” Jelly turned around and moved her tail out of its path, “Oh, G-God.”
Her heart-rate picked up, sending beads of sweat along her brow. She felt her body begin to cook and pulsate, along with the furious beating of her heart.
“Ngggggg,” she clutched her chest and slammed the back of her head against the rock. She was out of harm’s way - for now. If the wolves could climb even a foot up the hard surface, she’d be toast.
The first wolf attempted just that.
It scrambled up the side of the wall, encouraged by the rest of the pack.
WHUMP.
It landed on top of the rock with her and whipped its tongue around its mouth, ready to feast.
The ground began to shake, shifting segments of mud and rocks around. The rumbling got louder and louder as Jelly resigned herself to her fate.
She stared into its eyes, knowing that if it didn’t kill her, she’d probably have a heart attack, “Just d-do it. K-Kill me, you son of a bitch.”
“Grrrrr.”
The wolf pressed its paw on her busted exo-suit chest piece and dug its claws into her fur.
“Nyeeeoooowww,” Jelly squeezed her eyes shut and lifted her arms up. She tried to grab the wolf, but felt the strength drain from her body.
CLLLUUTCCCH-CRRACCCCKK.
“Whuh,” Jelly coughed up a mound of blood into the wolf’s face, “Neeeooow.”
Its claws pierced through her fur and sunk into her flesh. She let out a pathetic whine and struggled to keep her eyes open.
Saturn looked down on the assault.
Star Cat The Complete Series Page 80
