Star Cat The Complete Series

by Andrew Mackay

  “What’s going on up there, Alex?” Siyam asked. “Did you connect with Opera Beta?”

  “Yeah, uh, sort of. It’s a very long story, but—”

  Alex’s image flickered in and out and nearly lost connection altogether, “—crew didn’t make it, and we’re on some bizarre terrain we don’t recognize.”

  “Huh?” Sierra asked.

  Alex turned to his left and held his hands up, hoping something wouldn’t attack him, “We got the connection.”

  Jamie stepped forward and stared, wide-eyed, at the feed.

  “Okay, okay,” Alex moved out of the way and ushered the person in front of the feed, “Go on, I think he’s there.”

  Jamie’s mouth opened as he watched the next person move in front of the lens.

  A tall woman with cat-like features.

  Her fur looked coarse and bristly, much of it in white and black streaks that covered her face in diagonal direction.

  She stared at the crew and eventually moved her eyes to Jamie.

  “J-Jelly?” he stammered.

  The monstrous tiger barely resembled the tiny cat she once was. She stared at him and let out a vicious grunt. Her nostrils flared up as she moved her huge paw up the live feed, “Jamie.”

  Siyam gulped and couldn’t tear his eyes away from the event, “My God, what have they done to her?”

  “Jelly Anderson, Star Cat?” Noyin whispered to Rana. “More like Star Tiger.”

  Jelly moved her nose forward and closed her eyes. She tried to breathe Jamie in and remind herself of home, but it was no use. It was only an image of Jamie. For a brief moment, though, it felt like they were physically in the same room.

  Jamie whimpered and wiped the tears from his eyes, “What h-happened to you, Jelly?”

  “They did this to me,” she grunted. “I’m a mess.”

  Jamie bit his lip and ran his finger through the holograph of her head, “I miss you, Jelly. Please come back home.”

  “Juh—Juh—” she licked her lips and gulped. “Jelly. Is sick, Jamie. Pink Symphony eating m-me inside.”

  “No,” he sniffed. “I’m so sorry, it’s all my fault—”

  “—Jamie protect others. Jelly… t-try t-to get… home,” she croaked.

  “But when?”

  Jelly growled and turned away from the live feed, “N-Need to go, now—”

  SCHWIPP—BZZZZZZ.

  Jamie stumbled forward through the image as it flipped into nothingness.

  “We’ve lost connection completely,” Noyin typed on the keyboard and tried to reconnect the feed. “Something’s interfering with the transmission.”

  Sierra looked at the cats. They howled and shrieked and shifted across the tabletop.

  GRRRRRRRRRRR.

  The ground began to rumble and shake.

  “What is it?” Rana squealed, “What’s going on?”

  The lights shut off in an instant, blanketing the arena in darkness.

  The moon provided a dim shaft of light from the telescope hub.

  The ground rumbled harder and angrier as the seconds flew past.

  The cats shrieked and hopped around, frightened for the lives.

  “I think this time it is an Earthquake,” Remy said.

  Sierra saw the objects on the table shift around and pointed at the dome’s entrance, “Quick, everyone get outside.”

  “The truck is blocking it,” Siyam pushed through the kids and waved them to the back end of the arena, “Quick follow me. We’re safer outside than in here.”

  RUUUUUMMMBBBLLLEEE…

  “Christ, the place is breaking apart,” Rana shouted at everyone as the dome began to shake and cough dust from the walls and ceiling, “Everyone, follow Siyam. Go, go, go.”

  Siyam ran past the telescope and pushed the back door open, “ Through here.”

  He held the door out and ushered everyone through.

  “Jamie, Remy, Leesa, go.”

  The children ran out first, followed by a flurry of meowing and screeching cats filtering past their ankles.

  Sierra and Rana moved to the door.

  “I hope you haven’t left anything valuable in here,” Rana said.

  “Only everything we’ve ever worked for.”

  The girls pushed through the door and onto the rough terrain outside.

  In the far corner, Dreenagh opened her eyes and woke from her slumber, “Ugh, where am I?”

  “Remix, get up. There’s an earthquake.”

  She squealed and looked around, “Oh, no.” The earthquake and her disorientation made the rumbling twice as angry.

  She ran to the door, and considered escaping once she was out.

  “Don’t get any ideas, Remix,” Siyam quipped at Dreenagh as she ran past him. He turned to Noyin, who tried to press his thumbnail out from the keyboard.

  “Come on. Let’s move.”

  “Gimme a second, I’m coming.”

  “Leave the stupid nail in the board. I don’t want you perishing under the rubble.”

  “Fine,” Noyin ran towards the door as a section of the ceiling smashed to the ground behind him.

  “Go, go, go—” Siyam reached forward, grabbed Noyin’s hand and flung him through the back door.

  SCHWUNT.

  Siyam closed the door behind him and picked Noyin off the ground, “Here, get up.”

  RUUUMMMBBBLLLLLLEEEEEEE.

  The trees and bushes vibrated with a ferocious intensity.

  Jamie stepped over the cracks in the mud and grabbed Leesa’s arm, “What’s happening?”

  Remy looked up at the shore of the Gulf of Mexico, several feet in the distance, “Look. Look at that.”

  The cats bolted toward the shoreline.

  The full moon hung over the ocean, illuminating its wonderful crystal blue hue.

  Sierra, Rana, Noyin, and Siyam looked at the horizon. The water broke apart and sent a series of gentle waves in all directions.

  The ground rocked so violently that the adults had to hold onto each other to prevent themselves from falling over.

  Dreenagh was mid-way through her escape, and the others hadn’t noticed.

  But something in the ocean made the woman stop and gasp, “Oh, Jesus.”

  “What the—?” Sierra blurted as she watched the gulf erupt.

  CRASSSHH.

  “Jamie, look,” Leesa squealed and tugged on his arm. She pointed into the distance as the shore rolled up along the bank and plastered over their feet.

  The cats jumped up and down and screeched blue murder at the full moon.

  And then…

  A jet black thing rocketed out of the water a mile or so in the distance. It was so far away that the thing seemed to grow ever-so slowly.

  GRRROOOWWWWLLL…

  The thing resembled the stem of a jet black tree. Branches pinged out on either side of its structure as it continued to climb into the air.

  “What is that?” Jamie asked, stunned by its magnificence.

  Dreenagh walked back to the others, choosing to delay her escape.

  “I don’t believe what I’m seeing.”

  CREAAAKK-CRAACKK-KK.

  Dozens of branches flung out on either side as the tree-shaped object towered above the gulf.

  A whirlwind of meows and howls from the cats threatened to drown out the ferocious sound of the event taking place in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico.

  “Meow.”

  ROOOOAAAAAARRR.

  “It looks like a tree,” Sierra shouted over the commotion.

  “A tree that isn’t a tree,” Dreenagh said. “How can a tree be growing in the middle of the ocean?”

  The rumbling abated as the structure’s growth slowed to a halt.

  “Wow,” Jamie pulled Leesa to his chest and covered her face, “Look at it. It’s huge.”

  The tree structure creaked to the side as the water around it settled down.

  It appeared to breathe in and arch its stem.

  “Is it God?” Noyin a
sked, utterly terrified.

  GRRROOOOAAAAANN-CREAAAKK.

  The sound of bark cracking and bending out whizzed around the air as the tree - that wasn’t a tree - stood up straight and froze solid.

  The cats continued to howl and screech at the moon.

  Mau trundled in front of her feline friends and placed her behind on the ground.

  She stared at the bright, intense light from the full moon and opened her mouth. Suzie Q-Two brushed the side of her body against Leesa’s ankle and joined her master at the shoreline.

  “Meow.”

  “What’s she d-doing?” Remy asked. “Leesa, your cat is weird.”

  Leesa opened her eyes and watched Suzie take a seat next to Mau.

  “Meow,” she cried at the moon.

  One by one, the cats joined in and produced a lengthy roar of approval.

  “Meow, meoooowwww.”

  Sierra looked up at the moon with them and wondered out loud, “Whatever it is, they know more than we do.”

  Chapter 17

  Jelly slowed her pace. Exhausted, she seemed to have been walking for hours in pursuit of her daughter’s killer.

  Her legs ached, she’d been walking for so long over the uneven ground.

  Mastazita was long gone, now.

  An infinite array of opportunities to discover the planet lay in all directions.

  She used the center of Saturn as guidance. It was her best shot, following the largest of the lights bursting through the trees in this infinite wasteland.

  Jelly rifled through the tree branches to discover a well-worn track of paw prints in the mud. All she had to do was follow them and pray it didn’t lead to nowhere. Any energy she had left within quickly dissipated.

  The cold and hunger could wait. She needed to find Mastazita and murder him. A promise to rip his heart from his still-living body needed to be fulfilled.

  Jelly was, after all, a cat of her word.

  She found the lack of wolves frightening. The area was so, so quiet. Could an ambush be waiting around the corner?

  She stopped walking and surveyed the vast foliage that surrounded her. The trees stood at least one hundred feet high, towering over her like angry aggressors.

  The creaking sounds coming from the branches added an eerie aura to the now-unknown area she found herself in.

  Howls came from behind the end of the forestry. Surely she was on the right track?

  It was worth finding out.

  She mustered the energy from somewhere to continue forward, clenching her infinity claws tight, ready to pounce on whatever may announce itself at the last minute.

  A few minutes later, Jelly emerged from the forest to find a barren patch of ground dead ahead of her.

  This was no ordinary wasteland, however.

  Bones littered the area. A muddied and shredded cosmonaut space suit lay crumpled across the ground.

  Jelly sniffed it. She knew it was from the ship she’d discovered, and it seemed as if a fight had taken place at one time.

  The lack of rocks paved the way for a relatively smooth surface - that of a giant disc made of fine mud.

  With every step she took, reflective pangs of light fell across her eyeballs from sharp objects lined around the mud.

  “Huh?” Jelly sneered at the fine, white shards of material stabbed into the ground.

  She stopped walking to find herself in the huge, makeshift circular arena.

  Sections of the vessel she’d found had been driven into the ground. Bits of the walls, pipework, floor grilles, and other random parts from the ship she’d found.

  She looked left, then right, and saw that the parts formed a shape of a circle one hundred feet wide.

  The pilot’s seat had been rammed into the ground at the north end of the makeshift Colosseum, directly under the heavenly body of Saturn.

  Jelly’s ears pricked up. Something bothered her, and it wasn’t the gentle breeze brushing the fur on her face.

  It was too quiet.

  Mastazita was here, somewhere.

  She clenched her infinity claws and cracked her knuckles, keeping a wary eye out for the beast.

  Jelly stomped forward, digging her heels in the ground. The scaly surface threatened to crack apart with each step.

  Then, the sound of a deathly growl came from somewhere.

  Jelly paused to clutch her chest. A shooting pain blasted through her body. Her heart boomed back and forth, threatening to explode. She knew that the pain would never completely dissipate.

  She fell on her right knee and growled in turmoil.

  “Grrrr,” she slammed the ground with her fist, causing it to crack apart and rattle the Colosseum to near-destruction.

  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Nasty, dust-filled oxygen, that rammed against her lungs like a rusty cheese grater.

  “Gwwwuurggh,” she licked her mouth and spat a lump of phlegm to the floor.

  Each grunt and growl rumbled through her body and whirled around the bizarre makeshift arena around her.

  “I’m—I’m,” she tried as she staggered to her feet once again and tried to keep her balance, “Going to—”

  Mastazita roared at the top of his lungs.

  Jelly’s ears flew back, as did her eyelids. A bizarre wall of spaceship parts formed a section of the arena’s curvature.

  “Is that y-you?”

  Jelly was surprised at the tone of her voice; sounding less like a woman and more like a monster with a guttural growl.

  Two silver circles five inches apart appeared in the darkness behind the pilot’s seat.

  They snapped to black and returned to their original size and color in an instant. A waft of gas flew to the ground from underneath them, indicating that whatever was watching had a nose.

  Jelly swished her heavy tail in response. It accidentally wrapped around her left thigh and hit something a couple of feet away.

  The sound of shifting of rocks from the darkness rumbled through the ground. Jelly’s actions were working.

  “Come… out,” she grunted from the pit of her stomach and clenched the infinity claws on her right fist.

  Growl.

  The creature stepped forward and out of the darkness. It ducked its head as it stepped past the pilot’s seat and arched its back.

  Mastazita roared as he stepped to the side of the pilot’s seat, and past the random segments of the ship that led to the makeshift Colosseum.

  Jelly sidestepped in the opposite direction and tried to buy herself some time.

  The two circled each other, slowly, never breaking away from each other’s gaze. The longer the torment went on, the more furious each of them became.

  Jelly grunted and scraped her infinity claws along the stretch of the ship’s cabin - a deathly, spine-shattering noise that upset Mastazita no end.

  He punched his fists together once again, making damn sure Jelly knew she was in trouble.

  Bursts of fire blasted from Mastazita’s nose, spraying around like a flamethrower as he shook his head.

  Jelly stepped back, away from the wall and raised her paws. Her hind legs swiveled across the dusty ground, a foot apart.

  She was ready to kill.

  Mastazita stepped forward. He crossed his chest in a diagonal motion with his right paw, keeping his left by his left hip.

  He cracked his knuckles and licked the side of his paw, before shifting his hind feet through the dusty surface and up to Jelly.

  The back of her right paw connected with his.

  He was ready to kill.

  Jelly’s pupils dilated as she stared at his face.

  Mastazita grunted, his silver pyramid-shaped pupils thickening across his eyes.

  The two grunted and heaved as they pressed the backs of their wrists against each other’s.

  It was just a matter of who’d attack first.

  Mastazita roared in her face and pushed her right arm out with his own, forcing her to attack.

  Jelly squeezed her eyes
shut and tried to wrist-wrestle her right arm against his. His strength far outweighed her own. It didn’t stop her from squeezing and grunted and pushing back.

  A teardrop ran down her furry, striped cheek. She licked her mouth first, then ran the tip of her tongue across her teeth.

  Jelly grunted and spat at the floor, determined to kill the creature.

  “Heh,” Mastazita grunted and squinted at Jelly, “Whur,” he tried, “Tcha, tcha—Jell,” he munched back his words and decided enough was enough.

  Jelly struggled with Mastazita’s sheer power. She scowled and applied all the strength in her arm, pushing his vertically against his chest.

  Jelly threw the first punch with her right paw, but missed.

  Mastazita ducked to the side and let her fly forward. Her fist connected with the wall. Chunks of rock shattered around her wrist.

  “Grrr,” she used her left paw to yank herself out of the wall, and spun around to face her assailant, “Come here.”

  Mastazita moved forward and swung at her. She blocked his punch with her arm and socked him in the gut. He doubled-over in pain, affording Jelly an opportunity to swipe the side of his head, which is exactly what she did.

  Jelly pushed the giant wolf back a few steps. He recovered instantly and lunged at her. His fist blasted Jelly in the chest, sending her staggering back a few steps

  She spat some blood on the ground, lifted her head and faced her foe, “Miew.”

  Mastazita stomped forward, one paw after the other, ready to deliver the final blow.

  “Nuuh,” she growled. “Nuuh.”

  He reached for her head with both paws, ready to tear her head away from her neck.

  She tensed the muscles in her right arm as he lunged forward, preparing to kill her.

  Jelly’s rammed him in the jaw, the force of which pushed him several feet into the air. She stepped back as he crashed feet-first to the floor, cracking the ground.

  She wasted no time and delivered a series of punches to his face and body, before fanning her claws and throwing a vicious swipe across his chest. He stepped back in the nick of time, avoiding contact.

  Mastazita spluttered and raced forward with another punch.

  His fist met with her wrist inches from their faces - the tips of their noses millimeters apart, grunting against one another.