A distraught woman appeared on the display. Jamie recognized her immediately.
“Mom?”
Santiago Sibald appeared next to her and began a conversation.
“The devastating event occurs at a time when Jamie Anderson went missing. I talked to his mother, Emily, about her reaction to the events.”
Jamie held his breath at the sight of his mother addressing the camera.
“I don’t know where you are, poppet,” she sniffed. “But, please, let me know you’re okay.”
“How are you feeling at this moment in time, Emily?” Santiago asked.
“I j-just—” she halted her answer and looked at the floor. “I just need to know he’s okay. That they haven’t done anything to him.”
Santiago broke the dead air between them, “He’s not the only one who was taken, of course. Leesa and Remy are gone, too.”
“I know how their parents are feeling,” Emily said. “We all need to know our children are safe, that those who took them didn’t hurt them.”
Jamie reached out at the screen, “I’m okay, mom.”
She didn’t respond. She couldn’t see or hear him, but she stared right into his eyes quite by accident.
“Jamie. Please. We’re so worried about you. Please, come home.”
A tear rolled down Jamie’s cheek. The others watched and took pity on him.
“I’m coming home, mom—”
The screen fizzled away. Out of the blue, the interior of the dome rumbled around like a madhouse.
Jamie, Leesa, and Remy staggered around as the floor shook from side to side.
Sierra looked up and around at the vibrating walls, “What the hell is that?”
Rana pointed at the exit and ran towards the door, “It’s coming from out there.”
Da-da-da-dum.
“Huh?” As Rana booted the door open, scores of cats rushed past her legs and infiltrated the earthquake-riddled dome.
Meows and shrieks from the disturbed cats echoed all around the room as they took cover under the central table.
Da-da-da-dummmm.
“Outside, look,” Rana yelled as she stepped through the door. “Look at this.”
The top half of the giant, blackened tree-like structure in the middle of the Gulf swayed from side to side.
Small waves rumbled toward them as the tip of the tree angled itself towards the moon.
Jamie ran out with Leesa and Remy to find Mau and Leesa’s cat, Suzie Q-Two, meowing at the moon.
Leesa approached Suzie Q-Two with the intention of picking her up, “Hey, girl. What’s happening?”
Suzie ignored her owner and continued to howl at the moon.
Leesa’s eyes traveled from the back of her cat’s head, up along the structure in the distance and settled on the bright, gray ball in the sky.
“Wh-what’s g-going on, girl?”
Mau lifted his right paw and tried to claw at the gray ball in the sky.
“Meow, meow.”
Rana pressed her palms to her ears.
“What is that?”
Da-da-da-dummmm.
Sierra screwed her face at the strange rhythmic thudding coming from the tree .
“Is that Beethoven’s Fifth?”
“Sure sounds familiar,” Rana said.
She trained her eyes on the tree as it moved away from the constellation of stars in the north and bent its tip in the direction of the moon.
“I do not like this one little bit,” Remy added, utterly astonished at the strange display. “Why are all the cats scared?”
“Meow,” Mau howled once again, determined to grab the moon in his paws.
The tip of the tree cracked apart and began to cough which only amplified the cacophony of noise coming from its stem.
Sierra shouted over the commotion. “Look at that thing. It’s pointing itself at the moon—”
“—Jesus, get back. Get back,” Rana shouted. “It’s gonna—”
BIZZZZZOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW.
A brilliant, thick beam of pink light shot out from the tree’s open tip and flew in the direction of the moon.
“Agh,” Sierra closed her eyes and crouched to her feet.
Jamie, Leesa, and Remy stepped back and fell onto their asses before covering their own eyes.
Rana covered her right eye with her palm and slid her binocle down over her left, “Wow. Look at it. It’s fantastic.”
Mau and Suzie Q-Two upped their vocals as they cheered on the event.
The thick, pink stream fountained towards the moon and eventually made contact with its cratered surface.
Or, at least, that’s what it seemed to do from the view everyone had.
Da-da-da-dummmm.
“Someone tell me what the hell is happening, here,” Sierra screamed. She expected to find an answer from Noyin, but he was nowhere to be seen - at first.
He stood by the exit door soiling himself as he watched the light show.
“What are you doing there?”
“It’s not s-safe,” Noyin stammered. “Get back inside.”
Jamie shifted onto his elbows and covered Leesa on the ground, “Get down.”
Mau and Suzie Q-Two hopped into the air like drug-induced bunny rabbits and attempted to paw the moon, “Meow, meow, meeoowwww.”
KERRRR-AA-BLAAAAAAAMMM.
The constant stream of pink light bathed the moon’s surface. The wispy dust-like gas smothered the ball in an instant, shaking the ground beneath everyone’s feet.
Five minutes earlier…
Siyam closed the door to the dome’s tech room. Dreenagh had already made her way inside and immediately focused on the scores of rescued cats resting in the room.
“They’re very well-behaved, I must say.”
Siyam lifted his left palm into the air and drew his fingers across the skin, “I need to perform a head count.”
The Individimedia ink on his forearm crept along his wrist and bled into the creases on the skin of his palm.
“Huh? What is that you’re doing?”
“We’ve modified Viddy Media,” Siyam explained as he held the palm of his hand to the cats. “Gone are the days where you can only make calls and broadcast yourself.”
Dreenagh looked at her own Individimedia ink and felt inferior - a feeling she wasn’t used to, given her infamy in society.
The air between Siyam and the cats seemed to revolve onto itself as the scan light threw out from his palm.
Bwip-bwip-bwip-bwip—
“Okay, that’s ten, twenty,” Siyam said. “We’re expecting ninety. We know we lost one in transit before the underpass.”
Dreenagh watched on in awe.
“So, let me get this straight, uh—
“—Siyam.”
“Siyam, yes,” Dreenagh approached the obedient cats but stopped short of encroaching on their privacy, “Are you going to tell me what all this is about?”
“Yes, soon enough,” Siyam muttered. “Thirty-five, forty, forty-five—”
“—And why you’ve kidnapped me?”
He stopped counting and shot her a puzzled look.
“Kidnapped you?”
“Yes,” she lifted her wrists and pointed at the marks left by the DecapiCuffs, “I get the feeling you need me to do something.”
“Oh, yes. Yes, that’s right.”
Bwip.
The transparent light zipped into his palm and displayed the final total in the space between he and her - 97.
“We’re down by five. We know two are outside, and we lost one in transit. The tally makes sense.”
Dreenagh felt a wave of overconfidence rifle through her chest. She knew in her heart of hearts that this nefarious gang wasn’t going to hurt her. It seemed they needed her more than she needed them.
“Are you going to answer my question or not?”
Siyam walked through the display number and approached the woman, “We’ve been watching you for a long, long time, Dreenagh Remix.”
&
nbsp; She launched into a quasi-sarcastic manner, “I figured as much.”
“See those cats over there?”
“Ya-huh?”
“They’re no ordinary cats.”
“You don’t say,” she spat. “Why did you go to all that trouble to bust them out from USARIC’s compound?”
Siyam smiled at the prospect of being the one tasked by the team to enlighten the woman.
“Remember the Star Cat Project?”
“Yes.”
“Remember who won?”
“Yes. Well,” Dreenagh corrected herself, “I know who technically won. But we all know now who really went up there.”
“Jelly Anderson.”
“Yes.”
“It’s no secret that USARIC needed to take the best cat up there to find out what was going on.”
Dreenagh grew giddy with excitement. He knew something she didn’t, and she’d be the first to get the scoop.
“Good. Tell me.”
“All we know is that they found what they were looking for. You saw the transmission from Opera Charlie back there, right?”
“Right. What’s that got to do with—”
“—Did you see where they were? Where they were transmitting from?”
“Opera Charlie.”
“That’s right,” Siyam said. “And you saw what happened to Jelly Anderson?”
“Yes, she looked a lot different. Bigger. Her face was like a tiger.”
“The question is this, Dreenagh Remix,” Siyam moved over to a hatch in the adjacent wall and grabbed the handle. “What was Jelly Anderson doing on Opera Charlie?”
He grabbed the lever and yanked it down.
“I don’t know? I guess USARIC sent Charlie to go and rescue Beta, much like they did when they sent Beta to rescue Alpha.”
“No, Dreenagh,” Siyam barked, startling the cats, “Think about it. There were no Beta crew on Charlie. So, why was Jelly Anderson on board? It doesn’t make any sense.”
Dreenagh mulled over the answer for a few seconds. Then, it hit her.
“Because they only wanted Jelly?”
Siyam yanked the lever down, enabling the hatch to slide to the left and reveal a secret compartment.
“Charlie crew were sent to destroy Opera Beta. It’s no coincidence that Alex Hughes and Jelly are on Charlie. The others are unaccounted for, so we have to assume they’re dead. But Alex and Jelly are definitely alive and well.”
Dreenagh’s eyes widened as she looked into the compartment.
“What is that?”
Siyam turned over his shoulder at a twelve foot high robot suit resting on its feet.
“The whole reason we’re here. The reason you and the children are here. It all comes down to this.”
The cats perked up and began to meow.
Dreenagh walked toward the hatch. The greenish gray robot suit of armor resembled a forklift,
“Is that what I think it is?”
“It depends on what you think it is, Dreenagh. Have you ever heard of Classified Risk?”
“No.”
Siyam turned to the cats. They trundled around, deeply upset by something. Dreenagh looked at the small bundles of fluff and exhaled.
“What’s wrong with them?”
“I’m not sure—”
“Meow,” One of the cats shrieked and jumped into the air as the ground began to rumble and shake the walls. Siyam looked at the tech door.
“Oh, God. Not again.”
“What? What’s going on?”
Da-da-da-dummm.
“Stay here,” Siyam said. “You’re safe in here with the cats.”
“But, but—”
“—No buts, Dreenagh,” Siyam opened the door and stepped through. “Sit your butt on the floor so you don’t fall over. It’s a quake. It won’t last long—”
Da-da-da-dummm.
Dreenagh looked up and around, “Huh? What’s that music?”
“I don’t know. Stay here, I’ll go and check on the others,” Siyam said as he closed the door behind him.
He approached the central table to find that everyone had disappeared.
“Guys? Where are you?” he hollered at the walls. “What’s going on?”
Da-da-da-dummm.
“Huh?”
The rhythmic thuds appeared to be coming from outside, just behind the holoscope.
Siyam made his way through the rickety ground, pressing his hands against the central table for balance.
Inside the tech room, the closed door muffled most of the commotion occurring outside.
Dreenagh stood perfectly still as she watched the scores of cats walk around her, sizing her up.
“Oh God, oh God,” she panted quietly to herself. “P-Please, d-don’t do anything weird.”
“Meow,” one of them snarled and whipped her tail around.
Dreenagh scanned the robotic suit and tried to put two and two together, but failed miserably.
Several cats sniffed at her ankles and shoes.
“Good cats. Good cats,” she said, hoping to placate them. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Meow,” another grumbled, none-too impressed with their new human arrival.
Siyam ran outside and saw the tree smothering the moon’s surface with its pink beam.
“Oh my God,” he gasped and covered his brow. “What’s that?”
Sierra turned to him and shouted over the commotion. “That thing that came out of the water. It’s doing something.”
Mau and Suzie Q-Two bounced around together and continued meowing at the top of their little lungs.
Chapter 4
Space Opera Charlie looked different, now, resting flat against the rough terrain like a dead animal.
A thought occurred to Alex.
The last time he saw the spacecraft during daylight it seemed whiter than white - in pristine condition, standing proud and upright in its scaffolding.
The ship wasn’t designed to lay flat. An untold amount of damage could have been done to it in the past few days since they’d been marooned on the unknown planet.
Now that Saturn provided warmth and daylight, the true extent of Opera Charlie’s damage was undeniable.
Holes and cracks everywhere; his former home reduced to an ugly, lifeless shell of its former self.
If the ship was beyond repair, how would they get home?
As a matter of fact, how would they get in? What would they find if they were able to get inside.
Ugly reminders of what had gone down only hours before, that’s what. Alex closed his eyes and ran the events in his mind.
Tripp Healy had turned. Alex had no choice but to get the monster away from Jelly’s children and lock them inside the control deck.
Jelly had turned, too, albeit in a different manner, on the crew.
The niggling matter of what Manuel-2 had revealed to Alex before he left disturbed him the most. Manny wasn’t stupid. If anything, it was designed to be the antithesis of stupid. Alex’s disregard for Opera Charlie’s mission signaled to Manny that he was untrustworthy.
Jaycee crushed a hollow rock underneath his shattered foot as he walked. Every step felt like a heavyweight boxer punching him in the soles. The pain shot up past his knee and resided in his pelvic bone.
“Nearly there, thank God,” he spluttered in his abnormally high-pitched voice. “I need to hit Medix, or whatever the equivalent is on board Charlie.”
“Jaycee, I told you already. Charlie doesn’t have a Medix,” Alex said.
“Yes, but it must have something. USARIC wouldn’t have sent you murderous maniacs up here without a packet of plasters.”
“I wouldn’t be too sure,” Alex huffed. “It was a suicide mission, anyway.”
Jelly walked ahead of the crew with Furie in her arms. The wolves ran ahead of her and rested on their hind legs.
HOWL.
Jelly giggled to herself and lifted her head at the sky. Saturn continued to produce the beautiful pin
k stream rocketing across the light blue sky.
White clouds had formed in various spots. The planet they were on resembled Earth in a curious way.
Jelly took in a lungful of air and held it in.
“Mommy?” Furie asked. “Where are we going?”
A plume of pink mist wafted from her opened mouth and into the sky, “We’re going home, honey. The light will guide us. The light will protect you.”
Furie turned onto her side and held her delicate paw at Space Opera Charlie, “What is that white thing?”
“That’s our ride home.”
They were a few feet behind Jelly on the approach to Opera Charlie, but Jaycee and Alex found her chatter with her daughter strange.
“I don’t get it,” Jaycee said.
“What?”
“Why is she talking to her? Can they communicate already?”
“They must be able to. She’s trying to reassure her. You know how humans are with kittens, always talking gibberish and lessense.”
“No, no,” Alex said. “That’s not some coochi-coo lessense she’s speaking. She’s having a straight-up discussion with her.”
“Are you going to tell her to stop?”
Alex took in Jelly’s physical enormity; a beastly woman battered and exhausted in her attempts to do right by her children, two of whom she’d lost in quick succession.
Someone he didn’t want to upset.
“Of course I’m not going to stop her. I just wish I could find the words to ask her what she knows, and what we don’t.”
Jelly stomped over the discarded airlock hatch on her approach to the ship.
The door was gone. Entry was as easy as simply walking inside. She tilted her head and smiled at her daughter.
“Honey?”
“Yes, mommy?”
“We’re going inside, now. I want you to be a good kitten and close your eyes for me.”
“Okay.”
Obediently, Furie shut her eyes and rested every muscle in her body, safe in her mother’s arms.
Jelly turned around and glanced at the wolves.
GROWL.
Alex and Jaycee jumped back, mistakenly thinking she was addressing them.
The wolves wagged their tails and panted at the instruction.
“You. Stay.”
“Okay,” Alex said in the hope Jelly wouldn’t kill him, “Whatever you say—”
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