The surrounding foliage produced a distinct fog of flesh and ship as it cooked into the sky.
Space Opera Charlie was no more.
***
K-BOLT glowed red and orange as it rocketed through the planet’s dense atmosphere.
“Heat shields engaged,” the voice advised.
Alex closed his eyes and held his breath. He gripped the side of his seat and tried to fight against the extreme G-Force screaming through his body, “Guuuuuh.”
Jelly covered the crying Furie in her arms as they sat on the floor next to the hyper-sleep pods.
Jelly whined and squeezed her close to her chest.
“Mommiieeeee—”
“—Shhh,” Jelly gasped. “Hold on to me.
Jelly kicked her enormous feet against the wall and pushed the small of her back against the first pod. She bore the brunt of the trauma as the room vibrated up a storm.
SCHWIPP-PP.
Alex opened his eyes just in time to see thousands of white streaks tear in all directions through the windshield.
“Whoa,” he held his breath and swallowed, “God, God.”
The streaks closed in and returned to normal. Those lone white lines were tiny, beautiful stars.
“D-Did we make it?”
Alex loosened his muscles and shuffled forward in his chair, “Hello?”
“Hello,” the voice advised. “Yes, we are now en route to your destination.”
BWOOOAAAAARRRRRR.
Alex ducked as a colossal pink light blasted in the distance at the top of the windshield, “What is that?”
“Unknown.”
Alex looked left and right, “Where’s it coming from?”
“Source indicates the star behind us. The sun.”
“Saturn?”
“I’m afraid Saturn cannot be located at this time.”
“Computer?”
“Hello.”
“Ugh,” Alex wiped the sweat from his face and hit a yellow button on the console, “What is your name?”
“My name is K-BOLT.”
“I’m glad you remembered that,” Alex snorted. “What is your primary destination?”
“Primary destination. Final destination. Recorded at oh four-hundred hours. Planet Earth—”
“—Yes,” Alex clapped his hands together. “Good, good—”
“—nine hundred and forty-five million kilometers.”
“Good, good.”
“Expected journey time is six hundred and fifty-five days.”
“Excellent,” Alex flicked the switch above his head and turned on the interior light, “Update on sustenance levels, including oxygen filtration, please.”
Alex leaned forward and breathed a sigh of relief. He perched his cheek on his fist and admired the view of the vastness of outer space.
“Sustenance levels. Units per passenger required is three per day. K-BOLT sustenance for journey home, zero point three-five persons.”
“Huh?”
“Oxygen levels at maximum operation.”
Alex lifted his head from his fist and felt a terror-fueled grip on his stomach, “No, wait, wait—”
“Oxygen good for one person for forty-five days.”
“One person?”
“That is correct.”
“Well,” Alex scrambled for some kind of trade-off, “Hang on, are you telling me we only have enough oxygen for forty-five days for one passenger?”
“That is correct. Maximum capacity—”
“—But we have three passengers on board, including myself. And now you’re saying there’s only enough food for just over one third of a passenger?
“That is correct.”
“How much fuel do we need to get to our destination, K-BOLT?”
“We are at full capacity on fuel. Forty percent of the total length of the journey.”
“So if the hunger doesn’t kill us, or the lack of oxygen, then the lack of fuel will?”
“Correct.”
Alex stood up and felt his heart race. He took a deep breath in an attempt to calm his nerves.
“Please conserve oxygen while on board K-BOLT,” the voice advised.
“I’ll K-BOLT you up the ass if you don’t stop talking.”
***
“Mommy?”
“Yes, honey?”
“What is going on?”
“Shh, honey. Mommy’s tired.”
Furie opened her eyes.
Jelly rested her head against the hyper-sleep chamber wall with her eyes closed. Her towering height meant that her head buckled to her chin as she tried to sleep. Her legs weaved in and out of the star-shaped hyper-sleep pods.
A truly uncomfortable experience for Jelly.
“I’m so tired,” she whispered.
Furie uncrossed her legs and planted her knees on the floor. She tugged on her mother’s withered paw and demanded answers.
“Mommy?”
“Honey, can you just let mommy sleep? Please.”
SWISH.
The door slid open and Alex walked in.
“Hey, girls.”
Jelly licked her mouth and opened her eyes, “Hey, Hughes. How’s your shoulder?”
“It’s okay, I think,” he said. “Listen, we’ve exited the planet’s orbit.”
“And?”
“There’s good news, and three bits of bad news. Which do you want first?”
“Ugh,” Jelly pressed the back of her head against the wall, “I don’t care anymore.”
Furie looked up at Alex with the face of an angel. A catty, whiskered angel.
“What is bad news?”
“I know you can hear me, Jelly,” Alex said. “So I’ll just come out with it. We’ve, uh, not got enough food, water, oxygen, or fuel to make it back to Earth.”
“Is that all?” Jelly muttered, finally giving up the will to live, “Starvation or suffocation is going to kill us first?”
“Something like that.”
“Shall we take bets?” she asked flippantly, before remembering her daughter was the room the room. She moved her face forward and ran her hand down Furie’s back.
“You said there was good news?”
“Well, I wouldn’t classify it as good news, now that I’ve thought about it. Manny was right. Option three, K-BOLT, wasn’t much better than the first two. But it was the best one available.”
“Stop dilly-dallying around the subject and tell me the good news.”
Alex looked at the hyper-sleep pods and took a deep breath. Jelly wasn’t fooled. She beat him to his own solution.
“The hyper-sleep pods will conserve a lot of the sustenance for us.”
“You’re joking, right?”
Alex turned to Jelly, somewhat offended, “What?”
“The hyper-sleep revelation is good news?”
“Uh, well, yes?”
Jelly pushed herself away from the wall and crouched beside the first pod, “In case you hadn’t noticed, these pods aren’t much bigger than Jaycee.”
Jelly thumped the button underneath the Perspex frontage. It opened up to reveal a containment interior that was way too small for Jelly.
“How am I meant to fit in there?”
“I, uh, never suggested you should. Jelly.”
“You want me to ride out the journey home on my own? Without being in stasis? Are you out of your mind?”
“I’m talking to a cat. That’s a dangerous thing to ask me.”
“Screw you, Hughes.”
“Look. It’s our only option, Jelly. Feel free to open the airlock and walk if you want to—”
“—How long is it?” Jelly snapped. “In days, please.”
“K-BOLT is a bit slower with its thruster capacity, especially compared to the Opera vessels, so—”
“—Stop stalling, dickhead. Tell me how many days I’ll be spending on my own.”
Alex deliberately spoke too low for Jelly to hear, “Six hundred and fifty-five.”
Jelly stomp
ed her foot on the ground, “Sorry, I didn’t hear you?”
“Six hundred and fifty-five, Jelly. Okay? Are you happy now?”
She hung her head to the floor and felt her soul melt into her boots.
Alex and Furie turned to her, hoping she’d be reasonably content with the idea.
No such hope.
“Two years?” she whispered. “Two. Whole. Years.”
“Mommy?” Furie offered to please her mother. “I’ll stay with you. We can be together.”
A tear rolled off Jelly’s cheek as she lifted her head to face her daughter, “Honey, it doesn’t—ugh. It doesn’t work like that.”
“But Mommy, we can be together and cuddle?”
Jelly’s voice began to croak, “No, honey. You either go into hyper-sleep, or you don’t. It’s not something where you can just come and go as you please. And there isn’t enough oxygen or food for two of us.”
“Then I can stay on the spaceship, Mommy?”
“No, honey. Mommy can’t go to sleep.”
Alex bit his lip and scrunched his nose. A wave of anger flowed through his body at their situation. Worse, there was no one to punish. At least, not on board the K-BOLT.
“Furie?” he said.
“Yes, Alex?”
“Here’s what we’re going to do, okay?” he said as he crouched down and held her by the shoulders, “You and me, we’re going to go for a little sleep, okay? These lids, here, will close and we’ll fall asleep. And before we have time to dream, we’ll wake up. It’ll be really, really quick.”
“But what about my mommy?” Furie asked. “Why is she so upset and crying?”
“Because—” Alex tried to continue speaking, but couldn’t. No reasonable excuse was available to him. He looked at Jelly and saw her sobbing, quietly to herself.
She caught him staring at her and nodded, wistfully, as if to say ‘it’s okay, tell her.’
Alex swallowed hard and stared into Furie’s perfect little eyes, “She’s not upset, sweetie. She’s happy.”
“Happy?”
“Yes,” he lied right in her face in an award-winning performance. Even he believe his own crap, “Because we’re going home. She wants to see her friend again. In fact, she wants you to see him,” Alex winked at Jelly and returned to Furie. “Jamie. Jamie Anderson.”
“Who is Jamie Anderson?”
“Honey?” Jelly interrupted and swallowed back her tears. She closed her hand into a fist and pressed it against her chest, “Jamie Anderson. Friend.”
“Okay, Mommy.”
Furie seemed quite happy with the plan and offered her mother the cutest smile in the universe.
***
An hour passed before Alex and Furie disrobed and prepared to enter their hyper-sleep pods.
Furie stood naked save for a sliver of torn USARIC towel covering her thighs and midriff. Jelly couldn’t help but notice the logo covering her daughter’s belly.
“Ugh,” she sniffled and licked her mouth. “I hate this.”
Alex, dressed only in his briefs, climbed into the first pod, “Are you okay, Jelly?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
Alex climbed in and sat upright, “Close me last, okay?”
Jelly nodded and gestured an upward motion with her hands. Furie lifted her arms.
“Come on, honey.”
Jelly slipped her hands underneath Furie’s opened arms. She hoisted her daughter into the air and placed her inside the second pod.
“Oww. It hurts.”
Jelly gasped, “What, honey?”
“Your claw. It cut me.”
“Ugh,” Jelly looked at her third infinity claw. She’d accidentally nicked the skin under Furie’s left armpit.
Jelly could barely contain her anguish.
“It’ll be okay. Lie down, honey.”
“Okay.”
Furie placed her head on the pillow and relaxed her muscles.
Jelly took one final look at her face and tried not to get too emotional. In her heart of hearts, she knew this would be the last time she’d see her daughter - or anyone, for that matter - alive.
“Close your eyes, honey.”
“Yes, Mommy.”
It wasn’t necessary for those entering hyper-sleep to close their eyes. Alex knew the real reason she wanted Furie to close her eyes - so she wouldn’t see her mother upset.
“I love you, Furie,” Jelly said.
“I love you too.”
A teardrop hit the side of the pod, reminding Jelly to quit speaking and just let fate takes its course.
Jelly kissed her daughter on the head and took one, final look at her serene, innocent face.
“I’ll see you when we get back home. Sleep well.”
Before anything else could happen, or Furie was able to respond, Jelly thumped the button on the pod.
SWISH — SCHUNT.
The dial on the side of the pod spun around and locked into place, sealing Furie in her cocoon.
Jelly wiped her eyes with the side of her hand and walked over to Alex in his pod.
“Okay, you next.”
“Jelly, listen.”
“I really don’t want to hear your last words, Hughes—”
“—No, it’s important. Try to conserve your oxygen levels. After a few weeks you’re going to want to exercise your muscles and wear yourself out. Please, don’t do that.”
“I’m not stupid.”
“I know you’re not, Jelly. Please, keep yourself mentally occupied during the trip. Ask K-BOLT for an update on all levels every twelve hours if you can, so you can adapt accordingly.”
“Thanks, Alex.”
He shifted his buttocks across the spongy mattress in the pod and lowered his head onto the pillow.
“One more thing, Jelly.”
“Yes?”
“If it looks like it’s all over, and you don’t want to face the unknown alone—” he said, thinking over the remainder of his sentence.
“Yes?”
“If you don’t want to face the end alone, wake me up. I’ll be here for you.”
Jelly’s mouth quivered. She was about to cry once again, this time at Alex’s selfless gesture.
“Don’t cry, Jelly,” Alex said. “Please. Just know that you’re not alone.”
“Oh—” Jelly whimpered and inhaled. “Alex.”
“Good luck, Jelly.”
He closed his eyes and made himself comfortable in the pod, “Okay, I’m ready. See you when we get home.”
Sniff-sniff.
Jelly’s heart cried out loud as she whacked the button with the side of her fist.
SWISH — SCHUNT.
The Perspex front slid up and locked into place, followed by the dial on the side of the chamber.
“I l-love you, Alex J. Hughes,” she bawled as the pod’s glass fogged up over her lifeless friend.
Chapter 16
The Journey Home
Day 1
Jelly woke up in the pilot’s chair and saw her feet perched on the control deck.
“Huh? Where am I?”
K-BOLT’s weak, feminine voice came through the speakers, “Good morning, unidentified crew member. What a glorious day.”
Jelly yawned and grunted, “What’s so glorious about it?”
“Well, it seems we may be in for a bit of a light show later on, in the direction of Jupiter.”
“Great,” Jelly fumed, sarcastically.
Jelly made her way to the crew quarters - the smallest room on the vessel.
She held an empty recyclable cup under the water dispenser and watched the bubbles boil up as the stream blasted out from the nozzle.
A quick sniff around the rim, and she was in business. She threw the contents of the cup into her mouth and felt the ice cold H20 trickle down her parched throat and dance around her stomach.
“Mmm,” she returned the cup to the dispenser and helped herself to a second - and third, and fourth - cup of water.
BURRRPP.<
br />
She crunched the cup in her hand and tossed it into the trash, “Yeah, that’s good.”
A couple of hours later, she sat beside her daughter’s pod and stroked the Perspex glass, “Hey, honey. Just wanted to let you know that everything is okay. I know you can hear me, although it must be a bit muffled in there. K-BOLT says there’s going to be a light show near Jupiter later today, so we’re looking forward to that.
Day 2
“The light show was pathetic,” Jelly said as she crouched to her knees and looked at her daughter’s still face, “Just a couple of tiny lights, like shooting stars. Ah, I knew it would be crap, anyway.”
Jelly planted her behind on the floor and continued to talk to her daughter, as if it were a gravestone.
“Not like the ones Jamie and I saw from the roof of our apartment block, though,” Jelly smiled, fond of the memory that entered her mind, “I remember, we used to go up there most nights, when it wasn’t too cold. He showed me the Great Bear. Or the great frying pan, as he called it. One time, the night was so clear and we saw all the shooting stars.”
Jelly closed her eyes and pressed her hands together.
“Maybe one day I’ll show you them. When we get back.”
A short while after her daily heart-to-heart, Jelly entered the bathroom for the first time.
If the crew quarters were small, the bathroom was minuscule. Jelly was used to lowering her head and shoulders enough to move around K-BOLT, but the room that housed the toilet bowl and sink meant that she had to practically walk like John Wayne to get inside.
Relieving herself was a whole new level of nightmare. The rim of the bowl was way too small for her, and the angle required for her body was bordering on impossible.
Nevertheless, nature called, and needs must.
It didn’t help her constitution much.
“Ugh, two years of this?” she whined, before letting off the nastiest blast of gas the universe had ever witnessed.
Jelly squatted out of the bathroom and pulled her tighter-than-tight leggings up to her waist.
SNAP.
Finally, the elasticity gave way and broke in her hands. The underlining of Jaycee’s old exo-suit couldn’t withstand any more torture.
Star Cat The Complete Series Page 114
