The enormous droid stomped out of The Processor and adjusted its arms.
“Stage Three. Assembly complete,” announced the speaker system. “Please proceed with caution.”
A technician waved everyone away as the death droid stormed toward the exit door.
“Everyone move back, please.”
Santiago had seen enough and focused on the path ahead of him.
Maar chuckled to himself as a thought entered his mind, “Did you find that Anderson woman? I forget her name”
“Emily,” Santiago quipped. “And yes, I did. It took forever to find her, though. She’s had to go into hiding.”
“Figures. How is she?”
“She’s beside herself with worry.”
Maar and Brayn turned the corner and entered the bay corridor, “She’ll get over it soon enough.”
— Bay 70 —
Sniff-sniff.
A wet tiger’s nose hovered around a plate containing two giant sides of raw beef.
Its mouth opened up, revealing the razor sharp incisors inside. A huge tongue slipped out and touched the flesh on the plate.
“You need to eat, Jelly,” Julie said. “You’ll feel a lot better with some nourishment. Get your energy up.”
CHOMP.
The teeth sank in and punctured the flesh. Trickles of blood gushed on either side of her mouth.
TEAAARRRR — CHEWWW.
Jelly lifted her head and munched on the flesh like a ravenous beast.
Julie looked at her thin membrane and wrote a note on it with her fingertip, “Is it good?”
GRUNT.
Jelly didn’t respond as she swallowed down the whole slab of meat and licked her mouth.
Julie chuckled, satisfied that she’d managed to placate the beast sitting at the table.
“A far cry from the days of Chicken Medley pâté, huh? I dunno how you were ever able to eat that stuff. It’s nasty.”
Jelly lowered her head to a bowl of water next to the plate.
Lap-lap-lap.
Her tongue flicked spots of water into the air as she drank.
Julie lowered her head and focused on Jelly’s lap. Her wrists were shackled together by a thick chain.
SCHLING — SWHUMP.
The chain tightened as Jelly moved her hands. She swallowed the last remnants of meat and felt her throat constrict. Julie lowered her thin membrane to her knees and adjusted her glasses.
“You okay, honey?”
Jelly hiccupped and rolled her shoulders back.
BURRRRPPPPPP.
An ungainly exhalation from the pit of her stomach waved into the room.
“Charming.”
Munch-munch-munch.
Jelly licked around inside her mouth and slumped in her chair. The legs threatened to splay out and snap.
“One whole inch every hour, Jelly,” Julie said. “I think by about lunchtime tomorrow we’ll have to move you into one of our silos, or something. You’ll be too big for the bay. You won’t be able to stay here.”
“You got that right,” Jelly snapped, sounding more like a venomous deity than a tiger-woman. She wasn’t having fun, despite being fed.
“Your vocal cords have thickened, too. It’s affected your voice.”
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
STOMP.
Jelly slammed the soles of her feet on the ground and pricked her ears back. She squinted her eyes at the woman staring back at her.
“Come here.”
The instruction took Julie by surprise.
“What?”
Jelly thumped the table with her chunky, iron restraints, “I said come here. Do it now.”
“Okay, girl. Whatever you say.”
Julie placed her membrane on the table and approached the enormous creature in the chair. She had to tilt her head back to see at Jelly’s face.
“You’re not going to hurt me, are you?”
“No. And don’t call me a girl, either.”
Jelly wiggled her nose as she ducked her head towards the woman.
Sniff-sniff.
Jelly ran the tip of her nose over Julie’s fine, brown hair, and inhaled through her nose.
“What are you doing, honey?”
“Shhh,” Jelly grunted. “Let me smell you.”
Snort — snort — snort.
Julie’s stomach turned to mush. Her breathing quickened just as fast as Jelly’s slowed.
“Mmmm,” Jelly growled. “You smell just like her.”
“L-Like who?”
“My mother.”
“Your mother?”
Jelly nodded and closed her eyes, recounting a long-distant memory. The woman standing next to her quaked in her boots.
“Who—who was your mother?”
“Wool,” Jelly revealed.
Julie found the news difficult to take. She closed her mouth and tried not to emote.
Jelly opened her eyes and caught the woman’s consternation.
“You knew her. Didn’t you?”
Julie turned away and covered her mouth. She tried not to burst into tears.
“Yes. I kn-knew, Jelly. I’m s-sorry.”
“Look at me.”
“N-No,” Julie whimpered. “I c-can’t.”
“LOOK AT ME.”
Jelly’s vocal demand rocked the empty plate across the table.
The woman had no choice but to face the creature before her. A pained expression befell Jelly’s eyes as she stared into the woman’s face.
“You’re just like my mother,” Jelly said. “You even look like her.”
“Wool is my older sister.”
Carefully, Julie lifted her hand and attempted to absorb the side of the monster’s face.
“Was your older sister.”
“What—what h-happened to Wool?”
Jelly allowed the woman to make contact with her. She ran the side of her face along Julie’s cheek.
“I wasn’t there when it happened. Tripp Healy executed her.”
A tear ran down Julie’s cheek.
“Why?”
“Because she was turning. Dying. Everyone was dying,” Jelly whispered. “She looked after me—”
“—I miss her so much,” Julie bawled. “We already lost her once. Her replacement was—I, uh, I just need to believe we didn’t lose her a s-second time.”
Jelly butted the woman’s palm away with her nose.
“Well, you did. Wool wasn’t human. What happened to her?”
Julie moved her hand away from Jelly’s face and pressed it to her own chest.
“When she was twenty-five. She—she got really sick. Our family couldn’t bear the thought of her not being around. So, we had her Androgynized.”
Jelly didn’t take the news well, “Ugh. You disgust me.”
“Why? It wasn’t fair. She was taken from us too early.”
“You couldn’t just let her go peacefully.”
Julie couldn’t believe the reaction she got from the beast sitting at the table.
“USARIC and Manning gave her a second chance. A new lease of life—”
“—A second chance? I can’t even—” Jelly swallowed and ran her mouth up the top row of her teeth in anger, “An inferior copy of the real thing.”
Jelly rammed her knees underneath the table in anger, startling the woman.
“JUST LIKE THEY DID TO ME.”
Julie gasped and stepped back to the door, “My God. What are you?”
“Don’t ask me a question like that unless you’re sure you can handle the answer.”
SWISSHHH.
The door to Bay Seventy slid open, catching Julie off guard. Jelly scowled at the three men moving through the door and encroaching on her territory.
“Who are they?”
Maar Sheck hurried over to the table, with Brayn and Santiago following behind.
“Ah, there she is—”
GROWL.
Jelly thumped the table and lashed out at Maar,
who stopped dead in his tracks with terror.
“You.” Jelly roared and tried to go for him. The shackles tethered her to the table, preventing her attack.
SCHWIT — CLANGG-GG.
“Yeah, Jelly,” Maar spat. “Nice to see you again—”
“—Yeah. Nice to see you too. Dickhead,” Jelly scowled.
Santiago covered his face as he took in the sheer size of the creature sitting at the far end of the table.
“What the hell happened to her?”
“That’s what we’re here to find out,” Maar said. “Get set up.”
GRUNT.
Julie collected her thin from the table.
“Get out of my way, woman,” Maar said as he slid a chair at the opposite end of the table.
“Sit here, Sibald.”
“Okay, okay.”
Jelly licked her mouth and butted the empty plate across the table with her face. The circular ceramic object flew against Santiago’s chest as he sat in the chair.
FWUMP.
Jelly growled at Maar, desperate for blood.
“Hey, you. Sheck.”
“Yes? Anderson?”
“How does it feel to know you’re a dead man?”
“Ha,” Maar chuckled, evilly, “I’ve died once already. Doesn’t bother me in the slightest, my furry little rodent.”
“Where’s my daughter?”
“Oh, her? That ball of rodent fluff is your kid, is she?”
Jelly sneered and clenched her infinity claws on her left hand.
“Yeah, she’s here. Somewhere. Don’t worry, she’s perfectly safe.”
STOMP — SNORT.
Jelly fumed as her face lit up with rage, “Free me and take me to her and I’ll let you live.”
Maar shook his head and rubbed the stubble on his chin for dramatic effect “Hmm. No. I have a better idea.”
“What?”
Santiago removed his left thumbnail and set it to the table.
“What’s he doing?” Jelly asked.
WVHOOOM.
The thumbnail projected a blanket of transparent light which bounced off all four walls.
Jelly shuffled in her seat and let out a cat-like whine, “What’s going on?”
“Jelly-Jelly-Jelly,” Maar spat. “As if you weren’t famous enough already. Your public wants to see you. They want to hear what you have to say.”
Santiago licked the butt of his palms and patted down his jet black hair. He pressed his thumb to his forearm, “Viddy Media broadcast, enable.”
Biddip-biddip.
The ink on his forearm stretched into three thick lines, indicating that the feed was live.
“No, no,” Jelly turned her head away from the light, “I won’t do it.”
“Oh, I think you will do it, you traitor,” Maar shouted at her. “You’re going to sit there, nice and still. You’re gonna explain to each and every citizen what happened up there. And, more to the point, you’re going to tell everyone just how wonderful USIRC is.”
“USIRC?” Jelly asked, still desperate for blood. “What the hell is USIRC?”
“Now that this country has seen sense and shipped all those damn immigrants back where they came from, we can get back to business like we were doing forty years ago. USIRC. The United States Intergalactic Research Corporation. Repeat it back to me.”
“You suck,” she snapped. “The Ugly Sadist is a Rotting Corpse.”
SCHATNNNGG.
She slammed her wrists to the table, forcing Santiago to kick his chair back into Maar’s legs.
“I, uh, d-don’t think this is a good—”
“—Shut up, Sibald.”
Maar booted the back of Santiago’s chair back to the table and folded his arms.
“Jelly?”
“Yes, dead man?”
“USIRC. Remember it. Remember it, and make sure you say it during Sibald’s questions.”
“Kiss my fluffy tail, asshole.”
“Goddamn it, you miserable little pussy,” Maar screamed. “Don’t get clever with me. People get clever with me and those they love get seriously hurt. Do you understand what I’ve—”
“—I am going to kill you.”
Jelly rammed her fists on to the table, scaring the living hell out of Santiago and Julie.
Brayn armed his rifle and aimed square between her eyes.
“Why bother with the interview? I’ll just put a bullet in its brain. We can forget this whole thing ever happened—”
“—No,” Maar bopped Brayn on the shoulder and looked around the interior of the brightly-lit bay, “Don’t threaten her. These four walls contain no threats. Only promises.”
Jelly ground her buttocks into her seat, causing the legs to screech along the ground, “You got that right you son of a—”
“—You keep up that talk, young madam, and someone you love might find their head removed and taken to the forensic lab for a thorough vivisection. What do you think of that?”
Jelly took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down, mostly unsuccessfully.
“I swear to myself, Maar Sheck,” Jelly muttered. “In the name of all who perished on Space Opera Beta. My family. My friends. I am going to kill you.”
“Is that so?” Maar snapped, about ready to sock her in the face.
“It is so.”
“You insubordinate little bitch. I could have you in front of the American Star Fleet jury, found guilty and shot dead. Just how do you think you’re going to kill me?”
Jelly moved her face into the light emitting from Santiago’s thumbnail.
Beep-beep.
“Like you said,” Jelly grinned. “My public demands to ask questions? I’ll be sure to include the details of your murder in my answer.”
Maar kept his eyes on Jelly’s and didn’t move. He believed everything she’d said, but he knew he held the cards that mattered.
Jelly smirked and nodded at Santiago, “Hey, dickhead.”
“Y-Yes?”
“Are we doing an interview, or what?”
***
Live from USARIC’s Research & Development Facility in Port D’Souza, this is Santiago Sibald broadcasting on Viddy Media to the entire nation.
2117: The Star Cat Project.
The winner, Jelly Anderson, of the United Kingdom, beat out hundreds of thousands of competitors to become the first ever feline astronaut.
2118: Space Opera Beta.
Jelly joined the crew of the first-of-a-kind mission to decode a message named Saturn Cry.
They went missing.
Now, in 2124 - seven years later - Jelly is back.
Welcome — to SIBALD/ANDERSON.
Breeeeep — Ping.
The broadcast blasted to life in the middle of the bay.
Santiago’s smiling face appeared on millions of peoples’ Individimedia screens.
“Welcome. I’m Santiago Sibald. You join me here at USIRC, the United States Intergalactic Research Corporation, for a once-in-a-lifetime interview with one of the survivors of the ill-fated Space Opera Beta program.”
The lens twisted around to capture Jelly’s face in profile. She hung her head, unhappy at the potential of half the globe getting their first glimpse of her.
“Look at her. Exhausted. Older and bigger. Wiser? Let’s find out.”
Jelly lifted her head and licked her mouth. Santiago pressed his hands together and launched into his interview.
“So, Jelly Anderson?”
GRUNT.
“Whoa. Easy, tiger,” Santiago chuckled, hoping she’d see the funny side, “Okay. First up. I think everyone wants to know. How are you feeling right now?”
“Like crap,” she spat. “I hate you.”
“Why do you hate me, Jelly?”
She lifted her hands and held the shackles to the light, “I managed to get home. After years of trying, only to be captured by those who started this nightmare.”
“It’s for your own safety, isn’t it?” Santiago asked wit
h sincerity. “What if you brought something back?”
“Oh, we brought something back,” she huffed. “And you’re all going to see first-hand what it is very, very soon. If you’re a betting man, I’d put your stocks in oxygen masks for when darkness falls.”
“Darkness falls? Oxygen masks?”
“You humans are pathetic. You’ll learn to adapt, or you’ll learn to die. And fast.”
Maar leaned into Santiago’s ear and whispered something Jelly couldn’t hear.
Santiago nodded and returned to Jelly.
“What do you know about the tree-shape thing in the Gulf of Mexico?”
“What tree-shaped thing?” Jelly asked.
“A giant, black tree-like thing came out of the Gulf of Mexico shortly before you landed.”
“Like a tree,” Maar added. “But not a tree.”
Santiago continued, “Yes. In fact, your escape pod nearly hit it when you landed in the Gulf.”
Jelly pricked her ears with curiosity, “Really?”
“She knows something,” Maar whispered. “Look at her reaction.”
“Two more of these tree things appeared. One in the Yellow Sea in Asia, and a third in the Mediterranean. All of them emitting a strange pink light. All connected, and all seemingly channeling something from the moon.”
“Really?”
“We asked Hughes about it, but he didn’t know what we were talking about.”
Jelly unfurled three of her infinity claws on her left hand. She thought back to the events on Space Opera Charlie.
She close the first claw to her palm and grew upset, “Grrrrr.”
“What’s she doing?” Maar asked.
“Shhh. Let her think.”
Jelly closed her eyes and squeezed the tears down her cheeks. Her second infinity claw closed into her hand, leaving the claw on her index finger out.
“Furie.”
“Huh?” Santiago asked. “Jelly? What can you tell us about those trees?”
Jelly thumped the table and leaned back in her chair.
“It makes sense that there are three.”
“Does it?” he asked. “How?”
Jelly held up her index, middle, and fourth finger.
“One died in the airlock,” she said, folding her index finger down.
“The second was murdered by Masta—” she struggled, stopping short of saying the beast’s name outright.
Star Cat The Complete Series Page 132
