“What’s this about?” Tripp muttered, keeping his arms outstretched.
“Th-that s-sonofabitch Alex Hughes,” Tor thumbed the side of the Rez-9 and armed it, “He t-tried to assassinate m-me—”
“—Why?”
“B-Because, h-he works f-for—” Tor grunted and growled. The barrel slipped away from Tripp’s temple and launched into the air.
Alex took another step forward and prepared to blast Tor’s forehead apart, “Rabinovich, get on your knees—”
SCHPLATTT-GROOWWWWLLL!
Tor’s chest catapulted into the air, taking his mechanical body with it. His one remaining arm cracked apart and released a fleshy Shanta limb.
SCHTOMP-CRAACK.
The limb smashed its talon to the ground, shaking everyone across the ground like a tray of marbles.
“Wuh-wuh,” Alex ran to the other end of the wall, “What’s happening to him?”
Tripp scooped his Rez-9 from the floor and swung it at Tor - or, what little remained of him, “He’s changing into one of those things.”
“What things—?”
SPATCH-CREAK-SLAMM.
Four Shanta limbs burst from Tor’s sides and slammed to the floor. The talons dug against the ground and produced a whirlwind of electric sparks. The synthetic skin over his neck pulled apart and tossed his head to the floor.
A messy fusion of creature limbs and Tor’s devastated top half staggered toward the door, squealing and growling all the way.
“Get behind something,” Nutrene screamed through her mask and dived behind the flight deck.
“Help m-me…” Tor’s head hung by a thread of synthetic skin down the back of the Shanta, “I n-need help.”
“Open fire.”
BAM-BAM-BAM!
Tor’s bottom half ran out of the control deck, carrying its six half-formed limbs with it.
“God damn it,” Tripp turned to Manuel. “Raise the alarm, now. It’s run off into the ship.”
“Yes, of course.”
ARRROOOOO-GAH!
The control deck dimmed as red lights swiveled around the walls and floor.
Tripp, Alex, Nutrene, and Jaycee bolted through the door after the screaming monstrosity.
AROOOOOO-GAH!
“Emergency,” came the recorded voice, “The alarm has been raised. Please be advised. Remain where you are until instructed otherwise. Thank you, and have a nice day.”
Poz turned to Neg and bounced on the spot. They were alone at last.
“I dunno why they’re bothering trying to kill it. The whole place is gonna be history soon.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”
Excited, Neg rolled back and opened up her orb-shaped back. A stack of canisters clanged to the floor, “Want me to prime them?”
“If you would be so kind, yes,” Poz peeked at his transfer cable, “Sixty seconds and we have the data. We’re going back home with Anderson, dead or alive. Preferably dead.”
“Aww,” Neg squealed over the racket of the alarms, “Why dead?”
“Because the only good pussy is a dead pussy.”
“Huh,” Neg knocked into the canisters. The green light on top flashed, indicating they were set. Her eyebulbs turned white as she rolled her head up to the windshield, “Oxade, this is Neg Bass.”
“Come in, Neg. What the hell is all that fuss I’m hearing on Beta?”
“Oh, they threatened to shoot each other. Nothing to do with us—”
“—They what?” Oxade screamed in both Poz and Neg’s heads, “What do you mean threatened to shoot each other?”
“Rabinovich is on board Beta, Oxade,” Poz said. “He turned into a man-spider thing and ran off. It was horrendous, quite frankly.”
“Have you gone insane? Right, that’s enough. I’m boarding Beta.”
Neg knocked the canisters on the floor and threw a blue beam over them, “Ah, actually, I wouldn’t do that.”
The Control Deck
Space Opera Charlie
Oxade pulled the weapons cupboard open. He unhooked the D-REZ semi-automatic, extended its shoulder holster and booted the door shut.
“The nukes?” Oxade roared into his headgear and ran out of the deck, “Please tell me you planted the nukes?”
“Yes,” Poz’s voice rumbled into his ear, “They’re primed to go.”
“Good. You’ve just saved yourself a messy execution,” Oxade snatched a gelatin swab from the wall and raced along the walkway, “I’m boarding Beta and taking care of this. Stay there and wait for me.”
SCHLOOP.
He smeared the gelatinous mush around his face as he walked. The compound material stretched across his skin. Pockets of air burst out of his skin. The end result made his face look like it was covered in cellophane.
“Primary airlock, ETA twenty seconds.”
“There’s really no need to do that, Captain,” Poz’s voice reached Oxade’s helmet headgear, “We’d rather you not leave Charlie unmanned—”
“—I’d rather you not be a useless tin opener but you don’t hear me complaining, do you?”
Poz thought about Oxade’s retort, “Actually, yes I do—”
“—Shut up and open the damn bridge.”
SWISH!
The inner airlock door flew up and offered Oxade into the chamber.
“As you desire, Captain. In your own time.”
“Don’t patronize me, you mechanical moron.”
Level One Stairwell
Space Opera Beta
Tor stumbled down the steps. His swinging, most-severely head clanged against the railings. Its mouth squealed in pain.
Six limbs shot out from his ribcage and pressed against the wall, aiding his decent.
His left leg slammed to the next step and broke apart. The connective flesh slipped away from his metallic femur ‘bone’ and swiped its talon.
His right leg fell off when it connected with the next step. Another limb burst out through his metallic ball joint. Tor was no longer an Androgyne but a fully-formed Shanta.
Tripp, Jaycee, Alex, and Nutrene reached the top step with their weapons aimed at the half-man, half-Shanta monstrosity, “Tor, stay where you are.”
“Screeeeeeeee,” the Shanta widened its slit and whipped Tor’s head into the air.
SCHOMP-CLOTCH!
It caught Tor’s jaw between its teeth and yanked it away from the top of his skull.
“Damn,” Alex gasped, “That virus really kicks ass, doesn’t it?”
BLAM-BLAM-BLAM!
Tripp and Jaycee opened fire on the creature. It gripped the railings with all twelve limbs and scurried down the next set of steps.
“Get it,” Tripp shouted after it and continued down the staircase.
“Screeeeee,” The Shanta’s two front limbs hit the next step, tripped on something unexpected and crashed against the level two sign on the wall.
“Miew,” came a whine of protest from the step.
The Shanta stomped four of its limbs to the floor and the remaining eight against the wall and ceiling and screeched in pain.
Jelly shifted her weight and stood to her feet, “Not again.”
SCHTANG-SCHTANG!
She flung out her infinity claws by her sides and prepared to slash the creature.
“Jelly,” Jaycee aimed his Rez-9 at the creature, “Get out of the way.”
She turned over her shoulder and licked her lips, ready for war, “No.”
“I mean it, Jelly.”
The Shanta pushed itself from the wall like an octopus and bolted towards Jelly. She pulled her elbows back, ready to swipe at the monstrosity.
“That’s Anderson?” Alex lowered his gun, trying to take the information in, “But sh-she’s…”
“Yeah. Difficult to believe, huh?” Tripp spat. “Would you believe me if I told you she’s pregnant, too?”
SWIPE-SWISH-CRACK!
Jelly right-hooked the Shanta, sending it hurtling over the rails between the stairs, “Meow.”
WHOOO
SH!
The Shanta plummeted between the stairs. Its limbs smashed against the stairs as it tumbled down.
The signage for levels two, three, and four flew past its slit as its screams echoed up the stairwell.
“Jelly, what did you do?” Jaycee barged past her and hopped down the next flight of stairs.
“I killed it,” she said and followed him.
Tripp, Alex, and Nutrene ran down after them.
“Are you gonna tell us what that thing is, now?” Nutrene shouted after Tripp and Jaycee as they jumped down to the level three gantry.
“We’ve called it Symphonium,” Tripp explained. “Some sort of messed up evolutionary virus.”
Jelly peered over the staircase, “It came from the ocean. It turned the algae into fish. The fish into mammals. The mammals into apes. The apes into humans, and the humans into—”
“—Shaaantaaa,” the monstrosity squealed from two floors below. Everyone jumped in their shoes as the volume of its voice rattled their ears.
Jelly pointed at Alex and Nutrene’s faces, “Keep those masks on, humans.”
“Yes, we will,” Alex failed to comprehend the absurdity of his findings.
Jelly wrapped her infinity claws around the staircase railing and bent her knees, preparing to jump the next couple of flights.
“Jelly, what are you doing?” Tripp swung his gun at her.
She shot him a look of pure venom and swished her tail.
“I’m going to kill it dead,” she squealed, “Go to Medix and get Wool.”
“We can’t leave you here on the ship. What if you don’t make it off?”
“I’ll make it off,” Jelly’s claws sparked up a frenzy, expressing her desire for death, “I’m going to rip Tor’s battery out like you should have done days ago. Now, go!”
“But—”
HOP-SWISH!
Jelly swung her legs over the rail and plummeted down the gap in the staircase.
“Meeooowwwww…” her voice etched further and further away.
“Guys, let’s go get Wool.”
***
Jelly landed awkwardly paws-first at level five. She rolled onto her side and clutched her baby bump.
“Ughhh,” she scrambled to her feet. The Shanta slapped its limbs along the ground, walls and ceiling, pulling itself across the corridor and well away from Jelly.
“Hey, Tor,” Jelly screamed after it as she staggered to her feet, “Come back here.”
“Screeeeeeee.”
Jelly took a deep breath and lowered her head. The glow from within her stomach formed into three, glowing orbs.
She winced as she tried to move forward, “God. Not now.”
The Shanta reached the door to Pure Genius. With nowhere else to go, it slammed its talons against the door in attempt to open it.
“Hey,” Jelly flung her claws out by her hips and growled as she moved toward the cornered beast, “I know that’s you in there, Tor.”
The Shanta calmed down and turned to her. The talons on each of its twelve limbs swiped out, ready to kill.
“Shaaaaaantaaahh.”
Jelly picked up the pace and ran toward it, “Tor, if you’re in there, you better get ready to go to hell.”
ROOOAAAARRRR!
Jelly jumped into the air and swiped at the creature. She missed and hit the wall.
The Shanta slithered to the side and punched her in face, sending the back of her head against the wall panel, forcing the door open.
SWISH.
“Welcome to Pure Genius,” announced a friendly voice as the door opened. “Please be advised that this is a zero gravity environment.”
Jelly laughed venomously and removed the back of her head from the broken panel. Shards of shattered plastic nestled in her hair. She leaned forward and grabbed the Shanta’s mid-section on her paws.
“Come with me.”
Before the Shanta could scream, she tightened her grip and yanked him back into the chamber with her.
The two of them tumbled into the middle of the perfect cuboid as if swimming underwater.
Jelly lifted her leg and booted the Shanta’s slit with her knee. Its metal teeth nicked her leggings as it moved away.
She released the creature and kicked it against the wall.
Both Jelly and the beast waded through the air and hit the two opposite sides, lighting up the tiles.
“Pure Genius activated,” the voice advised. “Please specify your command.”
RROOOOAAARRR!
The Shanta clapped its limbs against the wall and pushed itself forward like an octopus propelling itself from the Ocean bed.
SWISH-SWIPE.
Jelly ducked out of the path of the whizzing talons.
“Oh, no you don’t,” She pressed her body from the wall and up to the ceiling that contained the door, “Up here. Woof-woof!”
The Shanta’s twelve limbs stiffened and prepared to dive skyward.
“Come and get some,” Jelly squealed and froze solid. She waited for her assailant to spring towards her.
The pair made eye contact, trying to psyche each other out.
“Come on,” Jelly screamed, goading the Shanta to attack, “What are you waiting for? Kill me.”
The creature screamed and pushed itself away from the ground. It flew through the air and extended its first four limbs and talons.
Jelly gripped the lip of the door and pulled herself up and through the opening.
The sudden presence of gravity pulled her knees to the walkway ground as she leaned over the gap. She opened out her paw and slammed it against the wall panel as the first two limbs struck at her face.
“Agghh,” Jelly squealed as the door sliced across the front of her face.
SWISH-SCHA-JUNT!
The door guillotined the Shanta’s two front limbs from its body. Its muffled squeals whirled around the fully fired-up supercomputer. Two severed talons clanged to the floor by Jelly’s knees.
“Meow,” Jelly palmed the window in anger and looked at the trapped creature one last time, “Go to hell, dickhead.”
Her tail swished left to right as she turned around and made her way back to the staircase.
The Shanta hung in the middle of Pure Genius with two of its limbs missing. Pink liquid from its severed arms launched into the air and splashed against the tiles like a Jackson Pollock painting.
It knew it was trapped - possibly for good.
Its center slit widened and tried to take in some air.
SCHTAM-SCHTAM-SCHTAM!
It extended all its remaining arms like a multi-pronged star. Three on the ground, three on the ceiling, and two pressed against the left and right wall.
It remained static like a fleshy cobweb, trapped forever inside Pure Genius.
Medix
Space Opera Beta - Level Three
Tripp and Jaycee approached Medix ready to open fire on anything remotely unfamiliar.
Alex and Nutrene watched their six and their weapons up the corridor.
Manuel floated along with them, “Tripp?”
“Not now, Manuel.”
“I’m scared, Tripp.”
“What do you mean?” Tripp lowered his gun and turned to Jaycee, “I’ll go in there and grab Wool. Stay here.”
“Okay,” Jaycee joined Alex and Nutrene, “Listen up. We’re getting our friend and then getting the hell off this ship.”
Manuel slotted himself between Tripp and the door to Medix, “Tripp?”
“Can’t this wait, Manuel?”
“You’re not going to leave without me, are you? You know I can’t leave Opera Beta.”
“What?” Tripp acted defiant in the face of his autopilot. But the book had a point - he was restrained to the confines of the ship and knew it would never return home.
“Please don’t leave me here.”
“I’m sure there’s a way to transfer you to—”
“—There is not. Tripp. I cannot lie. They have their own autopilot. Almos
t certainly more advanced than I am.”
Tripp couldn’t look at the holograph any longer. He didn’t have an answer.
“I thought as much,” Manuel’s front and back cover slumped, resigned to its fate, “I’m going to leave, now.”
“I’m sorry, Manuel.”
“Yeah,” he sighed, “Keep telling yourself that.”
WHVOOM.
The book vanished, leaving the door in plain sight.
Tripp glanced at Jaycee, who looked away with a discreet sadness, “You did what you had to do.”
“There was no point in lying to him.”
Jaycee lowered his gun and nodded, “Stop pontificating. Get Wool. Now.”
Tripp entered the room and spotted Wool looking out of the window with a forlorn expression on her face, “I don’t know if you heard the alarms, but we need to get out of—”
She sniffed and placed her palm on the plastic window ledge.
“Look, Tripp. Look at Enceladus. It’s heading for Saturn”
He joined her at the window. The impossibly large ball of fire left a thick, pink vapor trail as it rocketed away. The vibrations of the window in her palm conveyed the sheer ferocity of the event.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she asked.
“Wool, we have to go.”
She kept facing the window with her arms folded and refused to move, “I c-can’t go.”
“Why not?”
He moved next to her and clocked her reflection in the plastic pane. Something about her face wasn’t right.
“I can never go home ever again, Tripp.”
He applied pressure to her shoulder and tried to comfort her, “Don’t be stupid, just—”
A cold sensation on his fingertips made him look down. A Shanta talon crept across his knuckles, stretching from Wool’s fleshy arm.
“Oh, no.”
A tear rolled down Wool’s cheek, “When you leave, close the door and seal me inside. Have Jaycee break the wall panel so I can’t get out.”
“Wool,” Tripp muttered.
“It’s okay,” she half-laughed and sniffed through her tears, “It was bound to happen sooner or later. We’re mostly human organs, after all. I guess the Symphonium just takes a little longer to work with our synthetic insides.”
She turned to him at once. His face fell when he clapped his eyes on hers. She seemed desperate and beyond hope.
Star Cat: The First Trilogy (Infinity Claws, Pink Symphony, War Mage) Page 65
