Opera Beta exploded in sections. The sharp-end of the cone rocketed away from the vessel like a bullet. A running detonation devastated its centrifuge, catapulting sections of its shell and insides into space. The middle of the ship rippled and blasted apart, pushing the thruster-end towards Saturn in a haze of destructed glory - enough of a blast to push Opera Charlie away as its thrusters roared into the huge blanket of space…
Jaycee and Tripp picked themselves up from the floor and looked up through the windshield.
Opera Beta and it inhabitants were no more.
A gigantic tear in the fabric of space discharged a shaft of white light that streaked all the way back to Saturn’s core.
“She’s gone,” Tripp muttered, suppressing his emotion. He didn’t dare look away, “They’re all—”
“—Dead,” Jaycee finished the sentence, “All of them.”
Tripp double-took and passed the kitten to Alex, who took her into his arms.
“What am I meant to do with her?”
“Guard her with your life,” Tripp made for the flight deck, “Manny? Tell me we’re moving.”
“Hyper-thrusters currently engaged,” Manny said. “They’ve ten percent damage, however.”
“Enough to get us back home?”
Manny went quiet.
The silence drew attention to Jelly on the floor kicking her legs and tensing her muscles, “My baby is coming.”
“Another one?” Tripp ran over to her and held out his arms, “What do you need me to do?”
“Leave me the hell alone,” Jelly squealed and clutched the console edge, “Nggggg…”
“Excuse me, Tripp?” Manny sprang to life, “I’m afraid I have some good news and bad news.”
“What is it? Give me the good news first.”
“The thrusters are engaged at ninety-two percent. We have a better-than-good chance of making it home.”
“And the bad news? I mean, apart from Charlie about to acquire a litter of kittens?”
Manny projected a holograph in the middle of the room. Opera Charlie’s escape from Saturn had slowed it down, perilously close to being pulled back, “We may not leave Saturn’s orbit intact.”
“Oh, great.”
“Maximum capacity on the thrusters, please,” Alex looked at Manny as he comforted the kitten in his arms.
“We can’t outrun a black hole, Hughes.”
“Is that what that is? A black hole?”
“It resembles one. It’s not fully-formed yet. I’ll take my chances on outrunning it and not sticking around to find out.”
Manny threw a holographic projection of the engine’s view of Saturn. It folded out in the middle of the room and showed the giant planet shaking around like a blender at full speed.
“I’ll maximize the capability, but there are no guarantees. The force is threatening to pull us back in,” Manny said.
“Just do it. Full throttle.”
Jelly huffed and puffed. Her belly glowed a hot pink through her exo-suit top. She strained her stomach muscles and kicking her boots against the ground, “Oh, God… it’s coming, it’s coming…”
Tripp, Jaycee, and Alex looked at the holograph footage of Saturn as per the view from the back of the ship.
“If you believe in God, now’s the time to pray…” Tripp said, quietly.
The kitten shuffled around in his arms and meowed its first.
Chapter 17
Port Lavaca
South Texas, USA
(Ten miles north of Port D’Souza)
The sun had set.
The only light provided on the road came from the occasional street lamp and the full moon.
An engine from a 4x4 rumbled beside one of many trees by the road.
Grace held her flashlight against the trees in a hunt for the escaped felines, “Here kitty-kitty-kitty. Where are you?”
A rectangular geo-scan hung above her flashlight. Several purple dots beeped as a blue radar swirled around. She held her finger to her ear and spoke into her mouthpiece.
“Siyam, they’re here somewhere,” she clocked a similar flashlight a few feet away.
“I know, I’m getting the same reading,” Siyam responded through her headgear, “Two clicks further.”
“I hope they’re willing to come with us. I don’t get it, they usually respond.”
“It’s unlike them to stay in packs. Usually they’re—”
A rustling coming from a bush by the road stopped him talking. Grace grew nervous, “What was that noise?”
Siyam waved his flashlight around, “By the road. Highway thirty-seven. Move.”
The trees seem to come to life as the pair turned around and made their way to the road.
A giant gale rustled the branches and blew Grace’s hair back across her neck, “Hey, what’s that noise?”
WHUDDA-WHUDDA-WHUDDA.
A deafening noise pushed the gale across their faces.
“Chopper. It’s one of USARIC’s,” Siyam kept an eye on the purple blips on the his geo-scan as he ran over to Grace, “Look. Up there.”
A fierce-looking black helicopter with tandem rotors hovered over the freeway and blasted its lights onto the road, “This is the United States and Russian Intergalactic Confederation,” a male voice announced through its speakers, “Make yourselves know immediately.”
Grace turned to Siyam and exhaled, “That’s it. We’re busted.”
He clutched her arm and held her back, “No, wait. I don’t think they’re talking to us.”
The helicopter lowered. The blades of grass and dust kicked across the ground.
“I repeat, come out now and await rescue.”
Grace tapped Siyam on the shoulder. She’d seen something crawl out of the bush by the stores.
“Look, over there.”
“Oh, wow,” Siyam gasped as he watch the Egyptian Mau bolt into the middle of the freeway.
Two cars blared their horns and screeched to a halt, narrowly avoiding contact with the cat.
She made herself comfortable in the middle of the road and looked up at the blinding light coming from the helicopter, “Meow.”
“Good. Stay where you are,” said a USARIC mercenary sitting at the opened door to the helicopter, “Where are the others?”
“Meow,” Mau growled and looked at the floor.
“What is she doing?” Grace lowered her flashlight and stepped forward, “I’m going to take her—”
“—Christ’s sake, no. They’ll open fire on us. On her.”
“We can’t just leave her there,” Grace whispered. “They’ll take her back.”
A chorus of ‘meows’ snaked through the trees. Several cats emerged and joined their leader on the road.
“That’s right, you fluffy idiots,” the USARIC mercenary said through his megaphone, “Out you come. Nice and slow.”
Another merc pushed forward as the helicopter hovered to the liquor store’s parking lot. He produced a mini gun and attached it to the frame of the hatch, “Just tell me when.”
“Drivers,” The merc said, “Exit your vehicles and make your way to the parking lot, please.”
The drivers in each car jumped out and ran under a giant vertical billboard advertising Rollneck Kojak beer. A neon image of a bald-headed man blinked underneath its logo.
“Meow,” The Egyptian Mau stood up and walked around in a circle, forcing her twenty-nine peers to stop moving. They sat on their haunches, randomly dotted all over the road.
Grace reached into her belt and retrieved her handgun, “They’re not taking those cats and abusing them.”
“Grace, don’t. Look at them, we’re outnumbered. We’re too late. They beat us to it.”
“I’ll take as many of those bastards out as I can,” Grace bit her lip to prevent herself from crying, “I don’t c-care if I die.”
Siyam grabbed her shoulder and sidled into her, “Well I do. You’re no use to any of us dead, are you?”
Grace lowered he
r gun, resigned to defeat.
“You wanna end up like Handax? Like Denny, Moses, and Leif? Then go out there and go down in a blaze of glory. Just know that you don’t have our blessing.”
She swiped his hand away from her shoulder and fell to her knees, “Let go of me.”
The helicopter’s landing gear hit the ground, kicking up a giant whirlwind of dust. The armed Mercenary jumped out and swung his machine gun at the Egyptian Mau, “There you are. Stay right there.”
He waved his colleague out of the vehicle.
“Get the net. Tell base we’ve located the rest of them.”
SNAAARRRLLLLL!
The Egyptian Mau looked up at the full moon along with her peers.
“Hey, you,” the merc shouted over the noise of helicopter’s rotors, “Stay where you are.”
His colleague hopped out of the helicopter with a giant net in his hands. He unraveled the ends and yanked them taut, “Ready to capture.”
The Egyptian Mau wasn’t impressed. She stood on all fours and showed the men her ass, and faced her peers. A tiny white spark erupted a few inches to the left of the moon, a billion miles away from Earth.
“Meow,” she cried.
All the cats howled with her. They turned to the mercenary as he aimed his gun at the Egyptian Mau.
“What are you doing?” he said with a heart full of fear, “It’s weird.”
“Meeeeooowww,” the Mau growled and scraped her paws on the gravel.
“Oh no… no-no-no…” Siyam eyes widened, “They’re not going to—”
“—Jesus Christ,” Grace held her breath.
A standoff occurred between the two men and the thirty cats, “Don’t anybody move or I’ll blow her damned head off,” he shouted, hoping the cats understood English.
They didn’t comprehend the instruction but knew a threat when they saw it. Now was the time to act.
“MEEEOOOOOOOOWWW,” All thirty cats shrieked and launched toward the armed mercenary.
“No, get back!” He opened fire on the stampede of felines. A flurry of them trampled over the parked cars and cracked the windscreen as they bounded toward him.
The Egyptian Mau nodded the two white bobtails ahead.
BLAM-BLAM-BLAM!
The mercenary fired at the cats. The ones who didn’t get hit bolted towards him.
“Get back you vicious, little shi—”
ROOOWWAAAAARRRR!
“Look! They’re gonna kill him.”
“There’s nothing we can do,” Siyam spluttered in amazement, “Keep back.”
The Egyptian Mau jumped into the air claws-first and punctured the mercenary’s visor. A jut of blood splattered up the inside. She dug her hind legs into his chest and ravaged his face, “Meow!”
Twelve cats ran up his trouser leg and jabbed their claws into his flesh, tearing bits of him apart. He screamed and fell to his knees in agony.
The two USARIC mercenaries ran back into the helicopter, “Get this bird back in the air. They’re killing him,” shouted one of them to the pilot.
The helicopter blades fired back up.
WHUM-WHUUUM-WHUUUUM…
The Egyptian Mau ran the top of her head against the mercenaries visor, lifted it over his head. His face was a bloodied mess.
She looked into his pupils and licked her lips.
“N-No, p-please,” he screamed as she dove into his face claws-first.
The helicopter’s gear lifted from the ground - taking ten cats with it. Half of them invaded the passenger seat area and tore the two mercenaries apart.
The other half - all ten of them - hopped into the pilot seat and ripped up the pilot’s legs and arms.
Grace ran into the road with her flashlight and watched the helicopter auto-rotate twenty feet in the air.
Large numbers of patrons from the liquor store and surrounding restaurants gathered at the window. Some of them ran out of the building and into the parking lot.
“Get back, get back!” Grace screamed at them, “The chopper’s gonna come down!”
A thrashing of meows and human screams came from the spinning USARIC helicopter.
“Get back!” Grace shouted at the others as Siyam ran up behind her.
WHUDDA-WHUDDA-SLIP-CRASH-CRASH-CRASH!
The blades of the back rotors sliced against the Rollneck Kojak sign. Segments of it blasted in all directions, causing an electrical storm. The neon rendition of the bald man burst into flames and crashed against the ground.
The chopper hit the cement. The first rotor’s blades stabbed into the side of the vehicle itself, pushing it onto its side.
WHIINNNEEE… KERRR-RASSSHHHH!
A dozen cats hopped out from the helicopter and landed on the road. They dispersed in all directions, howling and squealing at the night sky.
The patrons from the building ran in all directions, screaming. Some of them held their forearms and Viddy Media ink at the scene in an attempt to record what was happening.
“Are you crazy?” Grace shouted at those brave enough to film what was happening, “Get back.”
The once-tiny white dot overseeing the event from the night sky fanned out like bubble by another inch.
The helicopter tumbled over and around, slamming the remainder of its blades against the floor. One of them caught the mercenary’s legs and severed it from his thigh, “Gaaahh!”
The rest of the cats propelled from the sides of the helicopter and darted across the road, away from danger.
“Get out of there, now,” Grace yelled at them.
SLAP-SLAP-SLAP-BAMMM.
The second rotor slowed to a halt. Its blades crunched against the ground.
The mercenaries inside crashed to the ground, unconscious.
Grace and Siyam dared not move any closer for fear of the vehicle going up in flames.
“Quick, we gotta gather up all the cats and get them out of here.”
Grace peered forward and noticed something shuffling in the tilted cockpit, “Wait, what’s that?”
A paw.
Then a furry arm.
Two flapping ears of an Egyptian Mau.
She clambered over the lip of the door and bolted toward Grace and Siyam, “Meow.”
“Hey, girl,” Grace crouched down and held out her arms, “We’re here to rescue you. How did you do that?”
The Mau lifted her paw and licked her claw. A shiny, white cuticle - made of titanium.
Grace gasped and tied to process what she’d seen. She turned to the other cats to find that they had the same contraption fitted to their paws.
“Oh, wow. They’re all—”
“—Meeooww,” The Mau ran her claws against the ground,
The helicopter’s final blade hit the cement.
KA-BLAAAA-AAA-AAAMMM!
It exploded with such force that its charcoaled body launched thirty feet into the air and exploded a second time.
A slab of fiery helicopter slammed down on both cars, bursting their windows.
Grace and Siyam didn’t know how to respond. She looked at the Mau in shock.
“Miew.”
“Umm,” Grace cleared her throat, “Let’s get you and your friends out of here. Right now…”
Chrome Valley
United Kingdom
Jamie Anderson pulled his rucksack over his shoulders. He crossed the main road that separated Chrome Valley’s east and west side.
A swarm of chuckling school children ran past and ignored him.
“Ugh, there’s Lame-y Anderson,” one of the chubby kids cackled at his excited friends, “His cat lost the competition.”
“Yeah,” squealed an excited girl, “A giant loser, just like her ugly owner.”
“Lame-y Anderson, Lame-y Anderson,” all the kids chanted in unison as they ran off around the corner.
“Shut up,” he muttered
He knew in his heart of hearts that it was only a matter of time before he’d become famous. Everyone would know Jelly won. Maybe then t
hey’d like him.
Until then he’d continue to be the loner. On one hand, it suited him. He enjoyed the privacy. On the other, having no friends was a lonely prospect.
No one to talk to.
It wasn’t long before he turned the same corner near the Waddling Gate cemetery. He and his mother buried his late father there nearly six years ago.
He couldn’t bear to look at the black gates, nor the church standing behind it. The very sight alone upset him. Worse, he had to walk past it twice a day to and from school.
Jamie looked at his Viddy Media ink. 8:10 am.
Plenty of time to make the start of school and his first period.
He looked up to see the chubby kid pant and wheeze further up the road, trying to keep up with his friends.
“One day, Raymond,” Jamie stopped walking. He muttered and scowled, quietly, “I’ll kick your fat arse into the moon.”
A screeching of tires came a few feet behind him. He turned around and saw a black van spin onto the road at speed.
“Pfft. Whatever.”
He kept his head down and watched each foot pace in front of the other. It was hard for him to not notice the engine and wheels slowing down behind him. as he walked along the sidewalk.
The van crawled to a steady three miles per hour.
Jamie looked over his shoulder and squinted at the windshield. Its darkened, limousine effect prevented him from seeing the driver. The reflection of the trees from the cemetery were the only thing visible on the surface of the windshield.
He resumed his journey to school.
The van did the same.
Jamie knew the van was following him.
“Ugh, no,” Jamie looked at the cemetery gates and grew anxious. He could jump the railings and run across the grounds to safety.
The van slammed on its brakes, startling the boy.
He stopped dead in his tracks.
The side door slid open and revealed a person in a black balaclava. She grabbed the lip of the door and held her head out, “Jamie Anderson?”
He kept his mouth shut and chose not to interact with the stranger.
“Ugh, don’t mess me around, you little turd,” the person said. A feminine voice, to be sure. Judging by her voice and svelte frame she couldn’t have been very old, “Are you Jamie Anderson?”
Star Cat: The First Trilogy (Infinity Claws, Pink Symphony, War Mage) Page 69
