Star Cat Forever: A Science Fiction & Fantasy Adventure (The Star Cat Series - Book 6)

by Andrew Mackay

  Dozens of scientists and technicians monitored a giant, android shaped cavern in the wall.

  “What is that, sir?”

  “That’s The Processor,” Maar shouted over the commotion. “It attaches the armor to the Series Four endoskeletons.”

  “Looks vicious.”

  “It is. Watch.”

  The Process sprang to life as it wrapped tight metal straps around the complicated amalgam of wires and thick skeleton.

  “Stage One, commencing,” The Processor said.

  WHUMP — CLAMP.

  Four robotic arms whizzed out and clamped heavy armor over the bottom half of the structure.

  “That’s where DD-12 was made.”

  “Ugh, that nasty heap of bolts?”

  “The very same,” Maar said. “We were going to use it on our furry, little test subjects. Before they were taken from us.”

  “Droid cats?” Brayn spat.

  “The perfect weapon for any war. In a free and open market, it would have made the shareholders very happy. And very rich.”

  Several conveyor belts traveled at speed, carrying a range of internal machinery and equipment.

  Maar looked at the far end of the walkway and squinted at the door. He chuckled to himself.

  “I spent months in that damn bunker, you know.”

  “I know, Mr. Sheck,” Brayn said. “I can’t imagine how terrible it must have been.”

  “No. You can’t imagine it. Months of being holed up with nothing but Viddy Media broadcasts if you were lucky enough to get a signal,” Maar said as he pinched his thumb and forefinger together. “I was this close to losing it entirely. If it weren’t for Kaoz trying to kill me, maybe I’d—”

  KER-SCHWUMP — CLANG.

  The arms from the machine clamped the chest piece of a bullet-proof suit to an array of mechanical motors. A frightening sight for the workers who tried to keep their calm.

  “How many of these things are you planning to make?”

  “Ever since our shares skyrocketed we’ve doubled our efforts,” Maar explained. “We’re building hundreds. Opera Delta is scheduled to leave next year. She’ll be taking the new droids with her.”

  “No cats, this time?” Brayn dared to ask.

  “God, no. No more cats.”

  “Excuse me? Mr. Sheck?”

  Maar jumped in his shoes and held his chest. He turned around to see Julie ar-Ban smiling at him.

  “For Christ’s sake, woman. Don’t creep up on me like that. You’ll give me another heart attack.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s just that we’re ready for you in B-Seventy, now.”

  “Already?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “That was fast.”

  Brayn made eyes at the woman and expressed his displeasure. She avoided him entirely and affected a tiny smile of excitement.

  “Well, we do try our best, Mr. Sheck.”

  “I’m glad to hear it,” Maar grinned. “How’s she doing?”

  — Bay 70 —

  Julie lead Maar and Brayn into what looked like a clinical auditorium - a large, circular room with a viewing gallery.

  A huge creature lay on the gurney with its eyes closed. A white sheet twice its size rested over its chest and face.

  BEEP — BEEP — BEEP.

  Dozens of wires stretched away from the creature’s arms and chest, snaked along the ground, and up to a giant monitor displaying its subject’s vital signs.

  “She’s sedate,” Julie said. “Her vital signs are steady. One-sixty BPM,” Julie explained as Maar approached the table in wonderment.

  Maar took in the sheer size of the beast in front of him.

  “How can we be sure it’s her?”

  Julie smiled at her colleague and pointed at the beast’s right hand. “Oh, it’s her, all right. Stanley? Would you do the honors?”

  “Sure,” he said.

  Stanley closed both his hands around the monster’s right wrist and held it up for Maar to inspect.

  Julie indicated the cavities on each of her human digits, “Where the infinity claws were. Here, here, and here.”

  “What happened to them?”

  Julie cleared her throat as she launched into an explanation.

  “Opera Beta’s medician would have performed the infinity claw procedure.”

  “Okay.”

  Julie pointed at the claw-less fingers.

  “A simple procedure. The cuticles are removed, here, and here. Each infinity claw is welded to the flexor tendon, and used in conjunction with the elastic ligament.”

  “What do you do with their original claws?” Maar asked.

  “The cuticles are safely recycled.”

  Julie lifted the beast’s right, furry hand, “She removed all the infinity claws on her right hand. Look.”

  “That’s a hand? A human hand?”

  “It’s an amalgam of a hand and a, uh, tiger’s paw.”

  Maar took a step back and folded his arms.

  “My God.”

  “Her infinity claws have been snapped off. Judging by the trauma sustained in her wrist, and the direction of the tendons, we think it was self-inflicted.”

  Maar raised his eyes with interest.

  “You mean to tell me her infinity claws grew along with her?”

  “It seems so.”

  “What state is she in, exactly? I mean, apart from her breaking off her claws?”

  “She only removed the ones on her right paw.”

  Julie lowered Jelly’s right arm and picked up her left. Five, huge, rigid claws. They looked like twelve inch swords that had survived a horrendous battle.

  “Jesus Christ,” Maar gasped. “Look at her paw. Look at those things.”

  The color drained from Brayn’s face. All things considered, he was more than happy to be armed.

  “Hand, actually,” Julia said. “It’s hard to know how to refer to them, actually.”

  “Why?”

  “Take a look at this.”

  Julie gripped the sheet on the creature’s face and pulled it down. A breathing mask covered her nostrils and mouth, pushing her whiskers out around the plastic.

  Her closed eyes and zen-like state freaked Maar out.

  He knew who it was, and there was little doubt in his mind that she’d returned.

  “Jelly Anderson,” he whispered and raised his eyes. “Damn. What the hell happened to you?”

  “She’s been through the wars, for sure,” Julie said. “When she left with Opera Beta she was just a little house cat. Now, she’s a fully grown woman, although she’s retained a few of her feline features.”

  “Such as?”

  “She still has her tail. It appears to have grown, commensurate with her overall size.”

  “Amaziant,” Maar said. “Just how big is she?”

  “The last measurement an hour ago reported a height at nineteen feet and ten inches.”

  Brayn turned away and cleared his throat, “Damn, this is messed up.”

  Maar swallowed hard and scanned the length of the body underneath the sheet. He returned to Jelly’s sleeping face and yanked on his collar.

  “And she has a tiger’s face?”

  “We’ve yet to run a diagnostic on her DNA. Evidently some sort of transformation. There’s no explanation. We don’t even have a term for it. It’s unprecedented.”

  “Are we safe in here with her?”

  “Yes, perfectly safe. She passed quarantine. She’s not carrying any foreign or alien bodies.”

  Julie pointed to the shackle on Jelly’s left wrist, and the two keeping her shins attached to the analysis table.

  “Just a precaution, really. We don’t know how she’ll react when she wakes. It’s more for her safety than ours.”

  Jelly remained calm and unconscious. Her chest heaved in and out as she breathed.

  “Her body sustained a lot of damage. Lesions on the skin under her fur. A good number of burst blood vessels suggests she m
ight have been subjected to severe pressure trauma at some point. And possibly more than once, given the decayed cells we’ve recorded.”

  Maar’s face froze as he took in the sheer wonder of the creature sleeping before him.

  “We’ll know a lot more once we’ve run the E-MRI,” Julie finished and pointed at the giant machine by the wall. “We do know she’s been in a fight or two with something with sharp teeth. Possibly a dog—”

  “—Uhh.”

  Maar felt a strange sensation rumble through his body. Sweat enveloped across his palms.

  Jelly’s calm, stable breathing perturbed him to the point of hyper-ventilation.

  The beeps from the E-MRI machine doubled and warbled in his ears.

  “God. I, uh, Oh God—”

  He backed away from the table and felt his throat constrict.

  “—Are you okay, Mr. Sheck?” Brayn asked.

  “No, I’m fine—” he struggled and nearly fell over the step that lead to the viewing gallery, “I just need some fresh air, I think.”

  Julie folded her arms and glanced at Jelly’s face.

  “There’s nothing to be worried about. She’s bound to be exhausted after the journey she’s had.”

  “You d-don’t know that,” he said, feeling his heart turn to lava, “How could you possibly know what the hell has happened to her? Brayn?”

  “Yes, sir?”

  “Get me out of here.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Maar turned to Julie, “You.”

  “Yes?”

  “Keep that godforsaken thing strapped to that bed and permanently sedated. You understand me?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Jesus Christ, I can’t—this is insanity, ” Maar yelped as he pushed the door open and stumbled through.

  Brayn ran out onto the gantry as Maar gripped the railings and took a series of deep breaths.

  “Sir, are you okay?”

  “That thing in there,” he said as he caught his breath, “That’s not right. That’s not right.”

  “What’s not right, sir?”

  “Listen, Brayn,” Maar snapped. “It’s imperative that Anderson is kept under close guard. It’s just a matter of time before she wakes up.”

  “Right.”

  “I want five—no, six, armed guards in there with Julie and that other guy—”

  “—Stanley, sir?”

  “I DON’T CARE WHAT HIS GODDAMN NAME IS,” Maar screamed into Brayn’s face. His voice echoed around the manufacturing plant below, much to the shock of the scientists.

  “Okay, I understand.”

  “Six, you hear me? Six. Goddamn it,” Maar fumed. “And a droid, too.”

  “On it, sir.”

  Maar took a deep breath and swallowed. He shook the fatigue from his shoulders and felt much better.

  “Right. Which bay is Alex Hughes in?”

  — Bay 33 —

  Alex lay asleep on his back on the gurney in the middle of the room with breathing apparatus over his mouth.

  Much like Jelly, he had several wires running from his chest and into an E-MRI unit.

  Maar walked into the viewing gallery with caution. He wasn’t about to make the same mistake again and enter the room with the subject.

  He kept an eye on what he thought was a genuine member of Space Opera Charlie.

  “You,” Maar said to the medician in the corner of the room. “How’s Hughes holding up?”

  “Well, I’m glad you didn’t walk in there with him,” the medician said. “It’s just as well we moved our visitors into quarantine before we brought them into their bays.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Whatever happened up there? Our friend, here, seems to have brought something back with him.”

  “What are you talking about?” Maar asked.

  The medician, a young man named Rowan, pointed at the screen on the wall. A pink cloud glowed over the imprint of Alex’s lungs.

  “A souvenir, it seems,” Rowan said.

  “What is it?”

  “We don’t know, yet. What we do know is that it’s multiplying. We’ve yet to see if it’s contagious, but the same substance is also present in the third party. The BA is just a precaution.”

  This revelation took Maar by surprised.

  “Wait. There’s a third party?”

  “Yes, Mr. Sheck.”

  “I thought it was just Hughes and Anderson?”

  “No.”

  Rowan left the console and ushered Maar through the door, “Sir? Follow me, please.”

  Maar caught up with Rowan as they passed several trainee medicians hurrying to their next port of call.

  “Are you sure there were three?”

  “Oh, yes, Very sure, Mr. Sheck,” he said as his walk turned into a light jog, “B Six-Five. It’s quite amaziant.”

  “What’s amaziant?”

  The trainee medicians filtered in through the door to the bay, curious to clamp eyes on the third party USARIC had found in the orange escape pod.

  Maar followed Rowan inside.

  — Bay 65 —

  Three spotlights illuminated a bed in the middle of the analysis dock.

  The medicians crowded around the glass partition in the viewing gallery.

  “Wow, look at that.”

  A creeping sense of dread pervaded the gallery as Maar shuffled to the front. His eyes grew with fear as he saw the subject sitting crossed-legged at the foot of a bed.

  “My God,” Maar gasped. “What the hell is that?”

  “The third party, sir.”

  SCHWUMP.

  Four black lines drew across the perfect white wall and formed the shape of a door. It pushed out and released a medician, who walked into the room wearing a black gas mask and safety goggles.

  Rowan flicked a switch on the monitor on the wall.

  Biddip.

  “Jonas?” Rowan asked. “Can you hear me?”

  The medician’s voice through the mask and into the gallery, “Yes. I can hear you.”

  “Be cautious. Don’t scare it.”

  The little girl in question looked to be around five-years-old and sported beautiful silver whiskers. The fine brown fur on her face accentuated the white “F” on her forehead.

  The USARIC gown covering her shoulders and front was far too big for her.

  The girl-cat tilted her head up at Jonas as he moved in front of her.

  Light from the dreadful fluorescent bulbs blinded the girl for a split second before Jonas’s shadow blocked it out.

  Furie and Jonas stared at each other for a few seconds to see who’d speak first.

  Neither did.

  “Jonas?” Rowan asked, to a breathless crowd of Medicians and an even more astounded Maar Sheck, “Be nice to it. Say something nice.”

  Jonas crouched to his knees and held out his right hand.

  “My. Name. Is. Jonas,” he mouthed through the transparent plastic on his mask.

  Furie burst into a fit of giggles and meowed.

  “Whoa,” the trainees exclaimed in awe as they peered through the glass screen.

  The half-cat, half-girl’s ears twitched. She looked at the giant mirror on the wall and saw her own reflection. As far as she was concerned, there was no one behind it.

  This was the first time she ever saw herself in a mirror. It was an image that took her by surprise.

  Jonas kept his hand up for her to shake.

  “What. Is. Your. Name?”

  The girl wiggled her nose and ran her tongue across her lips, “Why. Are. You. Talking. Like. That?”

  Everyone in the viewing gallery nearly lost their minds. The thing had spoken. Not only that, but she’d initiated a wry act of sarcasm into the bargain.

  “My God,” Maar muttered. “What the hell is it?”

  “We’re about to find out, sir.” Rowan said as he pressed the button on the wall, “Jonas? Refrain from physical contact until further instruction.”

  Jonas
lowered his hand and smiled at the girl.

  “What is your name?” he asked.

  The girl giggled and slapped the end of her tail against the bed. She lifted her paw in front of her face.

  It looked as if she might attack the man.

  “Uh, Rowan,” Jonas snapped. “I think she’s going—”

  “—My. Name. Is. Furie,” she revealed in her best imitation of the weird man crouching before her.

  She brushed her claw across the furry “F” above her eyes.

  Jonas could barely contain his disbelief.

  “Furie. That’s a nice name. Who gave it to you?”

  “My Mommy.”

  “Your Mommy, huh?”

  Furie nodded, matter-of-factly, and bopped her knees up and down.

  “Uh-huh. Star Cat.”

  Jonas stared into the girl’s pyramid-shaped pupils and took a deep breath.

  “What happened to your Mommy, Furie?”

  “I don’t know,” she frowned. “Do you know where my Mommy is?”

  “I think so. I think she’s feeling unwell. So we’re taking care of her.”

  The girl’s ears bent back, stretching the skin and fur back around her face.

  Her razor sharp teeth and eyes turned into a vision of horror as she yawned and licked her mouth.

  The medicians, Maar, and Rowan watched on, aghast.

  “Please tell me she hasn’t got anything to do with Jelly,” Maar said.

  “I, uh, think you know that’s just wishful thinking, Mr. Sheck,” Rowan whispered. “She’s almost certainly something to do with Anderson.”

  “Are you saying that thing is her daughter?”

  Rowan shrugged and returned to the glass partition to see what would happen next.

  Furie extended her paws and grabbed at Jonas’s wrist.

  “What are you doing, Furie?”

  She lifted her finger at his face and affected a cute smile, “Friend?”

  “Yes,” Jonas mouthed. “Friend.”

  Curious, Furie wrapped her claws around his wrist and moved his hand up to her belly. The gown slid apart, revealing her furry chest and waist. She placed his palm over the glowing pink orb in her stomach.

  A warm, buzzing sensational kissed against the skin on his palm.