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

by Andrew Mackay

  All eyes averted to the van and the men in the back.

  “Inside are six IRI personnel, and three Exodus unit drivers.”

  WHIIRRR — CLUMP.

  The lights on the explosives on the back of the van extended out, lit up and beeped.

  “Whoa,” the personnel backed up and gasped.

  “The vehicle is primed to explode at the touch of a button I have in my hands. Just like all of you, I love to press buttons. The vehicle contains enough explosives to wipe out the entire research facility grounds, its buildings, and anyone unfortunate enough to be inside them, or within a quarter mile radius.”

  DD-12’s head spun around one-hundred-and-eight-degrees and punched its fists together.

  Sierra continued through the drone, “If you open fire on the van, well, that’d just be stupid. If you run away, or this drone captures you running away, the van will explode.”

  The USARIC mercenaries aimed their guns at the van. Two of them trained their sights on the drone above, wanting to murder the device and whomever controlled it.

  “You bastard,” one of the mercs screamed, “Who the hell do you think you are?”

  The drone bolted forward and turned a sharp right angle at the man.

  “That’s a great question. My name is Sierra, of the Rebels Against Genetic Engineering alliance,” her voice bounced off the building walls with steely sarcasm.

  Brayn pushed through the door to the Research building and pointed his gun at the drone, “What the hell’s going on here?”

  “Who are you?”

  “My name is Brayn,” he said. “USARIC, mercenary division.”

  “You must be behind this operation, then, huh?” the drone joked as it shifted around.

  “What?”

  Everyone watching slowly took a step back, hoping the detonators wouldn’t go off.

  “Never mind. Brayn? You and your colleagues, here, probably want to know what I want. Don’t you?”

  “Yeah, tell us.”

  “We only want one thing,” the drone said, followed by a pause to ensure everyone was listening. “Maar Sheck.”

  “He’s busy right now.”

  “Don’t piss me off, Brayn,” the drone said as the men in the back of IRI-Two began to shriek with fear, “People die when I get pissed off—”

  Biddip-beep-beep-beeeeeeep.

  “You wanna see?”

  Brayn lifted his hands in the air and offered a truce, “No, no. I believe you.”

  “Where is Maar Sheck?”

  “He’s in one of the bays with Jelly—” he said, realizing the grave piece of information he’d just revealed.

  “No, n-no,” Shane yelled from inside the van and thumped against the window, “Go and get Maar Sheck. Please. Please.”

  The drone turned around and screamed at the men in the van, “Shut your face.”

  It twisted around and lowered its lens down to Brayn’s face, “You.”

  “Yes?”

  “So, it was Jelly who landed earlier, huh?”

  “Y-Yes,” he said, closing his eyes and biting his lip.

  The drone lingered in the air, antagonizing the man no end, “Ha. I knew it.”

  “B-But she’s—”

  “—Go and get Maar Sheck,” the drone finished with sincerity. “Do it now or everyone and everything goes up in flames.”

  “Okay.”

  Sierra pressed her back against the side of the truck and licked her lips. Overjoyed, she held her breath and screamed for joy.

  “IT’S HER.”

  She rammed the side of the truck with his fist and burst into tears.

  “SHE’S HERE.”

  Rana peered out from the driver’s window while the others whooped and hollered.

  “What, seriously?”

  “IT’S JELLY ANDERSON,” Sierra chimed and then burst into tears, suddenly enveloped with rage, “I knew it was her. I knew they’d pull off a stunt like this.”

  Siyam tried to calm her down and held her by the arms, “If it’s her, then that means Alex might be with her?”

  She threw his hand off her shoulder and spat on the floor.

  “I guess we’ll find out when we get in there, won’t we?”

  R.A.G.E. Arena

  — Laguna Vista —

  Keller lit his fat cigar in the parking lot of the arena. He and Noyin watched the arena break out into a blaze of flames.

  “Nice afternoon for a barbecue, huh?” Noyin chuckled.

  The reflection of the blaze reflected in Jamie’s eyes as he watched his new home burn to the ground.

  Keller took a drag on his cigar and waved the children back, “Get back. We don’t want you dying in this stupid furnace.”

  “No,” Leesa yelped and tried to break free from Noyin’s clutches.

  It was futile. He was much bigger than her, and kept his grip on her arm.

  The arena walls broke apart. The groan from the metal twisting around in the intense heat indicated that the place was beyond salvage.

  “You bastards,” Jamie muttered as he saw the holoscope buckle left and right.

  GROOOOAAAAAANNNNN — SMAASSHHHH.

  The funnel of steel crashed onto the roof, exacerbating the fury of the fire.

  “No, no, noooo—” Leesa slumped to her knees and bawled her heart out. “P-Please.”

  The DecapiDisc forced her head to the ground.

  “Don’t think of it as losing a home,” Keller said. “Think of it as gaining salvation. Righting all your wrongs.”

  Noyin nodded at Keller’s 4x4, “Shouldn’t we get moving? Maar wants us back at R&D—”

  Biddip-biddip.

  Noyin’s wrist beeping, followed by an intense static.

  “Who’s that calling you?” Keller asked.

  Noyin moved his forearm to his mouth, “Ugh, it’s those damn morons again. I’d better talk to them or they’ll think something’s up.”

  “Make it quick.”

  Keller grabbed the crying Leesa by the shoulder and lifted her to her feet.

  Jamie pushed him and yelled in his face, “Hey. Don’t touch her.”

  “What the hell do you want, you little English idiot?”

  “Don’t touch her.”

  “Oh. Really?”

  Keller went for the hand gun in his belt and threatened the boy, “You wanna say that again?”

  Jamie scrunched his face, defeated.

  “Hah. I thought so. Now, quit your limey whining and get in the damn vehicle.”

  Noyin stood aside and spoke into his wrist, “This is Noyin on Viddy Media. Sierra, is that you?”

  “Yes,” her voice came from his wrist, “Noyin?”

  “What?” he shouted over the sound of the fire behind him.

  “What was all that lessense about the R&D being clear? The place is crawling with scum.”

  He let the news sink in and tried to suppress his laughter, “Ah, uh, yes. Sorry about that, I—”

  “—What’s that noise?”

  Noyin licked his gold teeth with his tongue and turned to the fire, “Oh, it’s the arena. The dome.”

  “What’s happening over there?”

  Noyin bit his tongue and watched Keller drag Leesa kicking and screaming over to his 4x4.

  Sierra’s voice dampened with concern, “Is that Leesa?”

  “It is, yeah,” Noyin snapped as he winked at Keller.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Who’s that?” Keller mouthed at Noyin.

  Noyin clenched his fist and waved it back and forth as he began to speak.

  “Oh.”

  Noyin resumed the call, “Yeah, Sierra?”

  “Is everything okay?”

  “For me, sure. For you? Not so much.”

  “Ahhh, let go of me,” Leesa wailed as Keller pushed her into the back of the 4x4.

  WHUMP.

  “What do you mean not so much for us? Who’s that screaming?”

  Noyin snorted, “Yeah, the arena�
�s on fire—”

  WWHIIRRR — CRUNNCCHHH.

  The sound of the dome’s walls flattening against the ground cut off his sentence.

  “—And, uh, Jamie and Leesa, the insufferable pieces of crap that they are, are with us.”

  “What? Us?”

  “I’m sorry, Sierra,” Noyin said. “You backed the wrong horse, this time. If you don’t pull back and surrender, you’ll give us no choice but to take the kids’ heads clean off.”

  The Individimedia link went quiet.

  “Did you hear what I said?” Noyin asked.

  “I’m going to kill you,” Sierra hushed. “You goddamn mother—”

  “—Uh-uh, now, now,” he spat back, “Don’t resort to name calling. Honestly. You and Siyam and everyone else only had yourselves to blame—”

  “—I’m gonna tear your heart out, you son of a—”

  “—Good luck finding one in this chest,” Noyin chuckled. “Oh, and by the way. Maar has Jelly. In a little under an hour from now he’ll also have Jamie and Leesa. You guys don’t have a pot to piss in, a window to throw it out, or a sidewalk for it to hit as far as bargaining chips are concerned.”

  “If you hurt one hair on either of their heads, I’m going to make sure you suffer.”

  “Sierra, get it? We hold the cards, now. Want some advice? Give it up. Quit now, while you guys are still alive. You can’t beat them.”

  No response for the eager man waiting to enjoy her torment.

  “In fact, why don’t you join us? Why not come and join the good guys and make serious bank in the process?”

  Still no response.

  “Sierra?”

  Noyin watched his Individimedia Ink return to three lines, indicating that she’d cut the call.

  “Huh. Suit yourself, you blue-haired bitch.”

  Keller waved Jamie over to his 4x4. The five PAWZ forklifts rested in the open-topped back.

  “Get in.”

  The boy stood his ground and refused to move, “No.”

  “What was that?” Keller snapped. “Get in the back of the vehicle.”

  “Make me.”

  “You disrespectful little turd. I’ll put a bullet in the back of your—”

  “—Well, well, well,” Noyin danced over to the pair and cut Keller’s threat short, “Ooh, ooh, ooh. Someone got all pissed off back there. Ha.”

  “You traitor,” Jamie said.

  “Who? Me?” he chuckled. “Nah, nah, nah, I didn’t trait anyone, my friend. If anything it’s you who’s the traitor.”

  “How?”

  “Ooh, let me see,” Noyin quipped with sarcasm. “First of all, you give up your cat for the money and send her to Saturn. Second, you try to destroy the one company who could have gotten her back for you.”

  Jamie hung his head and looked at his shoes.

  “You did RAGE’s dirty work for them, you treacherous brat. Told them everything you know. You’re nothing but ungrateful scum as far as USARIC is concerned.”

  “I hate you.”

  “Ha. Typical bad guy response,” Noyin spat. “I wanna tell you something, Jamie.”

  Jamie scowled at the man, desperate for blood, “What?”

  “Don’t let anyone have you do their dirty work for them,” Noyin scowled. “Ever.”

  Keller finished laughing and gripped the handle on his gun, “Okay, that’s enough lessense, Odrassa. Don’t play with your food. Get in the car and we’ll celebrate later.”

  Noyin giggled, “Yeah, maybe once that stupid cat of his has been carved up and sold to the highest bidder.”

  He held his middle finger up at Jamie to round off his point..

  “How’d you like this for disrespectful, you little ass-clown?”

  Jamie turned his head away and refused to move.

  Keller grabbed Jamie’s arm, “Enough lessense. Let’s go.”

  TWIZZZZZ - SCHREEEEEP.

  Keller and Noyin turned to the raging fire where the door once stood.

  “You hear that?” Noyin asked. “That fire really kicks ass, huh?”

  TWIZZZ — BRRRRRR — SCHLUMP.

  Keller moved toward the orange and black smog and shook his head, “No, no. That’s not the dome. What—”

  His face fell when he saw something shift inside the fire.

  “What the hell—?”

  SHREEEEE — BZZZZZ.

  A pair of red dots crept through the flames, followed by a patch of melted synthetic skin. It crawled on its hands and knees as best it could, its skin sticking to the floor with each push.

  “Jesus Christ,” Noyin gasped. “It’s her. The mannequin thing.”

  Santara crawled out of the fire. Her gelatinous, mushy face slinking off the endo-skull underneath.

  She tilted her head and opened her eyes straight at Noyin.

  “Daaamn,” he shrieked. “That’s one hell of a—”

  BIZZZOOOOOWWWW.

  A blast of pure, red laser shot out of her right eye and scorched across the muddy ground.

  Noyin jumped out of its path, just in time to avoid contact with his legs.

  His right arm wasn’t so lucky.

  BIZZOOOWWW — SCHRIPPP.

  The laser beam sliced through Noyin’s right shoulder and took his arm clean off.

  “Yarrgghhhhhh—”

  The limb hit the ground as the beam retracted into her eye.

  “Jesus,” Keller gasped.

  Noyin wailed in agony as the red scorch around his limbless right shoulder cauterized, “Gwaaahhhhh.”

  The stench of barbecuing skin drifted across the ground as Santara climbed to her feet.

  “Jamie, get Leesa and run.”

  Keller struggled to take out his gun, “Oh, no you don’t.”

  Jamie ran over to the 4x4 and pulled the door open, “Leesa, get out.”

  “What?”

  BLAM-BLAM-BLAM.

  Keller fired three shots in the direction of the 4x4. Jamie jumped into the back of the vehicle and dove over Leesa on the back seat.

  CLANG.

  Their DecapiDiscs smashed together, preventing their heads from smashing together.

  “Owwwww,” Leesa gripped the edge of her disc and tried to remove it, “H-Help me, I c-can’t—”

  Biddip-biddip-beeeeeeep.

  The three white dots lit up on her DecapiDisc, one by one.

  “Oh, G-God,” Jamie gasped. “Leesa. Your disc.”

  “What, what?”

  “It’s—”

  Jamie looked through the window and saw Noyin roar in pain. The glove on the hand of his severed arm flashed from the ground, illuminating the mud.

  “Hey, Anderson,” Noyin screamed. “You’re next.”

  Keller fired off a round of shots at Santara.

  “Goddamn it, why can’t you just die?”

  BEEEP-BEEEEP-BEEEEEEP.

  The metal blades within Leesa’s disc whirred to life. The metal collar around her neck vibrated rapidly.

  “No, no—” she gasped and squealed, “Jamie, p-please, help me.”

  “Haha,” Noyin winced in pain as he trod on the glove on his severed arm. His heel pushed against the remaining button.

  “Die.”

  Biddip-biddip-beeep.

  Jamie felt his collar and noticed three successive white lights flash under his chin, “Oh, J-Jesus—”

  He booted the door open and flung himself forward.

  WHUMP.

  Jamie scrambled to his knees and elbows and crawled over to Noyin, “Press the button. Shut it off. Shut it off.”

  “No,” Noyin screamed back and reached into his belt with his left hand.

  Keller reloaded his hand gun and swung it at Jamie’s head, “Anderson? Don’t even think about it.”

  Jamie stopped crawling and looked up and into the barrel of the gun.

  WHIIRRRRRRRRRR.

  The blades inside his metal collar sprang to life and sped up.

  “Wha—?”

  “We’ll just have
to tell Maar you wouldn’t comply. That nature took its course. Such a shame.”

  CLICK.

  The hammer on the back of Keller’s gun locked into place. He slid his finger around the trigger.

  Jamie’s eyes dilated right there and then, paralyzing the boy with fear.

  Keller showed no remorse for his forthcoming execution, “At least this was painless. Goodbye, Anderson.”

  He squeezed the trigger.

  Jamie closed his eyes and screamed, “Noooooo—”

  BLAMMMMM.

  The deafening sound of the Arena’s barbecue quelled into nothingness.

  Everything went pitch dark.

  Jamie felt something hard smash against the left side of his face.

  “Aggghhhhh,” he screamed as the black lit up to reveal Keller’s ribcage bust out and produce a bullet into the night sky.

  Spots of blood slapped over Jamie’s sleeves as he covered his face.

  “M-My G-God,” Keller coughed and spat out a rope of blood.

  WHUMP.

  He twisted his hips to the arena and fired, “You b-bitch.”

  BLAM - BLAM - BLAM - BLAM - BLAM.

  A second bullet hit the back of his head and punched his face into the dirt, revealing Santara and her smoking gun recovering from Keller’s bullets that chewed through her chest plate.

  “J-J-Jamie-ie,” she croaked through her shattered voice box, “The g-g-g-g-glove—”

  Noyin kicked himself along the mud and reached for his gun, “Damn it.”

  WHIZZZZZ — WHIRRRRRRR — BEEEEEP.

  The blades in Jamie’s DecapiDisc spun at full pelt

  “Nooo.”

  He placed the sole of his foot on the side of the 4x4 and pushed himself towards Noyin.

  WHACK.

  Jamie punched the man in the jaw, sending him on his ass. He ran over to the severed arm a few feet away.

  Noyin slapped his hand on the grip of his gun and swung it up the length of his body, focusing the sight at Santara’s head.

  “Hey, bitch—”

  WHIRRR — BZZZZ.

  She looked at him and widened her right eye, ready to blast him with her laser.

  “Jamie. Move,” she said.

  Jamie threw himself to the ground. A laser burst out of her eye socket and caught Noyin in the face, busting several of his gold teeth out of his mouth and busting his right cheekbone.

  “Bwuck—” he gulped as the skin tore from under his eye.

  Jamie felt the edge of the DecapiDisc razors nick the skin on his neck.