Star Cat: Pink Symphony

by Andrew Mackay

  "Whoa," Bonnie held out her hands and tried to calm the thing down. "Hey, can you hear me?"

  It removed its perfectly-formed human hands from its face. A scared and shivering man stared back at her - his face covered in pink liquid sprouting from his tear ducts.

  A naked, male human being.

  "Shaaa…" he gurgled and lifted his hand up, blocking out the light from the three suns. "Shaa—"

  "—Here, get up," Bonnie grabbed his hand and hoisted him to his feet. She took the opportunity to thoroughly check him over. Two arms, two legs, five fingers and toes. Overall, he appeared to be in excellent shape.

  Bonnie’s eyes clamped on the one appendage that confirmed his masculinity. She looked at his face and tried to keep professional, "You’re not going to hurt me, are you?"

  "Whu…" he said, scratching his beard and laying eyes on Jelly. "Wah!" He pointed at her, wanting to know what the furry little creature was.

  "Oh, her? That’s Jelly."

  "Juh… juh…" he tried, closing his eyes, angry about his inability to replicate the sounds Bonnie was making. "Jeh…"

  "Meow."

  "Meee?" The man repeated - utterly clueless - and shook his head in anger. He thumped his stomach with the underside of his fist. "Meee. Oww."

  Jelly looked to Bonnie for a reaction. This new human being was clearly insane, and probably quite volatile.

  Bonnie chuckled to herself and extended her index finger. She placed her fingertip at her chest. "Bonnie."

  "Boh… boh…" the man said, fighting of the perturbation of the singing tree. "Boh… knee."

  "Yes."

  She clapped her hands together and gave the man the thumbs up. She lifted her index finger and pressed it against his chest.

  "Ah," he said, "Shaa…"

  "Shaa?"

  "Shanta—"

  A pink tear rolled down his cheek. She flicked her finger over to his top lip and collected the liquid against her knuckle. "Do you know what this is?"

  Jelly tore her gaze away from the man and looked at the tree. "Meow!"

  WHUMP.

  As the song slowed down the cavernous slit at the top of the tree coughed. Jelly squealed and spun her arms and hind legs around in the air in a fit of apoplectic rage.

  Bonnie looked at her, deeply concerned. "Jelly!"

  The confrontation between the two lasted exactly eight seconds. Then, the tree spat again.

  WHUMP.

  Jelly flew into a tizzy, thoroughly agitated by the noise. She extended her claws and made straight for the man standing in front of Bonnie.

  "Maaaah," she growled, intending to launch herself into the air and claw the man to death.

  He grunted and held out his arms for protection.

  "Bad pussycat!" Bonnie shouted at her as Jelly kicked her hind legs against the sand and jumped into the air, headed for the man’s face.

  "Meow!"

  The man’s attempt to guard his face worked. Jelly took a swipe with her extended titanium claw and tore the skin on top of his hand. He batted her away, sending her to the floor.

  She landed on her infinity claws and scraped a lump of sand away, ready for a second attack. "Meow."

  WHUMP… The tree swayed around and coughed out a third and final sound. Jelly instantly relaxed and gave up her desire for blood.

  She needed water, and the oceanfront looked suitably thirst-quenching.

  "Shaaa—"

  "—Meow," Jelly snapped, cutting the man off mid-grunt. The stern look in her eyes suggested she wasn’t to be messed with. Her nose twitched over and over again as her whiskers began to vibrate.

  The tree’s incessant humming of the tune came to a close.

  Then, Jelly’s facial fur stood on end, as if having been rubbed by a balloon, "Meoowwuuurrr…."

  Bonnie and the man couldn’t tear their eyes away. Something strange was happening to Jelly.

  Her entire body shuddered continuously.

  The tree began to subside and crumble apart.

  The sky grew overcast with a milk-like substance.

  Jelly’s whiskers tingled and sparked, lighting up. The intensity throttled her around, the air dragging her by the shoulders towards the shore.

  "Jelly!" Bonnie ran after her. Ready to take out her Rez-9 and blast whatever was responsible for pulling Jelly to the ocean, she found herself at a loss. Nothing to shoot - no preventable action could be taken.

  Powerless, Bonnie watched Jelly lift into the air, thrashing her limbs around and screaming for dear life.

  "Oh, God…" Bonnie dropped her arms and witnessed the tree break apart and slink into the pink, bloodied ocean.

  "Miyeeeww,’ Jelly let out a final squeal of terror fifty feet in the air. The invisible force released its grip and tossed her face-first into the water.

  She threw her infinity claws in front of her face.

  SPLOSH.

  Helpless, Bonnie didn’t know where to turn. Perhaps the naked man could help?

  "Hey, you," she said. "Where are— oh, no. Oh no, no, no…"

  She couldn’t believe what she saw.

  His severed head rested atop the sand, opened-eyed. It looked as if someone had buried him up to the neck for fun.

  She retrieved her Rez-9 from her belt and held it at the head, "Where’s… where’s the rest of your body—"

  BOP!

  An incredible forced slammed Bonnie from behind, throwing her chest-first to the floor. "Gah!" Her Rez-9 flew out of her hand and slid ten feet across the sand in front of her. "Damn."

  She pushed herself onto her elbows, expected to be blinded by the sun, "Help me."

  Instead, the shadow of something insidious crept over her face. Whatever it was scuttled in slow-motion toward her.

  Bonnie kicked herself back along the sand, trying to understand the predicament she was in. "Jesus Christ, what the hell is that?"

  It was an outrageous amalgam of flesh and skin, previously of human form. Measuring eight-foot high and around ten-foot wide. Twelve limb-like legs with stumps on each side working in unison to help it forward. A gaping concoction of gums and teeth opened up in the middle and let out a guttural, terrifying roar.

  Seconds away from doing whatever it was it did to people like Bonnie, she decided she wasn’t sticking around to find out.

  "Jeez…"

  She scrambled onto her front and crawled along the piping hot sandy surface. Her fists slipped with each grasp forward, slowing her escape down to a near halt.

  The creature gained on her.

  "Come on, come on…" she squinted at her Rez-9 firearm laying five feet away from her, "Gah, gah… come on."

  She made the mistake of looking over her shoulder. The beast jabbed the sand with its four front limbs and pulled itself toward her.

  "Aggh," she dug her heels into the ground and pushed the top half of her body back a few inches.

  SWIPE! SWISH!

  One of its limbs tore her inner-suit with its razor sharp talon at the end of its stump.

  Six of its back limbs lifted up, ready to strike, leaving six grounded flesh poles to move forward.

  "No, no… please."

  The beast roared, spraying pink spittle into the air. Some of it hit Bonnie’s face as she trailed back by her elbows, "No!"

  SWIPE!

  Bonnie kicked her titanium foot at the beast in an attempt to fend it off. It had the opposite effect, enraging the beast even more.

  Her leg detached from the ball and joint socket in her hip, the dislodged appendage firmly in the beast’s razor-sharp claws.

  "Nooo," Bonnie flipped onto her front and scrambled for her Rez-9. She grabbed at it but her fingertips couldn’t quite get there.

  Just three inches separated her from death and freedom. "Please, please…"

  WHUMP!

  The beast roared once again and stabbed at Bonnie, spearing its front-left limb into the ground.

  "Gah! Cute little thing, aren’t ya?"

  Bonnie scrunc
hed her face and planted the sole of her right boot on the creature’s front limb. The beast howled as she kicked herself back.

  She rolled onto her side, swiped her Rez-9 in her right hand and swung the barrel at the center of the monstrosity.

  "Hey, you!" She flicked the latch on the side of the chamber, arming the gun, "Look at me, you disgusting knuckle-headed bag of puke."

  All twelve of the creature’s limbs tightened up, throwing its body onto its haunches.

  "Go to hell," she pulled the trigger and covered her face.

  The hole at the end of the barrel focused into the creature’s view, followed by a smothering of white light. It’s mouth opened up and screamed in her face. "Shantaaaaaaa—"

  KA-SCHPPLLAAATTT!!!

  The creature exploded into a zillion, gloopy pieces. It’s stuck front limb stood upright like a tent peg as the rest of it splattered across the ground, coating the sand a wet shade of pink and red.

  Bonnie held her position - and her breath - wanting confirmation that the thing had been obliterated.

  Her titanium leg slumped to the middle of the gore-strewn sand a few feet away from her.

  She took a deep breath and pressed the back of her head against the sand, thankful she hadn’t been killed.

  As the harsh, radioactive light from the three suns cooked her face, she realized she didn’t have to worry about sunburn. She was an Androgyne unit, after all, despite her memories suggesting the contrary.

  Bonnie moved her head to the side. The waves crashed against the shore.

  The tree was there a few moments ago but had disappeared during the fight. Its absence brought Bonnie back into action.

  Where had Jelly gone?

  CHAPTER TEN

  Pink Symphony

  A thousand bubbles raced up Jelly’s arms as she waded through the clear, blue water.

  "Blug-blug-blug," came out of her mouth instead of a meow. Her lungs expelled the oxygen into the never-ending depths of the ocean.

  Her whiskers lit up a neon yellow and fizzed at the tips. Her infinity claws acted the same way as she forced herself to keep her eyes open.

  She’d experienced water before. Outside of actually needing to drink it, she’d fallen into Jamie’s paddling pool in the garden area outside his apartment. It was a torturous affair for her.

  But this was no paddling pool. It stretched out in all directions. The surface was only a few feet from her head.

  She learned to swim right there and then. A movement of both arms seemed to do the trick. She waded as hard as she could, trying to reach the surface.

  It was no use.

  Time and oxygen were running out. A feeling of suffocation began to pervade her body and mind. The ensuing panic afforded her that vital few seconds she’d need if she was to ever reach the surface.

  Bwup, bwup, bwup…

  Jelly felt her whiskers direct her away from the surface - the opposite direction to her she felt she needed to go.

  A dolphin echo from way, way down pierced through the water. Before long, a second and third siren beamed through the density of the ocean.

  Her claws opened out and sparked again, pointing toward the ocean bed. It was too far down to be seen with her eyes. It was clear to her that her whiskers were pointing her to the ocean bed.

  Jelly had no concept of drowning. She knew she needed to breathe, though, that much was clear. How long could she hold on for without any air?

  Whump.

  A ripple of bubbles spread apart as she waded downward, in her infinite wisdom, hoping she’s find a second surface. With no concept of drowning came little concept of how physics worked. She was a cat, after all, trying to figure out everything on her own terms.

  The pervading tail-end of the whump noise rumbling through the water crashed against her, firing up her internal engine. She clawed at the bubbles, hoping one of them might release so much-needed respite.

  No such luck.

  The other bubbles chuckled away, laughing at her, as she tried to kill them. They were too fast.

  Whump…

  It was easy enough for her to recoil and tumble head-over-tail in the weightlessness of the ocean. A feeling she’d experienced once or twice during zero gravity training. At least she had that going for her.

  That second whump sound came from somewhere down below. Jelly pressed her paws to her face and stopped moving. Her tail drifted up between her fanned-out legs as she tried to block out the fury she felt.

  "Bleooowwulp…" she squealed, expending most of what little oxygen remained in her body.

  Then… that dawning realization set in. No more air. That was her last breath floating in a warbled, glinting cloud dead in front of her face.

  Her whiskers buzzed to life once again, sending a tingling sensation down her spine.

  Jelly barreled over and plummeted toward the sea bed as fast as she could. On the way, she spotted a school of fish swimming around. The same fish that would go on to beach themselves and turn into those creatures.

  She wished she could trade places with them.

  Biddum-biddum-biddum…

  Her heart-rate quickened. The water felt like it was heating up. Nothing to do with her proximity within the water, rather, her rising body temperature and fear that death was looming.

  Death was on the cards if a way out didn’t present itself soon.

  "Blowaarggh…" Jelly let out the last gasp of oxygen she had in her lungs. The closer to the ocean bed she swam, the more her whiskers lit up and fizzed.

  Her infinity claws pushed push the water away, almost intuitively. She breast-stroked deeper and deeper toward the ocean bed.

  A pink hue burst through the water from below like a discarded floodlight. The strips of light bounced around, offering her a challenge.

  Swipe right, fail to catch.

  Swipe left, bound forward - still no success.

  The light couldn’t be caught. The closer she swam to the source the more her whiskers seemed to guide her.

  Way, way up above, an unintelligible voice shouted something at someone. Then, the sound of a holy thud creaked across the ocean’s surface.

  A deathly howl followed.

  The blackened branches of the tree bulleted through the water, narrowly missing Jelly as she continued to swim…

  And swim…

  Her whiskers danced a glorious light show as the source of the pink beams made itself visually available.

  A gelatinous blob of pink throbbed near the root of the tree, surrounded by a sliver of gold haze.

  "Glub… glub," Jelly’s mouth opened out. Her eyes widened at the view of the spectacular foreign entity calling her down.

  Consciousness was about to become a thing of the past…

  ***

  "Jelly?"

  "Meow."

  "I know you’re not a dog. But I have this ball if you wanna play with it?"

  Jamie sat crossed-legged in the middle of the garden. He held up a shiny pink object about the size of a tennis ball. Jelly sat a few feet away wondering what the dastardly contraption was.

  "Wanna chase the ball?"

  She purred up a treat and climbed on all fours, ready for Jamie to roll the ball to her.

  "Ah, no, no," he giggled. "You gotta go get it. Ready?"

  "Meow."

  He tossed the ball toward the bushes by the fence - a little too hard. "Oh!"

  "Meow," Jelly jumped at the bushes and followed the ball through the foliage.

  Jamie scrambled to his feet and called after her. He knew the danger of the bushes all too well. The fence was broken. Worse, the busy main road lay right behind it.

  "Jelly, come back!" he yelled as he saw her behind disappear behind the bushes.

  She trundled through the leaves and broken sticks and eyed the ball as it rolled through the gap in the fence. "Meow." The sticks broke apart as she trundled over them. The hole in the fence yawned out and invited her through.

  The hole was a bit smaller than she
’d have liked. Hoisting her considerable frame through tiny opening was painful. The jagged ends raked through her fur and body as she squeezed through.

  The pink ball took center stage in the middle of the road. It seemed to plead for rescue amongst the whizzing cars. She hadn’t the first clue how to grab the thing when she reached it.

  But it didn’t matter. It needed rescuing, and that was all that mattered. She bolted across the first lane of traffic believing herself to be invincible.

  NEEAAWW!

  A car whizzed past her, nearly taking a whisker away from her face.

  More cars shot past at ridiculous speeds. Her head twisted right to left, left to right, keeping up with the vehicular jousting match.

  "Jelly, don’t move," Jamie’s face appeared in the hole of the fence. He’d burrowed through the mud and sticks to try and save her.

  "Meow," she turned around and spotted her opportunity to move.

  Pounce!

  She jumped into the middle of the road, narrowly avoiding being hit by a speeding car.

  "Jelly!" Jamie hollered. "What did I tell you? Stay there!"

  She sniffed around the ball, kicking her tail up for balance. She decided she couldn’t bite it much less carry it in her mouth. She’d seen dogs do it but knew that they were more adept at carrying items.

  Bop.

  She knocked the ball with her paw. It wobbled and rested back to its original position.

  Maybe two paws?

  She yelped and batted the ball from opposite ends with her two paws. It pinged out of her grasp and rolled across the main road.

  Without thinking she darted after it… but hadn’t counted on a speeding car rocketing toward her.

  She turned to face the gargantuan hunk of metal blare its horn and flood her face with its head lights.

  "Meow!"

  "No!" Jamie ran into the path of the car with his arms out, hoping the driver would slam on his brakes in time.

  Jelly closed her eyes and held her breath, expecting the worst…

  ***

  Darkness.

  Imagine your arms, legs and midriff are suspended in the air. Like you’re lying on cloud, without fear of falling either side. No more noise.

  Just complete and utter silence.