Star Cat: Exodus: A Science Fiction & Fantasy Adventure (The Star Cat Series - Book 5)

by Andrew Mackay

  She extended the broken infinity claws on her right hand and ran it along her daughter’s face.

  “Honey. We are monsters.”

  Furie yawned quite unexpectedly, forcing the skin on her face to pull back and reveal her vicious teeth. Jelly was one to do this, too, but it wasn’t until she’d seen her daughter do it that she realized just how freaky it looked - if only for a fleeting moment.

  “Feeling better now?” Jelly asked.

  “Yes, mommy.”

  “You’re scary when you yawn,” Jelly said. “Now, stay here until I return.”

  Alex and Jaycee were never going to be able to process whatever occurred between mother and daughter. They said nothing, and waited for her next move.

  Jelly stood up straight and paused for a moment. The orange hue from the windshield slapped across her pupils.

  “Hughes?” she said.

  “Yes, Jelly?”

  “Get Manny up and running,” she said as she turned to face the two dumbstruck men behind her.

  “You look like crap, Nayall,” she added nonchalantly.

  “Um, I feel like crap, to be honest.”

  “Who did that to you? You should tell me and I’ll take care of them.”

  “Well, uh,” Jaycee tried. “You did.”

  “I know.”

  She moved to the communications panel and clenched her fist, “Manny?”

  No response.

  Alex moved forward and held out his hands in haste, “Oh, Christ. No, don’t do that—”

  “—Manny?” Jelly looked at the ceiling and lifted her right arm, “Manny, I know you can hear me.”

  “Jelly, please,” Alex begged. “Don’t cause any more damage—”

  “—I’m giving you to the count of three, Manny,” Jelly lifted her hand and went to strike the panel, “One, two, three.”

  KER-SLAAAMMMMM-MM.

  Her fist went through the panel. Sparks blasted from the hole as she wrenched her fist back out.

  “Jesus Christ, Jelly. Stop.”

  Jelly threatened him and caught her breath, “You want some as well, do you?”

  “God, no. Just please, stop,” Alex begged. “Violence isn’t going to solve anything. Look at Jaycee. He needs to fix himself. You’re not going to get Manny to do what you want by threatening her.”

  “She’s not coming online, though.”

  “Give her some time, Jelly.”

  “She’s testing my damn patience,” Jelly lowered her arms and screamed at the ceiling once again, “Manny? Where are you?”

  Jelly lifted her right leg and kicked the panel once again.

  KERRR-AA-AAACK.

  “Ugh. Sonofabitch,” she squealed as she grabbed her thigh and lifted her foot out from the hole on the deck.

  “Manny?” Alex asked. “If you can hear me, for the love of God, please come online.”

  No response.

  Jelly lifted her infinity claw at Jaycee, “You. Murderer.”

  “I d-didn’t do it, Jelly—”

  “—No, not now, Jaycee,” Alex whispered to him. “Just do as she says, look at her.”

  “Wise words, Hughes,” Jelly snorted at his battered face. “You still look like death warmed up, Nayall. Piss off and fix yourself.”

  “Okay.”

  “Or you could make yourself useful by removing your battery and going offline. Save me the trouble.”

  Jaycee looked at his broken arms and then at his shattered leg, “J-Jelly, Charlie doesn’t have a Medix.”

  “I don’t give a rat’s ass. It could have a heated swimming pool and sauna for all I care, dickhead. Go to the Motary and see what mech you can scrape.”

  “Huh?”

  “Ugh, don’t act dumb with me, murderer,” Jelly fumed. “You could do a Dr. Whitaker. Twist off a gun turret and weld it to your thigh? I dunno, make something up. I want you fully operational when we leave.”

  Jaycee turned to Alex for confirmation - or anything that might indicate that this whole venture wasn’t some bizarre bad dream.

  “I’d just do it, to be honest.”

  Jaycee walked away and made for the door, “Okay, I’ll go to the Motary.”

  “Hey, Nayall,” Jelly called after him.

  “Yes?”

  “Try not to murder any children on your way down there, asshole.”

  Before Jaycee could protest his innocence, Alex beat him to it, “No, don’t say a word. Just go down there. Keep your Viddy Media channel open.”

  “Fine.”

  Jaycee stormed off, leaving a thoroughly agitated Jelly looking at the communications panel.

  Alex dared to step forward. He hadn’t done anything wrong, and the chances of the beast lashing out at him were low.

  “Jelly?”

  “What do you want?”

  “Jaycee didn’t murder anyone. He’s innocent.”

  She turned to him and couldn’t believe the explanation rifling through her ears.

  “Are you serious? I saw her in his leg.”

  “But that doesn’t mean he—”

  “Alex, Jaycee killed her and stowed her away in his thigh compartment.”

  “No, it’s not what happened—”

  “—How do you know, Hughes?” Jelly barked. “He’s responsible.”

  “You’re right, Jelly. I don’t know what happened. But I know Jaycee. Whatever happened to her, it wasn’t his fault. He wouldn’t purposely murder your daughter. I mean, why on Earth would he do that?”

  “We’re not on Earth, dickhead.”

  “That’s the first time you’ve been right the whole time we’ve been here, Jelly.”

  “Ugh,” Jelly sniffed and wiped the fur on her face, “I overreacted. I’ve known him longer than you have. I shouldn’t have beaten the daylights out of him. Maybe I should have heard him out, first.”

  “That’s the problem with you, Jelly,” Alex said, shrouded in confidence now that the beast standing before him was - bizarrely - able to see the error of her ways. “It’s in your nature to act without thinking. It’s not your fault. You’re a cat, after all. But you need to consider your actions out here, you know. Actions have consequences.”

  “I know that,” she snapped like a petulant child.

  “It was a mistake bringing you up here.”

  Jelly snarled through her teeth and clenched her fist, “You’re damn right it was a mistake.”

  “Hey,” Alex snapped. “Don’t talk to me like that.”

  Jelly twisted her head over her shoulder to face him.

  “Why the hell shouldn’t I?”

  “Because you’re a damned cat, that’s why. I’m a human being. My team and I went to great expense trying to rescue you. I spent five years of my life making sure I got on Charlie to get you back. I should be dead by now. And when I get home, what do you think is going to happen to me, huh?”

  Jelly lowered her head and, for the first time in her life, felt something resembling a human moment of sympathy.

  “I’m sorry—”

  “—Sorry doesn’t cut it, you ingrate. You think you can just punch and kick anything you don’t like? Take a look inside yourself, Anderson. Do you like what you see?”

  “No.”

  “Okay, now that is the second time you’ve been right the whole time you’ve been here,” Alex fumed. “How does it feel to be corrected? What are you feeling right now?”

  Jelly extended her tongue and ran it across her mouth, “Confused.”

  “Confused?”

  “Ugh,” Jelly closed her eyes and rolled her shoulders, “I, uh, just—”

  “—What is it, girl? Spit it out.”

  “I WANT TO KILL EVERYONE,” Jelly screamed so hard in Alex’s face it felt as if it burned off.

  “Whoa, Jeez.”

  Jelly thumped her chest and inhaled.

  “They did this to me. USARIC did it. I had no choice. I was perfectly happy when I was normal. I want to be normal again.”

  “It�
�s too late. We have to adjust to the situation—”

  “—Don’t “we” me, Hughes. You don’t have to adjust to anything. You’re still normal. A human being. You’re not going to change. You human beings never change. That’s the whole problem.”

  Jelly stopped herself from talking and caught her breath as quickly as possible. She dug her right heel into the ground in a deliberate attempt to intimidate Alex.

  “It’s human beings that interfered with me, who sent me up to this godforsaken hellhole. They messed with me. They gave me these things.”

  She held out her claws and threatened to take Alex’s head off.

  “Jelly, p-please.”

  “They didn’t care. They don’t care. And now they want me dead.”

  “Jelly, stop—”

  “—But they’re going to find out exactly who they’ve messed me,” Jelly roared and stomped her left foot to the floor, cracking the tiles apart, “Now, give me what I want, Hughes, or I swear to myself I’ll remove your guts with my bare claws.”

  “Yourself?” Alex asked, confused. “What do you mean?”

  “I am God, Hughes.”

  A brief moment of vexation waded between Jelly and Alex; nose-to-nose, anger-to-fear. Alex had no choice but to back off.

  “Now give me what I want.”

  He nodded and snapped his fingers, “Manuel-2. First officer Alex J. Hughes—”

  A contented smile spread across Jelly’s face as Alex issued his command.

  “Commence operation procedure, please.”

  BZZZZ-OWWWW.

  The control deck shuffled and sputtered to life. A blue light formed in the middle of the room - up, left, down, and right, forming the contours of a holographic encyclopedia.

  Seven characters burst across the rectangular front cover: M-A-N-U-E-L-2

  Manny burst to life and stretched her covers, “Ah, wh-where a-a-a-am I-I-I?” her voice whirled back and forth in an attempt to calibrate itself.

  “Manny?” Alex asked.

  “Y-Yes,” her voice dipped in register and then sped up as her frame twisted around on the spot, “I hear you, Alex.”

  “Welcome back.”

  Jelly sneered at the book. Something felt off to her.

  “Manny?”

  “Ah,” Manny squealed, “It’s her. The cat.”

  “Yes, it’s me.”

  “I know it’s you, Miss. Anderson,” Manny blurted, deeply unhappy with her brand new predicament. She wanted as far away from Jelly as possible, “Please refrain from encroaching on my physical proximity.”

  Manny twisted her front cover and threw a beam over the control panel.

  Blip-biddip-bip.

  “What happened to my mainframe?” Manny asked.

  Alex took the opportunity to wink at Jelly as Manny flew over to her console, “We were hoping you could give us some answers, actually.”

  Manny moved closer to the damage and froze in the air. A loading bar zipped across cover, “This is unacceptable. The comms link is down. Opera Charlie has been completely gutted.”

  “Manny?”

  She revolved around and flapped her pages together, “Yes?”

  “Can you display the black box recorder, please? We want to know exactly what happened when we left Enceladus and where we are.”

  “I can try,” Manny said. “But I need to fully reconcile my random access memory with whatever is left of the mainframe to give you an accurate report.”

  “That’s okay,” Alex said. “Do that now, we can wait.”

  “Retrieving data now,” Manny said. “Please standby.”

  Alex bit his lip and let out a sigh of relief. Manny clearly hadn’t recollected the event that took place between he and her before he vacated the ship.

  Jelly crouched in front of the comms chair and carefully lifted the flaps of the jacket away from her sleeping child.

  “Shhh.”

  “Jelly, listen, I need to tell you something.”

  “Shhh. Look at her, she’s sleeping.”

  Jelly ran the side of her face along Furie’s. Both girls purred as if on cue, completely relaxed in each other’s company.

  Alex moved forward and place his hand on Jelly’s shoulder, “She certainly has a real calming effect on you, you know.”

  “I know she does. And I have to get her back home.”

  As Jelly lifted her head away from Furie’s face she immediately clocked Alex’s personal invasion of space, “What do you want, Hughes?”

  “It’s only a matter of time before Manny remembers the truth, you know.”

  “The truth?”

  “Before Jaycee and I left to look for you, she threatened me. She knows I sabotaged the mission. When her memory reconciles it’ll all come flooding back.”

  “Oh great,” Jelly quipped with sarcasm. “We need her to report back to us on the state of the ship and get us home.”

  “Charlie is in no state to get us home, Jelly.”

  “You reckon?” Jelly sniffed. “What makes you think that?”

  Alex pointed at the damage she’d done to the console, “Well, your temper hasn’t helped.”

  “So?”

  “Look at this place. It can barely access communications, let alone fly,” Alex said. “I have a plan, though.”

  “What is it?”

  “Manny’s going to suggest we get Charlie into launch position. Upright, facing the sky.”

  “So?”

  “I’m not sure you’re going to like the method.”

  The Motary

  Space Opera Charlie - Level Three

  Jaycee sat in the middle of the vast warehouse and looked at the vehicles on display.

  An attack pod with extended claws.

  The tank he and Tripp had used to locate Jelly.

  The far wall contained so many re-branded and updated USARIC firearms it was hard to know where to start.

  But he had to start somewhere.

  The K-SPARK II shot gun - twice the size of its predecessor - lay a few inches by his feet.

  Finally, a light spacecraft loomed near the exit wall. He’d only fleetingly remembered it from his last visit. K-BOLT: a small scale version of Opera Charlie.

  As Jaycee unclipped the lower half of his exo-suit away from his battered legs, his mind ran into overdrive.

  Tripp’s face was the first image that floated into his vision as his gloved hands slung around his left, ruined thigh.

  BWUCK.

  He removed his left leg from the magnetic plate and placed it on the floor. The useless mechanized lump wiggled to and fro, appearing to plead against its abandonment.

  “Sorry, fella,” he whispered. “You’re no use to me, now.”

  WHIRR-WHUMP.

  The leg gave up the ghost and stopped moving. Jaycee snorted to himself and unscrewed the barrel from the K-SPARK II and lifted it in front of his face.

  “A marvel of science. Look at you,” he muttered, “If only we had this on Opera Beta.”

  The fluorescent light blew across the barrel’s underside and reflected in Jaycee’s face as he lowered it to his leg.

  “Bonnie would have freaked out if she had this,” he said as he angled the plate to his thigh socket.

  SCHWUMP.

  The gun barrel attached with such force it nearly knocked him on his ass, “Whoa. Easy, tiger.”

  WHUUR-SCHWIP.

  It worked.

  The end barrel revolved and spread out to form a giant foot - twice the size of his good, right appendage.

  He pressed his new leg down and slammed the sole of his barrel-cum-foot to the ground.

  “Weapon activated,” came a tiny voice from the holes on the underside of the barrel. “Thank you for choosing USARIC.”

  The very last sentence someone like Jaycee ever wanted to hear. As he hung his head down to the floor he could feel a couple of weights hang from his face.

  The right side of his jaw detached from his cheek. The socket had been busted when
Jelly punished him. It wasn’t worth holding any longer.

  His face waved across the surface of his brand new leg, revealing an exceptionally ugly freak with half a face.

  A freak.

  A freak of science, of nature, and of humankind. A lone - and lonely - product of what was surely a bygone era at this point in time. Any updates he might have expected to have were at least six years old at this point. The crew of Opera Charlie were a vicious reminder of exactly how out of date he was.

  The only thing that kept him going was the fact he was human - or, at least, the feeling that he was such.

  But he wasn’t human, and he knew it. If there was any feeling to the contrary, all he had to do was look in the mirror.

  “I’m s-sorry, Tripp,” he whispered at the ground.

  Another human feeling. Sorrow. Pity.

  “What did I do to deserve this?” he mouthed, barely able to activate his voice box, “Why couldn’t they have taken me first?”

  He clutched his jaw in his right hand and squeezed, applying the force away from his head.

  KLOTCH.

  The left side of his jaw unhooked from the bolt in his face. He lifted his separated jaw in front of his eyes and looked at it for the last time.

  “Ghash,” his tongue flapped around the upper palate in his mouth, “Gnesgh-Gwub—”

  Speaking was no use - his esophagus and tongue, if that’s even what they were - failed to work. He set his jaw next to his leg and decided to stop speaking.

  Perhaps forever.

  Jaycee brushed the metallic pieces of his exo-suit away from his chest. He’d taken such a torturous amount of damage. The suit was no longer fit for purpose.

  CLUNK-SPATCH.

  He thumped the button on his chest. The front of the suit broke out like a flowery ribcage. When he inspected his human-like chest, the real extent of the damage was clear.

  His battery protruded through his endoskeleton, lit from behind by an internal processor.

  “Ugh,” his squeaky voice box gargled through the top-half of his mouth and tightened his grip on the exo-suit top.

  WHOOSH-CLUMP.

  It hit the side of the K-BOLT spacecraft and smashed to the floor in a sorry heap.

  His metal frame had managed to survive the beating thanks to the suit, but it wasn’t perfect. He reached down and pressed the butt of his palm against the shattered metal and folded it back with all his might.