Jelly ran her infinity claws through Furie’s hair and covered her ears, “Manny, please. Not in front of my child.”
“I’m sorry, Jelly.”
“What’s the third option, and are we going to like it?”
“No. In fact Anderson especially will hate the third option.”
BAM. BAM. BAAAMMMM.
The wolves rammed the door with their heads, jumping over each other in an attempt to be the first break in and dine on human - or otherwise - flesh.
Alex turned to Manny, “Tell us anyway.”
Manny angled her cover at the K-BOLT side entrance, “Third. You escape using K-BOLT.”
“Are you serious right now?” Alex snarled. “K-BOLT won’t get us home.”
“True, but it’ll get you away from danger at the very least.”
“Manny, K-BOLT is designed for surface exploration. It’s not designed for interstellar travel. It’s not even designed for space travel. Hell, it might not even break escape velocity.”
“Fifty feet end-to-end. A top speed of 17.5k It’s made of the same materials as all the Opera vessels. It has enough charge to get you off the planet—”
“—Yeah, and then what?”
Manny struggled to answer, “Pray for a miracle?”
“Oh, amaziant.”
“Or maybe a quick death?”
Alex sighed and weighed up the options. The first two were too ridiculous to entertain.
“Jelly?”
“Alex?”
“There’s really no choice. We have to go with option three. It’ll take two years to get back home if we do.”
Jelly sneered at the door. There was simply no way she’d let everyone perish in the Motary. Trying to get Charlie to start was a suicide mission - even if they could reach it without being torn apart.
“Open the K-BOLT door, Manny,” Jelly said. “We’re going in.”
“Very well.”
BRRRRRR — SCHWUMP.
The door folded out from the side and planted into the ground. Jelly and Furie walked hand-in-hand to the steps, leaving Alex and Manny alone for a moment.
“Manny?”
“Yes, Alex?”
“What are the chances of K-BOLT getting us anywhere near home?”
“I cannot tell a lie. The chances are better than staying or trying to start Opera Charlie.”
“Better?”
“As an option? It is to survival, what pneumonia is to hypothermia. In other words, you’d only board K-BOLT if you wanted to prolong the misery. Your chances of survival are worrying at best, catastrophic at worst.”
“Thanks for the reassurance—”
“—Don’t leave me, Alex,” Manny interrupted in a haze of self-pity, “I don’t want to die alone.”
“Manny, I—”
“—No, no, Alex,” Manny begged. “Please, tell me something to reassure me. Tell me you know something I do not. Something I hadn’t considered. An option I have yet to formulate that might mean I live.”
“Oh, Manny,” Alex whispered. “A thousand Alexes could never compare to your intellect and knowledge. I think deep, down inside, you know your request can’t be fulfilled.”
“I gave you options. Please afford me the same. Please.”
“You gave us three unworkable options. You may as well have just detonated the ship for all the good those three options were to us.”
“No,” Manny affected a humanistic chuckle, “I know. You’re right. I was trying to do my job.”
“I know.”
“Even if I could come with you, my mainframe is exposed on the control deck. Those hounds out there will tear it apart. In the unlikely event they don’t, she’ll run out of juice soon enough. So, unlike you, I choose death. I choose to not prolong the misery.”
Alex nodded and showed some remorse.
“I’m sorry I told USARIC about you, Alex. I’m sorry for giving you hope. I’ve made any chance of survival useless.”
“You were only following your orders. I understand that.”
“Can I ask you a question?”
Alex moved to the K-BOLT entrance and climbed the stairs, “Sure, ask whatever you like, Manny.”
“How does it feel?”
“How does what feel?”
“To know you might make it out alive but will die eventually?”
“Hmm,” Alex slammed the panel and stepped back into the mini spacecraft, “I’ll take it over knowing I’m about to die right now.”
He finished his sentence with a sly wink at the book.
“Open the Motary door, Manny.”
“Farewell, Alex J. Hughes,” she said. “Try and get the girls back home.”
“I’ll spend all nine of their lives if I have to. Whatever it takes.”
WHIRRR-SCHWUMP.
The door closed shut. It’d be the last time Manny would ever see her crew alive.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
K-BOLT
A light spacecraft module
Alex climbed into the cockpit and sat in the cosy pilot’s chair. It was the first time he’d ever set foot on the vessel.
Memories of his flight training at USARIC’s facility came flooding back to him.
The controls were as he expected - color coordinated for their various functions. His attention was drawn to the standard yellow lever that would enable the thrusters, such as they were.
“Initiating launch protocol,” he said as he flipped three switches above his head.
“One through five, initiated,” came a friendly voice from the speaker beside his head on the wall. “This is K-BOLT Advance. Welcome aboard, Alex.”
Alex sat into the pilot’s seat and moved himself to the dashboard, “Thank you, K-BOLT Advance. How are you today?”
“I am well, Alex.”
“I’m very, very glad to hear that. Please standby for K-BOLT launch checks.”
He hit three buttons on the panel and scanned two sets of dials on the screen.
“In the event of engine fire or engine failure at or above V8, do nothing except cancel alarm, notify IMS call sign, and start auxiliary power bank.”
K-BOLT’s voice whirled out from the speakers on the cockpit wall, “Understood.”
Beep-beep-beep.
The dashboard lit up in its entirety as the doors to the Motary opened.
“At V8 I will shut down alarm, call IMS, and start autopilot.”
“Good,” Alex grabbed the dual stick next to the yellow thruster lever and twisted it to the right.
The K-BOLT vessel turned on its pivot towards the opening Motary door.
“Confirming launch protocols,” Alex said. “Exterior inspection?”
“Dated.”
“Cockpit preparation?”
“Incomplete.”
“Hydraulics and thrusters?”
“One hundred percent capacity.”
“Travelocity instruments?”
“In place.”
“Occupier signs?”
“Five to one.”
“Hyper-sleep chambers?”
“Pod five not in operation. One through four running at one hundred percent.”
Alex moved the windshield to face the Motary door.
“That’s okay. We only need three chambers. Brakes?”
“Set to park.”
“That’s great, thanks,” Alex turned over his shoulder and saw Jelly kneeling before a very concerned Furie. “K-BOLT, please standby for launch. I’ll be right back.”
Alex stood up from the chair and grabbed a handlebar on the ceiling - the same seven foot ceiling that forced Jelly to remain on her knees.
Standing upright and unobstructed movement was no longer an option for her for the foreseeable future.
“Hey, Jelly.”
“Can’t you see we’re busy, Hughes?”
“Hey, Furie.”
The little girl slipped off Alex’s jacket and offered it to him, “I don’t need this anymore.”
“No
, it’s okay. You can keep it.”
Jelly snorted and whipped the jacket from her daughter’s paws. She scrunched the cotton USARIC emblem in her palm. She couldn’t bear to look at it for a moment longer.
“No, Alex. Please, take it back. We don’t need it right now.”
“As you wish.”
Alex leaned forward and took it from Jelly’s hand. He looked at it and sniggered to himself.
“You know, this used to belong to my girlfriend, Grace. The same day I joined the ASF. We were the same size.”
“It didn’t fit me,” Furie said. “But it made a good blanket to keep me warm.”
“Well, it’s gonna get a helluva lot warmer in here when we take off.”
Alex nodded at the far end of the ship.
“Speaking of which, we’re preparing to launch, but I just need to let you know something.”
“What?”
“If the ship experiences decompression, payload at the end of the ship has six oxygen masks attached to the wall. We haven’t had time to inspect them, but they’re good for an hour or two of oxygen.”
Jelly turned to her daughter and offered her a smile, “Thanks, Alex.”
“We’ll enter hyper-sleep once we’re in space.”
“I agree,” Jelly whispered. “It’ll be more peaceful that way.”
“What will be more peaceful?” Furie asked.
The girl failed to register the nuance of her mother’s morbid claim. Before she could ask the inevitable, Jelly placed her index finger on the girl’s lips.
Alex turned his head away in deference for Jelly’s desire to keep her child in the dark on such morbid matters.
“Shhh, honey.”
“But mom—”
“—No. Don’t say a word.”
Jelly fanned her claws out over the dull, pulsating pink orb seeping through the fine fur on Furie’s chest.
“Okay, Mommy.”
“Good girl.”
Jelly moved her nostrils to Furie’s head and sniffed around. Finally, she pursed her lips - what little of them she had - and gave her a peck on the forehead.
“Mwah,” Furie giggled like an excited girl.
Jelly pressed her fingers against Furie’s chest and took in the beating, warm pink glow, “Look at you, honey.”
Furie looked down at her front and ran her paws over the beating orb in her chest, “What’s happening to me, Mommy? Why does my chest look funny?”
“You’re carrying a gift. You have to protect it until we return home.”
Jelly ran her forehead to Furie’s and settled on the girl’s eyes with her own. She placed her pinkie in Furie’s palm, “Squeeze.”
Furie did as she was told.
“Star Cat. Forever.”
“Star Cat, Mommy,” Furie finished with a cherubic smile. “Forever and ever and ever.”
Alex found the entire serenade very moving. He cleared his throat and produced a polite cough.
“Guys?”
Both girls turned to him, “Hughes?”
“Strap in. We’re about to launch.”
“Come on, honey,” Jelly took her daughter’s hand and walked her to the back of the ship.
Alex sat into the pilot’s chair and pulled his mouthpiece down to his chin, “Manny? How are we doing on the Motary door?”
“Opening now, Hughes. Good luck out there.”
BRRRRRRRRR.
The Motary door lifted up and across the ceiling, revealing thousands of angry wolves waiting to attack.
“Initiate thrusters one, two, three, four, and five, please.”
BLAASSSSSTTT-TTT.
The K-BOLT spacecraft lifted three feet in the air.
The engine roared to life and tested its launch capacity via the five thrusters at the far end of the vessel.
WHOOOSH.
“Confirm thrusters one through five,” advised the voice in the cockpit, “Proceed in Ten—”
“—Okay guys, make sure you’re firmly bolted to the ground, or something solid,” Alex said. “I don’t want you injuring yourselves.”
Manny hung in the air, tearing page after page out from her weighty tome. The holographic pages wafted around.
An idea came to her as she watched the wolves bark and howl at the opened door.
“Oh no you don’t.”
She flew alongside the K-BOLT and made her way to the door.
BVOOM — BVOOM — BVOOM.
She opened her covers out so wide that her spine began to blister up the center. Beam after beam of glorious light shot out in all directions like a hyper disco ball.
“Hey. Over here, you stinking puppies,” Manny screamed at them.
It worked.
The wolves took more interest in the light show Manny provided, and away from the K-BOLT spacecraft.
“Nine, eight, seven, six—” announced the autopilot.
Alex laughed and saluted the holographic book. He knew she could see him through the windshield.
She ‘saluted’ back by bending the corner of her back cover, and returned to the wolves.
GROOOOOOM.
The fifth and final thruster engaged, forcing the K-BOLT to rock from side to side in the air.
“Over here, assholes.”
Manny darted back, enticing the wolves forward.
“—four, three, two, one. Launch.”
A thousands white streaks crept along the outline of the K-BOLT vessel, sparking up a furious concoction of brilliant white sparks.
The ship seemed to shrink as the wolves piled towards Manny, who flew to the back of the Motary.
“Okay, hang tight,” Alex roared as best he could as the skin on his face rippled to the back of his head, “Gaah, huh, huh—”
KEEEEERRR — WHOOOOOOOOOSH.
The ship’s light formation remained in the air as the vessel blasted out of the Motary. The nuclear thrusters incinerated everything inside the Motary, including the wolves and all the weapons in the adjoining chamber.
SCREEEEEAAAAAAAMMMM.
K-BOLT tilted up and rocketed into the sky, leaving behind it a trailblazer of fire and fuel as it shot toward the pink streak in the sky.
KRAA-BLAAAAA-AAAA-AAAAAAM.
Space Opera Charlie’s level three and two were the first to detonate due to the fiery takeoff.
The walls exploded, fueled by incendiaries in the weapons and armory chamber. The propulsion of energy blasted level two clean off the floor, which then burst into several fiery segments.
The back end careened into a ball of fire, taking out the rest of the wolves on their approach to the vessel.
Finally, the front of the ship popped. Not as much magnificence as the previous visual display, but devastating nevertheless.
The surrounding foliage produced a distinct fog of flesh and ship as it cooked into the sky.
Space Opera Charlie was no more.
***
K-BOLT glowed red and orange as it rocketed through the planet’s dense atmosphere.
“Heat shields engaged,” the voice advised.
Alex closed his eyes and held his breath. He gripped the side of his seat and tried to fight against the extreme G-Force screaming through his body, “Guuuuuh.”
Jelly covered the crying Furie in her arms as they sat on the floor next to the hyper-sleep pods.
Jelly whined and squeezed her close to her chest.
“Mommiieeeee—”
“—Shhh,” Jelly gasped. “Hold on to me.
Jelly kicked her enormous feet against the wall and pushed the small of her back against the first pod. She bore the brunt of the trauma as the room vibrated up a storm.
SCHWIPP-PP.
Alex opened his eyes just in time to see thousands of white streaks tear in all directions through the windshield.
“Whoa,” he held his breath and swallowed, “God, God.”
The streaks closed in and returned to normal. Those lone white lines were tiny, beautiful stars.
“D-Did we make i
t?”
Alex loosened his muscles and shuffled forward in his chair, “Hello?”
“Hello,” the voice advised. “Yes, we are now en route to your destination.”
BWOOOAAAAARRRRRR.
Alex ducked as a colossal pink light blasted in the distance at the top of the windshield, “What is that?”
“Unknown.”
Alex looked left and right, “Where’s it coming from?”
“Source indicates the star behind us. The sun.”
“Saturn?”
“I’m afraid Saturn cannot be located at this time.”
“Computer?”
“Hello.”
“Ugh,” Alex wiped the sweat from his face and hit a yellow button on the console, “What is your name?”
“My name is K-BOLT.”
“I’m glad you remembered that,” Alex snorted. “What is your primary destination?”
“Primary destination. Final destination. Recorded at oh four-hundred hours. Planet Earth—”
“—Yes,” Alex clapped his hands together. “Good, good—”
“—nine hundred and forty-five million kilometers.”
“Good, good.”
“Expected journey time is six hundred and fifty-five days.”
“Excellent,” Alex flicked the switch above his head and turned on the interior light, “Update on sustenance levels, including oxygen filtration, please.”
Alex leaned forward and breathed a sigh of relief. He perched his cheek on his fist and admired the view of the vastness of outer space.
“Sustenance levels. Units per passenger required is three per day. K-BOLT sustenance for journey home, zero point three-five persons.”
“Huh?”
“Oxygen levels at maximum operation.”
Alex lifted his head from his fist and felt a terror-fueled grip on his stomach, “No, wait, wait—”
“Oxygen good for one person for forty-five days.”
“One person?”
“That is correct.”
“Well,” Alex scrambled for some kind of trade-off, “Hang on, are you telling me we only have enough oxygen for forty-five days for one passenger?”
“That is correct. Maximum capacity—”
“—But we have three passengers on board, including myself. And now you’re saying there’s only enough food for just over one third of a passenger?
Star Cat: Exodus: A Science Fiction & Fantasy Adventure (The Star Cat Series - Book 5) Page 19