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

by Andrew Mackay

  “Are we home?” K-BOLT asked. “I’m afraid my sensors took a bit of a knock during whatever that was that just happened.”

  Jelly jumped out of the pilot’s chair and bolted out of the cockpit.

  She held what little air she had in her lungs and ducked through the door to the hyper-sleep chamber.

  Continuing past the five pods, she felt the skin on her arms begin to tear. A trickle of blood seeped from her eyes as she pressed her left hand on Furie’s pod and pushed herself - at speed - to the back of the ship.

  “Ngggggg,” she whined as she reached the payload area.

  WHUMP.

  She kicked the battered dummy away from her foot and reached into the compartment.

  WRENCH.

  Jelly grabbed the oxygen mask and from the wall and slung it over her head.

  BRRIIISSSHHH — GROOOOAAAAAN-NN.

  She staggered back to the wall and lifted her head. The black oxygen mask barely covered her enlarged tiger face, but proved to be effective - for now.

  After a moment, she leveled her breathing and returned to the compartment.

  “We’re here.”

  She rifled through the sections, found two more oxygen masks and slung the straps over each of her shoulders.

  STOMP - STOMP - STOMP.

  Jelly walked to the front of the ship with a steely determination in her eyes.

  K-BOLT spoke to her as she entered the cockpit and stood dead still, focusing on the view through the windshield.

  “Jelly Friggin’ Anderson,” K-BOLT said. “We are one hundred thousand miles from Earth. I recommend you acclimatize those in the hyper-sleep chambers and prepare for orbit.”

  Jelly kept on breathing.

  Her chest heaved in and out.

  She was damned if she’d let the sight of Earth leave her vision.

  “Jamie,” she whispered through her deep breathing, “I’m coming home.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  USARIC Headquarters

  Cape Claudius

  (One hundred miles north of Corpus Christi)

  Maar sat at the head of the conference table in one of the smaller rooms at base. Brayn ensured the man Maar was talking to saw the gun in his hands.

  “And what happened next?” Maar asked.

  “They lost two of their crew as they fled the site.”

  Maar angled the lamp on the table away which blanketed the man’s face in darkness.

  “The idiot they shot dead at the barrier?”

  “Yes, Mr. Sheck.”

  Brayn sniffed and hooked his finger around the trigger of his firearm, “Mr. Sheck?”

  “Be quiet for a moment, Brayn,” Maar snapped. “Let him answer. What happened after that?”

  “The reason Metal Bird lost the van was due to the exchange under the freeway pass on Interstate 1-608.”

  “How did that happen?”

  “The van docked with a truck, out of sight. Another member took out the ground force with a grenade.”

  “Give me a name.”

  “Her name was Grace.”

  “I knew it,” Maar cleared his throat and adjusted his tie. “Did all the subjects make it back to your base?”

  “Most did.”

  “Where are they now?”

  “At the dome,” the man said. “Don’t underestimate the team, Mr. Sheck.”

  Maar stood up and placed his hands on the desk, “You’ve done well, Odrassa. Very well. But you can’t stay here too long, you ought to get back to them before they get spooked.”

  Brayn held his arm to the door, “You may leave.”

  “Who is this guy, anyway?” the man asked. “Where’s Kaoz, and Crain?”

  Maar snorted and grabbed his chest, “They, uh, they’re no longer with us, unfortunately.”

  “I heard about your estate, Mr. Sheck.”

  “Yes, everyone has. Everyone thought I was dead until I told them otherwise. I expect your bum chums at RAGE to take care of that.”

  “Oh, I’m sure they’ll want to, Mr. Sheck.”

  “Say nothing as always, Odrassa. You’ve done well, and you’ll be handsomely rewarded when this little fiasco is dealt with.”

  Maar smiled and angled the lamp at the man’s face, “But you and I know better, right?”

  “You know I do,” the man couldn’t help but smile and reveal a set of gold teeth.

  “Oh, one more thing,” Maar finished.

  “Yes, Mr. Sheck?”

  “Take care of my test subjects. They’re expensive.”

  R.A.G.E. Arena

  Laguna Vista, South Texas, USA

  Sierra and her rebels watched the final few moments footage of USARIC’s conference. Dreenagh’s bullet-riddled body crashed to the floor as the DD-12 death droid stormed around firing at the fleeing citizens.

  Maar made his final threat to the nation and appeared to stare right in Sierra’s face, “You want war? You got it.”

  Sierra gripped her shotgun as the giant entrance door lifted up, “Bastards. They’re executing everyone. They’ve killed Dreenagh.”

  Behind her, five PAWZ units each containing twenty cats stood side by side, waiting to advance.

  “Rana,” Sierra shouted at the mack truck in the parking lot, “Open the back doors.”

  “On it,” she shouted from the driver’s window.

  BRRRR-FWUMP.

  The back doors flung open and released an extended ramp to the floor.

  Sierra turned to Siyam and pointed at the membrane in his hands, “Okay, let’s get in.”

  Siyam looked at the first PAWZ forklift, “Go, go, go.”

  KER-SHUNT.

  The cats in PAWZ-1 moved the hulk of machinery forward.

  “Meow.”

  PAWZ-2 turned its head and roared at it, “MEOW.”

  STOMP — STOMP — STOMP.

  The concrete in the parking lot shuddered and threaten to crack under the sheer weight of the twelve foot beast making its way to the mack truck.

  “I dunno if I can hold five of them,” Rana shouted through the driver’s side window.

  “It’s reinforced, it should be fine,” Sierra said. “Come on, let’s move them in. We got a company to destroy.”

  “Meow,” the gray-colored cat in PAWZ-3 freaked out and slammed the two black sticks in the head compartment.

  WHIIRRR—SCHTOMP.

  The cats in PAWZ-4 and PAWZ-5 watched on in silence as PAWZ-3 walked over to the truck and slammed its feet up the ramp.

  “Meow,” the head cat said.

  Sierra inserted two fingers in her mouth and whistled at the remaining four, “Okay, that’s one in, now the rest.”

  Jamie, Leesa, and Remy put on their RAGE costumes and prepared to join the team.

  Leesa made the mistake of looking at Santara in the eye. The woman scowled at the girl and folded her arms.

  “Now, now, Santara,” Roman said. “They are our hosts. Do not offend them.”

  “She looks at me funny.”

  “She’s not looking at you anything,” Roman said. “She’s very friendly I am sure.”

  Suzie Q-Two and Mau trundled across the central table and meowed at the three Misfits.

  “Hey, girl,” Saad chirped at Suzie. “Good girl.”

  SWIPE.

  Saad snapped his hand back, narrowly avoiding a scratching, “Whoa, little one. No need to be so rude.”

  “Hisssssss,” Suzie whined and hopped off the table.

  Leesa zipped up her black jacket, “Bad girl. Don’t behave like that with our guests.”

  “Meow.”

  Mau jumped off the table and ran in the direction of the holoscope.

  “Hey,” Remy hollered after her, “Where are you going?”

  “Meow.”

  Mau showed him her ass and trundled over to the back door.

  Scritch-scritch-scritch.

  She ran her claws up and down the door, wanting to get out.

  Jamie ran after her and went to scoop her f
rom the floor, “What’s gotten into you, all of a sudden, you silly little cat?”

  “Mwah,” Mau launched herself via her hind legs and into the air, nearly taking Jamie’s face off in the process.

  “Whoa, Mau,” he spat. “What are you doing—”

  “Grrr.”

  “You want to get some air?” Jamie asked. “Okay, let’s get some air, then.”

  KER-CHLUNK.

  Jamie lifted the handle down and pushed the door open.

  A delicate sea breeze wafted into the dome as Mau ran outside and up to the fence lining the Gulf of Mexico.

  “Meow, meow, meow,” she screeched and sat her behind on the ground. She looked up at the tip of the tree and whined at the pink beam.

  Jamie followed after her and squinted at the blue sky, “What is it, girl?”

  “Mwah.”

  GROOOAAAAANNN.

  The clouds drifted slowly in the air, but seemed to grumble at each other.

  GRRRRRRR.

  Something wasn’t right.

  The tip of the tree bent over to the direction of the diluted moon hanging in the blue sky.

  The wind picked up, blowing the fur back across Mau’s body, and the flaps on Jamie’s jacket across his waist.

  He held his hand over his brow and kept looking at the moon.

  “It’s too loud,” he shouted over the fierce windstorm, “I c-can’t hear—”

  Leesa and Remy ran out of the dome in a frenzy, “Jamie.”

  “What?”

  “The cats in the forklifts,” Remy said. “They’re going crazy.”

  PAWZ-1 was the last to board the mack truck.

  The deafening wind and rumbling from the sky stopped the cats from controlling it. Instead of moving the forklift further, they vacated their positions and howled at the sky as they exited through the opened calf joints.

  Sierra raised her eyes and realized something was seriously amiss.

  “No, no,” she screamed at them, “What are you doing? Come back.”

  The twenty cats raced like greyhounds through the dome and out through the exit door.

  The cats in PAWZ-2, PAWZ-3, PAWZ-4, and PAWZ-5 freaked out in tandem.

  Some of them were able to escape their confines, but others were worked into such a rage that they couldn’t find their way to the foot of their forklifts.

  BOLT — BOLT — BOLT.

  The majority of the cats blasted across the parking lot and into the dome, screaming at the sky as they ran.

  Jamie turned back to the tree and squinted at the pink stream, “Something’s happening—”

  RROOOOAAAAAARRR.

  The top half of the tree swayed around like an inebriated compass, confused as to the direction it should be facing.

  BWUUUUUUUURRRRR.

  The pink beam of light revolved around with it, scorching the white clouds into nothingness, as if having wiped them out with an eraser.

  “What in the hell is going on here?” Sierra screamed as she ran with the cats through the back door.

  Siyam and Rana ran with them, and joined Leesa and Remy, who hugged each other for comfort.

  “Jamie?” Siyam asked.

  He didn’t face them, and kept his eyes firmly on the moon, “What?”

  “What happened?”

  “I dunno,” he shouted after the roaring wind, “Something’s happening up in the sky—”

  Suddenly, each and every cat ran up to the fence and began to pull apart at the metal railings.

  CHEW — CHOMP - TEAAARR.

  Their tiny metal talons cut through the thick shafts of metal on the fence. Some of them climbed onto the backs of the others and launched themselves up and over the railings completely.

  BOLT.

  The cats meowed and shrieked at the sky as the tree’s tip gravitated towards the moon, throwing the thick, stubborn shaft of light at the moon.

  “Where are they going?”

  The cats reached the shore and jumped into the gulf in a bizarre watery feline exodus.

  “They’re swimming,” Leesa said. “Oh no, Suzie.”

  She pushed Remy aside, ran up to the hole in the fence and clapped eyes on Suzie Q-Two’s fluffy behind as it raced into the water.

  “Suzie, no.”

  “Leesa,” Jamie called after her, “It’s too late. Get back from the fence—”

  WHOOOOOSH.

  Three American Star Fleet jets rocketed over their heads in a three-line format, making their way to the tree.

  Jamie looked up and covered his ears, just as a furious, bright spark of pure white light zipped around the moon.

  “Huh?”

  Sierra joined Jamie and pointed at the three jets preparing to fire upon the tree, “It’s them, it’s USARIC. They know something’s about to happen.”

  A black rectangular line tore across the blue sky and lit up.

  PTCHOW — PTCHOW — KRAA-BLAAASSSTTT.

  The rip in the sky closed up and melted into the pink, after coughing out a tiny, darkened object.

  “Spaceship?” Jamie muttered, failing to believe his eyes. He looked down at the shore and saw the cats swim towards the tree.

  He looked back up, utterly dumbstruck.

  “Is that a—spaceship?” Siyam asked.

  The tiny black object hurtled away from the moon and rocketed towards the Gulf.

  It certainly wasn’t a bird, nor a plane, although it had more in common with the latter.

  WHOOOOOOSSHH.

  It raced faster and faster in the sky, appearing to spin a thousand revolutions per second.

  “No, no,” Remy stepped away from Roman and Saad, “That’s definitely a spaceship.”

  “It’s headed straight for the Gulf,” Sierra said. “Look at it.”

  BWUCK - POCKHHH.

  A tiny orange capsule blasted out of the back of the flying object and careened towards the water.

  The spacecraft ran out of sight and disappeared into the horizon.

  Leesa shouted and pointed at the “It’s dropped something—”

  “—Like a parachute?” Remy asked.

  Jamie screwed his face and couldn’t make head nor tail of what he was seeing.

  Certainly not tail, at any rate. The tails of the soaking wet cats swimming towards the tree that wasn’t a tree. Then, it dawned on him.

  Something came from the sky.

  From out of the pink light.

  From outer space.

  Jamie knew there was only one being out there, and that someone was desperate to return home.

  “Oh, my God,” Jamie jumped and pointed at the object as it hurtled towards the water, “It’s her, it’s her.”

  “Who?” Sierra asked.

  “Jelly!”

  To be concluded…

  From the author - Andrew Mackay

  Author notes from Star Cat 5: Exodus (exclusive to the e-book version of this title)

  Hey gang!

  Hey gang!

  Wow. We’ve come so far, together, right?

  Remember when Jelly was just a little cat? My, how times have changed. It seems so long ago. In fact, it was this very thought that got me started with Star Cat 5: Exodus - just how far everyone has come, one way or another. This also extends to the reader journey, and also to me as your humble author.

  I confess, I always knew Star Cat would be several books long. When I think back to the first book’s publication, I had plans to take the series in a few directions. All but a few of those ideas made it into the subsequent books (e.g. Pink Symphony, Bonnie falling off the edge of the universe etc) but there were some things that just grew organically.

  Also, and I’ve been reticent to confess this, but the original plan was to have about ten books in the series. When I finished Pink Symphony (Book 2) I knew it’d be six, and not ten. What happened to that idea?

  I’ll tell you.

  Quality, not quantity. The story interests me so much and is too valuable for me to have softened its impact by keeping it
going and going. Sure, the inevitable royalties and sales would have been nice. But, to be honest, I’m better than that. I only ever want to tell quality, well-written and formulated stories. Six books is about right, in my view. Also, because each book ends on a cliffhanger, I have know referred to them as installments. Rest assured that the sixth and final book will be the end.

  Now, to plot events.

  You may remember I told you that I had not planned on Maar’s heart attack in Killer Instinct, that it just sort of happened as I was typing. The same thing has happened in almost every book I’ve written.

  I’d like to reveal to you now how exactly I plan my books, in such a way that it doesn’t bore you to death lol (I know some of you reading this are fellow authors, but on the off-chance that you are not, you may find the process interesting. I’ll use Exodus as an example.)

  I only need THREE things to write a novel:

  1: A beginning, middle, and end

  2: Lots of daydreaming time

  3: The ability to trust myself to take risks

  That’s it.

  Let me explain.

  I’ll start with points 2 and 3 first, if I may.

  If you’ve delved into the author/writing process with more than a rudimentary interest in the process, you’ll have heard of some authors plotting their stories. Of course, you’ll know that some authors just fly by the seat of their pants and just type (a.k.a “pantsing”)

  I fall somewhere in the middle.

  I am (possible unwisely) very confident in my ability as a storyteller. I think any author has to be, otherwise there’s no point in doing it. You may disagree but I consider my strengths to be story structure and dialogue. These two things are very important, and you may have noticed that most of my books start with dialogue. This is, quite frankly, a little trick a writer can employ to immediately grab a reader. People like reading dialogue over prose. I’ll happily admit that it’s a trick I employ almost all the time, and I don’t mind you knowing that at all. Why? Because you’ve read the book and got this far, so I know it works lol.