“Yes, Mr. Sheck,” Brayn said.
“We’re going to have a little chat with our colleague, here. Alex J. Hughes. He’s going to tell us everything we want to know.”
Brayn moved away from the table, leaving Maar and Alex facing each other at opposite ends of the table.
Both men wanted to tear the other’s throat out.
“Listen up,” Brayn said to the three mercenaries, “Don’t underestimate this guy. Former American Star Fleet. Highly trained. Don’t go near him.”
“Understood,” the first merc said.
Julie removed her left thumbnail from her hand and pressed it on the table.
“Ready when you are, Mr. Sheck.”
“Do it.”
WVHOOOOM.
Alex blinked as the air above the thumbnail rippled. A holographic image of Opera Charlie orbiting Saturn revolved ten inches above the tabletop.
“Here’s what we know, Hughes.”
Alex didn’t respond. His attention was more in tune with the heat forming across his face. Was it the mask sealing out the air? Or was it the sweat? Did Maar know more than he was letting on?
WHUUURRRR — WHVOOOM.
Alex’s breathing quickened.
“So, I guess our first question is this. Did Opera Charlie find Opera Beta?”
Alex closed his eyes and shook his head, which displeased Maar beyond measure.
“We’d like to know what happened to Oxade Weller and his second-in-command, Nutrene Byford.”
No response came from the withered man sitting before him.
“Are you saying that you did not find Opera Beta?”
“Answer the question,” Brayn screamed in Alex’s ear, making the man shudder in fright.
“Whoa, whoa,” Maar interrupted. “Easy, tiger. Let the man consider his answer. We’re after veracity, here. I want a quality and accurate answer, not some hastily thrown-together excuse. Hughes?”
Alex kept his eyes focused on his lap - anything to avoid eye contact with the man who questioned him.
WHUMP.
Maar placed his right palm flat on the table. “See this? Hughes?”
Alex looked up upon instruction and watched Maar give him the thumbs up.
“What?”
Maar’s thumbnail glowed bright purple, just begging to be touched.
“If you don’t start speaking, I’ll activate those discs behind your back. You’ll lose your hands and probably bleed to death before your brain registers the pain.”
Alex shuffled forward in his seat.
“Ah, da-da,” Brayn and the three mercenaries lifted their guns at him and demanded he calm down, “Don’t even bother, asshole.”
Julie looked away and felt like crying, “This isn’t right.”
“I don’t remember asking for your opinion, ar-Ban,” Maar snapped. “Hughes is going to sing like a canary or else he’ll have to get someone else to wipe his behind in the future.”
Biddum-biddum-biddum.
Alex’s heart rate appeared on the floating hologram.
“A strange thing has appeared in the Gulf of Mexico. Two other object came out of the Mediterranean and the Yellow Sea around the same time. Hours before you returned. It took out one of my jets. Now, call me crazy, but I don’t think this is a coincidence. What do you know about that, Hughes?”
Alex refused to speak. The question made no sense, signaling to him that his boss had lost his mind for good.
Maar lost his patience and huffed, “Nothing? Seems you’re getting a bit stressed, huh? Give it a few more minutes of not telling me what I want to know, and you might save those DecapiCuffs the effort of kicking your ass for good.”
“I don’t know anything.”
Alex slammed his bare feet to the floor and grunted. The breathing through his tube produced a faint gurgling sound.
“That’s the spirit, Hughes,” Maar scowled. “Get angry. Get real angry. Harness that rage and use it to tell me everything.”
Maar nodded at Julie. Reluctantly, she waved her right hand through the dusty image. A head shot of Tripp Healy twisted to life, accompanied by his personal statistics.
“Okay, let’s try another question, eh, Hughes? We know you, Weller, and Byford, found Opera Beta,” Maar said. “One of her last transmissions we received via The Manuel reported four souls on board. Tripp was one of them. What happened to him?”
Alex grunted, “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, you son of a—”
“—No? Try me.”
Alex’s breathing quickened as he stared his oppressor dead in the eyes.
“He turned.”
“Turned?”
“Yes,” Alex fumed. “He turned into a spider and we had to kill him before he killed us.”
The USARIC mercs, Brayn, and Maar, tried not to smirk.
“That’s very funny, Hughes,” Maar cleared his throat chewed back the urge to burst out laughing. “Try again.”
“Healy caught the virus. His organs could only fight off the transformation for so long. Before he turned.”
“You’re starting to test my goddamn patience. I ask again, for the last time, what happened to Tripp—”
“—It’s the truth. I’m telling you.”
Maar nodded at Julie.
“We’ll come back to that. Speaking of crew members, Captain Daryl Katz. Any sign of him?”
“No.”
“Dr. Bonnie Whitaker?”
“Who?”
Maar exhaled and closed his eyes, “God, give me strength.”
“I don’t know those names,” Alex said.
“How about weapons technician Jaycee Nayall?”
She moved her fingers through the image of Tripp’s face to reveal a head shot of Jaycee.
Maar knew from Alex’s pained expression that Jaycee was familiar to him.
“What happened?”
“He turned into a spider, too.”
TCH-CLUNK — CLICK.
Brayn aimed his shotgun at Alex’s temple, “You want me to blow this lying bastard’s brains out now, sir?”
“Not yet.”
“We have more chance of rummaging through his brain matter on the wall for answers.”
Maar waved Brayn back and chuckled.
“Don’t be unkind. Give Hughes some space,” he said and turned to Alex, “See that? I just prevented this meat head from shooting you in the face. I’m getting increasingly bored with your flippant attitude, you know.”
“That’s your problem, Maar.”
“Oh, really?” he said as he teased his left thumbnail, “What’s my problem?”
“Your inability to realize the truth when you hear it. Just rush in, guns blazing, and to hell with what you don’t want to hear.”
“Ah, ordinarily I’d agree with you, there. See, I have this problem,” Maar threatened with glee, “Over half a billion dollars of irreplaceable tech has gone missing. Gone walkies, if you like. Earlier today, those who are still alive and have the answers shot out of a hole in the sky and landed in the Gulf of Mexico. So, we rescued them. If we hadn’t, they would have submerged all the way to the sea bed. Never to be found. Oxygen and sustenance depleted. Suffocated to death. Are you getting my point, yet?”
“Yeah, I get your point,” Alex said. “Do you get mine?”
“Yours?”
“You don’t know what we’ve been through, Sheck.”
Maar slammed the table with rage.
“Insolent scumbag. You will refer to me as Mr. Sheck. Or sir. Do you understand me?”
Alex smirked at the fact he’d managed get under the man’s skin.
“You know as well as I do. If something happens to me then the facts about all three Opera missions goes with me.”
Maar’s incessant heavy breathing matched his opponent’s. Alex knew too much to be killed.
“Opera Alpha?”
“Yeah,” Alex snorted. “We don’t know much, but we do know something.”
Julie swi
ped the image to reveal a familiar-looking house cat with orange eyes.
“Jelly Anderson,” Maar said. “The winner of the Star Cat Project back in 2117. Special envoy on Opera Beta. Let me ask you this, Alex Hughes. What came of our little, fluffy feline friend up there in the big, bad universe?”
Alex squinted at Maar. The chances were good that Jelly had been found. He already knew they’d found Furie.
“Anderson. Is she alive?” Alex asked. “Did you find her?”
Maar grew suspicious. He knew that if he was going to get the truth, he’d need to keep his playing cards close to his chest.
“Why do you ask?”
“She’s the whole reason I went up—” Alex stopped himself from finishing his sentence.
“What do you mean the whole reason you went up?”
“Uh, nothing. I’m sorry, I got confused—”
“—No, no,” Maar shook his head and refused to buy the excuse, “No, you don’t get away with a statement like that, my friend. The reason you went up? Jelly Anderson?”
SHOOOOSHHH - WHAARRVVVMM.
Alex’s breathing quickened as fast as his beating heart. The sight of the armed guards just waiting for the order to blow his head off didn’t help.
“Alex?” Maar asked. “Is there something you want to tell me?”
Alex choked and felt his eyelids gain weight, “I think my oxygen is running low.
Maar snapped at Julie.
“Take his mask off—”
“Nuuuh,” Alex grimaced and buckled forward in pain, “Don’t—don’t.”
“Why on Earth not, Hughes?”
Julie didn’t know what to do. Should she rescue the man suffering before her, or keep the mask on?
“I don’t think that’s a good idea, sir,” she said.
“Why?”
“I just don’t,” Julie said. “The mask is more protection for us than it is for him. If we take it off, it could be bad news.”
Maar folded his arms and watched the man groan in agony before him, “Recharge his oxygen unit?”
“I think that would be best,” Julie said. “I’ll go to Botanix and get a few units for him.”
Maar threw her a knowing wink.
“Fair enough. Take your time, though, ar-Ban. No need to rush.”
He turned to Alex and made himself comfortable.
“Let’s let him suffer a while.”
***
Julie exited the bay corridor’s back door and walked along the ground. She faced the Gulf of Mexico and settled her eyes on the giant structure towering from the water.
“Please, God. Just let this be over.”
She crouched to her knees and rested against the wall. A lungful of sea air worked wonders for her mental state.
Her emotions ran high as she thought about her sister, Wool, and the last time she saw her.
“Please. Just let this be over. Please.”
Refusing to give into her upset, she cleared her throat and wiped her face.
Moments later, as Julie entered the building via the back door, the image of two medicians running at speed focused into her view.
Julie adjusted her glasses and recognized the two men immediately, “Jonas? Nathan?”
“Where have you been?”
“Taking a breather,” Julie said. “Why, that’s wrong?”
“How’s Hughes holding up?”
“He’s in there with Sheck and a few mercs. He’s not saying much.”
Jonas waved her over as he made his way down the corridor, “Come with me. He’s not saying much?”
“No.”
“Not saying much because he can’t? Or because he won’t?”
“A bit of both, probably,” she said as she kept up the pace with her two colleagues. “What’s happening with the subject in B-Six-Five?”
Jonas clutched his breathing mask in his hands as he jogged, “Rowan and the med trainees are in there with her, now. It’s real messed up. She has this thing inside her chest. She went a bit crazy in the head.”
“Like mother, like daughter, huh?” Nathan added.
Julie didn’t find the remark very funny, “I really hope not.”
“C’mon, move it,” came a voice from the other end of the corridor.
Julie and Nathan veered to the wall and allowed the man who spoke to run past.
A heavily-armed USARIC mercenary named Jaykay pushed through the medicians with five of his colleagues in tow.
“Excuse me, coming through,” he said to the others as he turned around and faced his team, “Bay Seventy. Double-time.”
“Double time?” Nathan whispered. “About damn time, more like.”
Julie stepped forward and ran alongside Jaykay.
“Excuse me? Sir?”
“I don’t have time to stop and chat, lady. We need to get to B-Seventy.”
“That’s my bay.”
“Is it?”
Jaykay slowed to a halt and waved his fingers across his neck to his colleagues, signaling them to stop.
“We’ve been assigned watch in there,” he said as he scanned Julie’s name badge. According to the sewn-in fabric on her lapel her real name was “Jool ar-Ban.”
“Jool?”
“Yes, sir.”
“As in jewel?”
“Yes.”
“Everyone’s a bit hurried this afternoon. Can you tell us what we’re going to find in B-Seventy?”
She glanced at Nathan for a response, but nothing came of it. He just shrugged and scrunched his face.
Julie beckoned Jaykay’s team along with her as she jogged along the corridor, “Follow me.”
“What’s all the fuss, Jool?”
“Please, call me Julie. Everyone does,” she said. “Three hours ago, USARIC and the ASF responded to an alien entity in the Gulf of Mexico.”
“Have the subjects been quarantined?” Jaykay asked.
“You know, I wished Mr. Sheck had asked that when they arrived. You’re pretty smart.”
“Ha. Yeah, well, we’re not all simpletons in heavy armor, you know.”
“Hmm.”
Julie could have come out with a feisty retort, but chose not to. She turned her attention to Jonas approaching the door to the bay several feet down the corridor.
“Who gave you the order to provide over watch?” Julie asked Jaykay.
“Commander Brayn in Weapons & Armory. A direct order form Mr. Sheck himself.”
“That figures.”
Julie reached the door to Bay Seventy and turned to Jaykay and his men, “Listen, listen. Before you go in, could you please—”
“—We’ll take it from here, Jool,” Jaykay said.
Julie caught her breath and peered inside the bay. Jelly remained unconscious. Her left hind leg shuddered, indicating that she was asleep rather than completely under.
“Please, Jool. Step aside and let us do our job—”
“—No sudden movements,” she spat, hurriedly. “Just, please. Don’t frighten her.”
“Don’t worry. She won’t even know we’re there.”
Jaykay pushed past Julie and made his way into the room. The five mercenaries followed him in.
Nathan ran up to her in haste, “Are they in?”
“Yeah. It’s gotten to be quite the party in there.”
Nathan sniggered and entered the room.
Julie paused to breathe before she walked in and shut the door behind her.
She made her way to the E-MRI machine at the head of the gurney.
Jaykay and his team approached the beast lying on the bed, but before they could deliver their thoughts, Julie held her hand at a line by the wall.
“Please, guys. Stand in the yellow zone.”
Jaykay snapped his fingers and lowered his rifle, “You heard the woman. Do as she says.”
SCHOOOO — SHEEEEEEE.
Two defibrillator units pumped the oxygen along a thick wire that stretched all the way to Jelly’s gas mask.
&nb
sp; Only an hour ago, the mattress was long enough to contain the entire length of her body. Now, her giant feet hung off the edge of the bed.
Julie read the scan on the E-MRI and double-took, “My God.”
“What’s wrong?” Nathan asked.
Julie’s eyes widened as she inspected the foot of the gurney, “She’s grown.”
“Grown?”
Jaykay couldn’t help but get involved, “Excuse me. Julie?”
“What?”
He pointed at the resting creature, “What is this, uh, thing?”
“It’s not a thing. It’s a she. Do you remember the Star Cat Project from a few years ago?”
“What? That stupid contest to find a cat to go into space?”
“Uh-huh,” Julie quipped and ran her fingers over Jelly’s furry forehead, “This is her. She was the winner.”
“That’s Jelly Anderson?”
“Yes.”
“The famous one all over Viddy Media?”
“The very same.”
Nathan placed his hands on his hips and coughed loudly, “Well, we think it’s her. We’re reasonably certain, but it’s not confirmed yet..”
“Nah. That can’t be her,” Jaykay chuckled, along with his colleague, “She was a common house cat. There’s no way that can be Jelly Anderson, she’s—”
WVHUUUM.
The casters on the gurney shunted forward, causing everyone in the room - and even the machine, or so it seemed - to jump back with fright.
Biddip-biddip-biddip.
Jaykay and the five mercenaries aimed their rifles at the sleeping tiger. Her whiskers shimmied as fast as her eyelids.
“It moved,” Jaykay yelled. “It definitely moved.”
“Don’t raise your voice. You’ll wake her up,” Julie hushed.
She turned to Nathan and pointed at the wall cabinet.
“Prep the tranks, now. Get the T-Gun.”
“Tranks?” Jaykay asked.
“Tranquilizers.”
Nathan ran over to the cupboard and unhooked a tranquilizer gun from the rails.
“How much?”
As Julie ran alongside the gurney to calculate the dose required, she spotted the creases in the sheets slide around. Something underneath was very much alive.
Julie covered her mouth and looked down the length of Jelly’s body, “My G-God—”
“—Julie?” Nathan screamed, “Gimme a dosage.”
She thought on her feet and guessed on the dosage based on Jelly’s size.
Star Cat Forever: A Science Fiction & Fantasy Adventure (The Star Cat Series - Book 6) Page 9