Star Cat Forever: A Science Fiction & Fantasy Adventure (The Star Cat Series - Book 6)

by Andrew Mackay

  Jamie unscrewed the plastic lid and held his nose to the wet hole.

  “Gas?”

  Noyin unscrewed his jerry can and chucked the contents over the console, “You might wanna stand back, my friend.”

  SPLOSH — SPLASH.

  A sharp pang of fear throttled Jamie’s stomach, “My God, what do you think you’re—”

  “—Da-da-da-dumm,” Noyin hummed the classic Beethoven symphony to himself as he liberally sprayed the console with gasoline. He winked at Jamie and licked his teeth, thrusting his singing into a direct jibe at the boy, “Da-da-da-DUMB.”

  Specks of liquid hit Leesa’s face.

  Jamie reached down and helped her to her feet.

  “Stop it,” she wailed, “Stop doing that.”

  Noyin stopped for a second and pretended to consider her offer, “Hmm. I have an idea.”

  Leesa wiped her tears from her cheeks, “Wh-what?”

  “How about NO?” Noyin screamed with delight and returned to emptying his can all over his console chair, “Haha.”

  SPLISH — SPLASH — DRIP-DRIP.

  He swung the empty can over his head, “Ah, damn. I’ve run out.”

  CLAAANNNGG.

  Jamie and Leesa yelped as the metal tin crashed against the door.

  “See that can there, Anderson?”

  Jamie blinked and shook his head, “Huh?”

  “Pick it up and take it to the holoscope.”

  “Wha—”

  “—I SAID GO AND EMPTY THE DAMN THING ON THE HOLOSCOPE.”

  Noyin stepped forward and growled in the children’s faces.

  Leesa wailed once again, frightened for her life.

  “Okay, o-okay,” Jamie muttered and lifted the jerry can off the floor. “I’ll do it. Whatever you say, Noyin.”

  RUMBLE.

  The ground began to quake as Jamie carried the can over to the holoscope. He squeezed Leesa’s hand as hard as he could.

  “It’s okay.”

  “It’s not okay, Jamie,” she bawled, “They’re going to kill us.”

  “We need to do as he says. If we don’t we’re in trouble.”

  Leesa squealed to herself, wrought with fear. The fluorescent light from the ceiling dome bounced off the metal and lit her face from underneath.

  “Leesa. Don’t give that bastard the satisfaction of knowing that you’re scared.”

  “I am scared, Jamie.”

  “I know. So am I. But don’t show it. It’ll just make things worse.”

  “Hey,” Noyin shouted at the pair from the far end of the arena, “Stop stalling and get moving.”

  Jamie and Leesa turned to Noyin as he unfastened the cap on the third jerry can.

  A heavy light crept up and along the side cracks of the door as the rumbling came to a halt.

  Noyin flung the contents of the can over the compartment and turned to soak the central table with the remainder of the gasoline.

  Jamie held his own can in both hands and approached the holoscope visor.

  “Fine, whatever you say. Asshole.”

  Jamie chucked the gasoline over the holoscope visor, the chair, and the control bank.

  “Well done, Anderson,” Noyin shouted as he launched the empty can at the gasoline-drenched communications console.

  SCHA-KLAAAANNGG.

  Noyin rubbed his hands and ran to the door, “Aha. Our friend is here.”

  Jamie watched Noyin yank the door lever down, then averted his eyes to Santara, who stood still a few feet away.

  He had an idea.

  “Leesa?” he whispered

  “Wh-what?”

  She swallowed hard, hoping he had a plan of action, “What are you going to do?”

  WHIIIRRRRR.

  Jamie lifted the quarter-full jerry can and kept an eye on the door as it slid open.

  “Stand back,” Jamie whispered to Leesa.

  She obliged him and backed up to the central table.

  Noyin rubbed his hands together with anticipation as he watched the door lift up on its rails.

  A pair of black boots came into view illuminated by two headlights from behind.

  Jamie splashed the last of the gasoline over Santara’s face and chest.

  Beep-beep.

  Her head twitched to the left unexpectedly. Two red dots glowed in her eye sockets.

  Leesa held her breath as Jamie dropped the jerry can to the floor, “What are you—”

  “—Hey, Keller. You made it,” Noyin said to the man behind the door.

  Dressed in his official IRI fatigues, Keller walked forward and took a puff on his cigar.

  “I sure did,” he grunted as he walked into the arena.

  Sniff-sniff.

  “This place stinks of gas.”

  “Yeah-huh,” Noyin waved Keller in with his Uzi. “All ready to rock and roll, as they used to say back in the good ol’ days.”

  Keller look impressed.

  Jamie and Leesa held each other’s hands, wondering just what was going to happen next.

  Keller removed his cigar and spat the sticky papers on the floor, “Is this them?”

  “Yeah,” Noyin said.

  “Where’s the other one? You said there were three?”

  “Ah,” Noyin frowned, “Nah, the Misfit. Yeah, they took him with.”

  “Took him with?”

  “I couldn’t stop them.”

  “The agreement was that we’d have three.”

  “What was I supposed to do?” Noyin huffed. “Say ‘Sorry, can you leave the Russian kid here because we need them all taken away to be held to ransom’?”

  “Don’t get funny with me, Odrassa. It doesn’t suit you.”

  Jamie mouthed with confusion. “Who’s Odrassa?”

  He closed his lips as Keller glanced at him.

  “Well, well, well,” he said as he stepped over to the console and ran his finger over the wet keyboard, “If it isn’t Jamie Anderson standing before me with a compliance unit around his stupid, fat neck.”

  “Who are you?” Jamie asked.

  Keller sniffed the goop on his finger and flung the droplet of gasoline at the console.

  “Who am I? My name is Keller. Where are you manners, young man?”

  The 4x4’s tail pipe pushed a thick smog of fumes into the dome.

  Keller pointed at Leesa and ran his hand along his belt to reveal a gun strapped to his braces.

  “The people who kidnapped you and your friend, here, have made a very grave error. I’m here to rectify that error.”

  The five twelve-foot PAWZ forklifts lining the wall caught Keller’s attention as he spoke, “What are these?”

  “Ha,” Noyin chuckled. “Some trite attempt to get those stupid cats to fight their dumb little war.”

  Twelve compartments lined the limbs, chest, waist and head. Miniature controls at the front of each section designed to hold small operators.

  Keller marveled at the construction of the first unit.

  “How very ironic,” he said. “They’re against genetic engineering, yet that’s exactly what they’ve done. Hypocrites.”

  Keller joked at Noyin, “It’s a shame, really. They should have come to work with us.”

  “Yeah, really,” Noyin chuckled.

  Keller pointed at the five units, “Are they operational?”

  “Of course,” Noyin said. “RAGE may be a bunch of misguided assholes, but they know their way around machinery. You can bet your bottom dollar on that.”

  “It’d be a shame to waste them,” Noyin said. “Move them into my vehicle. I’m sure Maar can find some use for them when his furry feline subjects are returned to him.”

  Noyin raced over to the first unit and unhooked the wired controller from PAWZ-1’s arm.

  BWEEEEEEZE.

  The machine lit up and straightened itself.

  “Keller?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Move out of its way, please.”

  “Oh. Sorry.”

&nb
sp; Keller approached the table and cleared the path for PAWZ-1 to stomp its way toward the back of Keller’s van.

  STOMP — STOMP — STOMP.

  The ultra-heavy piece of machinery slammed its feet over to the door, rocking the central table and the knife on top of it.

  “Whoa,” Keller marveled at the enormity of the machine, “That’s some serious mech, right there.”

  PAWZ-1 reached the back of the van, pressed its arms on the end, and lifted itself inside.

  “Can your vehicle take the weight?” Noyin asked.

  “Reinforced suspension. Sure, it’ll be fine.”

  Keller looked from the back of his van and back at Jamie as Noyin used his controller to move the second PAWZ unit over to the door.

  “Hey, Jamie.”

  “Only my friends and my family call me Jamie,” he spat. “You’re neither, asshole.”

  “That wasn’t a very nice thing to say. Anderson.”

  Keller flicked the ash from his cigar onto the floor and returned it to his mouth for a deep, long puff.

  “You know what happened to the last person who threatened me?”

  “I don’t care.”

  “I blew up her Misfit mother’s ship. Incinerated all her scumbag friends, as well.”

  Leesa stared wide-eyed at the man, beyond terror, and far beyond emotion. Keller sniggered and tried to ignore the stomps of the giant forklift behind him.

  “What the hell are you looking at, you little moron?”

  “I dunno,” she muttered. “A really nasty piece of work?”

  “Haha. Yeah, I get that a lot. It’s never easy being the one everyone hates, you know. You’d expect some sympathy, what with having to coordinate the mass exodus of millions of illegal Misfits from our glorious land. But, no. Always the bad guy.”

  Keller sniffed and clapped eyes on the svelte android standing a few feet away from the kids.

  “Who’s that?”

  “We don’t know.”

  “Looks like a Series Three to me,” Keller said.

  He folded his arms and puffed on his cigar as he approached her and analyzed her synthetic and lifeless visage.

  “Creepy-looking mare, isn’t she?”

  He blew a lungful of smoke in her face. The thick smog spread the glow from her red eye bulbs a few inches in front of her face.

  “Where did you get her from? She must have been expensive.”

  “It’s not ours,” Jamie said.

  “A Series Three Androgyne at a cost price of two million dollars, and she’s not yours? Come, now, Anderson. If you have one of them here that means someone else doesn’t.”

  “It’s the truth. I don’t know where they got her from.”

  Santara stared dead ahead and into Keller’s eyes.

  “Standby,” he said. “Androgyne. A-W-A-K-E. Four, five, seven.”

  Click-click.

  He snapped his fingers and waved his cigar in front of her face.

  “Oh, God,” Jamie huffed and held Leesa back, hoping the ash wouldn’t set Santara ablaze.

  Keller was less than impressed by the woman standing before him.

  “Huh. Stupid piece of machinery. Nothing but an obsolete heap of junk,” Keller said. “You should see Kozhikode, the next series of death droid we’re unveiling at The One Arena in a few days’ time. It would kick ten bells of hell out of her—”

  “—Okay, that’s all five of them loaded,” Noyin hollered at Keller from the giant door. “We’d better make tracks, now, if we want to get to R&D on time. It’s an hour’s drive.”

  “Is the place empty?” Keller asked.

  “Dry as a bone.”

  Keller knocked Santara’s shoulder with his fist. She wobbled to and fro, keeping perfectly upright.

  “What about this worthless piece of crap?”

  “Ah, who cares? It can stay here and go up with the rest of the garbage in here.”

  “Excellent.”

  Keller turned around and knocked Jamie’s DecapiDisc with his knuckle.

  “Okay, here’s what’s happening next.”

  Jamie and Leesa braced themselves for some seriously worrying news.

  “Why, Noyin?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why turn on your friends?”

  “Ah, right,” the man chuckled. “The reason why anyone would. Self-preservation.”

  “Huh?”

  “Money, Anderson. Shortly after we busted those critters out of USARIC’s compound, Maar Sheck made me an offer. I took it.”

  Jamie scowled at the man and squeezed Leesa’s hand for comfort, “I hope it was worth it.”

  “What? Like a quarter of a million dollars? Huh? Is that the price of friendship, Anderson? Or does it only apply to creatures with tails?”

  Jamie couldn’t respond. He was just as guilty of allowing a friend to turn into a monster for a considerable amount of cash as Noyin was.

  “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Don’t lecture me on loyalty, you little hypocrite.”

  Noyin rubbed his hands together and changed the subject.

  “Okay, here’s what’s happening. Keller and I taking you to USARIC R&D at Port D’Souza. We know your friends are planning an attack. Perhaps they’ll think twice when they know we will take your pretty, little heads off if they get in our way.”

  A cloud of regret tugged at Jamie’s heart strings. The pain was unbearable and shoved him into a frenzied state of anger.

  “Tell me something, Noyin.”

  “Sure, Anderson. Ask away.”

  “That thing that fell out of the sky. You’ve found it, haven’t you?”

  Keller nodded nonchalantly and puffed on his cigar, “Uh huh.”

  “What was in it?”

  Keller burst out laughing, “Oh, Jamie fricken Anderson. Don’t act dumb with me—”

  “—If we’re going to die, I want to know what you found,” Jamie said. “Was it her?”

  Keller just looked at the boy’s face and let him answer his own question.

  Jamie tried again, “It’s her, isn’t it? She’s back.”

  Keller frowned and took pity on the boy.

  “Okay, yes. You may as well find out from me, Jamie. It’s her. She’s brought two of her friends along for the ride.”

  The weight of the DecapiDisc vanished in an instant. The entire arena lit up like a bright, golden Christmas tree. Finally, there was some hope in Jamie’s life.

  He couldn’t help but grin like a monster.

  “I knew it. I knew it.”

  “Yeah,” Keller said. “Believe me, there’s nothing we want more than to have the pair of you reunited.”

  Jamie released Leesa’s hand and punched the air, “Yes.”

  “Shall we go?”

  “Take me to her.”

  Keller squinted at Leesa, who wasn’t as ecstatic about the news. He faced Jamie and grinned, “That’s the spirit, young man.”

  Keller ushered Jamie and Leesa toward the door, and took one, final look at Santara.

  “Sweet dreams, you outmoded lump of plastic.”

  He tossed his cigar inside the holoscope.

  WVHOOOOOOM.

  The circular room burst into flames as he and the kids exited the building with Noyin.

  CHAPTER TEN

  USARIC Research & Development Institute

  — Port D’Souza —

  Maar, Brayn, and two USARIC mercenaries looked at the sky from the helicopter landing pad.

  WHUDDA — WHUDDA — WHUDDA.

  The blades from the twin-propellers thundered around them and blew creases into their suits.

  “About damn time. Where was he when you found him?” Maar shouted over the deafening sound of the helicopter as it landed.

  “Somewhere in limey land, hunting down Anderson’s mother,” Brayn yelled.

  He raced over to the helicopter as it settled onto the ground. The side door slid open and released a silver-haired man in a suit.

  “Santiago Sibald?
”

  “Yes,” he yelled over the cacophonous noise of the blades, “Yes. Are you Brayn?”

  “I am. This way, please.”

  Santiago hopped onto the landing pad and held the ends of his jacket together to prevent them from blowing out.

  “Maar?”

  “Yeah, over here.”

  He took Santiago’s right hand in his own and gave it a thoroughly hard shake.

  “Where is she?” Santiago roared over the noise of the helicopter.

  “She’s inside. Come, follow me.”

  ***

  Maar and Brayn sprinted across the R&D gantry, overlooking the droid construction area.

  Santiago walked behind the two men, excited at the prospect of his Individmedia exclusive.

  “How’s she holding up?”

  “She’s alive,” Maar explained. “She damn near wrecked the place when she woke up. Our lead medician, Julie, has managed to put measures in place to keep her from lashing out. So it’s perfectly safe.”

  “Good, good,” Santiago said as he watched a twenty-foot metal endoskeleton being wheeled into a compartment in the adjacent wall several feet below the walkway.

  “What’s this?”

  Maar stopped and sneered at the hold-up, “What’s what?”

  “That.”

  Santiago pointed at the skeletal monstrosity nestling in the tomb-like cavern in the wall.

  SWISH — SCHWUNT.

  “The Processor. New armor for all USARIC’s weaponized droids,” Maar explained. “A carbon-based compound based on Lexan technology.”

  “Looks serious,” Santiago said.

  “The technology is incredible.”

  “Which company?”

  “Some Indian outfit. They really know their way around mech, and they’re a third of Manning’s price.”

  WHIRRRR.

  The arms inside The Processor bolted a box-shaped helmet to the droid, completing its hellish look.

  “Bullet-proof to a fault,” Maar said with pride. “Absolutely unstoppable. Hell, it’s essentially God-proof. The perfect finishing touch to the Series Four amendment.”

  “What amendment is that?”

  “The original Fours were based on magnetic tech. You couldn’t so much as touch them without getting yourself injured. It was a good idea in theory, but much too impractical. A shame, really, because they were very effective, otherwise.”