Эндрю Маккей: Star Cat: War Mage

Alex caught his action just in time and pointed behind her, “Jelly. Behind you.”

“What?”

FWUMP!

Oxade bolted across the bridge and socked Jelly in the face. Her jaw opened, releasing her newborn into space, and away from the bridge.

“There’s a good girl ,” Oxade shouted under his mask, “Let daddy pass.”

“Jeez,” Alex placed the sole of his boot on the railing. He pushed himself after the flying kitten as it headed away from the bridge. He just about caught her in his hands.

Jelly massaged her jaw, taken aback by the attack. She flung her claws out at Oxade. Her eyes felt fit to burst in the airless void.

Tripp and Jaycee reached Opera Charlie’s outer airlock door. They hadn’t seen the commotion – their attention was on Charlie’s outer airlock hatch.

“Open up,” Tripp said with his last breath, “Now.”

A miracle.

Opera Charlie’s outer hatch opened up and allowed him and Jaycee inside. They pulled themselves in and immediately felt the pressure inside, as if their bodies were about to burst.

“Get in,” Tripp pushed himself against the chamber and turned to Alex. A few blobs of pink liquid streaked across the air from Tripp’s tear ducts. He tried to grab a few of them, but missed.

Jaycee moved forward and hit the lever on the wall.

SCHWUNT-SWISSSH!

The outer hatch closed, forcing the chamber to decompress.

Tripp staggered to his knees and took a lungful of oxygen, “Gaaaah.”

Jaycee did the same, coughing the infinite void of space from his lungs, “Ugh, I thought my chest was going to explode.”

“Jelly,” Tripp pushed himself to the window. Alex blocked the view as he carried the kitten in his arms, “They’re going to die.”

Alex waved his hands, forcing them to open the door. The events on the bridge – Alex barreled toward them, and Jelly preparing to attack Oxade – seemed to play-out in ultra-slow motion.

WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP.

Alex thumped the door, “Let us in.”

Jaycee stormed over to the inner-door and grabbed the lever.

The door slid up, “Tripp, get in.”

“Yeah,” he turned around and launched himself into Opera Charlie proper, “Is there anyone else on board?”

“How should I know?” Jaycee stepped after him and yanked the lever down on the inner door wall, “You got your firearm on you?”

Tripp unhooked the Rez-9 from his belt and armed it, “Oh, yeah. We made it, Jaycee.”

“We haven’t made it, yet . We don’t know who – or what – is on board Charlie.”

“I’ll head for the control deck. Try to get us out of here.”

“Good idea. I’ll make sure Charlie team doesn’t get in,” Jaycee turned watched Alex thumping the wall yet again, presenting the kitten at the window, “Go, go, go…”

“Okay,” Tripp looked around and ran off in the direction he thought would take him to the control deck.

Jaycee hit the second lever, opening the outer airlock door.

Alex pushed the newborn kitten into the airlock and followed her in, giving Jaycee the ‘thumbs up’ through the window.

His jaw dropped as he turned to the blinding-white bridge. Saturn’s rings gyrated faster and faster. A liquid circle formed over its surface. It appeared to sing as it enveloped the two ships with a brilliant white light.

“My G-God …”

SCHWUMP.

Alex couldn’t believe his eyes. A wondrous event was in full swing. He caught the newborn in his arms as the decompression thundered around them, “What’s happening up there?”

Jaycee yanked the second lever down and opened the inner door, “Give me the baby.”

Alex bolted through the door and passed the kitten to Jaycee, “Something insane is happening up there.”

“I know. We saw it,” Jaycee inspected the kitten. She’d bled a little form her facial orifices but was still breathing, “We need to protect Anderson’s baby.”

“What about Jelly?” Alex pointed at the door.

Oxade and Jelly faced-off in the middle of the bridge. He aimed his gun at her and threatened to shoot, “My name is Oxade Weller. I am the captain of Opera Charlie,” he said before realizing Jelly couldn’t hear a word. She could see he was speaking through his mask, but little else.

Nutrene sidled past him on the bridge with her Rez-9 drawn. Her monocle rotated and focused on Jelly, “Let me take care of this putrid ball of fluff.”

Jelly lowered her claws and huffed. The absence of atmosphere began to crack the fur and skin on her arms. She harnessed the pain and used it to psyche herself up, ready for war.

“It’s very pretty out here, isn’t it?” Nutrene looked up at the angry blue planet spinning its rings. She pointed her gun at Jelly’s heart, “Now surrender. You’re a perversion of science.”

Jelly whined. Her muscles tensed up as she held her claws out in surrender.

“Good girl,” Nutrene laughed through her mask, “Who’s a good girl? Yes, you are ,” she pulled herself along the bridge with her free arm, “Come here for a murdering, you fluffy little—”

SCHWUPP!

Nutrene’s gun lifted away from her palm and shot up to Saturn’s spinning rings, “Huh?”

She grabbed at it – to no success. The gun sped at that bizarre circular formation smothering Saturn’s surface.

Nutrene made the mistake of looking up at the spectacle, “Oh, m-my,” Her monocle swirled around, focusing on her gun drifting towards the planet, “ It is God !”

“Meow,” Jelly snarled and swiped her claws across Nutrene’s face. Her mask burst apart. The lens in her monocle cracked.

The gelatin frontage sucked into her face and blasted three perfect streams of gas towards Saturn, depriving the woman of oxygen.

“H-Help m-me…”

Nutrene let go of the rails. The pull from Saturn yanked her eyeball through her broken monocle, forcing her head away from the bridge. Her chest cracked out and made its way towards the blackened surface of Saturn as she suffocated to death.

“Aaggghhhh…” Nutrene’s suit tore open and punched a hole in her torso. Her organs plumed out and stretched away from her body.

“Oh God,” Oxade raced forward and kicked himself down to his back. He spun around on his side and watched what little remained of Nutrene fold out.

The bones in her body crunched together and threw her remains at Saturn like a stretched piece of chewing gum.

Jelly’s hair began to lift toward the cataclysmic black event on Saturn, “Miew.”

She turned around and held onto the bridge railing and yanked herself toward Opera Charlie.

“Oh, God, Nutrene.”

He witnessed the bottom half of her body, and legs, stretch over thousands of miles and melt into the fantastic light show above his head. Her monocle elongated as her messy amalgam of bone, flesh and skin snaked toward the angry planet.

Oxade felt his feet drift up and away from the bridge, “Come back here,” he screamed, pulling himself toward Jelly.

Poz and Neg peeked out from Opera Beta’s outer airlock hatch and scanned the bridge, “Seems stable enough.”

“Yes, but what about that black hole?” Neg tilted her eyebulbs directly above their heads.

“We can make it,” Poz said. “I don’t want to die on this crappy spaceship.”

“Okay, let’s go,” Neg rolled across the bridge at speed, headed toward Oxade and Jelly.

Oxade clung to the bridge and felt his shin bones crack apart, “Oh, oh…”

Jelly spun around and slammed the outer airlock door, “Let me in.”

Alex hit the lever on the wall. The hatch flew up and let Jelly into the decompression chamber. She tumbled backwards and hit her tail on the wall, “Mieewww.”