Andrew Mackay - Infinity Claws

Bullet dug her claws into the fabric of the podium seat, poised.

“What’s she doing?” Fiorina asked herself, watching Bullet turn forty-five degrees to face Cindee. “She’s not playing.”

Cindee knocked the next shape into the correct hole and reward herself by laying down and licking her paws. It afforded her a perfect view of Bullet, who prepared to launch at her.

The two cats snarled at each other.

Cindee hopped back to her feet and crouched down, her internal alarm sounding off.

Bullet sprang from her podium and pounced onto Cindee, paw-first.

Cindee wailed and smacked Bullet across the face with her claws.

“Hey, wait, wait,” Gunnar said, “This isn’t on.”

Bullet fought back and dug her claws into Cindee’s stomach, pushing her onto her back.

The two tussled and try to tear into each other.

Jelly watched the tussle between her two rivals and accidentally knocked her circular plastic toy into the correct hole. The action took her by surprise.

Cindee and Bullet went at it, screeching and wailing, tumbling back and forth. The remainder of Cindee’s blocks flew off the activity bench.

“Someone stop them!” Emily stood up and shouted at the arena floor. “This is crazy.”

The handlers moved forward very cautiously, not wanting to alert the two feuding cats.

Then, twenty-seconds into the hissing, another whump noise blasted through the speakers.

Cindy and Bullet rolled away from each other and began to purr.

Jelly did the same and returned to sniff her blocks.

Bullet rolled around and stood upright, rubbing Cindee’s face with hers.

“Why are they behaving like this?” the man asked, looking around the ceiling of the arena. “And what’s that stupid noise?”

“I don’t know.” Jamie saw Cindee poke her nose around Bullet’s behind. She leapt from Cindee’s podium and back to her own.

Jelly knocked her fourth and final piece, the crescent, into the slot, quite by accident.

The entire console lit up, followed by a shower of orange sparks.

“I think we have a winner,” Gunnar said, pointing to the first podium. “Jelly Anderson.”

The crowd cheered as they watched Jelly’s face appear on the mega-screen.

“Wow!” Jamie said and clutched Emily’s arm. “Mom, Jelly won.”

“I know.” Emily wasn’t as over-the-moon as her son, though. The hissing noise swam around the arena walls, making her uneasy. “I don’t quite believe it.”

Jelly walked around the podium, displaying her tail to the audience. It was as if she knew she’d won something .

Twenty-six seconds into the noise, another whump sounded off. Jelly looked up and screamed at the ceiling.

Cindee and Bullet turned to each other, angrily, ready for war once again.

“No, no, no,” Gunnar said to the two cats, “Not again.”

Cindee and Bullet propelled themselves forward and jumped into the air.

Their bodies collided in mid-air. They squealed as they pawed away and landed onto Jelly’s activity desk.

Jelly back up and watched the two tear themselves apart.

“No. Cindee!” Fiorina stood up and begged the handlers to intervene. They were too far away to hear her, however. “Please make them stop!”

Jelly trundled around the fighting duo, analyzing the situation. She waited for an opportune moment to strike.

She sat up straight and meowed at the top of her lungs. Cindee and Bullet turned to the side and shot Jelly a look of confusion.

Jelly ran her tongue over her teeth and let out a very low howl.

Bullet pushed Cindee away and jumped back to her feet. Cindee rolled over her side and sat on the corner of the console.

Jelly growled once again, telling the pair off. At least, that’s what it looked like on the giant screen. Two disobedient and unruly pets brought to task by their victor.

“The judges’ decision is in,” Gunnar said to the audience, “The winner is… Jelly Anderson!”

The crowd exploded with delight.

Fiorina burst into tears.

“That’s not fair,” she said, turning to the man sitting in the row behind her. “Your cat ruined Cindee’s chances.”

“It wasn’t my fault,” the man said, himself trying not to cry at Bullet’s strange behavior.

“Hey, stop it,” Jamie said to the pair. He turned his attention to the inconsolable girl in front of him. “Please don’t cry.”

“Cindee lost,” she snorted through her tears and pointed at the screen. “Jelly won. It’s not fair.”

“Yeah.” Jamie looked at Jelly’s face on the screen. She had won, and there was no doubt that she knew.

Her vital stats appeared on the screen.

Gunnar approached Jelly and lifted her into his arms. “Jelly Anderson, you’re through to the finals. Next month, at Cape Claudius.”

Jamie and Emily quite rightfully should have joined the elation coming from the audience in the arena, but they were more concerned about Jelly’s response to the fight.

And what the future now held for her.

Emily and Jamie sat at the front of the transatlantic flight in first class. It was an experience neither of them could have foreseen happening in their lifetimes.

Citizens of the United Kingdom rarely, if ever, were in receipt of such luxuries. Much like the rest of the confederate states of Europe.

Jamie remembered his father telling him about their ancestors being able to travel freely from country to country. Many made it a hobby. Jamie’s great-great-grandfather boasted about his conquests at the turn of the twenty-first century. He’d managed to travel the world with relative freedom and blow all his wealth on alcohol and women.

And it was just as well, too.

If he hadn’t have been so reckless with money, he wouldn’t have met his future wife who would go on to give birth to Jamie’s grandfather.

Now, with much of planet Earth’s natural resources close to nothing, and with the weather’s increasingly erratic temperament, commercial airliners operated one or two flights a week.

Oh, how wonderful it must have been to be alive at the turn of the twenty-first century, Jamie wondered. But this lucky little boy would be the only one among his friends to have ever flown among the clouds and visit another country outside of what used to be known as Europe.

Sure, he’d seen America before in virtual reality. But nothing could compare to actually going there.

Jelly Anderson had won the UK heats in the Star Cat Project Trials. They were on their way to Cape Claudius in South Texas for the international finals in two days’ time.

Jelly wasn’t able to enjoy the flight’s first class luxuries that USARIC had laid on for the owners. She was ensconced in the fuselage along with all the other animals.

The standard six month quarantine had been expedited to just six days for Jelly Anderson.

“Mom?”

“Yes, poppet?” Emily asked, enjoying the comfort of her reclining first class seat and taking a sip from her champagne.

“What happens if Jelly wins?”

“Wins the Star Cat Trials?”

“Yes.”

“They’ll send her into space.”

“But, why?”

“They won’t tell us why. I think USARIC just want to be the first to put a cat in space.”

Jamie mulled over his mother’s response. “But why would you want to be a cat in space, mom?”

“I really don’t know, poppet. But they pay a lot of money,” Emily took a mouthful of champagne and swished it around her mouth. “And, anyway, Jelly will be perfectly safe. They’ve been sending people to the moon and other planets for over a hundred years, now.”

“Yes, but they are all human people.”

“Exactly. So a little cat shouldn’t be too much of a problem, right?”