Andrew Mackay - Infinity Claws

Tripp chuckled to himself. “I was just about to explain to young Jamie, here, how the thrusters work.”

“Ah, the thrusters,” Katz put his glasses back on and looked at the fat-end of the ship. “Gaseous core nuclear engines. Powerful stuff, but the ol’ girl gets the job done, don’t it?”

“What is gassy binocular ?” Jamie asked, unsure if he’d heard the man correctly.

“Nuclear engines, Jamie,” Katz banged the side of the vessel. “Kinda like tiny nuclear bombs that get thrown out the back and blast the spaceship to where it needs to go.”

“Wow,” Jamie blinked at the captain. “Sounds powerful.”

“It sure is,” Katz walked along the corridor and waved his hands. “The bombs create a ripple in the fabric of space and Opera Beta can surf on them to get where it needs to go much faster.”

“Yeah,” Jamie nodded, enacting the thoughtful scientist he’d want to become. “Surfing is cool.”

“Cool? It’s positively chilling , young man,” Katz chuckled at the child’s wonder at the information. “Speaking of which, the whole outside of the ship is made of ceramic. The heat shields are made of it, too, to protect the crew.”

“What is that?” Jamie asked, “Ceramic?”

“It’s kinda like what your dinner plates are made from. You know when you take your dinner out of the microwave, and the plate isn’t as hot as the food?”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, like that. All the older spaceships didn’t have it, and the people inside got very hot. But the clever scientists at USARIC figured out a way to modify its structure. It’s lightweight and heat retardant, and works well.”

Jamie sniggered to himself, hoping not to get caught.

“What’s so funny, young man?”

“Nothing,” Jamie wiped his mouth and tried to stop laughing.

“Naw, c’mon,” Katz said. “Spit it out?”

“You said retard .”

“Eh?”

Katz looked at Tripp for answer. All he got was an “I dunno” shrug of the shoulders.

“Did I say that?”

Tripp pushed through to the next point of interest.

“Aww, no,” Katz finally caught on, “I said retardant, not retard . Though, I guess they mean the same thing…”

The door to the armory slid open.

Jaycee, dressed in his threatening exo-suit, inspected a variety of weapons.

“Ah, Jaycee,” Katz said, “We have a guest. Thought you’d like to meet them?”

Jaycee stood up from the bench and lowered the machine gun in his hands. As he stepped forward, the room rumbled back and forth under his heavy mechanical suit and footwear.

He saluted Jamie and smiled at his mother. “Yes.”

“Jamie, this is Jaycee Nayall,” Katz tapped Tripp on the back, “He’s in charge of the armory on the spaceship. I’m afraid I have to go and run some last-minute checks. I’ll leave you in the company of my second-in-command.”

“Bye, sir.”

Katz winked at him and pointed at Jelly’s cage on the way out. “Cute cat, by the way. Looking forward to working with her.”

Tripp looked up at Jaycee and made some small talk. “Jaycee? Wanna tell the kid about yourself?”

“Sure,” Jaycee slung the machine gun over his shoulder and pulled out a pistol. “This here is the Rez-9.” He dropped the clip into his palm, satisfied that the chamber was empty.

“Here, wanna hold it?”

“Okay.”

Emily watched her son take the gun in his hand and aim it at the lockers on the wall.

“Careful where you point that thing, Poppet,” Emily turned to Jaycee. “Sorry, we don’t have guns back home.”

“I know,” Jaycee sniggered, “And look where that’s gotten you.”

Emily ignored his pithy remark and turned her head.

“Bang,” Jamie pretended to shoot the locker door, having the time of his life. “Wow, I love this. Can I keep it?”

“Oh, no, no,” Jaycee grabbed the gun from out of his hands and slipped it back into his belt. “It’s not a toy, it’s very dangerous. It’ll disintegrate every molecule in your body if you’re not careful.”

Tripp snapped out of his daydream and saw that Emily wasn’t impressed with the armory.

“Hey, thanks, Jaycee,” he said. “I think we’ll move on, now. Time is of the essence.”

“Any time.”

“Follow me,” Tripp pressed his palm against the panel on the wall. The door slid open, allowing him and Emily through.

Jamie approached the door and turned back to look at Jaycee. He placed his left boot on the workbench and tied his shoelaces.

“He looks really sad,” Jamie muttered.

“So, this is the main passageway that connects all the different areas of the ship. We call it the hub?”

Tripp pointed at various protrusions coming from the corridor walls.

Pipework.

Fuse boxes.

Connected strip lights that shot into the foreground, illuminating the shiny linoleum-esque flooring.

“What is a hub?” Jamie asked.

“It’s like a central point for people to meet. No point showing you that as it’s just a big meeting room. Pretty boring.”

Tripp turned a corner and made his way to the medical facility.

“Okay, this one is cool,” Tripp approached the door. “This is Wool’s office. You remember her, right?”

“Yes, the brown lady?”

“Yeah,” Tripp spat. “The brown lady. Jelly’s new carer.”

The three of them made their way into the area.

“It’s like a hospital in here,” Emily said, sniffing around.

“Welcome to Medix,” Tripp looked around the tables and beds for his colleague. “USARIC has some of the highest-trained medicians on the planet. Wool is the best one we have.”

He moved forward and looked over at her computer desk. “Wool, are you here?”

Jamie was fascinated by the beds. One in particular, a much smaller structure, sat at the far end of the room. A drip lay next to it, along with a small monitor on a metal tray.

“This looks like an animal bed?” Jamie said. “It’s too small for a person.”

“Yes,” a familiar voice came from behind Jamie. “It’s exclusively for Jelly.”

Wool ar-Ban approached the trio with a great big smile.

“Hi, Wool,” Jamie said.

“Hey, Jamie,” she said, “Hello Ms Anderson.”

“Hi.”

“Before we go on, I’d like to apologize for what happened yesterday,” Wool said, shaking Emily’s hand. “It was very unfortunate, but I can assure you that it’s not symptomatic of USARIC’s usual handling of things.”

“That’s okay,” Emily said, “It’s not for my benefit. It’s for my son. He loves space and spaceships and stuff like that.”

“Yes, so I hear,” Wool smiled at Jamie and held out her hands. “So, this is my area of the ship.”

Jamie looked around, impressed. “You’re a doctor?”

“No, I’m a medician.”

“You do magic tricks and stuff?”

“No, not a magician. I’m a medician.”

“What is that?”

“I’m a veterinarian and general practitioner for human beings.”

“Why are you brown?” Jamie asked in his infinite naivety. “Are you Indian?”

Wool burst out laughing and shook her head. “Gosh, no. Whatever makes you think that?”

“You’ve got brown skin like an Indian.”

“No, I’m half Iranian,” Wool said in her perfect American accent. “My father was Iranian and my mother was American. And you’re English, right?”

“Yes.”

“And where’s your father?”

Jamie shrugged his shoulders and lifted Jelly’s case into the air. “He’s in heaven, now.”

Emily looked away from Wool and bit her lip. Her son’s somewhat emotionless remark hit her right in the gut. It wasn’t the woman’s fault she’s asked such an unfortunate question.