Andrew Mackay - Infinity Claws

The door slid shut, sealing Androgyne in with the dead droid. “No, you can’t do this. Don’t leave me in here!”

Captain Katz, Tripp, Bonnie, Jaycee, and Haloo strapped themselves into their outer-skins, ready to disembark Space Opera Beta.

Bonnie held Jelly in her arms made a fuss of her. “Hey, gorgeous. Are you ready for an adventure of a lifetime?”

“Bonnie, stop talking weird to the cat, please,” Katz said, yanking the zip up to his helmet. “Let’s try to keep first physical contact with Alpha as professional as possible.”

Bonnie smirked and bounced Jelly around in her arms. She affected a cutesy voice, indirectly talking to Katz through the animal. “What’s that, Jelly? Yes, he is being a miserable old so-and-so, isn’t he?”

Katz looked up in horror at Bonnie, much to everyone else’s amusement. “Dr. Whitaker.”

“Don’t pay attention to the nasty man,” Bonnie continued, “He’s just unhappy that he can’t smoke in space.”

Katz gave as good as he got. He stroked the top of Jelly’s head and gave as good as he was getting. “What’s that, Jelly? Yes, that’s right. Bonnie is a feisty one with a chip on her shoulder, isn’t she?”

Jelly didn’t know which way to look. Her innocent eyes suggested she couldn’t stop the stupid feud between her colleagues.

‘Meow.’

Tripp, Jaycee and Haloo burst out laughing.

“And yes, she has got a chip on her shoulder,” Katz finished in his silly voice, eying Bonnie, “And she might be disciplined for insubordination. That’s right.”

“Okay, that’s enough,” Tripp folded down his visor. “You two can go get a room and turf it out once we’re done rescuing our friends.”

“Mmm, sounds like a challenge,” Bonnie licked her lips at Katz. “Wanna come back to my quarters and give me what for?”

“Not especially, no.”

Katz turned to Jaycee and was taken aback by just how tooled up he was. He clutched a K-SPARK machine gun in his arm and was decorated with grenades, flash bangs and tear gas.

Two Rez-9 mini-guns hung from his belt, along with what looked like a glowing machete in a holster next to his thigh. The cannons on both boots completed the look.

Katz finally opened his mouth. “Traveling light today, Jaycee?”

“Yeah, not much is worrying me on this one.”

“So I see.”

Katz flipped down his visor.

An array of digital messages zipped across his screen. The mouthpiece from his headset streak across his mouth. “Wool ar-Ban, Tor Klyce, this is Captain Daryl Katz. Can you read me?”

“Yes, captain,” Wool’s voice came through his visor.

“We are disembarking, now. Heading for Opera Alpha.”

“Understood.”

Tor and Wool stood in front of the communications deck at the front of the ship.

They watched the first airlock door open and allow the team inside. The door shut behind them and the lock decompressed.

“Captain, we have a bit of an issue with the comms link to Androgyne,” Tor flicked through some buttons on the deck.

“What is it?” Katz asked, turning to the outer door.

“We’ve lost communication. She must have hit a black spot.”

“Understood. We will establish contact once we reach Alpha.”

Jaycee turned to Jelly in Bonnie’s arms. “Why are we taking the cat on board?”

“She’s going to tell us what’s going on, hopefully.”

The outer airlock door slid open, revealing the bridge streaking across the infinite vacuum of space. Alpha loomed on the other end.

“Crossing now,” Katz said, leading the way. He grabbed the bridge railings and propelled himself forward. “Androgyne, Zillah? Can you read me?”

No response. Katz looked at the airlock door, hoping one of the two people on board Alpha would open it for them ahead of time. “I repeat, do you read us?”

“The patch is down, captain,” Tor’s voice came through the headset. “It should only be for a few minutes. If worse comes to the worse, just use your glove on the panel to get in. It shouldn’t be an issue. I’ll keep Beta outer lock door on standby in case anything untoward occurs.”

“Thanks, Tor,” Katz looked over his shoulder. Haloo, Tripp, Jaycee, and Bonnie followed behind. “Team, keep your wits about you when we board. Watch your six. Comms are going dark.”

Tripp gripped the bridge railing, fighting off the urge to marvel at Saturn. He needed to keep moving. “What’s happened?”

“They must have changed frequency. Tor thinks it might be a black spot.”

“Meow,” Jelly rolled around in Bonnie’s arms, wanting to be released.

“Ooh, no, Jelly. Not now, sweetie,” Bonnie said to her. “It’s not safe out here.”

Tripp reached Katz as he prepared to place his glove on the panel beside the airlock. “I hope they’re both okay in there.”

Androgyne banged on the control deck door with her fist, screaming for help. “Let me out of here!”

Zillah had her trapped inside the control deck. She had Opera Alpha’s complete flight deck to herself. She knew she could send a distress call, but didn’t how how it worked. Fortunately, she knew Manuel could assist her.

“Manuel?” she called out, fearing for her life.

The book appeared in front of her, banging its front and back flaps together. “Good after-morning, Androgyne. How can I be of assistance?”

“Get me out of here,” she heaved and tried to regulate her breathing.

“No, I don’t think so,” Manuel floated back and double-over itself. “You see, Miss Zillah has locked you in here for a reason.”

“What reason?”

“Something happened to our ship. I don’t know what happened, but the result was that everyone died.”

“Wh-what do you mean?”

Manuel vaporized into a thousand pieces of holographic molecules, rendering himself gone. “I have cut off all channels of communication to your crew. You are to remain here until they board.”

“No, no,” Androgyne panicked and held her mouthpiece steady, determined to make contact with her crew. “Captain Katz, do you read me? Do not board Alpha. I repeat, do not board Alpha. Something is wrong.”

The outer airlock door slid up, offering Katz, Tripp, Jaycee, Haloo, Bonnie, and Jelly into the airlock. They hadn’t received Androgyne’s message.

“Airlock closing,” Tripp yanked the lever, shutting the five of them inside. “Commence decompression.”

The red bulb inside the airlock spun around, signaling the decompression taking place.

Jaycee lifted his K-SPARK auto firearm and peered through the inner airlock door. He saw someone stare back at them.

“There’s someone there. I think it’s Captain Chin-Dunne.”

“Step aside, Jaycee,” Katz said, turning to Jaycee. “Let me do the introductions and pleasantries. When we’re in I want you and Tripp to establish surviving crew and escort them onto Beta. Take them to Medix and run a full health diagnostic.”

“Yes, captain.”

“Haloo?” Katz turned to her.

“Yes, Captain.”

“Keep it simple. I want a full report on Botanix. Zillah said something about distress. Let’s see how much we can salvage.”

“Yes, Captain.”

“Bonnie,” Katz turned to her and looked at Jelly. “You and I will update Zillah and introduce her to Anderson.”

“Okay.”

The inner airlock door opened. The silhouettes of the five Beta crew members bled across the ground, reaching the titanium shoes of their host.

Zillah Chin-Dunne.

It was as if nothing had happened. She seemed very happy to see them. Katz felt it strange that Androgyne wasn’t with her.

Katz stepped forward, ushering his crew toward their new friend.