Andrew Mackay - Infinity Claws

“Yes, but everyone else will die, too.”

“Ugh,” Tor went silent for a few moments. Androgyne heard him scream at the top of his lungs. “God damn it, you will do as I say.”

“No,” Androgyne bit her lip and went to close the housing back to her forearm. “I will not murder my crew—”

“—You’re not human. You do know that, don’t you?” Tor’s voice shot through her earpiece, piercing her brain. “You’re just a worthless, antiquated piece of metal.”

She moved her fingers away from the housing and extended her forefinger and middle finger. “No, I’m n-not.”

“You’re the second-least intelligent life aboard the Alpha, behind that stupid cat.”

She nodded and blurted. Tor’s psychology was working wonders with her. “Repeat after me, Androgyne.”

“Repeat after me, Androgyne,” she recited, succumbing to Tor’s command.

“I am worthless…”

“I… am… worthless…”

“—Good,” Tor’s voice perked up, “And I will sacrifice myself because it’s the noblest thing to do.”

“… and I will sacrifice myself, b-because it’s the noblest thing to do.”

“Do it. Hold down the two buttons.”

She pressed the buttons down and kept them held. “Please, forgive me for what I’m about to do.”

“I never told you to say that,” Tor barked through her ear piece. “Just do as you’re told, you useless piece of scrap metal.”

Beep-beep.

“Self-destruct activated,” announced the mechanism on her arm. “Two minutes until detonation.”

Androgyne rose out of her chair, looking very sorry for herself.

“Well done, girl. You’ve just saved us from the bad guys. Now, go and sprawl over the flight deck. Maximize your damage to the Alpha’s mainframe, my beautiful walking and talking time bomb.

Androgyne looked at the central control deck and walked over to it. She stopped a couple of footsteps away and looked at the flashing lights and levers.

Tor continued to speak into her ear. “Cover the control deck with your body.”

Her forearm beeped quicker and quicker. She obliged her tormentor, held out her hands and took one last look at Saturn.

“Close your eyes,” Tor whispered.

The planet faded from sight as she closed her eyes. She topple forward and fell, chest-first, arms outstretched, across the flight deck.

“Nighty-night, princess.”

Back at Alpha’s airlock, Jaycee pushed Katz out of the way and lifted his K-SPARK at the lock. “Move.”

“What are you doing?”

“If we can’t open it manually, we’re gonna have to try some tough love.”

“Wait!” Tripp grabbed the barrel of the machine gun and pushed it away. “You are not going to blast the airlock open, are you?”

Jaycee stomped his foot, shaking the ground beneath. “Got any better ideas?”

“If you shoot the lock, you’ll kill us.”

“And if we stay, we’re dead, anyway,” Jaycee pushed Tripp to one side. He took three steps back and cocked the gun, aiming it at the panel. “You wanna put this to the vote?”

“No.”

“Good, because this isn’t up for debate,” Jaycee looked at Katz. “Permission to blow the inner airlock, captain?”

Katz turned to the corridor that led to the airlock. “Yes, yes,” he said, fearing an attack from Zillah – or something – was impending. “Do it. Everyone, visors down. We hit the bridge.”

Tripp, Haloo, Bonnie, and Jelly stepped aside and allowed Jaycee to blow the inner airlock. Jelly squinted at the firearm in Jaycee’s arms, focusing on what she thought was his claw clutching the trigger.

Tripp flipped his visor down and scanned the cuticle. “Tor, this is Tripp, come in?”

No response.

“Okay, blow the airlock,” Tripp said.

Jaycee flipped the lever down on the side of his machine gun. The mechanism whirred to life, heating in his hand. He took aim at the panel.

“Here we go.”

He blasted the panel, obliterating the inner door. The impact set off the ship’s alarm.

“Warning, warning,” announced the female operations voice, “Intruder alert. Airlock one-oh-niner damaged.

Jaycee stormed into the airlock, kicking the rest of the broken door apart with his giant titanium boot.

“Everyone get in,” he said, grabbing the outer airlock door lever. “Listen, once this door is open, all hell is gonna break loose. Watch out for debris. Everything inside this ship is going to puke out into space, and we’re standing right in the middle of its throat.”

Katz pushed Jaycee to the side, dumbfounded by the view offered by the glass panel in the door. “My God…”

“What?” Tripp asked Katz, “What’s wrong?”

Katz blinked and saw that the bridge was missing. The outer door on Beta’s airlock was open, a mere fifty meters away.

“The bridge,” Katz said, “It’s gone.”

Haloo freaked out and hyperventilated. The inside of her visor fogged up as she grabbed at the handle bar within the airlock. “No, no…”

Bonnie kept her grip on Jelly. “Haloo, get up.”

“I c-can’t breathe,” Haloo gasped. A blast of pink blood splattered up inside her visor, “H-Help m-me…”

Jaycee hoisted her up to her feet by her arm. She fell into his arms.

“Katz, we need to go—”

A colossal explosion rumbled the airlock.

“What was that?” Katz asked.

The entire ship rumbled violently, shaking everyone around.

“No time to wait around to find out,” Tripp grabbed the manual handle on the outer airlock door. “Sounded like an explosion.”

Bonnie nodded at the door and held Jelly out. “Open it. We’ll have to jump.”

Tripp took a final glance at Katz and grabbed the handle. “Ready?”

“Do it.”

Alpha’s alarms sounded off. The spinning red bulbs rotated around and around. “Explosion on Alpha control deck.”

“Androgyne?” Katz muttered. “On the control deck?”

“Opening now, everyone. Get ready,” Tripp yanked the outer airlock door open. “Hold on!”

Everyone grabbed hold of the bars within the airlock.

An intense vacuum sucked anything that wasn’t bolted to the ground through the crack in the door as it opened.

Jelly shrieked and extended her metal claws. “Meaa….oowwarrr…”

Boom . The airlock door fully opened, lifting everyone off their feet.

Various objects whizzed past the crew and shot out into the depths of space.

“Bonnie. Release Jelly first,” Tripp said, hanging onto the door. “Throw her to Beta.”

“Okay,” Bonnie pushed her hands forward and launched the cat toward Beta’s airlock door.

The cat screamed and held out her arms, pushing through the infinite vacuum, headed for Beta’s airlock.

“Meaaooo—” she gulped down, feeling her chest begin to expand. Tufts of fur flew away from her face and littered the inside of her visor.

She clenched her claws and grabbed onto the inner airlock door, having successfully completed the journey.

“Bonnie, go!” Tripp said, keeping the door held open. She took a run toward the lip of airlock and jumped into the vacuum.

Whoosh.

Bonnie held her arms to her sides, darting through space like an arrow.

Beta’s airlock, containing the frightened Jelly, whizzed closer and closer. Bonnie held out her arms and kicked herself in, grabbed a hold of a lock on the floor. “I’m in, go! Go!”

“Haloo,” Tripp said through his visor, “You’re next.”

“I can’t see,” she growled, fighting off the vacuum pressure. She pinched the bottom of her visor, threatening to open it.

“What are you doing?” Tripp said, “Don’t open your visor—”

It flipped up over her face, exposing her to the vacuum. Tripp couldn’t believe what he saw.