Andrew Mackay - Infinity Claws

Jelly licked her cheek, catching a droplet of blood from her eye duct.

“I feel so sleepy,” Wool said, “It must be a lack of oxygen, or something. And I’m so warm.”

“W-Woooolll…” Jelly’s voice rumbled. “W-Woooolll…”

“Jelly?” The woman raised her eyes in shock. “Honey, you can speak?”

“Wooooo-oooll….”

“Yes,” she gasped, trying to fight her drift toward unconsciousness. “That’s my name.”

“Woooo-oooll…”

“Yes, yes,” Wool released Jelly’s head from her palms. She sat back in her chair and tucked her chin to her neck. “My name is Wool ar-Ban. You… are Jelly Anderson…”

Jelly shifted her head and watched as her friend fell asleep in her chair.

She hopped off the table and scurried along the ground, heading for the Medix door. Wool lay across the bed with her arms and started to snore.

Out in the corridor, Jelly stopped at a metal grille in the ground. She opened her mouth and poked her tongue around her gums.

The tip of her tongue lifted the wet capsule over her teeth. The small bit of plastic tumbled over her chin and dropped to the ground.

Jelly snarled at it and pushed it toward the grille. It fell through the tiny bars and dropped down, to be lost forever.

“Meow,” Jelly licked her paw, careful not to catch her tongue on the titanium. Satisfied that she was free from danger, she trundled towards the control deck…

Tripp lay unconscious over the flight panel.

Jelly trundled in and surveyed the surroundings. She was the only soul on board the Opera Beta who was awake, and she knew it.

A huge playground of fun and opportunity surrounded her – alas, not for very long.

She knew that, too. There was work to be done.

Jelly approached the second chair at the flight deck and hopped onto the seat.

The main screen loomed in front of her, obscuring the view of Enceladus emitting a pink symphony of light into the stars.

The image reflected in her glazed eyeballs. She stared up at the spectacle in wonder for a brief moment and licked her mouth.

“Meow,” Jelly ducked her head, trying not to look at the stars. Her internal engine kicked to life, purring up a storm. She moved over to Tripp’s hand and ran the side of her face against his forefinger.

She turned to the screen and held out her paw. Two of her metal claws snapped together, creating a spark.

Manuel’s holograph appeared.

“Ah, Miss Anderson,” Manuel said, “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

“Meow.”

“Everyone appears to be asleep. The result of some nasty virus picked up on Opera Alpha, apparently.”

“Meow,” Jelly clawed at the keyboard under the screen.

“What’s that, Miss Anderson?” The book floated around her ears. “You want to access the N-Gage mainframe?”

“Muuuh...”

“Very well.” Manuel shuffled down to the keyboard hovered above the N-Gage communications panel. “N-Gage ready. Simply press the green communication button and tell me who you’d like to speak to.”

Jelly whined, looking around the keyboard. She extended her paw and punched the green communication button.

A message flashed on the screen. “Enter respondent ID now.”

Jelly tried to catch the flashing text with her claws. Her lungs heaved and let out a series of coughs. “Muuuh…”

“Who would you like to speak too?”

Jelly lowered her head and looked around the keyboard. She flapped her tail around and whined.

“Oh, don’t be like that, Miss Anderson,” Manuel chuckled to himself. “I’m an advanced system. I can do it for you. I just need the name of the person you’d like to speak to.”

Jelly looked up at the floating book. A trickle of blood blobbed out from her eye duct. “Jaayy… Jaaay…”

“Jaycee Nayall?” Manuel asked, “I’m afraid he’s incommunicado—”

“Meow!” Jelly shook the beads of blood away from her face and growled. “Jaaaaa-aaaayy… Meeeeeoowww…”

“Jaymeow?” Manuel scanned his internal memory banks. “I’m afraid we have no such person—”

“—Jaaayyy… Meeee…” Jelly tried, quietly, in between heaves. Finally, she looked down at her inner-skin suit and clocked her name.

She pressed her claw against her surname: Anderson .

“Oh, Jamie Anderson?” Manuel said, “Honestly, why didn’t you just say that? Accessing N-Gage contacts. Dialing for you now.”

Jelly shook her head and licked her paw.

The screen dialed for a while.

Jelly looked up at it, but all she saw was her only reflection. “Meow.”

Her eyes bled a pink substance. Jelly’s instinct was to rescue the poor cat on the other side of the screen.

As she held out her paw, an image snapped onto the screen that took Jelly by surprise.

Jamie Anderson, her owner.

Only, a year older and just as tired as Jelly.

“Hello?” Jamie said, poking his nose around the lens of his device. “Hang on a minute.”

Jelly’s face lit up – both figuratively and literally. The glare from the screen only exposed the contrast between her pink hue and blood mark.

Jamie recognized who was calling and could barely contain his excitement.

“Oh, wow. Jelly!”

“Meow,” she said, pressing her paw on his face. “Maaah.”

Jamie turned around and beckoned someone over. “Mom, come and see this. Look, look.”

“What is it, poppet?”

“It’s Jelly,” Jamie beamed.

Emily walked into shot, carrying a baby in her arms.

Jelly scrunched her face, wondering who this new human being was. “Meow.”

“Is that her?” Emily smiled and waved at the camera. “Hey, Jelly. Wow, is that really you?”

Jelly purred quietly to herself. Her paw slid down the screen, away from Jamie’s face. “Mmmm.” She let out a huff and turned to Jamie’s face on the screen.

“Well done, poppet,” Emily smiled and walked out of shot. “It’s been such a long time, I’d almost forgotten…”

Jamie turned to the camera and leaned in. “That was Jolene, your new baby sister.”

Jelly was impressed. She looked down at her paw and moved her claws back and forth. The tiny fizzles of mechanical whirs were almost deafening.

“I didn’t forget about you, Jelly,” Jamie began to cry. “I miss you. Not a day goes by when I don’t think of you.”

Jelly looked up at the screen and purred. She seemed to produce a smile. “Jaaaay…. Meeee…”

“Wow, you said my name,” Jamie called over his shoulder. “Mom, she can talk.”

“Very good, poppet. Can you come into the kitchen and help me, please.”

“Yeah, in a minute,” Jamie turned to the screen and looked at Jelly. “You look sick, Jelly. Is everything okay?”

She held up her infinity claws and moved the cuticles around.

“Oh, wow ,” he asked, confused. “What did they do to you?”

Jelly whined and flipped her bandaged tail around. She felt her eyelids get heavier.

“I can’t wait to see you again, Jelly. When are you coming home?”

“Grrr…” Jelly fought the urge to fall asleep. She wasn’t impressed with her owner’s behavior, either. She looked up at the screen and blinked as hard as she could.

“Jelly, what’s wrong?” Jamie asked, somewhat concerned.

She held up her paw and tilted it from side to side. Jamie’s mood soured. He did the same.

They waved goodbye for the final time.

Suddenly, Jamie had a change of heart. “Hey, wait—”

Jelly’s paw hit the green button, intending to cut the call. Instead, it flashed onto the next event.

An incoming visual message from USARIC.

“Would you like me to play the message, Miss Anderson?”