Andrew Mackay - Infinity Claws

The title of the game fizzed to life on the mega-screen, showing footage of a variety of pets pushing objects around a gleaming surface.

The female voice provided a narration to the game. “It could be pure intelligence. Of course, it could be luck. Prowess contains four holes on the white panel. It’s just a matter of who completes the activity first.”

Each of the four holes on the panel were cut into different shapes.

1 – Square

2 – Circle

3 – Star

4 – Crescent

The plastic blocks lay several inches ahead of the slots. Their arrangement, however, did not naturally correspond to the correct hole.

“Which of the three finalists can conquer Prowess the first – and the quickest?” Asked the female announcer as the footage faded to black.

Gunnar stepped forward and held out his palm to the activity center in the middle of the arena.

The mega-screen displayed the three finalists in their cages, ready to hop out and do… something , at least.

“Here we go,” he said, “Handlers, please release our contestants.”

The handlers popped open the cages and offered the three cats out and onto the podium in front of the activity.

Jelly trundled out, quite the happy cat. Obediently, she sat on the padded surface, somewhat distracted by the four toys in front of her.

After a bit of coaxing, Cindee exited the cage and followed her tail around three times before settling down.

Still to come out of her cage was Bullet.

“Come on,” her handler said, “Bullet, let’s go.”

“She’s not very quick, is she?” Fiorina grew impatient and crossed her legs on her seat. “Whose cat is that, anyway?”

“I don’t know,” Jamie looked around for the owner. “They must be here, someplace.”

“She’s my cat,” said a pasty-faced man his fifties. He sported an unusually long beard. Jamie looked to his right to find he the man sitting all on his own.

“Her name is Bullet ?”

“Yes.”

“Not very quick, is she?”

“She’s usually pretty good at obeying orders,” he said, worried at Bullet’s refusal to exit the cage.

“Are you here all on your own, mister?”

The man looked down and rubbed his knees through his jeans. “Yes. It’s just me and her.”

“Why did you put Bullet in the contest?”

“Poppet, leave the man alone.”

He turned to Emily and tried for a smile. “No, it’s okay. It’s quite simple, really. I need the money.”

“Yeah,” Emily giggled, “Don’t we all?”

“But what if Bullet wins the trials?” Jamie asked, quite forthrightly. “You would be all on your own?”

“I could get a new cat with the money, though,” the man said.

A curious reaction and concept for a five-year-old to fully comprehend. Jamie thought the man’s response over for what felt like an eternity.

The idea of selling your best friend to make a quick buck gave Jamie the chills. “How could you do that?”

“Quite easily,” the man said, “And it’s not as if I’d never see her again. Life would be better for both of us if she won. And you know something, young man?”

“No, what?”

“She will win,” he chuckled and punched his knuckles together.

“No, she won’t. She’s no match for Jelly.”

“We’ll see about that.”

Bullet’s handler had little choice but to hoist her forward under the arms. He plonked the silver cat onto her podium and shut the cage door.

“Oh dear,” Gunnar said, his image displayed on the mega-screen. “I think the judges may knock off a few points for Bullet’s refusal to take part.”

The audience booed and rumbled the ground with their feet. Bullet’s owner folded his arms and sat back into his seat. “Okay, now that is unfair.”

Jelly appeared on the giant screen, looking directly at the audience. “Mom, look.”

“Yes, it’s her,” Emily looked at her cat’s face and smiled. “Isn’t she gorgeous?”

“You can do this, Jelly,” Jamie whispered. “Just put the right block in the hole.”

The stadium spotlights twisted around and shone onto the three feline participants, causing the audience to tense up.

“Okay, here we go…” Gunnar announced, “In… three… two… one…”

“Come on, Cindee!” Fiorina muttered loudly enough for Jamie to hear.

“…and, go,” Gunnar finished.

Jelly sniffed around the first star-shaped plastic block, hoping it wouldn’t pounce back.

Satisfied that the block wasn’t the enemy, she rubbed the side of her face along the top point, knocking it onto its side.

“No, Jelly,” Jamie gasped, “What are you doing? Don’t play with it, you silly girl.”

Cindee extended her paw at the square block and tapped it three times in a row. She groaned and flicked the back of her claws at it, knocking it to the surface.

“Yes,” Fiorina beamed with glee, “Do it.”

Cindee knocked the square into the correct hole, enabling a buzzer to sound off around the arena. The square hole lit up, indicating that it had been solved.

A strange, continual hissing noise played through the speakers. The three cats looked up in confusion.

“That was just lucky,” Jamie said to Fiorina, keeping an eye on Jelly.

Bullet, on the other hand, found the crescent shape utterly fascinating. She pawed the top, forcing it to rock back and forth along its curve.

Cindee turned to Bullet and hissed at her. Bullet hissed back and smashed the crescent with her left paw as hard as she could.

The plastic toy rolled off the deck and hit the floor a few feet below them.

Another buzzer sounded off, followed by a red spotlight shining over Bullet’s crescent-shaped hole.

“Oh, the judges won’t like that,” Gunnar narrated

Jelly scanned the four pieces of plastic and then looked down at the four holes. “Meow.”

Jamie shuffled in his seat, trying to transmit good vibes. “Come on, Jelly. Do it.”

She lifted her paw and felt around the circular hole and sniffed around at it.

“Don’t just sit there being stupid,” Jamie said, “Put the thing in the thing .”

Cindee turned to Jelly and murmured. Jelly ignored her and flicked her tail around. She reached forward with both paws and grabbed the circular plastic and threw it into the hole.

Another buzzer shot around the arena, followed by a white spotlight on the completed unit.

“Ooo, now we’re neck-and-neck,” Gunnar said. “It’s amaziant, an intense test of paw-eye coordination.”

The hissing sound coming through the speakers grew louder and louder, putting the three cats off their game.

And then, twelve seconds into the noise, the whump sound.

Jelly, Cindee and Bullet jumped into the air, startled.

The crowd let out a collective “Oooooh’ as the cats returned to their podium, full of anxiety.

“What was that noise, Mom?” Jamie asked.

“I don’t know, poppet.”

Judging by the look on Gunnar’s face, he knew precisely what was going on.

The great unwashed public knew nothing of Saturn Cry. The heats would be a test of the unwashed and their response to it.

Typically, the humans just found it confusing. Perhaps a glitch in the arena’s sound system?

The three cats, however, felt that something antagonistic was abound.

So pent-up with anxiety, Bullet accidentally knocked the square off the activity desk, sending it crashing to the ground below. She let out an angry whine and bristled her tail, ready to attack something.

“Bullet, no,” the man next to Jamie said, “Don’t do it.”

“Shh,” Fiorina said over her shoulder as she turned back to watch the event.