Star Cat: Training Day: A Space Opera Fantasy Read online

“Put it down, girl,” Jamie said.

  Jelly obliged her owner and released the mouse to the ground. She trundled over to inspect the orange-colored thing in his fingers.

  “Here, girl.”

  “Meow.”

  Fascinated, Jelly kept her eyes on the object in his hands. A tiny necklace with a telescope pendant attached to it.

  Jelly purred and faced the ceiling as he hooked it over her head, “Meow.”

  “This is for you. This way we’ll always be together.”

  Jelly loved her new gift. It smelled of Jamie, and that was enough.

  Wool approached the pair, having seen the serenade and folded her arms with amusement. “See, Jamie? I told you we’d take care of her.”

  “Yes, she did really well, didn’t she?”

  Bonnie chimed in with her thoughts over the speaker address system, “Almost full marks.”

  “Yeah,” Wool looked up at the ceiling and spoke, knowing Bonnie could hear her, “No thanks to you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Calling her all those names.”

  Bonnie’s chuckles rumbled through the wall, “Whatever. I’ll see you at the IBS in thirty minutes.”

  The address system powered down, leaving the last remnants of Bonnie’s speech to wade into nothingness.

  “Meow,” Jelly turned to Wool with anger in her eyes. The stupid headset was beginning to irritate her. In Jelly’s view, the daft infinity claw-cum-gloves were a little too tight and completely unnecessary.

  She release the mouse to the floor and growled at Wool.

  “Don’t you look at me in that tone of voice, Anderson,” Wool said. “If you don’t like the headgear, I’ll take it off.”

  She walked over to Jelly and unclipped the earpiece attachment from the back of her head, “There. Better?”

  Jelly meowed and then purred. All was well.

  Jamie’s mother, Emily, appeared beside her son “What’s going on?” she asked in her distinctly British accent.

  Jamie snapped his fingers, “Come on, girl.”

  “Meow.”

  Jelly’s eyes lit up as she bolted toward Jamie. He scooped her up in his arms and gave her a cuddle. A few seconds of closeness he thought had been taken from him forever.

  “I love you so much,” he said, squeezing her a little too tight.

  Jelly licked the side of his face and hair. Her internal purr engine fired up a storm.

  “Well, I’m pleased to say that Jelly’s passed the first test,” Wool scanned her screen, much to Emily’s confusion.

  “What is that you’re doing?”

  “Oh this?” Wool held her palm open and displayed the holographic screen a few inches into the air. “Basic, rudimentary training. The first thing USARIC needed to do was establish Jelly’s agility and prowess in unfamiliar circumstances. As you can see, here, she’s passed with flying colors.”

  The screen displayed a time of 120 seconds.

  Emily nodded, pretending to understand most of what Wool had said. USARIC seemed to know what they were doing. If her cat was to go to space, then a formal assessment of suitability seemed a sensible proposition.

  “Right, so she did well?”

  “It’s hard to say,” Wool walked up to the knee-high maze and tapped the Perspex ceiling. “We’ve never had to formally train a feline prior to an expedition.”

  Jamie ran his hand over Jelly’s head, which she enjoyed immensely. She tried to grab his hand with her paws.

  “Wow, girl. What are these things on your paws?”

  “They’re called infinity claws, Jamie,” Wool hollered from the stairs to the spectator gallery. “They’re very sharp. Please don’t let her claw you.”

  “Oh, okay.”

  He moved his hand away, but Jelly still wanted to play. The claws looked sharp enough, for sure.

  “What, are they really sharp or something?”

  “Yes,” Wool said. “They’re razor sharp. If she passes her training she’ll need that extra layer of protection on the mission to Saturn.”

  Wool left Emily to admire the labyrinthine maze and walked over to Jamie and Jelly. She focused her gaze on the cat and held out her hand.

  “I don’t understand?” Jamie said. “Aren’t her claws good enough?”

  “Well, we’ll find out when we go, won’t we? Isn’t that right, Anderson?” Wool extended her finger and smiled, knowing Jelly wouldn’t swipe at her.

  But she was wrong.

  “Maaoow,” Jelly yelped and caught the side of Wool’s knuckle with one of her infinity claws. The skin on Wool’s finger cracked apart and bled.

  “Oww.”

  “Serves you right for making her angry, lady.”

  Wool licked the small wound and scowled at Jelly, “Bad girl.”

  “Hey. Don’t call her a bad girl,” Jamie snapped. “She was just defending herself.”

  Emily placed her hands on her hips and shot her son an angry look, “Jamie. Don’t talk to the lady like that.”

  Wool snorted and covered the nick on her skin with her free hand, “I’m sorry, Jamie. I didn’t mean Jelly was bad. She needs to learn that she can’t turn on the people she’s working with.”

  “Depends on who she’s working with,” Jamie said and ran his face along Jelly’s, “What was her score, anyway?”

  STEALTH

  Peak heart-rate = 175 bpm

  Energy = 92%

  Kills = 4/4

  Overall: 90%

  Result: Pass (Level Two)

  ***

  The white buggy zipped across the air strip, away from the central compound. The driver stopped at a crossing and waited for a fighter jet to land on the runway.

  Jamie held Jelly in his arms in the back of the buggy. His mom sat next to him and took in the impressive view of the complex.

  “So, this is where it all happens?”

  “Yes,” Wool raised her voice as the fight jet’s engine grew closer, “USARIC works with the American Star Fleet. Our best astronauts are former ASF soldiers. You’ll meet some of them today.”

  The jet’s landing gear opened up in time for the vehicle to screech across the runway. Jamie looked up as his hair blew across his shoulders.

  “See that, Jamie?” Wool pointed to the aircraft shooting off into the distance.

  “Yeah,” he shouted over the deafening blast energy. “It’s pretty cool.”

  “The Corsica K-100. Specially designed aircraft that takes you nearly into space. It goes very high.”

  “Wow, that’s cool.”

  Wool’s finger traveled away from the back-end of the jet and up to a spacecraft in the distance. “Yes. And there she is.”

  Jamie squinted and leaned forward to see a gargantuan spaceship held against its scaffolding.

  “That’s Space Opera Beta. See?”

  “Wow. There it is again. Tripp gave us a tour the other day.”

  “What did you think of it?”

  Jamie rubbed his hands with glee, “It’s brilliant. I wish I could go again.”

  “No one can go in, now, until she’s ready for launch in a few weeks’ time.”

  “Jelly is so lucky to have a new toy to play with.”

  “It’s Jelly’s new home,” Wool said. “Actually, our new home.”

  “I forgot how huge it was.”

  “It’s one thousand feet long. Ten levels of pure spaceship.”

  Before Jamie had time to admire the structure the driver stepped on the gas and drove over the width of the landing strip, “All clear. Hang tight, please.”

  Their buggy passed another, identical carrier with military personal from the American Star Fleet.

  Personnel from the military zone stared at Jamie, seemingly in slow motion, as the buggy rolled past them.

  It was unusual for citizens to be granted access to the ultra-high security of USARIC’s grounds.

  Jamie’s body rocked back and forth as the buggy reached its top speed of 30 mph. It caused Jelly to
bump around in his arms.

  Emily grabbed hold of the roof railing for support, “Be careful with her, poppet. Don’t want puss jumping out of your arms.”

  “Meow.”

  “Where are we going now, lady?” Jamie asked.

  “Please, call me Wool.”

  “Okay.”

  “We’re going to see Commander Healy and a couple of his colleagues for the next training session. They’re waiting for us.”

  “What’s the next training session?” Jamie asked.

  Wool turned over her other shoulder and pointed to a building at the end of the runway, “The IBS is next.”

  “IBS?” Emily smirked. “Back in the UK that means something else.”

  “Oh, it means the same thing here,” Wool chuckled. “We’re going to see how she copes with being weightless and walking in space.”

  A look of confusion crept Jamie’s face. He tightened his grip on Jelly. “How are you going to do that?”

  USARIC Imitative Buoyancy System

  Training Facility - Southern Quarter

  “Welcome to the United States and Russian Intergalactic Confederation,” a soothing female voice announced as Wool, Emily, and Jamie entered the building. “Please ensure your identification is available at all times in case of inspection.”

  Emily turned to her son and nodded at his left hand, “Is your Individimedia set to silent?”

  “Yeah, mom,” Jamie rolled up his sleeve and showed her the three black lines in his forearm. “See?”

  “Good. Keep it on silent. We don’t want to embarrass ourselves in front of these important people.”

  Wool introduced Emily and Jamie - and Jelly - to the facility, “So, here’s where it all happens.” Wool pressed her finger to her ear, “Tripp? This is Wool. Can you hear me?”

  “Yes, Wool. I’m on my way to meet and greet you. Are they there?”

  “Yep, all present and accounted for.”

  Jamie marveled at the set-up of the reception area. A museum of USARIC’s achievements.

  Holographic pictures of soldiers in wet suits, underwater cabins and vehicles, and associated paraphernalia lit by a vast canvas of space and stars.

  The USARIC logo hung in the corner of the ceiling like a bad smell, turning on its axis.

  Standing proud in the middle of the concourse was a life-size statue of a man named Pascal D’Souza, whose life dates were etched onto the plinth, below: 2056 - 2111

  “Wow, this place is even bigger than the last one,” Jamie said as he passed by a holographic fountain.

  Jelly clawed his shirt sleeve and tensed up.

  “What’s wrong, girl?”

  “Miew,” she buried her face in his arms, hoping he’d move away from the loud fountain.

  “You don’t like the water, huh? Okay, we’ll move,” Jamie whispered and shifted himself away from the wall.

  A couple of extremely good-looking men dressed in military gear walked past Wool and winked at her. She blushed and waved at them as they walked past Jamie and Emily.

  Even Jamie’s mother had something of a heart-stopper of a moment as she clocked the taller of the two men.

  “Hello, citizen.”

  “Uh, hi,” Emily smiled and looked away to save her embarrassment.

  “Have a nice day,” the man clamped eyes on Jamie and waved at him, “Hey.”

  “Hi.”

  The two men exited the building, leaving a somewhat flustered Emily and Wool to refute any embarrassment.

  “Yeah, this place is full of them.”

  “Is it really?” Emily giggled.

  “Uh huh,” Wool tried not to smirk. “Sometimes I come here on my lunch break. An hour feels like twenty seconds.”

  Emily nodded in agreement, “I bet it does.”

  A man’s voice came from behind Wool, “An hour feels like twenty seconds? Might come in handy when we’re traveling to Saturn.”

  Emily turned to the person who’d just made the utterance. There he was - Commander Tripp Healy, the man responsible for convincing Emily and Jamie to allow Jelly to join him and his crew on their expedition.

  Today, though, he looked less affable in Emily’s eyes. They’d met fleetingly during the contract signing. She was reticent to allow her and her son’s cat to go into space with them after the way they’d treated the competitors during the Star Cat Project.

  She glanced at Jelly in Jamie’s arms. As far as Emily was concerned, Jelly was right where she should be - in the comfort of her owner’s arms. Perhaps the guys at USARIC might forget the whole thing and allow her and her son to return home with their cat, after all.

  “Nice to see you again, Emily.”

  “The feeling is mutual.”

  Tripp spotted Jelly staring at him, “Ah, there she is. The lady of the hour. How’s she holding up, today?”

  “Doing well,” Wool said. “Passed the Stealth as well as can be expected.”

  Tripp turned from Wool to Emily with an apologetic look on his face, “Listen, Emily. About the other day—”

  “—No, no. You don’t have to explain,” Emily interrupted. “You were just doing your job. I understand how much this all means to you. To USARIC.”

  Tripp folded his arms, “Yes, I know. I could have handled it a bit better, though. It’s amaziant, really—”

  “Amaziant?” Emily asked, confused.

  “Yes,” Tripp continued, thinking she’d questioned his assessment of the situation as opposed to the meaning of the strange word he’d used. “We spent months putting the program together and studying their behavior. We came up with the best method of selection, given the circumstances. Yet, we completely forgot the human side.”

  “It happens,” Emily said. “We’re only human, after all.”

  Tripp rolled his eyes, “As clichéd as that sounds, it’s a fair assessment.”

  Jamie and Wool caught each other’s reaction quite by accident. She didn’t know what to do next and so hurried the proceedings.

  “Well, this is lovely,” Wool tried. “Shall we go to—”

  “—Just promise me that no harm will come to Jelly,” Emily said. “I know what you’re going to say. That you can’t guarantee anything, and that the whole mission is unprecedented. I get that.”

  Tripp nearly launched into a reassuring diatribe, but chose to let Emily speak - and finish. Her face seemed cadaverous with worry.

  “I guess I just want to hear you say it. That’s all.”

  “Of course, Emily,” Tripp said. “You know as well as I do that this is a first-of-a-kind mission. Believe me, we’ve taken to Jelly. She’s especially fond of Wool.”

  Wool covered the tear in her skin and looked away as Tripp spoke.

  “We’ve basically adopted her as our own. No harm will come to her as long as we’re alive and well. I can assure you.”

  “Okay,” Emily looked at her son’s innocent face, and then to the cat’s equally-innocent face.

  “They won’t hurt her, mom.”

  Emily nodded and ran her knuckle along Jelly’s chin, “I know.”

  Tripp enjoyed the moment with Wool as they watched Emily kiss her son on the forehead before sliding her hands under Jelly’s back, “Give her to me, Jamie.”

  “Okay.”

  She held the cat in her arms and took a final look at her gorgeous face.

  “You’re a good girl, aren’t you?”

  “Meow.”

  “Yes, you are,” Emily said in a funny voice. “You’re smart, and you’re vicious. But you’re a fighter.”

  “She’s one in a million,” Wool offered. “Quite literally.”

  Emily smiled and presented Jelly to her new mother.

  “Please look after her,” Emily said. “You’re her mother, now, I suppose.”

  Wool took Jelly in her arms, “Oh, I will. Don’t you worry about that. I’ll treat her as my own.”

  “Meow.”

  A tear rolled down Emily’s cheek as she offered Jamie her hand,
“Okay, poppet. Let’s leave these nice people alone, now.”

  “Oh, Emily?” Tripp asked, somewhat confused.

  “Yes?”

  “Uh, I thought you were staying for the day? With Jamie?”

  Emily turned to her son, who’s face lit up with glee, “We are?”

  “Yes, wasn’t that—?” Tripp turned to Wool. “We did tell them, right?”

  Wool shrugged her shoulders, “I thought they knew.”

  “What’s going on?” Emily asked.

  Tripp cleared his throat and pointed at the set of doors leading into the buoyancy chamber.

  “Sorry, it seems as if we have our wires crossed. We’ve invited you and Jamie to stay. For Jelly’s training day. So you can see for yourselves what we have planned.”

  This was news to Jamie, who turned to his mom with a feverish excitement.

  “Wow, really? Mom, mom, they’re letting us stay.”

  Emily wasn’t sold. The morning had been tumultuous enough to suffer yet more suspense, “Oh, poppet. Mommy’s tired. I don’t think that’s necessary—”

  “—Please, mom?” Jamie got excited, his mind running a mile-a-minute, “We can get the flight home tomorrow instead?”

  Tripp smiled at the boy’s delight.

  “Actually, Emily, we’ve taken care of everything. We’ve arranged another night at your hotel and upgraded your trip home tomorrow to first class.”

  “You did? Without consulting us first?”

  “Well, we thought it would be a nice surprise.”

  Emily couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing, “Tripp, if I had woken up this morning with my head stapled to your spaceship, I wouldn’t have been more surprised than I am right now.”

  “Huh?” Tripp didn’t know how to react to the statement, “Is that some weird British term us stupid Americans don’t get?”

  “No. Forget what I just said,” Emily swallowed her pride and processed their generosity, “Are you sure about this? You’d do this for Jamie?””

  “Oh, yes. Very sure. Jelly has a hell of a day ahead of her. We’d be honored if you stayed and offered her some encouragement. I’m sure Jamie would love it too, right champ?”

  The boy jumped up and down on the spot and clapped his hands, “Damn right I would.”

  “Jamie. Language.”

  “Sorry, mom.”

  The look of joy on Jamie’s face said it all - filled with wonder and giddy anticipation. Butter wouldn’t melt.