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.
Bullet dug her claws into the fabric of the podium seat, poised.
“What’s she doing?” Fiorina asked herself, watching Bullet turn forty-five degrees to face Cindee. “She’s not playing.”
Cindee knocked the next shape into the correct hole and reward herself by laying down and licking her paws. It afforded her a perfect view of Bullet, who prepared to launch at her.
The two cats snarled at each other.
Cindee hopped back to her feet and crouched down, her internal alarm sounding off.
Bullet sprang from her podium and pounced onto Cindee, paw-first.
Cindee wailed and smacked Bullet across the face with her claws.
“Hey, wait, wait,” Gunnar said, “This isn’t on.”
Bullet fought back and dug her claws into Cindee’s stomach, pushing her onto her back.
The two tussled and try to tear into each other.
Jelly watched the tussle between her two rivals and accidentally knocked her circular plastic toy into the correct hole. The action took her by surprise.
Cindee and Bullet went at it, screeching and wailing, tumbling back and forth. The remainder of Cindee’s blocks flew off the activity bench.
“Someone stop them!” Emily stood up and shouted at the arena floor. “This is crazy.”
The handlers moved forward very cautiously, not wanting to alert the two feuding cats.
Then, twenty-seconds into the hissing, another whump noise blasted through the speakers.
Cindy and Bullet rolled away from each other and began to purr.
Jelly did the same and returned to sniff her blocks.
Bullet rolled around and stood upright, rubbing Cindee’s face with hers.
“Why are they behaving like this?” the man asked, looking around the ceiling of the arena. “And what’s that stupid noise?”
“I don’t know.” Jamie saw Cindee poke her nose around Bullet’s behind. She leapt from Cindee’s podium and back to her own.
Jelly knocked her fourth and final piece, the crescent, into the slot, quite by accident.
The entire console lit up, followed by a shower of orange sparks.
“I think we have a winner,” Gunnar said, pointing to the first podium. “Jelly Anderson.”
The crowd cheered as they watched Jelly’s face appear on the mega-screen.
“Wow!” Jamie said and clutched Emily’s arm. “Mom, Jelly won.”
“I know.” Emily wasn’t as over-the-moon as her son, though. The hissing noise swam around the arena walls, making her uneasy. “I don’t quite believe it.”
Jelly walked around the podium, displaying her tail to the audience. It was as if she knew she’d won something.
Twenty-six seconds into the noise, another whump sounded off. Jelly looked up and screamed at the ceiling.
Cindee and Bullet turned to each other, angrily, ready for war once again.
“No, no, no,” Gunnar said to the two cats, “Not again.”
Cindee and Bullet propelled themselves forward and jumped into the air.
Their bodies collided in mid-air. They squealed as they pawed away and landed onto Jelly’s activity desk.
Jelly back up and watched the two tear themselves apart.
“No. Cindee!” Fiorina stood up and begged the handlers to intervene. They were too far away to hear her, however. “Please make them stop!”
Jelly trundled around the fighting duo, analyzing the situation. She waited for an opportune moment to strike.
She sat up straight and meowed at the top of her lungs. Cindee and Bullet turned to the side and shot Jelly a look of confusion.
Jelly ran her tongue over her teeth and let out a very low howl.
Bullet pushed Cindee away and jumped back to her feet. Cindee rolled over her side and sat on the corner of the console.
Jelly growled once again, telling the pair off. At least, that’s what it looked like on the giant screen. Two disobedient and unruly pets brought to task by their victor.
“The judges’ decision is in,” Gunnar said to the audience, “The winner is… Jelly Anderson!”
The crowd exploded with delight.
Fiorina burst into tears.
“That’s not fair,” she said, turning to the man sitting in the row behind her. “Your cat ruined Cindee’s chances.”
“It wasn’t my fault,” the man said, himself trying not to cry at Bullet’s strange behavior.
“Hey, stop it,” Jamie said to the pair. He turned his attention to the inconsolable girl in front of him. “Please don’t cry.”
“Cindee lost,” she snorted through her tears and pointed at the screen. “Jelly won. It’s not fair.”
“Yeah.” Jamie looked at Jelly’s face on the screen. She had won, and there was no doubt that she knew.
Her vital stats appeared on the screen.
Gunnar approached Jelly and lifted her into his arms. “Jelly Anderson, you’re through to the finals. Next month, at Cape Claudius.”
Jamie and Emily quite rightfully should have joined the elation coming from the audience in the arena, but they were more concerned about Jelly’s response to the fight.
And what the future now held for her.
CHAPTER FOUR
Emily and Jamie sat at the front of the transatlantic flight in first class. It was an experience neither of them could have foreseen happening in their lifetimes.
Citizens of the United Kingdom rarely, if ever, were in receipt of such luxuries. Much like the rest of the confederate states of Europe.
Jamie remembered his father telling him about their ancestors being able to travel freely from country to country. Many made it a hobby. Jamie’s great-great-grandfather boasted about his conquests at the turn of the twenty-first century. He’d managed to travel the world with relative freedom and blow all his wealth on alcohol and women.