“We sent them to Botanix,” Tripp lied, briefly catching Bonnie’s gaze. “We needed to make sure it was operational before we committed to any revisions on how to proceed.”
“Good, let’s go.”
Tripp and Bonnie led the way with their hands above their heads. Tor and Baldron kept their weapons aimed at them from behind.
Wool opened her eyes. She didn’t recognize where she was at first.
The silver walls gave her a clue.
The padded bench seemed familiar.
“Where am I?” she rubbed her eyes and looked down at her foot. A metal shackle squeezed around her ankle. “What?”
She wiggled her foot, causing the metal chain to clang against the floor. Looking up, she saw the electric bars.
“What am I doing in N-Carcerate?” She stood up from the bench and made for the bars. The shackle kept her from reaching them.
Then, she remembered just how painful it would be to try to touch them. The shimmer on the glowing bars threatened to zap anyone who was foolish enough to touch them.
She patted the side of her pants and reached into her pocket in haste. Once she found that her belongings had been removed, she panicked.
“Help, help,” She shouted at the ceiling at the top of her lungs. “Someone, please. Help me. Can anyone hear me?”
In Medix, Jaycee had hooked Haloo up to a diagnostic module. She hadn’t held up very well at all – half-conscious, her face had blossomed bright pink. Her eyes had stopped bleeding for the time being.
“You have a fever, Haloo,” Jaycee kept an eye on the monitor. “Your body temperature is well over one hundred.”
Jelly paced around, shifting her opposable metal thumbs against the floor.
Something was agitating her.
Jelly leaned back on her haunches hopped onto Haloo’s bed. She flapped her tail around and trundled over to the woman’s face.
“Meow,” Jelly tried, pinching her wet nose around Haloo’s face.
“Jelly, sweetie…” Haloo half-croaked. “What are you doing?”
The cat pressed her paws on Haloo’s shoulder and leaned in for a good, deep sniff. The tip of her nose met with Haloo’s.
“I’m sick, Jelly,” Haloo muttered. “Stay away from m-me.”
“Huh…” Jelly huffed into her face, her whiskers tingling away. “Huuuh… Loo…”
Haloo and Jaycee turned to Jelly in incredulity.
“Ha-loo…”
“Huh?” Jaycee tilted his head at the cat. “Say that again, girl?”
“Ha-loo…” Jelly’s voice creaked as she tried to speak. “Ha… Loo…”
“My God,” Haloo cleared her throat and lifted her hand up to Jelly’s head. “She said my name…”
Haloo’s chest bounced into the air unexpectedly, forcing Jelly to jump off the bed. Jaycee stepped back and allowed Haloo to overcome her spasm.
The back of her head slapped against the padded bed, pushing the blood from her eyes.
Finally, her mouth yawned open and spat out a low-pitched whine. “I-It’s so fantastic…”
“—What is, Haloo? What’s fantastic?” Jaycee grabbed her shoulders and bunched the fabric of her shirt in his palms. “What are you talking about?”
“Can’t you see it?” She gasped, her chest deflating. The diagnostic machine ran wild. Her heart-rate and temperature rocketed up the charts.
“No,” Jaycee said, angered by his own helplessness. “What are you talking about?”
“Unngghhh…” Haloo’s chest heaved once more.
Then, she flat-lined.
The dials spun down to zero. Haloo died in Jaycee’s arms right there and then, her eyes looking right into his.
“No, no,” Jaycee gasped, “Don’t you dare die on me.”
The machine let out a long beep indicating that Haloo had passed away.
Jelly rubbed her face over Jaycee’s foot. He shooed her aside and made for the defibrillator that hung on the side of the machine. “Sorry, girl. Stand back.”
He tore Haloo’s outer-skin suit open at the chest, revealing her skin.
“Wuuuhhh,” Jelly groaned, shaking her head, as if coughing up a fur ball. “Whelp.”
Jayce powered up the defibrillator paddles in both hands. They whined to life and buzzed. “Clear.”
He jolted Haloo with the paddles, trying to shock her to life. Each time he did, Jelly backed up, groaning in pain.
Jaycee gave up and hooked the paddles on the machine. Haloo was well and truly gone. He knew it, and so, too, did Jelly.
He let out an almighty roar of anger, startling the feline by his feet. He thumped the bed, the impact of which rocked Haloo’s body back and forth.
After a deep breath, he turned to Jelly who looked up at him hoping he wouldn’t take his anger out on her.
“Meow,” she said, coughing up some saliva.
Jaycee turned around and grabbed his K-SPARK. He threw Jelly a look of steely determination. “Someone has to pay for this, right?”
Jelly continued to stare at him and seemed to nod in agreement. “Meow.”
Jaycee made for the door and held his finger to his ear. “This is Jaycee Nayall. Can anyone read me?”
No response.
A “meow’ came through his ear piece. The whiskers on Jelly’s face buzzed. She could communicate with him.
“Not you, girl,” Jaycee opened the door and lifted his weapon into the crook of his arm. “I repeat, can…”
“… can anyone read me?” Jaycee’s voice finished through Tripp’s headset as he walked along the concourse with his hands behind his head.
Bonnie could hear him, too.
Tor and Baldron chuckled to each other, having heard the request for contact. “Do not respond to him.”
“No, wait,” Baldron whispered to Tor, “Have Tripp advise him to meet them at N-Carcerate. We can execute all of them there.”
“Good thinking,” Tor said, burying the barrel of his gun between Tripp’s shoulder blades. “Get him to meet you and Bonnie at N-Carcerate. Don’t tell him that we’re here.”
“Okay, okay,” Tripp said, pacing forward.
“If you tell him we’re here, we’ll shoot you right here where you stand.”
“Fine,” Tripp pressed his finger to his ear. “Jaycee, this is Tripp reading you, over.”
“Tripp?”
“Yes, Jaycee?”
“Haloo’s dead, man,” he said, barely able to contain his anger, “Did you find Tor, yet? We need answers.”
“Dead? What do you mean dead?” Tripp asked, hoping he’d misheard Jaycee’s update.
Jaycee’s cleared his throat, “Whatever this virus is… it killed her.”
“Virus?” Tor whispered, “What is he talking about?”
Tripp chewed back the urge to emote upon hearing the news of his colleague’s death. “Jaycee, listen. Bonnie and I are en route to N-Carcerate. Can you meet us there now?”
“Yes, I’m on my way.”
“Is Jelly with you, too?”
“Yes, she’s with me.”
“Good.”
“Just as well we’re convening at N-Carcerate,” Jaycee half-joked, his thoughts steeped in venom, “I’d quite like to pick Landaker’s brains—”
“—Okay, ETA three minutes—”
“—with a large screwdriver, then crack open whatever is left of his skull open and drain the contents—”
Tripp let go of his ear and turned over his shoulder to Tor. “He doesn’t sound happy.”
“That wasn’t very nice,” Baldron kicking the small of Bonnie’s back, sending her tumbling down the corridor. “How would he like it if I said nasty things about him behind his back?”
“Silence,” Tor said, “It’ll all be over in a few minutes anyway. Keep walking.”
Wool felt a rumbling in the N-Carcerate chamber. It wasn’t the footsteps of her visitors, however. Something grander was happening.