“—I swear to God I will kill you. Let me out of here.”
“Let you out of here? What are you talking about?”
Bonnie screamed again, close to rupturing her vocal chords, “Where am I?”
“Wait, wait,” Tripp tried. “What do you remember? Did you just wake up?”
The question resonated with Bonnie’s desire for answers. Tripp could see the tactic worked when she tilted her head at Jelly.
“Yes, I did.”
“Please don’t shoot us,” Tripp said. “We’ve just woken up, too. You’re confused, just like we are.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Space Opera Beta. You know what that is, don’t you?”
“No,” she yelled, “I don’t remember anything.”
“You’re a cosmologist,” Tripp said. “You’re Doctor Bonnie Whitaker, and you’re a part of our team.”
“Liar,” Bonnie aimed the gun at Tripp’s head. “You’re trying to trick me. I want to go home to my husband and son.”
“Where are they, Bonnie?” Tripp tried to rescue himself from death and convince Bonnie he wasn’t the bad guy. “Go on. I’m listening. Tell me where home is.”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s right, you don’t know,” Tripp nodded at the firearm in her hand. “And why would we give you a gun if we were keeping you here against your will?”
She looked at the Rez-9 in her hand and tried to calculate the information. “I don’t know.”
“Bonnie, trust me. You can’t do anything hasty if you don’t know all the facts. Please.”
“No, no,” Bonnie yelled, “You’re lying. Tell me where I am.”
“I told you already. You’re on Space Opera Beta on a rescue mission on behalf of USARIC.”
“USARIC?” Bonnie asked, none-the-wiser.
“My God, you really don’t remember, do you?”
A pink tear rolled down Bonnie’s cheek as she cried. “I just want to go home…”
“We all do, Bonnie.”
She closed her eyes and gave up the will to live.
“Now, just put the gun down…”
Bonnie lifted her head and stared at Tripp. “There’s one way I can get out.”
“What?”
Bonnie lifted the barrel of the Rez-9 to her temple and threatened to shoot herself.
“No!” Tripp said, reaching his hand out. “Don’t do that—”
She hooked her index finger around the trigger. “—I’m sorry.”
“Meow,” Jelly flapped her tail, trying to divert the woman’s attention.
“Bonnie, no!”
Tripp launched forward, flinging his body in her direction. He threw out his hands and attempted to grasp the gun from hers.
ZAP!
He didn’t reach her in time.
The gun flew from her hand – something had hit it before Tripp got anywhere near her.
“Agh!”
The bullet flew out from the barrel – but missed the side of her head and flew screaming into the wall.
Strands of her hair feathered into the air from the blast as Tripp pushed her to the ground.
Bonnie looked up from underneath him to see a tall man in an exo-suit looking down at the pair. He adjusted the titanium glove on his right hand. “Bonnie? What’s gotten into you?”
She screamed at the top of her lungs. “Help! Help!”
Tripp turned over and saw Jaycee smiling at him.
“Hey, Tripp.”
“Jaycee,” Tripp stumbled to his feet and patted the giant on the back. “You’re here.”
“Of course I’m here,” he said, looking down at Bonnie. “She was about to blow her brains out.”
“I know.”
“What did you do to her?”
“I didn’t do anything,” Tripp collected Bonnie’s Rez-9 from the floor and pointed it at her. “She’s out of her mind.”
“Probably blew a fuse when we entered Enceladus,” Jaycee took out his K-SPARK shotgun and cocked it. “We better get her regenerated. Or whatever it is we do to them.”
Bonnie remained on the floor, completely overwhelmed by her assailants. She pushed her top half up by her elbows and kicked her feet against the ground.
“Hey, Bonnie,” Jaycee said. “Seems you’re suffering from a touch of amnesia, there.”
“Brain damage, more like,’ Tripp said.
“P-Please, h-help me,” she cried, wiping a pink tear from her cheek. “I just want to go home.”
“Still crying pink?” Jaycee asked, close to blasting her to smithereens. “You’re hysterical. Get on your feet, Doctor.”
Bonnie obeyed and staggered to her feet. She caught sight of her right leg as she adjusted her pants. The limb was made of metal with wires twisting around the joints.
“My leg. What did you do to me?”
“We didn’t do anything to you,” Jaycee turned to Tripp and whispered. “We need to get her to N-Vigorate.”
“I know,” Tripp addressed the distraught woman as carefully as possible. “Bonnie? We need to get you some help.”
“What?”
“Something has happened to you. We need to shut you off for a while and let you rejuvenate.”
“No!” Bonnie took a step back, afraid for her life. Two men she didn’t know held their weapons at her. For all she knew, she’d been abducted by aliens. Perhaps they’d perform a probe or vivisection on her. “Stay away from me.”
“Where are you gonna go?” Jaycee smirked through the sight on his shotgun and stepped towards her. “You don’t know where you are.”
“Leave me alone.”
“She doesn’t wanna come, Tripp,” Jaycee turned over his shoulder. “You want me to persuade her?”
Tripp hung his head and nodded. He knew all about Jaycee’s ways of persuasion.
“Stay away from me, you big hunk of slime,” Bonnie held out her arms, threatening to attack him.
Jaycee clenched his fist and gained on Bonnie as she walked backwards. “Come here, Bonnie. It’s for your own good.”
“Be gentle with her,” Tripp called out to Jaycee and scooped Jelly into his arms. “Don’t watch.”
“I said stay away from me—”
THWUMP.
Jaycee thumped the back of her head, knocking her out. Tripp trained his eyes on the unconscious woman falling into the giant’s arms.
“Damn, Jaycee. Remind me to never get on your bad side.”
“Had to be done. At least when she wakes up she’ll forget she’s a damn Androgyne,” he said, dragging her backwards under her arms. “The equivalent of switching them off and back on again.”
Jelly pressed her claws to the panel on the wall, opening the door. Tripp and Jaycee carried the unconscious Bonnie into the cylindrical chamber.
“God, she’s heavy,” Tripp struggled with the weight of her lower-half.
“That’ll be her leg,” Jaycee said, carrying her under her arms.
“You should have taken her legs.”
“Why?”
“You’re stronger than me,” Tripp nodded at the electric chair at the far end of the room. “Set her down there. We’ll get her plugged in.”
“Okay.”
Jelly ran ahead of them and jumped onto the electric chair’s seat, making herself comfortable.
“Oh no, Jelly,” Tripp frowned as he and Jaycee carried Bonnie toward the device. “Not there, pet.”
“Meow.”
“Move.”
Jelly just stared at the pair as they approached her.
“I said move,” Tripp tried to shoo her away with his boot. “Go on, get off.”
Jelly climbed down and circled around the men’s feet.
“Still her usual self, then?” Jaycee chuckled as he negotiated his footing around Jelly’s playful insistence. “A bit surplus to requirement now, though, isn’t she?”