Manuel shook himself and floated over to the windshield. He took in the impressive view of the edge of the universe.
“Oh my. Would you look at that?”
“What?” Bonnie rocked up behind him and watched the sun with him, “What’s wrong?”
“The entity that’s carrying us. It’s moving us for a reason.”
“It’s pulled us away from the Shanta creatures. Where is it taking us?”
Manuel bent his spine and ducked, “Its off the charts. That ball of fire in the sky is going to destroy everything. It’s headed straight for us.”
“So we’re all dead, then?” Tripp asked without a trace of emotion.
“Oh n-no,” Manuel freaked out and whizzed over to the comms panel, “Everyone grab hold of something. Now!”
BZZZOOOOWWW!
The power in the control deck snapped off.
“Guuuuh,” Manuel vanished into thin air.
“You heard him,” Tripp clutched the solid surface of the flight deck, “Grab hold of something and get ready.”
Tor dropped the keyboard and grabbed hold of the door, “Ughhh, I don’t wanna die.”
“Shut up,” Bonnie and Jaycee blurted at the man in unison.
The interior of the ship rumbled up a storm. Jaycee and Bonnie held onto each other and hit the deck.
“Gahhhh!”
Baldron’s body and the dead Shanta slid across the floor and slammed against the wall.
The ground lifted into the air and pushed the crew towards the ceiling.
Tripp closed his eyes and screamed at the top of his lungs, “Hold on, everyone!”
SCHWAAMM!
The rumbling noise grew louder and louder. Anything that wasn’t bolted to the floor sprang from the floor and crashed against the ceiling.
Everyone’s legs lifted away from the floor.
The windshield staggered around and threatened to break free from its housing.
Pink Symphony’s horizon sparked and elongated, appearing to zoom closer and closer against the roaring ball of white sun against the stars…
“What was that noise?” Wool lifted her thumb away from the wall. A thin blue line recorded Jelly’s height; three feet and three inches.
Jelly stepped away from the wall and looked at the window, “It’s coming,” she whined and flicked her ears with concern.
“I can see that,” Wool slid her detached nail onto the end of her thumb and joined her, “Stay there, honey. By your bed.”
“Mommy, I’m scared.”
Wool saw the edge of Pink Symphony rock up and down through Medix’s window, “I know. We’re all scared,”
SCHTOMP-SCHTOMP…
The ground thundered beneath Wool’s feet. She spun around and shouted at Jelly, “Honey, grab hold of the bed.”
“Miew,” Jelly did as instructed and coiled her tail around the metal head rest, “Mommy, I d-don’t want to die.”
Wool moved to the door and rolled her left sleeve up fer forearm. She ran her thumb along her Individimedia ink and roared into her wrist, “Tripp? Anyone? Does anybody read me—”
KER-WUMP!
Another blast across the ground sent Wool to her knees. She rolled across the floor and grabbed Jelly’s bed with her right hand, keeping her left forearm against her face.
“I don’t know where you are, but we could use some help up here.”
The lack of response caused Wool and Jelly to tremble with fear as they clutched onto the bed for dear life.
Wool’s legs launched into the air as the ground thumped harder and harder.
Just then, a blast of pure white light flooded the entirety of the room.
“My G-God…” Wool’s pupils dilated as she witnessed the horizon blast towards the window, “We’re g-going to…”
Jelly took a final look at the picture of Jamie on the wall. She gripped the side of her bed to prevent herself from flying off, “I want to go home.”
She buried her head in her pillow and squealed. The ferocious shaking became unmanageable. The bed’s casters rocked from side to side.
“If anyone can hear me, we’re trapped inside Medix,” Wool yelled into her wrist as her feet darted to the ceiling. Her entire body fell upwards, pulling her right hand away from the bed frame.
A low-pitched hum shot around the room. Angelic in nature, and with an underlying sense of anger.
“Honey. Hold tight—”
Jelly threw her arm under the bedside rail and squeezed her eyes shut.
Wool’s voice ground slowed to a crashing halt, “Don’t… let… go…”
Her last utterance echoed around the room.
The white light bleached through the window and turned the room into a miasma of heavenly wonder.
CHAPTER FIVE
Jelly felt her nose twitch but couldn’t see anything. Her eyes were shut.
The eerie silence didn’t help matters.
A horizontal sliver of light crept against her eyeballs as she came to. The Medix interior appeared on its side with the beds stuck to the wall.
A blurred vision of a woman peered into the horizontal line with her hands outstretched. Her voice was muffled, “Are you okay, honey?”
Her thumbs pressed Jelly’s ears back, enabling a clarity in her voice, “You look like you’ve hurt yourself, honey.”
Jelly shook her head and tried to throw away the disorientation.
It took a few tries.
The beds on the wall crept back to the ground. Such was Jelly’s discombobulation; she’d been lying sideways. The confusion slowly melted away and gave rise to the fact that she’d been knocked unconscious.
“Where am I?” Jelly muttered.
FLUMP.
Jaycee dropped Baldron’s carcass onto a bed behind Jelly. The noise made her jump to her feet in fright.
“Right, let’s see if we can’t make some use of this ex-talking junkyard,” Jaycee twisted Baldron’s left hand away from his wrist. It screwed around and came free.
Jelly hopped onto her bed and licked her lips, “What’s he doing?”
Jaycee looked up and brushed away the protruding wires from his own forearm.
“Spare parts, pet.”
“What?”
“Yeah. Anybody need any?” Jaycee placed the removed hand’s wrist at the large screw joint at the end of his forearm. It spun around and locked into place, “Bingo.”
He admired his new appendage and squeezed the mechanical fingers in and out.
Wool looked away in disgust, “No, thank you. That wouldn’t be any use to me.”
“Are you sure, Wool?”
“Yes, I’m sure.”
He lifted Baldron’s severed head away from the neck and pointed at the cheek-bone, “I can fillet some skin to cover your scratch if you like?”
“I said no,” Wool strained her vocal chords in protest, “Now, just drop it.”
“What’s all this shouting?” Manuel fluttered into the room, followed by Tripp, “Is there something seriously amiss?”
Jaycee waved at Tripp with his new hand, “Hey, Healy.”
“Hey.”
“Like my new toy?”
Tripp approached the bed and analyzed the new hand. It seemed slightly smaller than normal, “Ha. Is that Baldron’s?”
“Yeah.”
“Bit small, isn’t it?”
“Pfft, better than no hand at all,” Jaycee pointed at Baldron’s face, “We can fix you up with a new cheekbone. Won’t take me a few minutes to solder it on?”
Tripp felt his facial cavity and closed his eyes. Since waking up from the event, he’d forgotten – much like Jaycee, and the others – that he wasn’t human.
“It never gets easier.”
Tripp ran his fingertips through the hole at the side of his face. The tops of the bottom row of his teeth pressed into the fleshy part of his fingers, “But I might take you up on the offer.”