Jelly wrapped her infinity claws around the staircase railing and bent her knees, preparing to jump the next couple of flights.
“Jelly, what are you doing?” Tripp swung his gun at her.
She shot him a look of pure venom and swished her tail.
“I’m going to kill it dead,” she squealed, “Go to Medix and get Wool.”
“We can’t leave you here on the ship. What if you don’t make it off?”
“I’ll make it off,” Jelly’s claws sparked up a frenzy, expressing her desire for death, “I’m going to rip Tor’s battery out like you should have done days ago. Now, go!”
“But—”
HOP-SWISH!
Jelly swung her legs over the rail and plummeted down the gap in the staircase.
“Meeooowwwww…” her voice etched further and further away.
“Guys, let’s go get Wool.”
Jelly landed awkwardly paws-first at level five. She rolled onto her side and clutched her baby bump.
“Ughhh,” she scrambled to her feet. The Shanta slapped its limbs along the ground, walls and ceiling, pulling itself across the corridor and well away from Jelly.
“Hey, Tor,” Jelly screamed after it as she staggered to her feet, “Come back here.”
“Screeeeeeee.”
Jelly took a deep breath and lowered her head. The glow from within her stomach formed into three, glowing orbs.
She winced as she tried to move forward, “God. Not now.”
The Shanta reached the door to Pure Genius. With nowhere else to go, it slammed its talons against the door in attempt to open it.
“Hey,” Jelly flung her claws out by her hips and growled as she moved toward the cornered beast, “I know that’s you in there, Tor.”
The Shanta calmed down and turned to her. The talons on each of its twelve limbs swiped out, ready to kill.
“Shaaaaaantaaahh.”
Jelly picked up the pace and ran toward it, “Tor, if you’re in there, you better get ready to go to hell.”
ROOOAAAARRRR!
Jelly jumped into the air and swiped at the creature. She missed and hit the wall.
The Shanta slithered to the side and punched her in face, sending the back of her head against the wall panel, forcing the door open.
SWISH.
“Welcome to Pure Genius,” announced a friendly voice as the door opened. “Please be advised that this is a zero gravity environment.”
Jelly laughed venomously and removed the back of her head from the broken panel. Shards of shattered plastic nestled in her hair. She leaned forward and grabbed the Shanta’s mid-section on her paws.
“Come with me.”
Before the Shanta could scream, she tightened her grip and yanked him back into the chamber with her.
The two of them tumbled into the middle of the perfect cuboid as if swimming underwater.
Jelly lifted her leg and booted the Shanta’s slit with her knee. Its metal teeth nicked her leggings as it moved away.
She released the creature and kicked it against the wall.
Both Jelly and the beast waded through the air and hit the two opposite sides, lighting up the tiles.
“Pure Genius activated,” the voice advised. “Please specify your command.”
RROOOOAAARRR!
The Shanta clapped its limbs against the wall and pushed itself forward like an octopus propelling itself from the Ocean bed.
SWISH-SWIPE.
Jelly ducked out of the path of the whizzing talons.
“Oh, no you don’t,” She pressed her body from the wall and up to the ceiling that contained the door, “Up here. Woof-woof!”
The Shanta’s twelve limbs stiffened and prepared to dive skyward.
“Come and get some,” Jelly squealed and froze solid. She waited for her assailant to spring towards her.
The pair made eye contact, trying to psyche each other out.
“Come on,” Jelly screamed, goading the Shanta to attack, “What are you waiting for? Kill me.”
The creature screamed and pushed itself away from the ground. It flew through the air and extended its first four limbs and talons.
Jelly gripped the lip of the door and pulled herself up and through the opening.
The sudden presence of gravity pulled her knees to the walkway ground as she leaned over the gap. She opened out her paw and slammed it against the wall panel as the first two limbs struck at her face.
“Agghh,” Jelly squealed as the door sliced across the front of her face.
SWISH-SCHA-JUNT!
The door guillotined the Shanta’s two front limbs from its body. Its muffled squeals whirled around the fully fired-up supercomputer. Two severed talons clanged to the floor by Jelly’s knees.
“Meow,” Jelly palmed the window in anger and looked at the trapped creature one last time, “Go to hell, dickhead.”
Her tail swished left to right as she turned around and made her way back to the staircase.
The Shanta hung in the middle of Pure Genius with two of its limbs missing. Pink liquid from its severed arms launched into the air and splashed against the tiles like a Jackson Pollock painting.
It knew it was trapped – possibly for good.
Its center slit widened and tried to take in some air.
SCHTAM-SCHTAM-SCHTAM!
It extended all its remaining arms like a multi-pronged star. Three on the ground, three on the ceiling, and two pressed against the left and right wall.
It remained static like a fleshy cobweb, trapped forever inside Pure Genius.
Tripp and Jaycee approached Medix ready to open fire on anything remotely unfamiliar.
Alex and Nutrene watched their six and their weapons up the corridor.
Manuel floated along with them, “Tripp?”
“Not now, Manuel.”
“I’m scared, Tripp.”
“What do you mean?” Tripp lowered his gun and turned to Jaycee, “I’ll go in there and grab Wool. Stay here.”
“Okay,” Jaycee joined Alex and Nutrene, “Listen up. We’re getting our friend and then getting the hell off this ship.”
Manuel slotted himself between Tripp and the door to Medix, “Tripp?”
“Can’t this wait, Manuel?”
“You’re not going to leave without me, are you? You know I can’t leave Opera Beta.”
“What?” Tripp acted defiant in the face of his autopilot. But the book had a point – he was restrained to the confines of the ship and knew it would never return home.
“Please don’t leave me here.”
“I’m sure there’s a way to transfer you to—”
“—There is not. Tripp. I cannot lie. They have their own autopilot. Almost certainly more advanced than I am.”
Tripp couldn’t look at the holograph any longer. He didn’t have an answer.
“I thought as much,” Manuel’s front and back cover slumped, resigned to its fate, “I’m going to leave, now.”
“I’m sorry, Manuel.”
“Yeah,” he sighed, “Keep telling yourself that.”
WHVOOM.
The book vanished, leaving the door in plain sight.
Tripp glanced at Jaycee, who looked away with a discreet sadness, “You did what you had to do.”
“There was no point in lying to him.”
Jaycee lowered his gun and nodded, “Stop pontificating. Get Wool. Now.”
Tripp entered the room and spotted Wool looking out of the window with a forlorn expression on her face, “I don’t know if you heard the alarms, but we need to get out of—”
She sniffed and placed her palm on the plastic window ledge.