Alex couldn’t help but look at her flagrant exposure of her thigh as she strapped the belt around her waist. She thumbed the hook and enabled the material to crawl across her skin and turn her porcelain-white skin a synthetic black.
Alex averted his eyes to her face, “What were you doing on the International Moon Station?”
“USARIC set up a Medix center there a couple of years ago. A part of their expansion after the success of the Star Cat Project back in twenty-one-eighteen.”
She thumped the sole of her foot onto the floor and jogged on the spot, working her new pants down to her shins, “I guess they wanted to keep animals on standby there.”
“You guess?”
“They never told us their mission aim. Top secret. My job was to tend to the felines and provide updates. And not to ask questions.”
“Are you saying there are cats on the moon?”
“Yup,” Nutrene unbuckled her left sleeve and revealed a metal rail sewn inside, “Only a couple. They had their ICs installed.”
“The infinity claws?”
“You know your acronyms, I’ll give you that.”
She flung her arm forward. A Rez-9 firearm rolled along the inner sleeve rail and landed comfortably in her palm. She aimed the firearm at Neg, “You. Stay there, I need to calibrate.”
“Please do not point your firearm at me, Nutrene. I work with you.”
“Shut up, just hold still,” she pressed her thumb on the side of the barrel. A rectangular HUD holograph floated above the sight. The surface drew a white line around Neg’s bulbous shape. The phrase death drone flashed next to it.
“Pow,” Nutrene pretended to shoot Neg and finished with a smirk, “Bang on target.”
Neg wasn’t nearly as impressed.
“Nutrene, do you know that you should never aim a gun at the people you’re working with?”
“You’re not a person,” Nutrene winked at Alex. “Besides, a Rez-9 charge wouldn’t even put a chink in your armor.”
The fact surprised Alex.
“It won’t?”
“No. Wanna see?” Nutrene aimed her Rez-9 at Neg once again, “Let me show you.”
Neg rolled back and beeped in protest, “Please, don’t—”
BLAMM!
The charge blasted out of the barrel and flew through the air. It collided with Neg’s metallic surface and disintegrated into nothingness. A couple of orange sparks to flew into the air.
“See?”
“That was just rude,” Neg huffed and rubbed her head. “Don’t do that again.”
“Amaziant,” Alex said. “Poz and Neg are indestructible?”
Nutrene held her left forearm up and allowed the gravity to return her gun to the crook of her elbow.
“Ha, yeah. Trust Manning/Synapse to include that in the Death Drone series.”
“I don’t trust any of their wacky technology as far as I could throw them,” Alex made his way to the cupboard and opened the door, “The Series Three units were a good idea, but, like most of USARIC’s endeavors, they were flawed.”
“Like most humans, I guess. Only we don’t freak out and behave like lemmings when we remember who we really are.”
Alex pulled out his USARIC jacket and looked at his name on the sleeve, “Beta’s full of them.”
“Ooooh,” Nutrene pursed her lips and nodded her head, impressed, “You figured that out all on your own, did you? The odds are very high that they’ll have killed themselves. Save us the trouble, and the ammunition.”
Alex slipped the jacket on.
“Why do you think they named the ship Beta, and not Bravo?”
Nutrene’s eyes grew at Alex’s revelation, “Huh. Good point. I thought each iteration was phonetic.”
“If that was the case they’d have called her Opera Bravo,” Alex grabbed the Rez-9 tucked into the left sleeve, “Sending a cat to Saturn with a bunch of messed-up androids? It was a test. Like a bunch of canaries or guinea pigs.”
“I never thought of it that way. It makes complete sense. USARIC expected the mission to fail?”
“Did they really think sending a cat into space would work? The chances of success were literally millions to one, if that,” Alex threw his left arm towards the ground. His Rez-9 slid down the length of his sleeve and landed in his palm, “It’s a stupid idea. If it was a movie or a novel no one would believe it.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Nutrene said. “We’re here to rectify their stupid mistake.”
Nutrene and Alex followed Neg as she rolled through the door to the control deck.
Oxade looked up from the communications panel and clapped eyes on Nutrene’s mercenary get-up, “Hey.”
“Hey.”
“Sleep well?”
“Like a baby,” she moved the chair from her path and grabbed his hand in hers. They clutched tightly and bumped fists, “How long you been up?”
Oxade checked her over and smiled, “A few hours, now. You look great.”
“Oh, I am great. You know that,” she nodded at Manny, “I heard we found Opera Beta?”
“Yeah, we did. We’ve just sent a message back to USARIC updating them on our findings.”
Oxade caught Alex staring at him. He seemed to be lost in his own world. Oxade remained professional and refrained from causing any undue upset.
“Hey, soldier. You okay?”
“I’m fine. I just want to get this done.”
“You seem anxious?” Oxade said. “Having second thoughts about the mission?”
“No.”
Alex tugged at his sleeve. A sense of dread thumped against his chest.
Opera Beta edged closer and closer. Soon, Opera Charlie would bridge with them and instigate an intergalactic act of violence and death.
“Is your suit okay?” Oxade asked, knowing full well that it wasn’t the merc gear upsetting the man.
“It’s Kevlar and Technomex. I’m used to it.”
“It’ll save your life if we encounter a fight,” Oxade waved Manny over to him, “Okay, enough BS. Manny, tell us about Opera Beta?”
Manny opened up and landed quarter of the way through her holographic tome.
Construction of Space Opera Beta commenced in 2116 at USARIC’s Cape Claudius compound. More than one hundred tons in weight, it measures one thousand feet and contains ten levels.
The name underwent a last minute change in early 2118 before it set off on its voyage to Saturn. Originally known as Space Opera Bravo, the original team of humans were disbanded and summarily executed shortly after the conclusion of the Star Cat Project.
It was decided by then-chief Dimitri Vasilov and CEO Maar Sheck that the mission would be manned exclusively by Androgyne Series Three units to save on insurance and running costs. In addition, the winner of the Star Cat Project, Jelly Anderson, joined them.
Captain Daryl Katz and botanist Haloo Ess were the only human beings on board. Along with Beta’s on-board computer, The Manuel, these were the only entities who knew the true nature of their colleagues – the Androgyne Series Three units. It is understood that Katz and Ess did not survive the link with Opera Alpha.
Data secured from her last communication advises that there are six souls on board at this current time.
1: Tripp Healy, formerly first officer. Assumed rank of captain after the death of Daryl Katz. Former ASF (American Star Fleet) commander and communications and liaison specialist.