Memoirs of Kitty Siam

Chapter 7 - Lost Kitty

My thoughts drift through the cosmic vacuum of space passing through galaxies and solar systems. As my mind and non-caporal stretches out looking for an anchor or a lifeline to pull me back into reality I hear the faint sound of alarm bells ringing and klaxons blaring. Explosions rock me time and time again as my world shudders around me. I hear panicked screams before the final bang that causes my thoughts to cease, and my body to come to an abrupt stop... then there is silence and once again nothingness... as I lay still the nothingness continues and continues... I can hear my thoughts wander and wonder... did the conversion work? Am I alive or dead? Always wondering, but never answering until...

I hear the sounds of servos activate, metal screeches against metal... I feel the wind on my face... my eyes flutter open and closed as a dim light above my head flickers for a few seconds then winks out... my nostrils fill with the stench of death... my mind returns to the spinning cosmos but this time there is only silence, darkness and death.

I can see the light on the other side of my eyelids, my eyes flutter open to bright light streaming in through cracks, but cracks in what? I shield my eyes from the light and try to open them fully... the smell of death is still in the air, the unmistakable stench of burned hair and rotting flesh... my heart skips a beat... I look up as best I can to see a curved canopy over me. A clear center is outlined by stainless steel... is this my coffin perhaps? Did I die?

I return to my last thoughts of being attached to a table... I try to shift my legs off the edge but my legs do not move more than a few inches, something blocking them. I struggle to sit up... my abs protest but comply... I'm sitting up in some sort of cylindrical container that is connected to wires and tubes. I clear the tubes out of the way, push up with my arms and swing my legs over the side... my body protests each movement... but my body complies. My feet touch the floor as my hands grip the side of the cylinder... my knees buckle... I crumple to the ground, landing on my pert little butt.

My vision clears as I pull myself to a standing position; my leg muscles are cramped but hold my weight. I take stock of my physical condition. All seems well as I try to walk. Taking slow deliberate steps... holding on to the cylinder all the while for safety. Getting braver I take a few steps, my foot kicks something soft but unmoving... looking down and focusing my eyes on the floor. I want to scream but nothing comes out, my lips forming a silent "O"... my foot is perched on top of a disconnected arm lying next to a badly burned and decomposed body. I scan the floor with my eyes... there is another body, and another, and another... too many to count at the moment. Some are in seats, some scattered around the floor. How did they die? What happened? I look closer, looks like a crash of some sort? Maybe? My legs are firming up but still require support. Holding on to anything near by as I walk in slow deliberate steps. My eyesight getting better with time... I can make out a large hole in the wall... no, not a wall, a metallic section of a ship's hull. Edges are ragged and burned, and melted... I get closer and run my slender fingers over the rough edges of the hole... not burned... melted... DISRUPTOR FIRE???

Ok, got to think now, I was in the medical lab, now I'm on a ship... as ship that has been shot down... but shot down by whom? I'm wearing clothing... I was naked but now I'm wearing clothing... blue surgeon's scrubs. How did I get in these clothes? I walk closer to a larger opening in the hull, it's large enough to exit, it's a short jump to the ground but I make it safely. More bodies outside but much more different than inside... Think Kitty, what is different... brain not fully functional... clothing, that's it... female bodies... no clothing. A shiver runs through me as I come to the realization that the male bodies are positioned such as they were tied and executed but still clothed... the women... all naked... all separated from the men... all killed with crude weapons... no disruptors, no lasers, no sonic swords, no slug throwers... looks like large knives, perhaps metal or iron swords. Where am I?