Trust Issues -- Chapters 7 and 8
Just a heads up but my cousin's wedding is next weekend and I have to travel 6 hours away from home, so I'm not sure if I will be able to post anything next weekend. In the meantime, enjoy this installment and feel free to drop me a review. :) Chapter 7 The sound of Lion-O’s voice pulled the cheetah back to reality. She looked around and saw that she was in the sick bay. Machines beeped and recorded the vital data of their patient. “What happened?” She asked weakly. At that instant, Lion-O practically leapt out of his chair. Luckily, Sahara was in her wrap that kept her clung to the lion’s broad chest. “Mama.” The cub’s face brightened as she heard the cheetah’s voice. “Thank Jaga, Tara. I was afraid we’d lost you.” Lion-O smiled as he carefully stood up. “How long have I been out?” Cheetara wondered. “Two days. I found you lying on the floor unresponsive and brought you down here. Neither Tygra nor Pumyra could figure out what happened.” The lion told her as he pressed the call button. “I remember having this strange vision and the immense pain in my head. After that I don’t remember anything.” Cheetara slowly tried to sit up on her own only to find that it was harder than it seemed. “Take it easy. Someone will help us soon.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Tygra entered the room. When the tiger saw Cheetara awake, he beamed. “How are you feeling?” He asked as he carefully helped her adjust the bed up into position so she was sitting up straight. “Very tired and I still have a slight headache.” The cheetah told him. Tygra frowned and checked the machines, noticing that her vitals seemed to be in order. “All right well I’ll give you something for the headache and see if Snarf can whip you up some real food to eat. Hopefully you’ll be back on your way to being your usual self in no time.” The orange tiger smiled and then went to the medicine cabinet. He found the bottle of pain relievers and filled a glass with water. Then he walked back over to the cheetah and handed her the medication. “This should help. In the meantime, I want you to take it easy. After you’ve finished eating dinner I’ll check back in on you.” Tygra smiled. “Thank you. But I don’t want to be a bother.” Cheetara said. “You’d only be a bother if you came down here every time you got the sniffles.” The orange tiger joked. “Hey, I didn’t want to but you know Snarf.” Lion-O chuckled. Tygra laughed and then left to find the nursemaid so Cheetara could get some dinner. “Mama.” Sahara smiled and reached for the cheetah. “Hi baby.” Cheetara reached out and Lion-O came closer so she could touch the cub. The cheetah ran her hand through Sahara’s strawberry blonde hair and smiled. “A little more red and she’d have her daddy’s hair.” She said. “Lucky for us that seems to be the only thing she inherited from me.” The lion smirked. Cheetara gave a slight laugh and was about to say something when the sick bay door opened again. “Dinner will be up soon but I know a little one who needs her meal too.” Snarf said. “Do you want me to bring her down to the kitchen?” Lion-O asked. “That would be good. I’ll have dinner ready in a jiffy.” The nursemaid promised. “I’ll be right back, Tara.” The Lord of the ThunderCats gave her a smile and headed out of the room. After they left, Cheetara closed her eyes and tried to focus. She needed to clear her thoughts and see if she could bring the vision back. Slowly she could feel her sixth sense wake and she allowed it to take control. This time the vision came without the pain in her temples and she saw the shadowy figure that she had seen before. Its features weren’t defined, as a normal being would have been. The figure still appeared black and shifty. It seemed to be gaining power as the people around it grew weaker and weaker. She could feel that this being was evil and had every intention of killing everyone aboard the ship. It wanted nothing more than to destroy what was around it. Then suddenly a voice filled her head. “I know what you are trying to do Cheetara.” A raspy voice said. “How do you know me? What do you want?” She asked it. “You will not know what I want until it’s too late.” The voice continued. A pain then shot through the cheetah’s head and she opened her eyes. She was breathing hard and fought to bring everything back to normal when Lion-O entered the room. Chapter 8 The Lord of the ThunderCats rushed to her side and tried to help her calm down. A look of concern crossed his face until she was finally breathing regularly. “What happened?” He asked. “There’s something on that ship. It wants nothing more than to destroy us.” She spit out. “What do you mean?” Lion-O was confused. “Something evil is on that ship. We have to get it off of New Thundera immediately.” Cheetara continued. This talk was making the lion nervous. He took his wife’s hand and tried to calm her down. “You have to explain. Nothing bad has happened in the past two days. Everyone is fine.” The lion was trying to understand what had whipped her up into a frenzy. “You have to believe me. Get that ship off the planet. We are all in great danger.” Cheetara told him. Lion-O reached over and pressed the call button and Tygra entered the room moments later. The lion didn’t even have to say anything as the tiger could see that Cheetara was obviously upset. “She won’t calm down and she keeps talking about some evil thing on the space ship we pulled in.” The Lord of the ThunderCats said. “Cheetara you have to calm down. Your body doesn’t need the extra stress. Please take a deep breath and try to calm down.” Tygra told her. “It’s going to kill us all!” She shouted. The cheetah had completely lost it. Quickly, the orange tiger ran to the medicine cabinet and found a sedative. He injected the flailing cheetah and she soon fell asleep. “I’d better stay with her and you’d better talk to Ben-Gali and Panthro. Hopefully they have that disk decoded. The sooner we get that ship off of here the better it will be for her.” Tygra said. Lion-O heaved a big sigh and nodded. “You’re right. Call me when she wakes up.” He said. His friend gave a nod and the Lord of the ThunderCats left the room. Down in the Lair’s workshop, the lion found Ben-Gali and Panthro just about to put the disk into the decoder they had built. “How’s Cheetara?” Panthro asked. “Not good. She woke up and seemed fine but then I left her alone for a few minutes and when I got back she was out of her mind.” Lion-O’s shoulders sagged as he found a stool to sit on. Panthro felt for the lion and wished there was something he could do. “Well maybe this tape will help clear things up.” Ben-Gali tried to reassure him and placed the disk into the reader. “This is the Captain’s Log for September eleventh twenty-three thirty. We should have arrived home yesterday and yet strangely we cannot find our planet of Solvay. Somehow we are off course despite our systems indicating we are where we should be. Some of the crew have become leery in our situation and there is an uneasiness among the entire crew. All of our distress calls have not been answered and I’m beginning to wonder what our next course of action is. I try to look brave for the men and women under my command but I fear they can sense my insecurity. Again we will try to reach Solvay or Gortact and until we do what remains of our supplies will be rationed.” There was a long pause before the next entry played. “This is the Captain’s Log for September twelfth twenty-three thirty. Last night some of the crew attempted a mutiny, making wild accusations that I had led the ship astray on purpose. Luckily, security was able to quell it but not before they killed our head engineer. His second in command is trying to get the ship on course but I don’t know if he will be able. Only fourteen remain loyal to me and the nine that started the mutiny have been locked in the brig. Our food supply is dangerously low but none of the fourteen have said anything to me. They will stay loyal to the end if that is what will happen to us. I hope that we reach Solvay soon.” Again another long pause came before the next entry. “This is Doctor Jones filling in for Captain Hobart on September thirteenth twenty-three thirty. Last night our brave Captain was killed as he tried to man the pilot’s seat after the pilot was murdered. Those that remained after the attempted mutiny had a mutiny of their own claiming that they didn’t trust the pilot or the Captain anymore. No one would allow me to give them a proper funeral and they were left where they were killed. After that the remaining twelve members went to the brig and killed the nine that tried to start the first mutiny claiming that they had convinced the Captain and pilot to deceive them. Then they went about there business of tending to the ship as if nothing had happened. We are close to starvation and I believe that is what is driving them mad. They broke into the grain we were supposed to bring home and have been eating it. It is not a healthy thing to do but I cannot convince them otherwise. Out of a crew of twenty-five, only myself and the twelve mutineers remain. I fear it is only a matter of time before they kill me as well.” A third long pause came before the tape shut itself off. All three ThunderCats looked at each other. “Is there any more?” Lion-O asked. “We haven’t done a thorough search of the ship to find more but we can. At least this gives us some insight to what happened.” Ben-Gali said. “Panthro, can you check into their navigational system and see what was wrong with it?” The Lord of the ThunderCats wondered. “I can try.” The panther told him. “Can you do it without entering the ship?” Lion-O inquired. “Possibly. Why?” Panthro asked. “Because I have this strange feeling that maybe Cheetara is right.” The lion told him. To Be Continued...