Are We On Mars?

Chapter Seven

"Ouch!" Alderwood mutters. Frowning at the protruding rock he stubbed his paw on, he sighs. "Why'd I come out here again?" he thinks out loud.

Padding slowly through the heavy, warm air of Venus, Alderwood checks his paw for any damage and continues along, peering through the fog.

Shadepelt pricks her ears at the sound of the exclamation, swiveling her head. She spots Alderwood farther out than they're supposed to go, and quickly checks the time. 3:05.

"Alderwood!" she shouts, sprinting toward him. "Come back!"

Alderwood is sweating now, completely lost. He turns this way and that, desperately trying to find his way back to the ship, and spots a light gleaming through the fog.

"Ooh!" he gasps. "I found something!"

Realizing seconds later that he's talking to himself, he shrugs it off and starts toward the light.

Shadepelt can't see the lost cat, but she can see the same light Alderwood sees. Running toward that, she glances down at the time. What she sees only makes her run faster. 2:03.

"Alderwooooooooooood!" she yowls in half annoyance, half fear. "Where are you?"

Her paws strike rock, push off, then land again as she takes great leaps and bounds over the surface of the planet. Suddenly she sees a large shape stumbling around, and she skids to a halt moments before crashing into Alderwood.

Woozy, Alderwood turns in circles. The light is gone now, and he can barely see. His oxygen is dangerously low.

Slinging Alderwood over her shoulder, Shadepelt begins yowling long, low keening noises to see if she can alert the ship's occupants that they're lost. She half walks, half trots in the direction she came, slitting her eyes to try to see the ship in the miles of endless fog and rock.

Alerted by Shadepelt's yowl, Lionshine sticks her head out of the ship.

"Where are they?" she mutters. "They're late."

Pebblepounce trots confidently onto the ship, grinning widely.

"Jè tue, amol--Guess what?" he says happily.

"What, Shadepelt and Alderwood are missing and they have 0:59 seconds to get back?"

"Um, no. That's cualotreë--I mean worrisome--but I found several new rock samples that'll possibly help with our studies!"

"Hooray," Lionshine sighs. "Pebblepounce, we've got to find Shadepelt and Alderwood!"

Shadepelt hears the two talking, and angles herself toward them. Alderwood is babbling . . .

"And then the smoke became hot and I was on vacation toward the moon with flowery bubbles. Also a Smurf was there and I turned blue then I saw a light and flickered like a fairy!"

"That's great, Alderwood. Please shut up."

Shadepelt is slowing down, trudging toward Pebblepounce's excited mew. Rocks seem to pull at her paws, and the gravity weighs down as she drags Alderwood along.

"But the light got really big and I saw orange fluffballs and cheese with tacos then the light started shrinking and you were there and Greenface was throwing up--"

"No suprise there," Shadepelt remarks dryly.

"--and then you screamed in my ear and I woke up and it was all a dream but now I'm on fire hot hot hot ow!"

"Mouse dung," Shadepelt hisses. "Your suit is overheating!"

Doubling her pathetically slow speed, she sees the ship and sees Lionshine and Pebblepounce rushing toward them.

0:20

Pebblepounce supports Alderwood, who is hot to the touch, and Lionshine helps Shadepelt.

0:18

"The Smurfs are on fire blue red blue red shriek ahh hot fire fire!" Alderwood babbles frantically. "Suit hot fire ahhh!"

0:12

Lionshine shoves Shadepelt into the ship, where her suit immediately relaxes, and hurries back to help Pebblepounce with Alderwood. The two toms are almost ten meters behind.

0:07

They pull and yank at Alderwood's suit, and they're in the ship, and their suits are relaxing, and suddenly they freeze again.

0:00

A loud beep sounds through the ship, but no one is caught outside, and they are all safe. In Pebblepounce's words . . .

"Goot sei Dank--Mouse dung, I mean thank StarClan!"

b r o u g h t  to you by Leopard the great ^.^