Are We On Mars?

Chapter Eight

The cats watch through a small window as the garage door descends toward the ground, locking into the fixture. With a hiss of air, a mechanized voice says: "Pressure stabilized. You may now enter."

Lionshine padded into the garage, holding a key in her jaw. She dropped it and pressed the 'open' button. The rover in the center of the garage let out a clicking noise.

"Let's hop in!" Shadepelt meowed, her whiskers twitching with excitement.

Alderwood blinked at the machine. "Uh, don't we have to wear our suits when we're inside of this, uh, thing?"

"It's a rover, dummy," Lionshine spat back as she climbed into the rover. The other cats followed.

Greenface, his eyes swimming with dizziness, bolts out of the entrance. He stumbles toward the rover.

"Don't forget me!" the tom babbled. "I promise I won't throw up on you, Lionshine! Just let me come. . . repairing the toilet after I vomited it in for three straights hours isn't fun anymore, and it wasn't the first time!" A hint of desperation was lingering in his tone.

Lionshine turns around, glancing at the other cats as they settled into the rover's seats. Shadepelt wildly shakes her head, Alderwood plays with the seat-belt, and Pebblepounce gives a helpless shrug.

"I. . . I guess," Lionshine finally responded, stepping to the side of the entrance so that Greenface could hop in. Delighted, the white-furred tom hopped into the rover.

"Thank you!" he cheered, skipping to the back of the rover. The only available seat was next to Shadepelt, who let out a long hiss. "Uh, Alderwood, do you wanna trade spots? This one has the window."

The brown tom looked up from the seat-belt. "Sure!" he meowed brightly, hopping out of his seat and sitting down next to Shadepelt, who flattened her ears back with disgust.

Greenface gingerly climbs into Alderwood's chair, locking himself into the seat-belt and rolling the trash bin with him.

"Let's get moving," Lionshine meowed, firing up the rover. The garage door opened; the orange surface of Venus became visible. A murmur of excitement swept through the rover.

Lionshine pressed her paw on the gas, and the rover lurches forward. Greenface lurches forward into the trash can.

"So where did you see these, uh, orange cats, Alderwood," she called back.

"That way," Alderwood responded, pointing his tail left of the landed ship. Lionshine glanced at Shadepelt, who nodded in confirmation.

After driving for a bit, Shadepelt leaps out of her seat.

"I see something in the distance!" the black-furred cat meowed with a grin. "Is that the village?" The cats all leaped out of their seats and crowded the window. Lionshine remained in the driver's seat, stopping the car so they could look.

"Yep, that's a town!" Greenface agreed. Shadepelt shot him a scathing glare, but he remained calm. 

"Let's drive up to it!" Alderwood meowed.

Lionshine shook her head. "We might appear hostile to the locals. Let's get in our space suits and walk there."

"How is looking like a bug less hostile than being in a rover?" objected Shadepelt. Lionshine just sighed and padded toward a small closet, pulling out the four suits that had been stored inside.

"Why isn't there a backup one?" asked Greenface, his face creasing with worry. "I want to go!"

"We have to bring Pebblepounce, since he's the translator," muttered Shadepelt. "And Alderwood needs to be there so we can sacrifice him, if needed. Of course, Lionshine is our captain and must be there, and we need to bring one engineer for suit repairs and the cooling machine."

"The cooling machine?" asked Alderwood, ignoring the bit about sacrificing.

"The machine I created. Patent pending. I sold to KGIS after thinking I would get the best score," she shot a glare at Greenface. "It cools down the suits, but it requires a three-cat-team to roll it. Which is why we didn't use it before."

Greenface narrowed his eyes. "You designed it, based on refrigerator technology," he meowed calmly.

Lionshine sighs and sticks her head into the closet, coming out with a fifth suit. She distributes them and everyone climbs into their respective suit.

"Let's get going," she meowed.

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