Are We On Mars?

Chapter Eighteen

Shadepelt grumpily stomps toward the supply closet, pressing a button and watching the metal doors slide open with a loud hiss. Greenface, looking slightly woozy, pads out of the bathroom and joins her, sitting down on the tiled floor.

Shadepelt leaned forward and pulled two suits off the rack; she handed one to the white-furred tom without looking into his eyes. 

Greenface took the suit from her, holding it out in front of him and examining the orange fabric. "I need a small sized suit," he muttered quietly, staring at the floor.

Shadepelt narrowed her eyes, resisting the urge to shove her shoulder against his as she pushed her legs into her medium-sized suit. "I beg your pardon?" she meowed sweetly, voice dripping with sarcasm. "I couldn't quite hear you."

"I—I need a small sized suit," he repeated. "You got a medium one." 

Shadepelt opened her muzzle, about to spew out a string of curses, but she silently closed it and gave a sharp nod. "Fine." Roughly, she tugged the medium-sized suit away from him and shoved it back into the closet. She pulled out a smaller sized one, with Greenface's name embroidered onto a silver strip of fabric.

The white tom's pelt was hot, and he fidgeted awkwardly on his paws as he squirmed into the suit. "They put my name on it 'cause I'm the only one with a small suit on the ship," Greenface explained briefly.

Shadepelt was fastening her silver strip to a patch on the suit—they had used the 3D printer to create one, since a suit had never been customized for her. "Whatever," she muttered under her breath. "Get in the airlock."

From a few fox-lengths away, Lionshine watches cautiously.

"Should I set up the rope, or do you guys got that covered?" the golden-furred she-cat asked, taking a few steps toward them.

"We're fine," dismissed Shadepelt, padding into the airlock. "Let's get on with this." She started pulling out a red cord from a pack into the wall.

Greenface follows her, looking uncomfortable as he waved his tail at the rest of the crew before pressing the 'close doors' button. 

Shadepelt snapped the cord into a hook on the back of Greenface's suit, muttering something under her breath as she locked it tightly in place. "Hook me up, please," she meowed in a flat tone, turning around and offering the other red cord to the white tom.

Greenface gave a short nod and hooked it in, lowering a small cover of it and listening to the magnetic click. "Stabilize air pressure," he meowed aloud as Shadepelt turned around.

The room makes a loud whirring noise, and air hisses through the vents.

"Stabilized," announced the computer.

Greenface gave Shadepelt an awkward smile. "I developed that air pressure system," he told her brightly. "It was my leaf-bare break project." 

She gave him a quick nod. "Unlock doors," Shadepelt meowed decisively, avoiding his gaze as she spoke to the computer system, enunciating clearly. 

The door's giant dial starts to spin, and the gravity simulators turn off. Now floating midair, Shadepelt turns on her radio.

"I put the jetpack on your suit, right? Over."

Greenface looked over his shoulder, spotting the slim metal device that was connected to his suit. He gave her a nod and turned it on. "Copy. It's on. Do you need to grab onto my suit's tether? Over."

"Copy. Yes please. Over," Shadepelt meowed, excitement chilling her bones. She had hardly gotten a chance to step out into the black void of space, and it was certainly not the boring routine of taking care of the ship.

Back inside the ship.

Lionshine frowned slightly as she listened to the radio transmission. "Why are they using voice procedure?" she wondered aloud as Pebblepounce wandered through the cabin. 

He looked up from his wandering. "Oh, they didn't tell you? KGIS is recording this for publicity purposes or something. They want to appear more professional, so they were told to use standard transmission jargon." 

Lionshine's eyes widened. "I was not informed of this."

Meanwhile.

Greenface pressed down on the trigger, paws trembling in his suit. "Heading toward the left wing. Over."

"Let's start this thing. Over," meowed Shadepelt with a grin.

By Rio ⛈⛈