Are We On Mars?

Chapter Twenty-One

Lionshine rolled her eyes. "Quit it with your radio gibberish," she muttered. "Over." Her eyes narrowed into a glare as she reached forward, paw looping through the tether that was connected between the pair of engineers. 

Shadepelt was hyperventilating into the microphone, her breaths cutting shortly through the static as Pebblepounce pulled Lionshine's tether. They were interconnected in a jigsaw of cords, floating in empty space with only a suited pair of paws anchoring them to the ship. 

Pebblepounce slowly inches along the wing, listening only to Shadepelt's bursts of air. He nears the ship, paws nearly slipping off the rim. 

"¡Estaban a salvo—er, we're safe!" cheered the tom as his paws locked around the hook that had secured all the tethers together. "Back at el bar—the ship."

Lionshine turned to Greenface. "Are you alright?" she asked him. "You have the password that unlocks the door, so I need you to answer."

Greenface does not move. The only visible sign of life is his paws, which are visibly shaking in their boots.

The golden she-cat turned to Shadepelt, a skeptical look lingering in her eyes. "So, uh, is he okay?" she asked carefully.

"Why would I know?" snapped Shadepelt. "I'm actively trying to avoid this foxbrain for a reason! And just leave him out here to freeze to death. We don't need two engineers on the ship."

Alderwood was humming to himself, paws dancing over the keys as they lit up with each touch. "If we don't need two engineers," he thought aloud. "Then why should we keep you, Shadepelt? After all, you did get one question wrong on your entry exam. What if that question became a real-life problem and you messed it up because we had used Greenface to power the greenhouse."

Greenface snapped to attention, still shaking slightly. "I—I'm sorry," he sputtered. "I was to—too scared to resp—respond." He fluffed out his fur, which pressed against the tight skin of the spacesuit. "Scared by th—the spinning, that is." 

Shadepelt glared at him. "You look like you're going to vomit," she spat, like that was some sort of comeback. 

He gave a short nod, queasily grabbing his tether and tugging gently so that he started moving toward the ship.

Alderwood moves out of the way as Greenface gently landed on the ship's wall. He pulled himself toward the dialing pad, which was flashing a "PASSWORD REJECTED" message still.   

"I think Alderwood broke it," the white-furred tom spoke cautiously.

Shadepelt let out a snort, quickly pulling herself over to the screen and sliding her paws across the keyboard. "You apparently haven't taken basic hacking and technology, huh," the black she-cat sneered.

Greenface blinked innocently. "I was too busy with my advanced engineering degree," he meowed. "And studying to get a perfect grade on the KGIS entry exam, of course."

She let out a soft growl as the airlock doors slowly hissed open.

The cats get inside and start unsuiting when Lionshine realizes there's a loud beeping noise echoing from the dashboard. 

"You guys finish up... KGIS is probably sending a message," the golden she-cat meowed, trotting over to the panel. Instead of a mail icon, however, a red caution symbol flashed on the screen. Confused, Lionshine clicked the image, and a text box popped on screen.

"You guys might want to come over and see this."

By Rio ⛈⛈