Are We On Mars?

Chapter Twenty-Two

Pebblepounce, Greenface, Alderwood, and Shadepelt are crowded around the screen, where Lionshine stands with an expression of pure anger.

"Who broke the solar panel?" she hissed, tail flicking toward the flashing 'caution' symbol that illuminated in the cabin in red. "'Cause I'm going to burn them up and use them as fuel to get this ship to keep flying." Smoke was practically pouring out of her ears.

Alderwood muttered quietly, "It wasn't me... not at all." 

The golden-furred she-cat settled her gaze on her brother. "So you broke the solar panel?" she asked in a patronizing tone.

Alderwood nods.

Lionshine let a sigh escape her muzzle, expression still flaming like the solar panel outside. Well, flaming wasn't really the right word. Things don't catch fire in space the same way they would inside. "Well, Alderwood, you go into the storage room and sit there. Don't move." 

The brown tom nods again, head hanging low as he quietly trails out of the room. Greenface suddenly leaps up.

"I—I have to go," he moaned, clutching his stomach as he limped off to the bathroom.

Shadepelt watched him go. "Huh. There shouldn't be a major gravity change," she meowed thoughtfully as the sounds of vomiting echoed through the ship. Lionshine flicked a switch on the dashboard, and the noises were covered up by the hum of a fan.

Lionshine sighed again, facing the two remaining warriors. "I guess you guys should go out and fix it. I probably should get into communication with the KGIS team so they don't rip off my head when they find out what happened."

Shadepelt sighs as she trudges off to the closet, her tail trailing behind her. Pebblepounce blinks, looking after her, before bounding after the black she-cat.

~

"Stabilizing pressure," announced the computer as Shadepelt fiddled with the lining of her suit. She hummed quietly, avoiding Pebblepounce's eyes as the tom messed with the toolbelt connected to his waist.

"Why did you even get one of those?" she asked. "Over." 

Pebblepounce looked up as the door creaked open, leading out into a vast blackness. "So I can help, duh. Over," he explained as if it was obvious.

Shadepelt shakes her head slightly, grabbing onto the outside of the door and swinging around. She spots the damaged solar panel and quickly starts sliding toward it, moving paw-over-paw to reach the panel.

"Luckily there's no fire. Over," Shadepelt reported into her microphone, grabbing a thin wrench out of her tool belt as she examined the damage. One of the plates had come loose, one of the silver lines hanging off the board. "I think I just need to re-attach this with a bit of sealing agent, then use my AX4 screwdriver to get that back in," she muttered to herself."

"Di luhur—I mean, over!" Pebblepounce added as Shadepelt pulled a small bottle out of the tool belt. "

Shadepelt rolls her eyes as she squeezes the bottle between the silver lining and the board, bending the metal. It lets out a soft 'pop!' before snapping back into place.

"What even is that?" asked Pebblepounce with a wrinkled nose.

Shadepelt glanced at him briefly, paws working through the tool belt still. "A bonding agent. But I'm no chemist—I don't know the physics of it." She gave a shrug, pulling a skinny yellow screwdriver out of the belt. 

"Over."

By Rio. Sorry that I've been doing so many chapters in a row—blame the other admins. *glares*. ⛈⛈