Are We On Mars?

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Lionshine, as per the usual, is bent over the dashboard, staring at the various panels of instruments with a mixed expression. Alderwood, behind her, is busy twirling around in a chair. The other cats are off in their rooms.

"Oh my StarClan," the golden-furred she-cat whispered in awe. "There really is something out there." She looked up at the screen that displayed several camera angles; Alderwood followed her line of vision, looking at the blackness that was showing there.

"What?" asked the tom, blinking a few times as if restarting his eyes could make it work. "I don't see anything..."

Lionshine turned to him, her breaths short and shaky. "Don't you see that little gray dot in the center? That's—that's a sign of something out there. Something that's been built by cats like you and me who live in this giant ball of dust."

Alderwood looks confused; their mews had awoken the partially-recovered Greenface, who stumbles up the stairs, yawning loudly.

"What are you guys doing?" the small tom asked, not a hair out of place on his white pelt. "I heard some noise, and I had finished developing a new solar panel design, so I thought I should check this out." He glanced up at the screen. "Oh my StarClan... there's a starbase!"

"See?" Lionshine mewed pointedly to her brother.

Alderwood just responded, "What's a starbase?"

"Well, I suppose starbase is the wrong word... it's a space station, basically, that orbits here in Jupiter's atmosphere. There also seems to be some sort of impenetrable field around it." He gestured toward the floating bits of rock and junk that moved around the space station then returned to their previous paths. "It's very technologically advanced for a civilization that must have started on one of Jupiter's moons."

Alderwood blinked. "What?"

Lionshine ignored her brother. "Should we approach?" she mewed anxiously, staring at the panel of controls. "Or should I land the ship on a piece of debris and hope we don't run into that field. Who knows what it'll do to living cats."

Before she can make a decision, a gray form appears within the field of protection, emerging from the space station. It flies away, exiting in the opposite direction.

Greenface was staring at the electromagnetic control panel. "The field of energy didn't even change—that's some advanced physics right there!" he exclaimed, sounding way too excited for a bunch of words that didn't even make sense.

"Well at least the ship didn't fly toward us," remarked Alderwood, finally contributing to the conversation.

Just as he speaks, the gray ship flies around from the other side of the space station and whizzes toward the K.G.I.S. ship.

Lionshine's eyes widened. "Um, should we just let them approach?" she wondered aloud.

"Our only other option would be to flee, Lionshine," Greenface meowed nervosly. "And that ship is moving too fast for that to be an option..."

"Let's get out the guns!" Alderwood exclaimed.

Lionshine rolled her eyes. "Let's not," she responded bitterly. "I'll flash the blue lights." She tapped a few times on the control panel, and the cabin flooded with a deep navy color.

Pebblepounce pads into the cabin, eyes bright as he lifts up his 3D-printed Monopoly board.

"Look what I made, Lionshine! I had to custom-print a few of the pieces, but here's my Monopoly board! Do you want to play? Dibs on the money-bag piece," he meowed, setting the board down and dancing toward the other three cats. He paid no attention to the blue-lit cabin.

Lionshine paused, flicking her tail toward the gray ship that had slowed in its approach. "You might want to get your translating skills ready," she told him. "We have a mission to complete."

By Rio again. I hope you enjoyed! ⛈⛈