Are We On Mars?

Chapter Thirty-Six

Greenface is lying on the floor, whimpering and clutching his paw. Lionshine, looking rather frustrated, is attempting to find supplies for a cast in her First Aid supplies. 

"Honestly, that's what you get for never leaving the bathroom!" mewed Lionshine irritably, as she sorted past the sting-soothing ointment ("You don't even get bees in space?!") and through the Dora the Explorer band-aids. "I can't find any ready-made space casts!" Greenface, who looked on the verge of throwing up, could only whimper in reply.

"Here!" mewed Lionshine triumphantly, with the air of one who had conquered a city. "I've found them. Now, let me set your arm." Greenface whimpered even more at the prospect. Briskly, Lionshine strode over to him, forced his paw into the correct position rather too fast for Greenface's liking, and teased the space cast on. "There, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Greenface didn't reply, but a tear of pain leaked out of his eye. Lionshine stuck a band-aid featuring Boots the monkey on top.

The she-cat walked over to the space-suit cupboard, silently cursing Greenface's misfortune. She'd been left behind! And now she'd have to follow the crew in her spacesuit! "Where are you going?" croaked Greenface.

"I'm following them, dummy." came the reply.

"What about me? What if I need to move or something?"

"I won't be gone long. And besides, we've landed. You're not going to throw up."

With Greenface complaining in the background, Lionshine pulled on her spacesuit. Due to the numerous repairs done on it, it was now rather bulky and caused her to look like a large faded marshmallow. However, it did still work. She hoped. Lionshine took a deep breath, stepped into the airlock, shut the door behind her and opened the door in front. She stepped out onto the surface of Saturn and the door clunked shut behind her. With a sigh, Lionshine began to walk, slowly and clumsily, across the surface.

Pebblepounce, Alderwood and Shadepelt are cramped into Mooshifur's car. Mooshifur has just finished calling the emergency services.

"I hope Greenface is alright" Alderwood murmured.

"Really?" snorted Shadepelt, her air of compassion for Alderwood gone. "What has he ever done for us, except permanently use the ship's only bathroom?"

Pebblepounce sighed and looked out the window. "You're complaining right in my ear, Shadepelt."

All four of the cats look outside with Pebblepounce. Saturn's landscape isn't much, in fact it's barely solid, but the cats seem to be lost in thought. Then, quite suddenly, a shadow moves in the eery mist.

"Agfjhcsnv grvi thsvc?" quivered Mooshifur. "Icrkm agch!"

"She wants to know what it is," Pebblepounce muttered. He and Shadepelt looked at each other in alarm. Alderwood was staring out the window, blissfully ignorant to the dark figure. It lumbered through the mist, its grotesquely inflated four legs clumsy and childish.

"I don't know," mewed Pebblepounce softly.

Mooshifur sat like a rabbit in the headlights, her eyes wide with fear. Then the figure gave an almighty lurch and she vroomed the car! Realization dawned on Shadepelt, her eyes widening too as the truth came to her. "It's Lionshine!" she mewed, but of course she did not speak Saturnian. Mooshifur accelerated.

Written by Arty! 🐈