Alderwood is snoring, in the midst of a wonderful dream, when he suddenly jolts awake.

"Oh," he meowed quietly, staring at his paws. "I guess it isn't time for a nap." Giving his pelt a quick shake, the tom slipped out of his bed.

"I want to go for a walk," he decided. "Lionshine says it's not okay to go for walks in the middle of the night, but she's not here, so it's okay, right?" His whiskers twitched with a hint of hesitation.

Alderwood padded down the hallway, toward the door. He stepped into the airlock.

"The ship is in lockdown mode," announced the robot voice. "Are you sure you would like to exit?"

"Yes," Alderwood meowed.

"You will need a key to get back inside. Are you sure?" the robot voice asked again.

"Yes," Alderwood meowed.

Alderwood didn't have a key.

Meanwhile, underneath the ship...

Greenface turned over in his nest, helmet digging into the sand. Lionshine had insisted on making their little den beneath the ship into a comfortable place, as if they were going to be spending long there. Greenface's stomach disagreed with that prospect. His pills were inside.

Martian gravity wouldn't agree with Greenface's unmedicated stomach.

A feeling of dread had started to creep into his belly when a loud thump, followed by an even louder screen, echoed from next to him.

"Aliens!" screeched Shadepelt, leaping up. "Aliens are attacking!"

Alderwood sat up next to her, brushing red sand off his helmet. "Where are the aliens?" he asked.

Lionshine and Pebblepounce both also rise out of their nest, looking half-asleep. 

"There are no aliens here; we've talked about this already," Lionshine meowed, rubbing her paw on the glass in front of her eye. "Now, what's going on? Alderwood, why don't you let us back inside?"

"I don't have a key," he explained, tail twitching.

Lionshine flopped back onto the sand. "So we're going to die out here."

"Not this again," muttered Pebblepounce. He went to drag Lionshine out of the dirt, but he spotted something beneath her tail. "Is—is that a key to the rover garage?" He picked it up. "Where did this fall out of?"

"You know who the last one to use the rovers was..." Lionshine meowed, getting up and staring at the key in Pebblepounce's paws. 

"Shadepelt."

"I swear I didn't know it was there," she yelped, tail high. "I swear!"

"We checked all our pockets," Lionshine meowed calmly. "How did you miss it?"

"I—I don't know! But I swear I didn't know it was there!" Shadepelt's ears flattened against her skull. "Please... please believe me."

Greenface stepped to her side. "Why would Shadepelt want to lock us out here?" he meowed evenly. "She was just as upset as the rest of us. Now, let's stop fighting and get back in the ship. We have places to be."

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