Chapter Six
Lionshine is hovering over the control panels, strapped into a seat. She glances back at the three other cats; Shadepelt is boredly staring out the window, Alderwood is playing with the straps of his seat, and Pebblepounce is vibrating in his. Greenface has a permanent seat in the bathroom.
"We are descending to the planet," she called out, eyes narrowed at her crew.
"Cool," muttered Alderwood, who was now messing with the screws at the bottom of his seat.
"That's nice," Shadepelt added dryly, wishing she could be helping out. Lionshine had insisted she stayed strapped to the seat.
Pebblepounce's grin just grew wider.
After landing the ship, Lionshine stood in front of her crew with a helmet tucked under her arm and a spacesuit fitting her snugly. "Alright," the captain meowed. "Listen up." Her words were hardly audible as vomiting noises echoed from inside the ship.
"We can spend about fifteen minutes on the surface before you have to come back in here. Your suits can't overheat, which is why this limit was created. This means that you can't go more than one hundred meters away from the ship until Shadepelt and I fix up the rover."
Shadepelt grinned. "Finally, I get to do something!" the engineer whispered.
"Pebblepounce, you stay with Alderwood and make sure he doesn't wander too far. You guys can collect some soil samples." She handed them a small plastic box.
He took the box. "Так, мэм—er, yes ma'am!" Pebblepounce meowed, dipping his head.
"Shadepelt, you'll be with me. And Greenface can, uh, guard the ship until he feels better." Lionshine popped on her helmet, stepping aside to let the rest of the catstronauts access the suit closet.
After suiting up, Lionshine connects the two pairs with ropes so they can't leave each other. They all enter the air lock.
"Stabilize pressure," the captain called, and air hissed out of the airlock. Alderwood is fidgeting with his rope, probably trying to detach it. "We can exit now."
Excited, the cats walk down a small ramp, adjusting to the change in gravity.
Shadepelt padded up to the side of the ship, pressing a small bottom on the bottom. A garage-like door opens, and air hisses out of the room. A shiny rover is sitting inside the opening.
"We'll be fixing this up for travel," Lionshine meowed, padding up behind her. A red timer on the arm of her suit showed '14:31'.
Shadepelt nodded, grabbing a toolbox off the shelf and diving beneath the rover.
Meanwhile, Alderwood was pulling Pebblepounce every-which-way. "Whoa!" the translator called, out of breath. "Palun calm down!"
Alderwood sighed, slowing down. "The gravity here is fun though," he protested meekly, jumping up and falling down at a minimally slower rate.
"Let's just do our job," sighed Pebblepounce, opening the small box and crouching in the orange soil.
After a while, Lionshine's timer beeps, and they all walk into the ship. Lionshine leads them into a small chamber, where they sit and wait, then exit out of the ship again.
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