Lionshine's paws are placed on the dashboard, quickly moving across the glowing screen. She slides her pad up the display; the ship suddenly lurches forward, gaining speed. A groan of pain can be heard from the ship's bathrooms.

Lionshine winced at Greenface's moan. "Sorry!" she called, directing her mew toward the restrooms. "I'm just adjusting our course so we don't crash into one of the old satellites that are floating around here." 

Pebblepounce, with his signature grin, bounces into the room. He glances out of the ship's front window, admiring the view.

The gray tom frowned slightly. "Shì, gāi—Was that the International Space Station?"

Lionshine shrugged. "Who knows. That thing has been around for like three centuries, and the last thing it held was a venus fly trap that had evolved and killed the crew."

Alderwood's eyes widened. "Uh, I guess I should go toss my catmint plant out of my bag. . . where did they store our food items again?"

Lionshine rolled her eyes. "In the kitchen, you dimwit."

Alderwood starts to make his way out of the control headquarters, but he is interrupted by the ship's translator. 

"Yeah, and I thought that we weren't supposed to bring catmint on board, since it's technically a drug and all. . ." Pebblepounce laughed slightly.

Alderwood rolls his eyes and pads out of the control room.

Alderwood padded down a dimly lit hallway, his pawsteps echoing throughout the chamber. The tom paused at an intersection, squinting at a red-colored sign.

The sign reads "<---- Kitchen." A sign below it reads "Storage ---->." 

Alderwood narrowed his eyes, trying to read it. He stared at the lower sign. "Kit. . . chen. Kitchen!" he mewed triumphantly, bouncing toward the storage room. 

Back in the control room, Pebblepounce and Lionshine watch him take a wrong turn through the security cameras, snickering. 

Alderwood slowly crept into the storage room, turning left into a large room full of canisters. He tried to read the text on one of the containers. "Personal. . . items," the tom mewed. "Sweet! This is where my catmint should be."

The canister reads "Rocket Fuel."

Alderwood climbed up the side of the container, his claws scratching the steel. 

Behind another of the canisters, a black she-cat bolts up. She spots the clumsy tom trying to unscrew the top of the container. 

Rolling her eyes, Shadepelt laid back down behind the canister. As she seated herself, she glanced up at what she was hiding behind, reading the label. "Oh mousedung," the black she-cat whispered as she realized what he was doing

Back in the control room.

Lionshine's eyes darted from the security feed to Pebblepounce. "He's unscrewing the rocket fuel!" she gasped. "If that gets out. . . if that gets out, the emergency exit feature will trigger! We'll be blasted out of the ship."

"That's not good!" Pebblepounce meowed with a grin. "Can we go and help him? Pretty, pretty please?"

The golden she-cat had darted out of the room without answering 

In the rocket fuel storage.

Shadepelt folded her ears back. "Alderwood!" she hissed, trying to get the tom's attention. He glanced down at her.

"Be quiet, shadow!" he mewed, rolling his eyes for effect. Since he had his night vision removed in exchange for color vision, Alderwood was basically blind in the blackness of the storage room.

To be continued. . .

⌁ Written by Rio the great ⌁