Just as Sophia had promised, things didn't go very well for Richard. She and Elsa arrived at the Farmer's son's house when the first rays of sunlight crept between the surrounding buildings.

Richard was nowhere to be found.

However, after Sophia demanded him to reveal himself—in a tone so menacing that it sent chills down Elsa's spine. Richard didn't have any option but to come forward. In spite of Sophia's well-founded accusations, the trickster cat dared to deny his involvement in Elsa's dreadful night. He spoke as if he didn't know the unfortunate cow at all! Sophia knew better. Richard's vain attempts to slip away angered her even more. She called him all sorts of names so inappropriate that Elsa wouldn't dare to repeat them herself.

While the fuss between the two cats went on, Elsa's eyes remained fixed up in the starlight above. There, her beloved Moon glowed as bright as usual—in spite of the imminent arrival of her brother, the Sun, who would soon take over the morning sky. Elsa's heart still yearned for a chance to go up there and meet the Moon, to speak to it, and to share stories. But no matter how hard she tried to achieve her goal, it seemed to distance from her more and more as her journey progressed, and that filled her with sorrow.

Her gaze finally left the sky and slid down to the ground. She once again felt small and powerless in the middle of the colossal city. Could Sophia fulfill her promise to Elsa? Could she make Richard tell them the path to the Moon? She wanted to believe her, but she hadn't exactly started on the right foot in regards to cats. Even so, as much as Elsa's distrust for cats had grown, Sophia proved to be different. She stood up for her and didn't give up on her cause, no matter how much Richard tried to dismiss the two of them.

Finally, after a long while, the discussion came to an end when Sophia mentioned Esteban, another cat who lived at The Moon Club, which whom Richard had "pending business." Elsa didn't understand what she meant by "pending business," but the mere mention of those words was enough to shift Richard's uncooperative attitude entirely. With a complete change of heart, he admitted knowing all about NASA and The Rocket.

Well, Elsa wasn't mistaken, after all! That made her a little happier since she liked to be right about things.

And so, once Richard had confessed his sins, Sophia forced him to take them both to NASA immediately. Soon, Elsa—now with two new companions—would finally be able to continue her strenuous journey to the Moon!

Without further ado, both Sophia and a reluctant Richard hopped onto Elsa's back. According to him, NASA was right there in the city, and if they hurried, they could get there by noon.

Elsa's expression didn't fill with hope and joy at this news, as it might have before she arrived at the city. She had learned the hard way not to get ahead of herself. As far as she was concerned, Richard could be lying to them again, and they could end up in yet another horrible place.

Luckily for Elsa, it wouldn't be long before she changed her mind. By the time the sun was high in the middle of the sky, they had reached a vast grassy field with a long road in the middle. A long fence wrapped around a few small buildings spanning the horizon. Now Elsa's visage did fill with excitement as she sighted a large cylinder arising from the distant buildings.

There it was at last, next to a tall, metallic structure of pipes and platforms: The Rocket.

With enthusiasm overflowing her body, Elsa quickened her pace, her wide eyes never leaving The Rocket for a second. She walked so fast that Sophia and Richard almost fell off her back. But there was no time to lose—regardless of the safety of her riders, she had been diverted from her journey for too long, and The Rocket would soon depart for the Moon.

The moment for which she had strived for so long seemed to have finally arrived. She had never been so close to fulfilling her dream before. And it was all thanks to Sophia and, Elsa admitted, even Richard.

However, the closer Elsa got to the fence, the more she realized how long and tall it actually was, and how big the buildings inside it were, and how massive the dimensions of The Rocket were.

That was something Elsa didn't like very much: perspective.

From afar, nothing really looked like an obstacle, but up close was an entirely different story. Initially, Elsa thought she might be able to jump over the fence and hop onto The Rocket. But with the fence in front of her, she knew this wasn't an option—it was many times taller than her!

In spite of this whole new set of obstacles, she wasn't as worried as she was bothered. After all, she had other options. At the center of the fence was a gate, and two humans stood to each side. Maybe they weren't crazy, like those in the city, and they would be kind enough to let her and her new friends pass.

"Rick," one of them said as Elsa approached the gate. "Look at that, Rick."

The other one awoke from his standing slumber. "W—what? What is it?" he grumbled, still half asleep.

"There!" The first man pointed at Elsa. "Those cats are riding on top of that cow. Can you believe that?"

"It's just a cow, man. Let her be."

"But—"

"C'mon, man. Let me sleep."

Before the other resumed his sleep, Elsa leaned her forehead against the gate and pushed, trying to let them know she wanted in. The metal fence rattled as she did it a few more times.

"Hey, what are you doing?" one of them said. "Go away! This is no place for you!"

"Yeah! Shoo! Go eat some grass or something." The other waved his hand in dismissal.

Go eat some grass or something? Elsa wasn't quite pleased with their rudeness at her and her friends (although she really liked the idea of eating grass.) Still, she didn't fancy their disrespectful tone.

She then figured that maybe they wouldn't let her pass because she wasn't qualified. Tee-bee had told her that the humans who went to the Moon were called "Astronauts," and that they had to prepare for years before they could go there.

How hadn't she thought of this before?

She lacked the qualifications. She wasn't an astronaut!

Geez... now what?

Well, one thing she was sure about: she didn't have "years" to become an astronaut. The Rocket would leave soon, and one way or another, she would hop on it.

Elsa's first thought was to find another way in, but then the ground shaking beneath her hooves distracted her.

Far in the distance, a massive machine, several times larger than any other she had seen yet, raced down the road. It wouldn't be long before it arrived at the gate. By the looks of it, this machine was specially designed to carry stuff: the compartment for humans was but a fraction of it, and there was a broad platform attached to the back. Yet another machine, this one odd-looking, stood on four legs on the platform, secured by chains and ropes. Elsa recognized the logo painted on one of its many sides—that four-legged thing had something to do with The Rocket, she was sure of it.

One of the humans guarding the gate came out and approached the one inside this new, huge machine. "Roy, here you are! People are going crazy down at the launch pad. They're blaming you for delaying the whole schedule."

"C'mon, man, you know how hard it is to bring this thing all the way from JPL?"

"Well, hurry up. The only thing left to do is to load the Lunar Module before the final tests begin."

"Lunar Module." So, that was what they called that strange machine on the platform. "Lunar"... that word made her thought of The Moon for some reason; whatever a "module" was, anyway ...

"You got your batch on you?"

"Yeah, here." The human in the very-large machine handed over a small, white piece of plastic. Then, as if by magic, the gate slid open to let him pass.

That piece of plastic they called batch seemed to be some sort of key that let whoever carried it to enter NASA.

An idea struck Elsa.

Maybe, if she had one of those, she would be allowed inside as well!

But how would she get it? That sure wasn't an easy question. So, she finally opted out of that plan.

By the time the huge machine had made its way into NASA, Elsa and her companions had ducked behind some bushes near the fence, hiding from the humans guarding the gate as they came up with a new plan. But as they weighed their reduced possibilities, yet another machine arrived at the gate.

Elsa recognized this one—it was the Farmer's son's machine.

Who would've thought? After all, he had something to do with NASA!

"And there's our last guest to the party!" one of the gate-guarding humans spoke to the Farmer's son. "Come on in. They're about to load up the module."

Unlike with the human in the huge machine, the gate-guarding humans didn't ask him for his batch. The gate just slid open and let him in as if he was some sort of very important guest.

"Good luck, Doc."

Well, well... maybe, if Elsa had stayed in the Farmer's son's machine instead of wandering about in the city, she would be inside NASA by now. By now, Elsa was pretty sure luck enjoyed to mock her beyond her patience.

The human went back inside, and the gate started closing again. But before it shut, Richard rushed at it, calling to Elsa and Sophia to follow after him.

In spite of her confusion about the cat's sudden haste, Elsa ran as fast as her legs were willing to carry her generous weight. The humans yelled at her to halt as soon as they saw the party racing at the gate. Elsa hesitated for a moment, but Richard didn't stop, so neither did she.

They made it past the gate right before it closed.

Elsa was finally inside NASA.

The humans wouldn't give up so easily, though. They chased Elsa and both cats as they avoided capture by running in circles.

After a while, in a hastily-thrown-together plan, Richard jumped at one of the humans and Sophia at the other, grasping clothes firmly with their claws.

"Agh! What is this?" one of them yelled in terror.

"Crazy fur-balls! Get off me!"

It didn't take long for Elsa to figure out Richard's plan: she was to escape while he and Sophia distracted their pursuers.

And so she did.

While both humans struggled to get their attackers off their faces, Elsa quickly strode away, deeper into NASA's territory. Thanks to Richard and Sophia's sacrifice, she had made it past the gate and was en route to The Rocket looming tall in the distance. And there weren't any more humans around to stop her from reaching her long-awaited destination.

At least, none yet.

❖

Author's Note

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