Star Kitten

by Purple Hazel

  Suddenly they heard the roaring swoosh of a space craft entering New Australia's atmosphere!

  It scattered the Spleefs around her like mice getting caught in a kitchen with the light turned on late at night. But Felina merely threw back her hood, shielded her eyes, and looked up at the sky. As the craft approached the scene of ruined wreckage which had once been the New Australia Terminal Loading Bay and the converted Main Terminal solar domed farm, Felina froze and looked up into the sky with squinting cat-like eyes. Could this be the Naustie fleet come to rescue them? Or was it another enemy craft, coming back? Felina just stood there and waited. The craft was getting closer and closer to her. If it was the enemy, it would do her no good to run and hide she concluded; and wherever she ran to, it might bring missiles down upon her that would kill all her friends and her daughter. So she just stood there, shading her eyes with her paw.

  Within a few minutes the craft was landing. By now, she just knew they had seen her. After all she was standing in the middle of what had once been the assembly hall for the Tribal Confederation. The explosions of missiles fired on it months before had vaporized an entire corner of it; and there were no walls anywhere standing within hundreds of yards of her. They couldn’t miss her! Felina just stood there bravely and gazed at the large craft as it landed in the desert sand and kicked up a vast cloud of dust.

  Felina shielded her face from the dust; as the thrusters of the craft (used for softly landing on surfaces without damaging landing gear) whined and moaned to an eventual stop. Then there was a long silent pause, as Felina could hear her comrades off in the distance begging and pleading for her to “get down Star Kitten… get down… please hide, Princess!” Felina knew it would do no good to run now. Instead she actually raised up her paw in a gesture of greeting to the craft!

  But this friendly gesture was greeted only by a massive kah-thunk and a hissing release of air; as the cargo bay door of the craft opened and a massive loading ramp ever so slowly descended to the ground. Felina startled and shivered with excitement; but still she didn’t move. She stood there like a gorgeous feline statue and waited. The billowing dust cloud obscured just who exactly was about to exit the craft, but after a few moments Felina could barely make out a large group of short pudgy figures and their silhouettes through the haze. When the ramp finally rested onto the ground with a metallic crashing sound; the occupants of the craft finally came walking out. When they got about two hundred yards away, Felina could count about fifty creatures walking toward her.

  It was nearly evening now; and the surface temperature was starting to fall. Felina sucked air from her breather unit with anxious anticipation. The creatures coming toward her… they were clearly Zorgs! Could it be? Could it really be the crew of the Chengshi? She tried not to get her hopes up. But then Felina began to make out one little figure in the middle. It was a Zorg with a little paunch for a belly. A Zorg she’d almost immediately recognize anywhere. Yes it just had to be him. And in a few moments she just abandoned all her fear and started walking toward them all. She started waving again. They paused. Then she stopped too. Then… one of them waved back! They recognized her! Suddenly the whole group started waving; and several of them began running toward her. She started running toward them as well!

  Yes, it was the crew of the Chengshi! And in the middle, waddling toward her as briskly as he could in his cumbersome breather device; was Kscheeech himself; her very old and trusted friend. It was the creature who had taken her away from Star Pussy; the kindly Zorg who’d introduced her to her loving husband Solomon. Yes, it was really him!

  As the Zorgs celebrated around her, shaking and squeezing her paws, jumping about in celebration; the little Zorg Admiral came up to her and affectionately threw his little scaly arms around her waist. Felina bent over and hugged his huge lizard head. Kscheeech was giddy with excitement, spitting out his breather tube. “God, my Darling… am I glad to s-sssee you!” he hissed with relief. Felina chuckled and cackled joyfully while the other Zorgs hopped up and down around her. She replied, “We’re so glad to see you too, Keech! We’re so glad to see all of you!”

  Kscheeech looked up at her with a broad toothy smile that gradually faded into a slightly concerned look. “S-ssso uh, just how many of you made it out, Princess-sss?” Felina lowered her voice and replied, “About fifteen thousand…” but everyone in the group heard her. She could hear them murmuring and repeating the number to each other, while she took another long breath of oxygen from her breather. Chattering amongst themselves, the mostly Zorg crew passed the world along: Out of the nearly one hundred thousand Nausties on the planet when Earth invaded… apparently only a handful had made it out alive. However… Felina was responding to his exact question, thinking he meant “how many were in her group of refugees”. She didn’t mean the refugees were the only survivors.

  The rest of Felina’s scout team along with the Pumalar females and Star Baby, came out to join Felina and their rescuers. They all joyfully scurried inside the ship to get out of the withering heat and get some cool water to drink. Kscheeech also ordered a meal to be prepared for them! Meanwhile, he and Felina sat together and talked privately about what had happened the past few weeks, while Star Baby played with the crew. It turned out, the Chengshi had actually returned to New Australia within a few weeks of hearing on the news that the Earth commanding general had scrubbed the mission and Earth was officially abandoning the invasion. Every evening since, they’d been landing on the surface near the Terminal Loading Bay waiting for survivors to come out. In the evening heat, right before the temperatures would plunge; they’d send surface rovers out to scour the area around the site—including over by the new solar domed farm. This had gone on for many days, while they waited for signs of survivors. Each evening they’d explore the old Terminal; and the wreckage of the Terminal Loading Bay as well. Then, when the area got too dark and too cold, they’d return to their ship and return to orbiting the planet.

  Many of his crew had urged him to abandon the task, when they saw the level of destruction everywhere. And Kscheeech admitted he almost considered heeding their suggestions at times, especially when it had been weeks since the Earthers had abandoned their base and no Nausties had appeared. But… Solomon had given him the order to come back looking for survivors so that’s what he did—night after night.

  Kscheeech went on to tell Felina all about what he thought she didn’t already know. He told her about the final battle, the massive explosion reported in the news, the subsequent eruption of the volcano, and finally the horrific fireballs exploding up the shafts and tunnels of New Australia which wiped out over half the Earth Army. It was a horrifying scene on the news; and his crew had watched it all unfold onscreen. It seemed to the press like the desperate Naustie Army had decided to just blow themselves up right along with their enemies; right down there in the planet’s mine system, using explosive charges. Perhaps this had triggered a volcanic eruption, speculated many “experts”. No doubt their “demise” was “accidental”, it was theorized.

  That’s when Felina realized that Kscheeech (as well as the media… and best of all the Earther commanders) quite possibly had it all wrong. The whole galaxy must have thought—oh my God could it really be? Felina smiled broadly and then she laughed—she laughed long and hard too—joyously and somewhat insanely (until she finally had to cover her mouth with her paw). This completely unnerved Kscheeech for a moment. “Princess-sss, what is-sss it? What’s sss-so funny?” asked Kscheeech with a confused smile. Felina had suddenly realized that the press had made the logical and quite very mistaken assumption that the entire planet’s population… all the Nausties, their army, and most of the Earth Army right along with it… had perished. “No, Kscheeech! Don’t you get it? The galaxy thinks we’re all dead! Don’t you see?” she asked, still smiling and cackling like a hyena. “If they all think we’re dead… then… well… don’t you see what it means? They’re not coming back, Kscheeech! Never!”

 
Kscheeech thought about it for a moment. She was probably right. The Earth army had left; the planet was clearly uninhabitable now. Earthers would never try and come back to mine here; not likely for many years (if ever). Kscheeech could also picture the political fallout back on Earth from suffering such a decisive defeat and military disaster at the hands of “barbaric pirates” (as the press occasionally referred to them). It would mean an overwhelming backlash toward the same hawkish conservatives who’d urged this doomed mission from the get-go. No, the Earthers would not be back.

  He grinned and hissed with delight at the thought of all this for a few brief moments, nodding and chuckling right along with Felina. But, then an even darker thought slowly came over him. What about all the immense loss of life? Was Felina implying they were all going to STAY? So far, Kscheeech only knew of these survivors and no one else. To him, it looked like (in the news), that the Naustie army had also perished in the volcano. He understood what Felina was saying, yes. But what would it matter if everyone else in the galaxy thought every soul on the planet was killed? With hardly any Nausties left, what was the use of staying and trying to exist here? How could they expect to rebuild the planet with only this handful of survivors; and less than two thousand crewmen combined, from the whole Naustie merchant fleet?

  With a dismissive grin he said, “Well, that’s-sss all well and good; Princess-sss. But we need to get the ressst of the fleet down here to evacuate what’s-sss left of our population.” He bowed his head and blinked his eyes respectfully as he continued, “And we must honor the dead… now that all our brave warriors-sss have sss-sacrificed to s-sssave us-sss.” That’s where Felina finally corrected him. “Oh no, Kscheeech, they’re not dead my old friend. They’re still down there. Don’t you get it? The army is still down there. We just have to go back and get them!” Kscheeech looked at her long and hard like she was insane. She just giggled and nodded enthusiastically.

  As Star Baby came over to jump up into her lap, Felina explained to Kscheeech that the detonation of explosions was designed to occur so that it blew the Earthers up the mine shafts and tunnels from whence they came. The Naustie Army, by way of comparison, was well protected at least a mile away from the magma chamber and had dug-in via the creation of cave-ins so that the gases and fallout from the eruption would not harm them. “In fact,” she explained, “the army is likely still down there, feverishly tunneling out right now as we speak!” Kscheeech looked at her sadly… she couldn’t possibly believe what she’d just said. Or if she actually did, she must not really understand physics and geology. Kscheeech thought long and hard about explaining to her just how unlikely a rescue could be, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it—not with Felina’s adorable daughter looking up at him smiling.

  “Well, my Princess-sss… if you think they’re down there; then we’d better go find them,” he said, halfway just consoling her and the other half just flat-out placating her. No, he couldn’t imagine being able to tunnel down up to ten miles through simmering hot lava, just to find what was likely going to be nothing more than 20,000 dead bodies. Even if Felina was right, and they’d survived the blast; they couldn’t have survived the noxious gases emitted from the volcano. Even if they survived the gases; they’d likely have run out of air by now and suffocated. If they had breather units they could live for a while, yes. However, how would they have enough food to eat and how would they ration it? They’d have no way of knowing if the refugees ever made it to the surface. They likely didn’t even know that the Earther army had withdrawn!

  Above everything else, even if Kscheeech, the refugees, and all the crews from all the Naustie fleet started digging and reopening tunnels immediately, it could be weeks before they reached any Naustie warriors… and surely they’d all be dead by then. However: Kscheeech had greatly underestimated Felina. He’d underestimated Nicky Ciancio too… and he had completely underestimated the stubborn determination of the Porko tunnelers among the refugees. They had all survived so much together, in the bloody war with Earth. So much death; all around them every day. Yet they’d lived through it all together. And they were far stronger than Kscheeech could have imagined. He was about to learn this lesson too!

  It didn’t take but five more days for the rest of the refugees to arrive at the wreckage of the Terminal Loading Bay; and when they all saw what had happened to their home planet; indeed many were heartbroken, crestfallen, and wept openly. Kscheeech saw their reactions and initially prepared his crew to take on passengers for evacuation, as was the original plan. Yet many more though were actually downright furious. One look into Nicky’s eyes—and that cold deadly gaze he was famous for—was enough to get a sense for what he and most everyone else felt inside. There was no way in hell were they going to give up now. Exhausted or not, the Nausties were going to stay. No, there’d be no evacuation to Frabrak 3 for a “new life.” That was one order from Solomon that was going to be respectfully disregarded.

  “Nah… We ain’t leavin’,” muttered Nicky as he toured the burned-out ruins of the Old Terminal Building. “Ain’t no way,” he just kept repeating. His loyal Porko tunneling teams snorted in agreement when he passed by them repeatedly muttering this. Angry Zorgs hissed with indignation. Spleefs glared about looking at the wreckage with fiery red eyes. Female humans even reiterated and repeated Nicky’s words. They looked at their babies and children, and said things like, “Nope. We are not leaving. Not without your father.” Nicky just kept on muttering, stalking around the ruins and the edge of the big crater which had once been the terminal loading bay. People and creatures heard him snarling those words “we ain’t leavin’,” over and over again. They looked about, and the scene enraged them further. No… the refugees were not about to abandon their home now. This was THEIR planet!

  Kscheeech realized it was no use suggesting that they board his ship for Frabrak 3. Instead he ordered his crew to bring out food and fresh water for the refugees; then he ordered his own officers to help clean out the hospital facilities and surface barracks left behind by the Earthers. These could be used for the refugees to turn into temporary housing. The officers rolled their eyes and smirked sarcastically; but then flew into action before Kscheeech could say another word about it! These buildings left behind by the Earther invaders were air-conditioned and powered by solar energy panels so they could run almost indefinitely on the planet surface. Living arrangements Kscheeech knew would be quite crowded; but it was still a vast improvement versus living in the dark tunnels below the surface the last few weeks. The Earthers had even left behind massive fresh water tanks to provide facilities with running water! What a blessing that was for mothers with children.

  Finally, Kscheeech ordered his communications officer to send a short range message to the remaining fleet up in orbit around New Australia. It simply said, “Evacuation cancelled. Clear to land at Terminal Loading Bay. We’re staying.”

  With that, the refugees made their decision as a people. They would set the Porko tunneling teams back to work digging down into the bowels of New Australia. They’d start immediately, using any equipment they could find. Kscheeech didn’t argue the point any further about the futility of this. Frankly, they were all so determined. It would have done no good to reason with them. Besides, even if they found ONE family member alive; they’d have considered it a moral victory. Nicky stood in the middle of a crowd that first day digging began and addressed his brave Porko tunnelers. Never a man of many words; and always blunt to the point, Nicky merely shouted, “Okay, yeah. So we know what’s at stake heuh. We gaht brave soll-juhs down dayuh and dey need owuh help. You Piggies, STAHT DIGGIN!” And to that, the assembled crowd cheered with pride and delight.

  Everyone found a way to pitch in too. Females joined the support teams which kept the tunnelers fed and hydrated. Zorgs from the ships joined right in as well, aiding Spleef detection teams as they opened up pockets of caves and caverns searching for survivors. Pumalar females joined teams of rock handlers who woul
d gently ferry out small stones whenever Spleefs smelled a body. There were cave-ins everywhere. Areas were unrecognizable at times; even to those who were from those regions of the planet. Sometimes it looked like they were digging down into hell itself to try and rescue their loved ones. Body after body would be recovered. Usually it would be merely an Earther soldier which would be discarded into a heap of rubble. Often it was just parts of bodies. But occasionally a Naustie body would be found; and everyone would fall silent out of respect. It was grueling work; and crews worked night and day, rotating in relief shifts as often as possible. But it was so exhausting and demoralizing. So many bodies. So much death!

  They’d do whatever it took, of course. They’d do it just because Nicky told them to and they’d do it to find their loved ones. They’d do it because of Felina, who was right there alongside them working every day in the dust until her fur was so filthy she was practically unrecognizable. But most of all, they’d do it for themselves and their stubborn pride in being Nausties. Besides, even if they did get really tired or frustrated… even if they worked all day just to find nothing more than a pile of dead Earther bodies… they’d soldier on anyway, just because they had yet another inspiration. Some days they kept on toiling away because of the “Star Baby”.

  Yes, Star Baby was the great motivator. Adamant about finding her father Solomon, she followed the work crews around and joined in with the Spleef detection units who sniffed through rubble and debris looking for bodies—either live or dead. “Da-da find… Da-da find,” she’d just keep saying; encouraging them and urging them on day after day. It became welcome relief for exhausted tunnelers and diggers. Tough, hardened, and haggard Porkos… or dusty, filthy, exhausted Spleefs would force a tired smile and reassure her constantly, “Yes Star Baby… we find your Da-da. Don’t worry. We find him.” She demanded it after all, and no one was going to disappoint her.