Soon, the shuttle docked with the station. As the crew came aboard to inform them of where to gather, the four foosas snuck aboard ready to put their mischievous plan into action. After playing havoc with the various electronics, a short had occurred, causing a line of ammonia to spring a leak. By now, the belongings of Alex, Marty, Melman, Gloria, and Lea had been loaded onto the shuttle.
However, the situation called for an immediate departure of the shuttle. Alex yelled to the commander "WAIT! WHAT ABOUT US?"
The commander replied "you will use the escape pods."
As they were heading for a pod, the four foosas made their appearance. "Your time is up!" a foosa said.
Alex replied "not on your life." With that, he began fighting them. "Guys, head for that pod. I'll catch up with you!" he yelled.
As the commander escorted Marty, Melman, Gloria, and Lea to safety, Alex handed her a note and then resumed fighting. A foosa got out of his grasp long enough to hit a button. A blast door sealed the corridor off, trapping Alex on the other side.
"Alex!" Lea yelled as the door was sealed. She dove for the door, but was restrained by the commander.
"Everyone in, hurry!" the commander yelled.
Lea wailed "Alex is still trapped over there."
"There's another pod in his general vicinity. We've got to go now" the commander said. With that, he got himself and Alex's friends into the pod. He hit the launch button for that escape pod, and the hatch closed. Then, the pod was out of there. Alex's friends just watched anxiously out the windows.
Alex, meanwhile, was being restrained by the foosas. He saw Marty's escape pod launch and was relieved. A foosa said "come on, lion, give it up. Now you will die."
As Alex looked around, he found another pod nearby. He opened that pod's entry hatch, only to be confronted by the leading foosa.
"Where do you think you're going?" that foosa asked.
Alex replied "well, if I'm dying, I'll die in this closet." He gestured towards the open escape pod door.
The foosa replied "okay, but leave the door open."
Alex moved into the escape pod.
Meanwhile, where the trouble was brewing, the ammonia was rapidly corroding a propane line for a fuel cell. A wire nearby was still arcing. Suddenly, the pipe burst. Propane filled the area rapidly. Alex noticed this, and turned back to the foosas. "Guys, I've got a few last words for you" he said.
As the propane gas inched closer and closer to the arcing wires, the head foosa said "okay, let's hear them."
With that, Alex elbowed a button and said "YOU'RE SO STUPID!" The button closed the hatch and launched the pod.
The foosa, knowing that the door was closing, yelled "hey! You open this-!" He looked through the door's porthole and realized that the so-called closet was actually an escape pod.
Just as the pod was about to clear its launch tube, the propane hit the arcing wires. Instantly, that section of the zoo was blasted apart. The force of the blast added more acceleration to Alex's escape pod and sent shrapnel flying. A piece of that shrapnel hit the pod, severing the connection for the communication radio to the power supply.
In Marty's pod, Alex's escape pod was concealed by the explosion. Before his pod could be seen, it disappeared behind the Earth.
The commander was contacting mission control about Alex. "Well, let us know if you find any updates" he said. After hanging up the microphone, he said "guys, I've got good news and bad news. The good news is that Houston did get a launch signal from a second escape pod in the area Alex was at. The bad news was that their calls to that escape pod have been met with silence. Either something has happened to the radio, or he never made it."
Upon hearing that, Lea started crying. Their pod made a successful reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. With that, the commander hit the "manual override" button at the piloting control console. Instantly, the pod extended delta wings and a vertical fin. After a while, the pod landed space shuttle style at New York's La Guardia airport. They were transported by limo back to the Central Park Zoo.
Later, a memorial was held for Alex at the zoo. The flags were lowered to half staff, and Taps was being played. Lea opened the note she got from Alex. The note read "Lea, if I am unable to make it back alive or at all, I would like for you to take my place as the main attraction at the zoo. I'll bid you all farewell, and wish you Godspeed. Your boyfriend, Alex"
Alex, meanwhile, had been trying in vain to contact Houston on the escape pod's radio. He soon realized that the radio appeared to be dead, as all the digital displays were blank and not one light was on. After nine hours, he glanced out the window and noticed something peculiar. "Shouldn't I be headed towards Earth?" Indeed, it appeared as though the escape pod was moving away from Earth; its extra burst of acceleration from the zoo's explosion having propelled it just enough for it to fly out of Earth orbit and away from the planet.