Chapter 3
"The weather has socked everyone in," Lion-O frowned, looking at the Control Room computer and the weather radar.
"Sweet mother," Esen, who was just coming back into the room with some coffee, looked over his shoulder.
"No word from the mine, so I'm guessing the radio isn't working," he said, thankfully taking the cup of hot liquid.
"Probably not. Maybe the wizards are still assisting in fixing the damn thing," Esen carefully set her cup down before plopping into her seat. The two had been given the night watch shift since they were down five of the crew.
"Could be or maybe they don't want to freeze their ancient butts off heading back here," Lion-O smirked.
"I wouldn't be caught out there in that. Plundarr got winter but never anything like this," Esen involuntarily shivered.
"Knock, knock," the Control Room door opened, revealing a vulture by the name of Hafiz.
"What are you doing up at this ungodly hour?" Esen asked, turning her chair around, revealing the smirk on her face.
"Well, I figured I'd check in on my leading lady and my King. For the record, it's as cold as the ice moon out there," he said, removing his winter jacket and throwing it over a nearby chair. The two had met during the building of the temporary housing for the other Mutants.
"What'd I say about the King thing?" Lion-O turned around in his chair so he could face the vulture.
"I haven't earned the right to call you anything else sir," Hafiz smiled.
"If you're not careful, I'll make you start bowing," the lion teased.
"A good exercise to see if I can touch my toes," the vulture teased back.
"Everyone staying warm in the housing units?" Esen tried to get them to refocus.
"The heat generators that the Evil Chasers left are holding up. We're lucky they do not run on Thundrillium," Hafiz said. The Evil Chasers had left some heat generators behind when the temporary housing was completed. No one knew how much Thundrillium they'd use and the generators, which ran on a fuel oil common in another part of the galaxy, allowed for some decent backup, but they would not withstand sub-freezing temperatures forever.
"There is more trouble at the mine," Lion-O conceded.
"It has to be someone doing something. Panthro is not sloppy and neither is our workforce," the male vulture frowned.
"I'm beginning to think the same. I hate to think that a Third Earther would do something like this," the lion said.
"I hate to say it boys, but what if it's not a born on Third Earth person? We could be looking at someone who slipped through the Evil Chasers background checks," Esen pointed out.
"That's not any more comforting," Lion-O heaved a sigh. That's when the door opened again.
"Didn't think there'd be a party in here," it was Mandora.
"Does no one get any sleep around here?" The lion wondered.
"The shift in the weather makes it hard to sleep," the blonde explained. Now without her helmet and Evil Chaser uniform, she wore clothes that were sent from her vacated housing on the Evil Chaser base - a pair of navy pants with red blouse.
"The ol' joints acting up?" Hafiz asked.
"Some but it's the war wounds that usually misbehave the most. You guys look outside?" She switched topics. Lion-O punched up the exterior cameras. Snow swirled and the visibility was low.
"I guess I better check in with everyone back home. Make sure the walls and ceilings are holding," Hafiz said.
"I'll go with if Mandora doesn't mind stepping up to the controls," Lion-O looked to the blonde.
"Go play in the snow boys," she smirked and the lion popped up from his seat. He went over to the closet in the corner of the room and grabbed a winter coat out of it.
"Let's brave the weather," he said to Hafiz, who had already popped his jacket on.
To Be Continued…