Ladies and gentleman, I do believe I've been proved wrong by myself...again. I started writing this chapter just this evening thinking I'd never complete it in time to post...but as you can tell, I was wrong! Thank goodness, I hear you say :P

However, I can't be asked to re-read it before I post...so if there are any blinding mistakes, I'll deal with them in the morning xD

Until then, I love you all and here's a hug from me to you *hug*

Enjoy :D

Ratchet needn't have worried; Hope was transformed the moment she stepped off the cargo ship, breathing in the foreign air or Kortog as her eyes lit up in delight. An entirely new planet for her to explore! New places, new people, new species...all just waiting for her to discover them! She wasn't one for impulsive action, but she still felt the need to restrain herself from pelting off to explore the city, the logical side of her argued that as she knew nothing of it she would get lost in an instant, though the adventurous side of her did point out that getting lost was all part of the fun.

"Ratchet!" called a voice and Hope was pulled from her thoughts, turning towards the voice. Ratchet beamed in recognition and the family headed over,

"Talwyn, good to see you," he gave the Markazian a quick hug.

"Good to see you too," Talwyn replied, smiling at Skyla and Hope over the top of Ratchet's head. She embraced Skyla next, then Hope, "you're going to love it here...I promise," she murmured to the young Lombax, her goddaughter. Hope grinned,

"I already am!" she squeezed her godmother tightly. Living galaxies apart meant that Hope had only ever met Talwyn three times in her life, and the rest had been over long distance calls, but now that Hope was here in Polaris, the two of them could spend much more time together!

"There you are, Miss Talwyn," two robots approached them, old and a little rusty looking. One of them had a smaller robot hauled over his shoulder, struggling to keep ahold of the wriggling creature. Ratchet grinned knowingly,

"Cronk and Zephyr...you still up and running?" he joked. The one on the left, a red robot with broad shoulders and a long face, shook his hand at Ratchet,

"Now listen 'ere, young 'un, o' course we're still up and runnin'...this little craggy-mite is always keepin' us runnin'," he gestured the smaller robot who was still scrabbling against his captors back, looked up as he was mentioned.

"I no craggy-mite, nuncle Z!" he protested, reaching out to hit the robot with a metal fist.

"Now now, William the Second," his captor reprimanded him, pulling away his small hand, "wha' 'ave I told ya about hittin' us old folks? We break easy, you see."

"So this is Willy," Ratchet was trying not to smile, but failing miserably, his eyes betraying him as they danced in amusement. The red robot who Hope recognised as Zephyr, shook his head in exasperation,

"I'm afraid so, young Lombax." Willy frowned at Ratchet from where he now hung upside down, his feet hooked around his former captor's neck,

"Who you?" he asked bluntly. Ratchet laughed gently,

"I'm Ratchet, who are you?" The small robot smiled smugly at the Lombax, his bright blue eyes glinting brightly,

"I Sir William the Second...killer of all craggy-mites!" he proclaimed dramatically, thrusting an imaginary sword at Ratchet from his upside down position. Ratchet nodded in appreciation.

"Killer of all cragmites, that's quite a title," he mused aloud, exchanging knowing glances with Talwyn. Without warning a sound pierced the air, ringing shrilly not unlike an old fashioned alarm clock. The robot, identified by Hope as Cronk, tapped his wrist where an old watch was wrapped around it, then took it off and tossed it to Zephy,

"Here, have 'im," he proceeded to dump Willy on the other robot, having to pry his feet from around his neck.

"Nuncle Z!" Willy cried in delight, wrapping his arms around the red robot's torso and squeezing tightly. Zephyr nearly fell over from the sudden weight, staggering about while Willy clung to him like a limpet. Hope bit her tongue so as not to burst out laughing.

"We takes it in turns to deal wit' 'im," the now free Cronk told the family, "he's a right handful."

"You don't say," Skyla muttered from where she stood, eyeing Zephyr with slightly concerned amusement.

"Miss Skyla!" Cronk exclaimed, as if he'd only just noticed her, "how lovely to be seeing you again!" he shook the grey Lombax's hand enthusiastically. Skyla laughed,

"I'm over here," she waved a hand. Cronk did a double take, looking between the Lombax who's hand he held and Skyla,

"Hi, I'm Hope," the grey Lombax he'd accosted greeted him, smiling in good humour. Cronk seemed to think for a moment, scratching his head.

"Hope? Blistering barnacles!" Zephyr stumbled over, looking at her incredulously, "you've grown so big!" Hope laughed; she'd only ever talked to them over phone calls, and the last time she'd spoken with them was at least four years ago.

"It's so nice to finally meet you in person," she told them both, shaking Cronk's hand one more time.

"Likewise, young Lombax," Cronk replied, before turning to the real Skyla and greeting her with a formal handshake, "your daughter is the spittin' image o' you, marm...lucky thin'." Hope's mother chuckled,

"Thanks Nuncle C."

"How was the trip?" Talwyn asked, looking between the trio of Lombaxes. Ratchet and Skyla shrugged,

"It was good, thanks," Ratchet answered.

"And easy," Skyla added, "we all slept like logs for seven weeks!" Talwyn nodded,

"I've had a few calls from Alister, last one about a week ago, just to check on everything this end. How are the boys, and Maia?"

"They're fine," Skyla told her, "Al's working on his degree, and Kaden's supposed to be working on his degree. And Maia and Julius have settled down nicely, and when we left her work was going very well."

"Great, you should be able to phone them when you get to your new place...I've had all the systems linked up, like you asked," Talwyn glanced at Ratchet who nodded in gratitude.

"Thanks, that's gonna make life so much easier for us."

"Where's Aphelion?" Cronk asked, looking back at the cargo ship where the contents were slowly being unloaded by unsentient robots.

"She's probably still in the hold," Ratchet answered, "and she's in sleep mode so won't wake up until I tell her to."

"Can we give you a ride?" Talwyn offered, raising an eyebrow. Ratchet shrugged,

"That'd be great, thanks."

"Darn fool!" Zephyr yelped and Hope looked over to see that Willy had pulled his arm off, "give it back, ya hear?" Hope caught her mother's eye and had to bite her tongue to stop the explosive laughter she felt well up. This may be a completely new environment for her...but with old friends and family by her side, it would be just like home.

Hope couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned in her new bed, in her new room, but sleep evaded her at every step. Sighing irritably, she flopped onto her back, staring at the ceiling.

It had been a week since they'd arrived on Kortog, and the days had been spent settling in and getting to know the city. Talwyn and the robots had been in and out, helping with whatever they could and generally doing their best to help the family feel at home. They all went as a group to the infamous Hall of Knowledge, exploring the rooms together as they soaked up the new information. Of course, they hadn't visited even half of the hall's archives by the end of the day, but Hope had learnt more about the Lombaxes as a race, and to her, that was information enough.

The ghost of a smile traced her lips as she remembered reading extracts of a Lombax journal from Fastoon, small snippets of the past, and what had once been. Apparently, all Lombax children had to craft a wrench of their own for their 10th birthday, a sort of right of passage for the youngsters. Ratchet and Kaden had made her wrench, but she didn't feel cheated out of the right; after all, she nor her family had known of it, nor had there been anyone to tell them. It turned out that even Talwyn, the supposed Lombax expert, was not all-knowing when it came to the furry species, and she visited the Hall of Knowledge regularly to obtain more information.

Hope's parents had gone to Fastoon for the first time yesterday, just a short trip there and back to see how everything was going. Hope had been at the Apogee Space Station catching up with Talwyn, but her father had promised they'd take her tomorrow, or was it today? She glanced at her bedside clock. 12:14am. It was today, then.

Hope bit her lip in excitement; in a matter of hours she would be walking on the planet where her ancestors had lived! She'd see Lombax architecture and plantlife in the flesh for the first time, smell the air her people had smelt, walk in their footsteps...was it any wonder she couldn't sleep?!

Happily caught in her daydream of Fastoon, she didn't hear the sound of something flying through the air before there was the smallest thump by her bed. She frowned, distracted, and glanced up at her open window; it was summer in the city and the nights were hot. Seeing nothing, she leaned over her bed to see what had made the noise.

To her surprise, a small oval object sat planted on the floor, one she'd never seen before in her life. Hope's frown deepened, and then she jumped in fright as the thing started to hiss lightly, much like a snake. Recoiling from the object, Hope looked towards her bedroom door, wondering if she should raise her parents. Before she'd come to a decision, a smell reached her nostrils, making her nose wrinkle in disgust.

Her eyes widened as she felt her limbs start to relax and her energy seemed to drain like water down a sink. She sprang out of bed, falling onto the rug by her bed that muffled the sound of her fall, and she buried her face into the material in order to keep from breathing in the gas. For that was what it was, of course; knock-out gas. Taking a breath she looked up, reaching for her wrench which she kept by her chest of drawers. Her fingers just grazed the metal, when out of nowhere a dark figure stamped down on her arm, stopping her advance and causing her to gasp in pain.

Hope blinked furiously as tears pricked her eyes, struggling to look up at the figure. Though her vision was hazy, she could just about make out a cloak with the hood pulled up and what looked like a mask covering their face. They looked down at her coldly, adding more pressure to the foot on her arm. Hope hissed and sucked in a breath, realising too late their ploy.

She tried to hold her breath, but alas she'd inhaled too much gas and her body was fast succumbing. Desperately, she made to lash out at the figure, push them away, anything...but her limbs were like lead and spots appeared before her vision, signalling her fate.

Hope shook her head, fighting the gas for all she was worth, struggling to pull her feet out from under her, the finger of her free hand stretching towards her wrench in a futile attempt to arm herself. Her mouth fell open as she tried to scream, but her throat had gone numb and no sound came out, and all at once her heart seemed to burst in a rush of adrenalin before it was harnessed by the drug.

The last thing she saw was the figure's blank face looking down on her from above like a predator of the night, silent and deadly.

Then...

Nothing.

The dread cliffhanger! You know you love it really ;P

I originally wanted to end chapter 3 like this, since I guess you could say this is when the story really begins, but I felt we needed a bit more family humour time so saved it for chapter 4. Still, I hope you enjoyed it! In case you hadn't guessed, Hope's the main character in this story, but we will be hearing from Ratchet and Skyla (and others) from time to time...so don't fret your pretty little heads!

As always, please read and review...if I'm ever in an accident and need emergency resuscitation, your reviews can basically subsitute for CPR because they make me so happy I could burst (and kick start my wretched heart) xD

Next chapter...who's the dark figure? Where's Angela been all this time? Will Cronk and Zephyr ever call Craggy-mites by their proper name?!

PS - By the way...who's on Tumblr? If I'm not already following you...follow me and I'll follow you back! My URL is magicofeverykind .tumblr and please feel free to ask me any questions you might have! They can be about anything; me, my work, my stories, my characters...anything! Hit that ask box, reader :P