edit: I went back to grammar-check the entire chapter, from now on I'll use the program to do that so I don't have to do this every single time :)
Hi everybody!
Hope everyone's doing okay...
First I'd like to apologize for the error I made in the last chapter.. And I'm talking about using a wrong word... Gods, my mind just totally blacks out sometimes, like I'm using a word and I'm so sure that I'm using the right one and then when going back and rereading I see my error and I'm soooooo angry with myself that I allowed that to slip in there... well, anyway, I've gone and corrected it. So, for all of you who already read the last chapter, here's the correction: Vinnie was at the end of the chapter moving his legs and arms while lying on the ground like making a "snowangel" on a dry land, not a snowman.. Oh my god, really. Again, I'm sorry... English is not my first language but I try to do my best...Well, for my defence, I do those errors with my native tongue as well, I'm just a goof sometimes XD
Secondly, I'm sorry this update took this long. I started a new job and that has taken all of my energy lately but finally FINALLY I was able to continue to write, which is great as I do love to write these stories.
Anywayyyyyy THANK YOU SO MUCH for reviewing and liking and faving! It means the world to mean! I appreciate it so much! Thanks to all the old and new readers out there! And for the ones who have been enjoying my other story as well, please note that it'll also have an update shortly... I wish to finish that story also as it has been a great fun to write that also and I'm so glad that you have been enjoying that too!
Well, this pre-babble will be shorter than in the previous chapter, so...are you all ready for the next chapter? I know I am XD
Here's chapter 5, please enjoy! And I swear there'll be no snowmen in this chapter ;) But I do apologize for all the errors that may occur...
-SpaceFlora
The Story of Rebellion and Hope
5.
"Well...?" Evelyn asked as she was watching over Noah's shoulder while the tall dark-haired man was currently sitting in front of the computer he and Zack had already taken out of its' case early that morning to make their first call to their Headquarters back on Earth, to report that they were all okay after their landing and that they were ready to start their mission. At the moment though Noah wasn't using the computer to make a very long-distance call back to their home planet but instead was looking at the photos Evelyn had quickly and eagerly uploaded into the computer after she, Charley and Lucas had come back to the basecamp.
It was already well past noon and everyone was now gathered to study these images in silence, only Lucas didn't show any interest to look at the photos but he had started to unpack all his geoscientific gadgets and machines out of their boxes, to pile them onto his bed. They could hear the wind outside, rampaging again, the walls of the tent shaking slightly. They had been on Mars only less than 24 hours but they'd already gotten the idea that the winds were reigning over this desert planet and the meters they had already installed to measure the weather conditions were showing that they probably were to face another great sandstorm that day.
"Well..." Noah started as he was zooming in on these photos and virtually flipping through them, thoughtfully stroking his scruffy beard stubbled chin. His eyes studied the photos with curiosity but in the end, he leaned back on his folding chair.
"No doubt they do resemble bootprints...But what they really are... I can't really tell..."
Evelyn, this tall and slender female with a long blonde ponytail cast her look away, feeling a bit disappointed although she didn't really know why. It wasn't that she actually believed these tracks were bootprints. She didn't really know what she had thought. Maybe she had just been carried away with her wild dreams and imagination for a second. But she should've known better, she was a scientist after all and the scientists didn't do assumptions or jump to conclusions without the proofs, without any further experiments. Maybe what she felt now was a slight shame for her childish excitement.
"Yeah... Lucas and Charley didn't think much of them either..." She only replied and gave Charley a quick sideglance who on her part had already turned away from the computer screen and was making coffee by the same table, using a capsule machine that had been in heavy use the whole day, ever since they'd dug that out from one of the boxes as their early morning's first assignment. The eight astronauts gathered now in this little nook heard a snort coming from the other side of the tent as Lucas was still taking all his equipment out of their boxes and carefully placing them onto his bed which now resembled a dump of high-tech items.
"Can't believe you're still thinking about those tracks, Eve! Just forget about them already. Your expertise doesn't really lie in the geomorphology anyway..."
Evelyn felt a pang of anger inside her but instead of lashing out to her fellow scientist, she nodded and took the USB drive off the computer and the photos disappeared from the screen and the photo of this nine-head-strong crew posing in front of the space shuttle while still being back on Earth popped up as the screen's background image. Noah turned his head to Lucas.
"Well, your expertise does lie in this matter... What do you think of them?"
Lucas let out a sigh, annoyed that he had to even concentrate his energy on the matter again but gave Noah a look back.
"I don't see anything peculiar in them... I don't know what they are or what has caused them...But I do know that we should concentrate on more important things." The short man who had glasses and his curly brown hair in a small bun then took one of his gadgets to his hand.
"I'll go outside to set the seismic monitor on..." He only muttered and went to put his space suit on again which always took a good twenty minutes. Noah looked after the man and carefully turned his eyes on Evelyn who had her arms crossed, a displeased look on her face, while also glaring after Lucas.
"I know... It's just silly...Let's just forget about it..." The tall woman only said and left this group which quickly started to disperse around the tent as evidentially this little meeting was over, all of them going back to do whatever they had been doing before they'd been summoned to take a look at the photos. Zack, their experienced pilot who had been serving as a test pilot for nearly a decade for the Space Institute went to prepare their dinner which would be lasagna in a tin. The three physicists Isaac, Sophia and Dylan went back to do their calculations and set up their computers, the crew's doctor Jeremiah walked to this big pile of still sealed boxes, to open them and start unpacking this big amount of equipment and items these nine astronauts had taken with them across space. They had taken only the essentials but the essentials for long-term space travel were still a very massive amount of stuff.
Noah had a thoughtful look on his always a bit serious face but as he got up from behind the computer he nearly bumped into Charley who held a fresh cup of steaming hot coffee and luckily she didn't spill any. The auburn-haired engineer had her hair tied into a bun on top of her head as it was that much more convenient hair due to hiding under the space helmet. She was now wearing a warm dark sweater and a pair of comfortable black pants. She would have preferred to wear jeans but on Mars, they would've not been too practical to wear as she couldn't use them outside anyway.
"So... Bootprints?" Noah's lips curled into a small smile as he regarded the youngest one of their small group and Charley felt a strange warm flash go through her as she noticed the expression the man had. A smile on his features was a rare thing to witness but she had always liked it. He looked much younger when he smiled, even a bit boyish.
Apparently, after their successful landing on this red planet, he had managed to ease up a little. He was the Captain after all. He was at the end responsible for everything and everyone. But everyone was okay, everyone had survived the trip through space, and after their call back to their Headquarters, they'd been given the green light to start their long-awaited mission and Noah was as eager as everyone else to start working but instead of giggling excitedly or skipping around the tent, as apparently few of their crew members did, he still stayed controlled and if not knowing the man, some might even see him as being indifferent, which was not the case. He just rarely showed his emotions.
"Yeah... Well, it's like Lucas said. Those traces could be anything." Charley smiled back and took a sip from the coffee cup, the hot liquid touching her lips before the bitter taste settled inside her mouth. The coffee made her feel all warm and cozy and her muscles relaxed. She hadn't even noticed how tense she had been, it was maybe due to the heavy space suit and the awkward way of walking in it that had made her a bit sore like she had just run a marathon instead of plodding along the sand or sitting inside the sandtrac for many hours. Their bodies also still hadn't gotten used to the different gravitational forces Mars had compared to Earth, one hardly noticed it while being outside but the bodies still reacted to it.
"Yeah," Noah replied and was already leading the conversation elsewhere and his amusement was replaced by his serious expression again.
"So, while you three were gone, we changed the oxygen tank with Zack. I checked the machine again and it works properly now."
Charley felt a bit deflated by this comment. That damn machine... She closed her eyes and squeezed the cup between her palms.
"Again... I'm so sorry... I checked that it was working properly before we took off..." Charley felt the guilt flush over her but felt two strong hands take a gentle but firm grip of her shoulders and she glanced up again, to meet the stern look the older man had in front of her.
"And again... It's not your fault, Charley. Anything could've happened to the equipment while we traveled through space...It was a long nine months."
Charley only shrugged her shoulders, casting her look away but Noah gently placed his fingers under her chin, to turn her head towards him again, to meet her bright green eyes, examining her with his look that was always observant but kind.
"This will be the last you'll think of it, okay?"
Charley managed to pull a smile but noticed some curious looks cast at their direction from different parts of the tent and she quickly nodded back, clearing her throat while Noah pulled his hand back to himself again, crossing his arms. He too had noticed that some of the crew members were having an interest in their conversation. It was no secret that he and Charley had been together. But that was all in the past.
Charley let out a sigh and shook her head, like forcing the self-doubt out of her mind and she managed to bring a smile on her face again as she regarded Noah.
"We really did it, hu?"
Noah only studied her, not answering, not really sure what she meant.
"We are here." Charley lowered her voice into a whisper. She didn't want the rest of the crew to hear their talk. It felt private. It was weird enough to be on a strange planet, so far away from home, but to be here with the man who had had so big role in her life. Her mentor, her teacher, her ex-lover.
"Yeah. We're here. After everything." Noah lowered his voice too, like sensing her thoughts. He gave her another look but then only nodded and turned around and started to close the computer.
Charley watched him work while still feeling the warm traces his fingers had left on her skin, just under her chin. To change her train of thoughts she took another gulp from the cup and left to unpack her personal belongings and her engineering tools as well. She had work to do. And like always, work was where she buried her troubles into.
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"Vinnie!" Harley's husky voice called out through the radio but it had a lot of static in it. The weather conditions weren't that great to have a clear reception as the sandstorm was only getting stronger by the minute.
"Vinnie! Can't we just go a little slower?!" The ginger-colored female mechanic continued while trying to keep up with the white-furred male's speed as the red racer was dashing through the vast desert, like a speed demon, and Harley had already fallen behind him with her own golden colored bike. She could hardly spot him through the thick sand clouds.
"Slower?! Sweetheart, I don't do slow!" Vinnie's high-pitched voice informed back with a snicker that irritated Harley a little as she was already a bit annoyed and not least for the fact that when agreeing to take this young rebel with her to this inquiry mission it hadn't occurred to her that Vinnie would ride the deserts so fast that in order to keep up with him, she needed to really push her bike to its' limits and she could hear her bike roaring with a sound that only indicated the machine wasn't doing so great. Also, the deserts were anything but a steady ground to ride upon, and even less so when their current speed was bordering senseless. It was anything but a pleasurable ride. She let out a sigh and raised herself up from her seat, while trying to maintain her balance and control over her bike, feeling like her behind was on fire because of the bumpy ride but then lowered herself back down again, shaking her head. She felt the bike tremble underneath her, the fast pace also meaning more turbulence.
"I feel my ass is on bruises..." She muttered while shifting her sore behind, trying to find a good position. Vinnie's ears twitched inside the helmet at this comment and he gave a quick glance via the side mirror to see the female riding behind him but quickly a small grin appeared on his face.
"Well, you know, when you're riding with this mouse the ride's bound to get rough!"
"Hey, hotshot, I can handle a rough ride..." Harley only replied and Vinnie felt his cheeks getting warmer, not really sure why. Well, he did have an idea but he wasn't sure if he wanted to follow that train of thought...He swallowed and cleared his voice but quickly his bashfulness was replaced by his ego again.
"I hope you'll be able to handle the great scenery as well?" Vinnie chuckled and raised his butt off the seat and wiggled his behind while hearing Harley let out a huff.
"I've seen better views..."
"Autsch..."
Harley snickered lightly. She was joking, of course, she actually didn't have anything to complain about considering the sceneries. Harley had to admit Vinnie was a handsome young male. He for sure was a fine specimen of a male cave mouse and that hadn't gone unnoticed by her during these past six months the young rebel had been with the Fighters. But Vinnie didn't need to know that. It was already clear that his ego didn't need her to polish it more...
And Vinnie was great fun to be around, optimistic even if a bit crazy. Well, scratch that, that mouse was crazy and not just a bit, almost to a point where one might consider the possibility that there was actually something very wrong with his head... But he had the tendency to make even the dullest moments more entertaining and joyful. And even if he hadn't really gained so much battle experience from the frontiers just yet, Harley could tell he was about to become a great Fighter, she had seen him practice...
"So...I guess Stoker's finally letting you join in on the big battles, hu? Excited?" Harley asked, not really trying to mask her own disappointment that she herself had not yet gotten that chance even if she'd been with the Fighters for a couple of years now, longer than many of the Fighters themselves.
"Like ya need to ask, doll! I'm gonna enter that battle like the A-bomb! Those Plutarkians and the traitor sand raiders won't even know what hit 'em! BAM! It'll be a total annihilation with a remarkable ending, hero style!" Vinnie cheered while momentarily straightening his back with proudness but he quickly grabbed the handlebars again as he nearly lost his control over the bike while losing his concentration on driving on this demanding nature route. Well, Mars only had demanding nature routes, there were no streets, no paved highways anywhere. Just sand. That's why it was handy to own a vehicle. One could only walk so far in this endless desert.
Harley only chuckled at Vinnie's cockiness. The macho talk was nothing new amongst the Freedom Fighters, the level of testosterone being usually dangerously high around the rebels but Vinnie with his exuberance was in his own league in this category as well. There was nothing subtle about this male, nothing ordinary, nothing modest.
"Well, you sure know how to talk the talk..." Harley only drawled back, squinting her eyes while trying to see more clearly behind the visor while they rode in this sandstorm. It was a lucky thing to have their helmets, sure it did protect their heads from any possible hard blows but with these ever-swirling sandstorms, their more probable cause of death might just be to choke on the damn sand rather than hit their heads onto something hard...
"Hey, Sweetheart, of course I know how to talk! I'm the smooth talker machine! And when this machine gets started it'll never run out of power!"
"Yeah, I'm sure Throttle and Modo are very appreciative of that feature...So, how has it been to be part of their team? Has their little bromance extended to you already?" Harley snickered while dodging some bigger rocks.
"It's been okay..." Vinnie drawled, focusing on the desert again.
"Well, you couldn't have asked for a better team to be part of... Those two are arguably amongst the greatest Fighters we have..." Harley talked but the white-furred youngster only gave a snort at this comment.
"Well, obviously you guys haven't set the bar too high...Anyway, that's about to change since Vinnie VanWham has entered the stage! A star is born! So, lock up your daughters, roll the red carpet and polish the honorary medals!"
Harley shook her head, rolling her eyes. In a way, the kid's overpowering self-confidence was cute... It also somehow reminded her of Stoker since that man didn't really lack on self-importance either. A small silence fell between them but it was like Vinnie had been reading her mind just now when he fired his question.
"So..." He cleared his voice, feeling the cold air brushing against his short fur in his arms. Sure, he could slow down but not any amount of coldness could be reason enough to do things the boring way.
"You and Stoker, hu...?"
"What about me and Stoker?" Harley asked innocently.
"You're...together, right?"
A small silence entered the radio waves and Vinnie gave another glance via the side mirror, to check that Harley was still there riding behind him and she was, somewhere there behind the curtain of sand.
"We're not mates if that's what you're asking." Harley's answer was enigmatic, her voice crackling through the radio.
"Oh..." Vinnie sounded way more surprised and interested than intended but he wasn't really known for his ability to hide his true emotions.
"Why?" Harley asked.
"Oh, no reasons... You know, just keepin' up the small talk here..." Vinnie chirped innocently.
"Right..." Harley chuckled but as they were just riding up a sand dune Vinnie then saw something and he made a quick side slide just on top of the dune, resulting the sand to make a big wave in front of him. He stopped the bike but the motor was still running and the powerful machine trembled between his thighs as he placed the other boot on the ground just as he heard Harley pull the breaks as well, guiding the bike next to his red racer. They both cast their looks on this small plain that lay before their eyes and in the middle of it stood a structure made out of fabric. A big tent.
"That's the humans' basecamp?" Vinnie asked doubtfully as he opened up his helmet's blue visor. Harley followed suit and they both pulled up their bandanas to cover their snouts from the whirling sands.
"Of course, who else would be dumb enough to live in a tent on this planet?" Harley muttered through the thick fabric but then glanced around them, feeling a bit uneasy as she saw these few smaller heaps of sand in the distance. For anyone coming from a different planet those seemed just normal, nothing out of the ordinary one might consider finding in the desert, but the Martians knew that those heaps were hiding the entrances to the tunnels that were dug by the largest and the most dangerous predators the red planet had to offer...Harley felt a chill go through her body.
"They're lucky that the saber squids had not yet spotted them..." She pointed out but not really concerned about the aliens' wellbeing but more for the possibility that those beasts would soon remerge from the sand and spot the two Martians, deciding that they would make a great afternoon snack.
"Well, maybe the squiddies just don't like the foreign cuisine..." Vinnie chuckled but Harley wasn't so amused.
"They could be in danger..." She thought out loud but her voice didn't imply that they should necessarily need to do something about it. More likely she was implying that they should just take the coordinates and get away from the place themselves. Not to sound insensitive but if it came to choose between her and the aliens...she would choose herself in a heartbeat. She wasn't going to die or risk her life over some aliens since the aliens were the reason why they were in this mess in the first place ever since the Plutarkians had landed on Mars and started their strip-mining and invading and killing. And every year there were Martians who ended up to be in the saber squids' lunch menu. Not the nicest way to end one's life Harley was sure.
"You think they're in danger? Man, even the aliens are having more action than I do..." Vinnie crossed his arms, muttering, missing Harley's point entirely.
Harley didn't react to this comment but she started to back off with her bike, so she wouldn't be so openly spotted if one of these Earthlings should come out of the tent. She glanced in Vinnie's direction.
"Hey, kid! We can't be seen by them! Remember?"
But Vinnie didn't move an inch, his eyes watching the tent and the area around it while his tail was swinging leisurely behind him.
"Aren't you a bit curious to see a human?" He asked. Of course, he had seen these guys already but they'd been quite far then...And because of those ridiculously exaggerated space suits and the biggest helmets he had ever seen, he hadn't actually seen a human per se... Honestly, were these dudes made out of glass or just otherwise fragile and sickly? Why did they need to have all that clothing and equipment on? Just silly...
"No! We already have more than enough aliens here to cause us all kinds of trouble, remember?! We can't know why they're here and what they want! And I'm not the least bit curious to find out what they'll do to us if they saw us! Aliens are always unpredictable... And even more so if the said aliens don't even know that other folks are living in this Solar System as well..." Harley had already backed a good way back but as she gave Vinnie another glance, or more poignantly the place where Vinnie just a moment ago had been, there was no trace on the white-furred male, only his bike standing there, parked.
"Vinnie?" Harley looked around but didn't see him. A slight panic crept up inside her and she parked her bike and hurried to the top of the dune, her boots sinking into the sand lightly as she already grabbed her handgun and loading it. If the war had taught her anything it was that one should always be ready for anything and prepared for the worse. While she got on the top again she glanced around and now saw the young Fighter sliding down the red sand dune.
"I can't fucking believe this..." Harley mumbled, relaxing her gun hand, letting the gun fall to her side and she tapped her thigh with it, disgruntled. Why she had agreed to take the rookie along with her, she had no idea. That mouse would get them both killed.
"Vinnie! What do you think you're doing?!" She raised her voice and even if Vinnie was further away they luckily could use the radio and she didn't need to shout at least. Needless to say, it could draw the wrong kind of attention from the aliens.
"Chill, Sweetheart! I'm only going to take a closer look..." Vinnie's voice replied.
"No! No closer looks! Get back here!" Harley's voice ordered but she could only hear an amused huff coming from the white-furred male.
"Well, technicallyyyyy... you're not able to command me..."
Harley was starting to feel the irritation as well as the panic rising in her, not really sure which one was to take over as she was looking at Vinnie's rapid descent closer to the aliens' basecamp.
"Yes, I am! I outrank you!" She hissed back.
"The Fighters don't use ranks..." Vinnie's voice crackled through the radio as he was still sliding down the dune.
"And yet I still outrank you! Get back here! You'll risk the entire planet if these aliens see you!"
But Vinnie was already down and now proceeding to carefully but not too cautiously walk towards the tent. Harley was just standing there on top of the dune, only able to watch as this act of stupidity unraveled before her eyes but she then shook her head and started to slide down the dune as well.
"I swear! I'm gonna murder you, kid! If those bloody Earthlings won't get to you first...!"
But Vinnie didn't reply to that, or maybe he didn't even hear her... He sometimes had very selective hearing and anyway, he was already by the tent, taking slow steps around it and listening carefully. He could smell the humans now and his ears twitched to the sounds of talking he heard coming from inside the tent.
"I can hear them!" He then made a rather loud observation.
"Shut up!" Harley hissed still hurrying after him.
"Aawhoooo! Is this girl a feisty one or what? I like it!" Vinnie chuckled back but continued his walk around the tent.
"Oh, my gods! Please be quiet! We're only a few feet away from the aliens who could possibly capture and kill us and then cut our bodies for their sick tests!" Harley raised her husky voice in bewilderment more than anything else as she didn't understand why it was so hard for the young male to comprehend that their lives were in danger.
"Well, someone's not having too great expectations for the other cultures..." Vinnie wondered out loud.
"I've seen their sci-fi movies! It never ends well with the likes of us!" Harley's voice was sharp and she had nearly caught up with him but stopped just before the tent, not really wanting to get closer.
"Vinnie!"
The desperation in her voice caused the male to turn around to face her, his eyebrow raised.
"What?"
"We...That means me and you..." Harley started.
"Ooh, I like the sound of this plan already...!" Vinnie only grinned.
"...we're going to quietly go back to our bikes and take the bloody coordinates and go back to the others! This is only an inquiry mission! We're already way too close to these aliens! Now, let's go!"
"Was that an order?" Vinnie raised his eyebrow amused.
"Yes!"
Vinnie let out a chuckle and turned around and continued his walk.
"Cute."
"Have you got any working brain cell left in that thick head of yours?!" Harley hurried after him again.
"Why are you being so jumpy? Relax, doll...We'll soon head back and take those boring coordinates if that's what makes you happy..." Vinnie let his hand brush the tent fabric while walking, the sensation of it being rough and cold against his palm but then he suddenly was yanked back as Harley took a grip on his red camo patterned sleeveless shirt while trying to make him stop from proceeding, apparently the words didn't do any good so maybe violence did.
"Hey! You!"
Vinnie turned around and they bumped into each other and Vinnie got a hold of her so she didn't fall down from this impact as the Martian males were much stockier and sturdier than the females and they easily weighed twice as much, even three times more than their female counterparts.
"Hey to you too, pretty eyes... " He wiggled his eyebrows as he still had his arms around her but his thoughts were quickly interrupted by her sweet scent quickly entering his smell receptors as he was now practically hugging the ginger-colored female. Her scent was like a bomb of pheromones that exploded inside his brain, making the white male feel warm sensations go through his body. She smelled very nice. Why was it that he hadn't noticed it before...? Well, he actually hadn't even gotten that many chances to be in this close proximity to her...As there were always Fighters requiring her attention, some more than others, some only making excuses while just wanting to be near the only female around the Fighters' Headquarters... Like Stoker. That old lecher...But oh boy, that scent of her's... It was intoxicating, and Vinnie started to actually feel a little lightheaded. Sure the male Cave Mice always could smell if there was a female around but not every time a male got the kicks out of it this hard... Not every female's scent could mess a male's head...
Harley's breath hitched as she could feel Vinnie's muscles tense up and his hold of her becoming unintentionally firmer while his tail wrapped itself around her other calf. His eyes were regarding her intensively, his ruby red eyes...And it was like she could almost smell his...She quickly erased that thought and yanked herself free from his grip, taking a hasty step back...Better to stop whatever this was before it would go any further...Vinnie let her go at the same time getting back to his senses and he cleared his throat turning away from her, looking now a bit ashamed while scratching his neck awkwardly. He had not intended that to happen but biology doesn't really ask permission...
"...erh...sorry... about that..." The male only mumbled while clearing his throat again, avoiding her look.
Harley swallowed and straightened her outfit before casting her look towards the dunes but as the whole area had been sucked inside the sandstorm they hardly could see the dunes anymore. She felt a bit warm, still feeling his arms around her even if he now stood far away from her, nearly comically far, it was like he didn't trust himself to be closer to her right now...and from the looks of things he was trying to calm himself down while having his hands on his hips and his back turned away from her, his posture far from this egomaniac.
This was the reason why it was also considered that the females should not join the battle forces... They were too big of a distraction. Maybe that was also the reason why Stoker was very hesitant to let Harley join the battles...The Commander needed all of his men to have a full focus on the battles, not on the females. Harley gave the young Fighter a look who was still awkwardly kicking some smaller stones with his black biker boots but then as she was just about to open her mouth and cut this tension between them they heard a zip sound and their heads turned to this doorway they hadn't noticed just a little further away, maybe because of their little distraction there... But they now quickly realized that someone was getting out of the tent.
"Someone's coming..." Vinnie's ears perked as someone indeed was zipping the tent open.
Harley's eyes grew bigger as the panic suddenly hit her again but before she could even fathom what she was doing, she leaped towards Vinnie and grabbed him by his wrist and yanked him with her as she started to run to the opposite direction, to circle to the other side of the tent just when the zipper of this doorway was being opened up completely and a human in a spacesuit stepped outside, carrying a device in his hand and started to walk towards the sand dunes with slow steps in this bulky blue spacesuit.
Harley peeked behind the corner to watch this slowly receding figure. She changed her look towards the sand dunes but closed her clear blue eyes in disbelief of their bad luck before she turned around to face the taller white mouse.
"He's going to the dunes..."
"Okay, and how's that of any importance?" Vinnie only shrugged his shoulders back, rubbing gloomily his wrist from the part where Harley had powerfully yanked him just a moment ago. There'll be a bruise and when sporting a white fur it would hardly stay unnoticed...
Harley let out a frustrated sigh and got closer to Vinnie.
"Because! That's where we left our bikes!" She snarled back but quickly took a step back when remembering what had happened just a moment ago when they had gotten a little bit too close to each other.
"Oh..." Vinnie drawled back, now realizing what Harley had meant.
"Yeah, oh."
"Then let's just go pick them up, what's the big deal?"
"How? We can't be seen. The only way up there is past that...human!"
"Well...Can't we just...knock him out?"
"What? No! We can't just...knock out random aliens!"
"Oh, why not?" Vinnie muttered crossing his arms, like a kid who had just been told he'd not get to play with his toys.
"Because! We're outnumbered here... You guys told us that there were nine of them. If we make a racket and show ourselves or whatever... The other humans could just come out as well and..."
"Yeah? What they'll do?"
"Well, I don't know! Something evil and unpleasant! Who knows what these aliens are capable of! They could have guns!"
"Yeah? So? We have guns, too, Sweetheart! So, let's just go after that geezer and play a round of laser tag!" Vinnie grabbed his gun and rolled it around his index finger.
"Do you hear yourself talk?" Harley gave an exasperated sigh.
"Of course, I ain't deaf."
"Because nothing that comes out of that mouth of yours is making sense!"
"I'm not aiming to make sense, doll, I'm aiming to have some fun!"
"Gods!" Harley grunted and swung around to look after where the human male had gone, he was already walking up the sand dune.
"So...We're just gonna hide here like a bunch of cowards then?" Vinnie asked annoyed behind Harley's back.
"No... We have to make sure that he doesn't find our bikes." Harley's voice was determined and a wide grin appeared on Vinnie's lips.
"Ahahah! I smell action!"
"Oh boy..." Harley only let out a sigh.
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