Thank you to everyone who have been showing this story support! You guys keep this story cranking out!

I've read a lot of fantastic and creative ideas for this story, and although I obviously can't use ALL of them, I'm definitely getting the feel for the general direction you guys want this to go and I think it meshes well with most of my original material idea.

Also, just a disclaimer, this story will be heavy on the drama/suspense/suspicions/romance but the action may not be there as much.

Chapter 5: The Journey Part 1

Brittany's POV

I felt weightless. I felt like if I had unbuckled myself from my seat I would have begun floating aimlessly around the room. Because, well, that's exactly what would have happened. We had done it. We were free of Earth's gravity. It was just us six chipmunks hurling towards Mars.

"Brittany!" Simon called back to me. "Let Houston know we're still looking good. I'm switching it to auto pilot now."

I rotated back to the Motherboard and typed, "Caesar has broken gravitational pull, autopilot being turned on. All systems still looking good."

The vibrations of the ship seemed to stop altogether after autopilot had been switched on. The ship made a slight change in course to make sure we arrived at the planet as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Motherboard's screen lit up again. Houston's response was: "Congratulations you six. You have made your planet proud. Communications from now on will get slower and slower due to distance."

I quickly replied with, "Noted."

I quickly unbuckled myself and allowed my body to rise above my chair. I just had to know what this really felt like, not just in a simulator. Everyone else soon followed my idea, prompting some "woah's" and "damn's".

Simon was the last one out of his seat. "Now hold on a sec everybody," he said to us. We all stopped and stared at him from wherever we were holding on to a railing or chair. "I think that before we all just go off and do our thing, that we need to set up shifts. Because at least one person needs to be manning this cockpit at all times, even when we're on autopilot."

We all agreed, but no one volunteered.

Simon nodded. "I'll go first, then."

"I guess it only makes sense that I go second, then," Jeanette said glumly.

"I'll take it after Jean," Theodore said.

Eleanor giggled. "I'll get fourth shift."

Just as I was about to take fifth, Alvin beat me to it.

It didn't really matter, so I just volunteered for sixth and moved on.

"Right," Simon said. "I'll set a timer. Every hour, the next chipmunk needs to relieve whoever's manning the helm."

That was good enough for the rest of us, as we all broke apart, leaving Simon alone in the cockpit. And you best believe my first stop was the kitchen, along with Theo and Ellie. "Can we break any of the food out yet?" I asked them.

They exchanged unsre looks at each other. "Well, we each have a limit of food we can eat per day," Theodore said. "If we eat now that's less for later."

"I know that," I said. "I'm just starving. I don't know why. It's probably just been a long day."

Ellie shrugged. "We could ask the rest of the guys and see if they want everything," she said sweetly.

"Good idea!" Theo chimed in. "I'll go see if I can find Alvin or Jeannie."

Alvin's POV

I don't know what everyone else was doing, but my first move was to slip all the way down to our sleeping quarters. Everything Megs had told me before we lifted off was still fresh and clear. Her specific directions still replayed in my mind over and over, including: "Only open the cabinet in the case of extreme emergencies." I just wanted to make sure the key was exactly where she said it would be.

To be honest with you, it took me a little while to even find the sleeping quarters as the ship was so big. Or maybe it also was because I was kind of disoriented from having to push and float my way down hallways. The quarters themselves were in a relatively small room that was designed kind of like the room we slept in at NASA HQ.

Each of our beds were labelled. The chipmunks beds were on the opposite side of the quarters as the chipettes. My bed and Brittany's bed were in opposite corners. I looked around to make sure I wasn't being followed, then pulled myself over to my bed, windowside. "Under the mattress," I said under my breath. I double checked one more time to make sure no one was looking. Then I slid my hand underneath the mattress pad and began feeling around for the key.

I had to thrust my arm underneath the pad all the way up to my shoulder until I finally felt it. It was velcroed down to the bottom of the mattress. "Bingo," I said, unstrapping it and grabbing it in my hand.

But then I paused. What am I doing? I asked myself, knowing full well I didn't need this key yet. I should know what's in that cabinet, I told myself. No, listen to instructions for once in a life.

Theodore's face suddenly popped into the doorway, which made me gasp. "Hey Al," he said cheerfully. Then he noticed me shoulder deep in my mattress and said, "what're you doing?"

"Oh, nothing," I tried. "Just making sure my bed's nice and comfy, ya know?"

"Oh, well I can check to make sure there's nothing wrong with it if you're having problems," he said.

"No thanks I'm good," I said, with my arm still underneath the pad.

"No it's no big deal!" he insisted as he pulled himself in my direction.

"I said no Theo! Leave me alone, please!"

He stopped himself, shocked at my sudden outburst at him. He gave me a suspicious look. "Some of the crew are thinking about breaking out some of the rations. What do you think?"

"Nah I'm not hungry," I said. "Thank you." I was trying to cheer up the mood.

"Ok," he said. He never stopped squinting at me out of suspicion as he guided himself out of the quarters and back the way he came.

That's it, I told myself. I am opening that cabinet. And that's that.

Simon's POV

Being in the cockpit alone wasn't all that bad. I was able to watch what everyone else was doing while I sat and hoped nothing went wrong. My sweet Jeannie had gone straight to the back section of the ship to admire the view of Earth. I know Brit, Ellie and Theo went to the kitchen but I had lost track of Alvin.

After a while of flipping through the camera feeds, the door to the cockpit slid open behind me. I turned to see Theodore push himself in with his legs. "What's up Theo?" I asked, turning back to the video feed.

"Nothing much," he said, casually. "Do you think we should break out some of the rations now or save them all for later?"

"I'm good for whatever the rest feels like," I said, doing my best to sound like a leader.

He grabbed onto my shoulder, partly I think because he needed something to hold onto to hold himself down. "Alvin was acting real suspicious just now," Theodore said.

My ears perked. "How so?" I asked calmly.

"Well," Theo began to explain, "I found him in the sleeping quarters to ask him about the rations, but when I tried to get close to him he snapped at me."

I chuckled. "You sure he wasn't hiding Brittany in there?"

Theo shook his head. "She's been in the kitchen the whole time… it looked like he was hiding something under his bed."

"Hmm," I thought for a minute, before beginning to flip through the camera choices. "Let's see if we can't find our pal Alvin, then."

It took us only a moment before we flipped through the feed coming from the cargo bay. "Wait!" Theodore exclaimed. "Go back."

I went back to the cargo bay camera, and wouldn't you know it, there was Alvin. He looked to be snooping around the rover. He was looking around, as if searching for something. His eyes finally fixed on one corner of the bay. He pushed himself towards it. I panned the camera to follow him. He stopped himself at a large green cabinet, which we could only see the side of.

Alvin's POV

This was it. It had to be. It was locked and in the corner of the cargo bay. I pulled out the key and inserted it into the lock. As it fit perfectly, I twisted it to the left, which didn't budge, and then tried to the right. The key twisted a full half circle and made a satisfying click sound. I pulled on the key, pulling the door open with it.

I peered inside and was shocked at what I saw.

Guns. Lot's of them, racked up so that the cabinet was literally packed full of them. But these weren't ordinary guns; they were chipmunk-sized. Perfect for a creature of our size to use just like any normal human being would. There were guns in there that I recognized like AK-47's, a few handguns, what looked like grenade launchers, and even tons of ammo to boot. There were many that I didn't recognize, but the point was we were loaded. Or, I guess as of right now, I was loaded. What to do with this information was totally my decision.

But that wasn't it. Duct taped to the floor of the cabinet was a plain white piece of plastic. When I examined it closer I realized that it was in fact a pregnancy test.

Simon's POV

From the angle of the camera, we couldn't see what was inside that cabinet. But we could tell that whatever it was, Alvin was shocked to see it.

"What do you think's in there Simon?" Theo asked me.

"Who knows," I said, "but whatever it is, he's clearly up to something."

"I hope not," Theodore said.

Suddenly, alvin shut and locked the cabinet without taking anything inside. He looked around, as if trying to make sure no one was watching, and pushed off towards the main section of the ship. "I want to find out where he keeps that key," I said.

But just as I began to follow him through the halls with the cameras, the cockpit door swung open. I quickly clicked back to the view of the kitchen and peered over my shoulder to see Jeanette had entered.

"Jeanette!" I said. "What are you doing here? My hours not up yet."

"I know," she said, pulling herself right next to Theo and I to see what we were looking at. She chuckled. "Creeping on the girls in the kitchen, huh?" she joked.

"Y-yeah," I said.

"You got us," Theodore said, trying to laugh.

Alvin's POV

I wasn't fooling around this time. This time, I wasted no time in racing into the sleeping quarters, tucking the key back under my mattress, strapping it in with the velcro, and getting the hell out of there. I had to find Brittany.

Then I remembered: the crew was talking about eating. I should try the kitchen. Without wasting time, I flew out of the quarters and took a left without looking. I zipped through hallways and up through hatches, almost forgetting where I was.

I was going so fast I almost went right past the kitchen, but I managed to grab a railing and stop myself with a thud that alerted Eleanor and Brittany, who were both in there relaxing.

"Alvin!" Brittany exclaimed. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," I insisted, pulling myself into the kitchen.

"What's the rush, Al'?" Ellie asked me.

I smiled at her with the same innocent smile I always shot at Dave. "Oh you know, just couldn't stand another second away from you two."

"Aw," she said. "Compliment taken," she said, winking at me.

I chuckled and turned to Brittany. "Brit. A word with you please?"

"What's going on?" she asked softly.

I leaned in and answered in her ear, "we need to go somewhere where there's no cameras. What room has no cameras?"

She giggled. "Alvie, is now really the time for that?"

"That's not what I meant," I insisted. "Please? It's urgent."

Her eyes widened as she looked at me to make sure I was serious. Then she turned to Eleanor who was staring at us suspiciously, then back at me. She whispered in my ear, "follow me to the engine room."

And we both floated off, with I'm sure Eleanor's gaze locked on us the whole way.

I followed Brit all the way down to the engine room, even though I knew where it was. It was mostly quiet, now that the thrusters had been reduced to no power, and best of all: there were no cameras.

"Okay," I said, taking a deep breath. "A lot has happened, and I should have filled you in on it sooner but I didn't."

She gave me a confused look. "Alvin what the hell are you talking about?"

"Before we took off," I explained, "Megs, she told me there was a key under my mattress. And she told me that that key opened a cabinet in the cargo bay. She said to only open it in an extreme emergency."

"Well, have you tried opening it?" she persisted.

"You know me too well," I said.

"What was inside?" she asked.

I gulped down my nervousness, as Megs had told me to keep all this to myself. "Guns, Brit."

She gasped.

"Chipmunk-sized guns. Dozens of them. And ammo. But that's not all Brit…" I trailed off.

"What else is there?" she said through deep breaths.

"Megs told me that I might need what's inside that cabinet - the guns. She made it seem like we were in danger."

"What do you think that means? In danger of what?"

I sighed. "I dunno. But we may want to keep an eye on the others. Our brothers and sisters, I mean."

Brittany gasped. "You don't think any of them would try to hurt us… do you?"

"I just- I don't know what to think," I admitted. "But if anything happens at least we have protection - and each other. No matter what happens, priority number one for me is to keep you safe. Priority number two is myself. My brothers and Jeanette and Eleanor come after us."

"Why the hell didn't you tell me about any of this?" she asked angrily.

"I don't know," I sighed. "I'm sorry. From now on, you're totally in the loop."

She rolled her eyes, looking like she was deciding between hugging me and slapping me. She finally decided on wrapping me up in a tight hug. I squeezed her back, genuinely being thankful for her presence and support.

"Brittany there's… one more thing that was in that cabinet."

She broke the hug and looked up at me. "What?"

I looked deep into her eyes, knowing she really didn't want to hear this. "A pregnancy test."

Theodore's POV

Jeanette had finally taken Simon's shift, meaning he and I could leave the cockpit and talk about what we had seen. As soon as we had rounded the corner, Simon stopped me. "We need to discuss Alvin," he said.

"What do you think's going on?" I asked him.

"I don't know, Theodore. I don't know." He seemed deep in thought. "It definitely looked like he was up to no good."

"W-what should we do?" I asked in a cracked voice.

"You let me take care of it for now. Don't tell anyone, got it?"

"What about Eleanor and Jeanette?" I said.

"No," he repeated sternly. "Tell no one. Let me confront Alvin."

"You're telling me to just not worry about this? After what I just saw?"

"Precisely," he said.

"Well I-"

I was interrupted by him saying, "great. Knew I could count on you, bro."

And with that he pinched my cheek and floated off.

Eleanor's POV

It was actually very hard to prepare a meal for six in space. Especially since Theodore was barely any help, which was so unlike him. But something was clearly on his mind, so it was on me. I managed to throw together rations to make plain baked potatoes, an apple each, and a few pieces of jerky. To drink we had recycled water in a bottle (don't even ask me where it came from because neither of us want to know). Despite my best efforts, the whole package was pretty tasteless.

We all strapped down together at the table. Simon decided that it would be ok seeing as though, theoretically if there were any problems, the Caesar would alert us.

"Sorry the food's so shitty, guys," I apologized.

"Don't worry about it," Alvin said. "We'd expect nothing better than shitty food on a spaceship."

Everyone began to dig in, forcing the plain food and water down their throats, knowing that if they didn't they'd be hungry later.

"So," Simon finally spoke up. "Let's talk about what we busied ourselves with. After we all unbuckled, I mean."

"Why?" Jeanette said shrugging. "What's the point."

"Just curious," I said. "About how everyone was passing the time. Alvin, why don't you start."

After taking another obviously painful bite of jerky, Alvin noticed all eyes were locked on him. "What do you want me to say?" he said through a mouthful.

"Oh, we all know how easily bored you get Alvin," Simon said cynically. "How'd you entertain yourself while I was taking my shift?"

Alvin swallowed his food. "I dunno," he said. "Took a nap. Talked to Brittany. Just kinda floated around. There's not exactly a whole lot to do on this ship," he said.

"Oh, but there is," Simon said slyly. "You may not know this but we actually have a few magnetic board games on board."

"Magnetic board games?" Alvin said.

"Yes, mainly Chess and checkers." Everyone looked at Simon, trying to figure out where he was going with this.

Alvin shrugged. "Never really learned how to play Chess. Checkers is easy enough."

"Oh but it's easy," Simon insisted. "Chess is, I mean. I'd love to teach you, perhaps tomorrow. If you're not busy, that is?"

"Um, nah I'm not busy," Alvin said in an unsure voice. "Sounds great to me. Thanks bro."

"Great!" Simon sarcastically pretended to struggle to contain his excitement. "Something tells me you'll be very good at Chess… bro."

Alvin, as if suddenly realizing something wasn't right, looked up and at his brother's smug, grinning face. Simon raised one eyebrow at him, eyeing him down. They had a staring contest for a few seconds before Alvin went back to eating and avoiding Simon's suspicious glares.

There it is! What do you think Megs was warning Alvin about? Who/what should they be looking out for? Is Brittany pregnant? How is this whole thing going to shake out? I'll be dropping the next chapter ASAP!

And as always, if you liked the content, please show the story love by Favoriting/Following it, as well as giving it a review. If you had some problems or questions, I'm always listening to those as well. And, not that this will ever change, but potential ideas for the upcoming chapters are also welcome. It always brings me so much joy to know people are reading my stories and thinking about them creatively.

So whatever you do, make sure you keep up the support and I'll be hard at work writing!