HOLD ON TIGHT, GUYS; THIS IS GOING TO BE ONE WILD, FLUFFING ADVENTURE!!!
If mew missed the start of this brand-new adventure, click the links below:
Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five
Chapter
Six
N.Q.R. ~ Not Quite Right
Astrid gulped audibly. Which, in all honesty, was rather odd for an A.I., but Melvyn thought better than to point this out.
“Astrid,” Vera
said gently. “Can you please put the external camera feed on the screen? I’d
like to assess the situation?”
The monitors
pinged into life, and Melvyn had to stop himself from screaming. Two of the Purrminators were trying to smash the door to the Time Travelling Telephone Box
down, battering the metal.
“Vera,” Melvyn
whispered. “Why are we still here? Why haven’t we jumped?”
“Young Melvyn,
you took the words right out of my voice processor!” Vera replied.
“Astrid, what
on earth is going on with you today?” Vera pressed.
A purple cloud
swirled out of the central core, and the T.T.T.B. A.I. suddenly materialised
into a corporeal form. No less a cat.
Melvyn jumped
backwards, one paw raised in defence. “Stay back, I know Purrate and Mew-Jit-Su!”
“Oh, do behave!
It’s me, Astrid,” the cat said with a toothy grin.
“Astrid?”
Melvyn gasped, looking at the rather fluffy, pure white cat wearing black boots.
“That is my
name, don't wear it out!” Astrid purred as she jumped onto the control console. “Now, where would
you like to go, Melvyn?”
“Anywhere but
here right now!” the kitten blurted. Then he paused for a second and added. “To
another timeline where Great Uncle Basil still is!”
“Oh, this is
going to be so much fun,” Astrid trilled in delight. “Hold on to your tails
everyone, well, not you Vera, but do hold on to something as this is going to
get bumpy.”
The large red
button on the control console glowed, and Astrid’s paw smacked down.
The ambient
lighting blinked out. The T.T.T.B. lurched sideways and spun ferociously.
“Astrid?” Vera
yelled from the black box. “Did you forget to engage the dampeners again?”
“Whoopsie!” Astrid
beamed as she clung to the control console with gleaming silver claws that
glinted wildly every time the ambient lighting pinged on for a brief second. “Just
give me a moment.” She clawed her way atop the console and thumped a bank of
flashing switches. “That should do it!”
The T.T.T.B.
ceased spinning, and the sudden stop sent Astrid soaring across the vast
expanse of the bridge, with Melvyn close behind, still clutching Vera in his
paw. The two cats collided and slid to a stop in the opulent viewing lounge,
the plush carpet playing a pivotal role in their sudden slowdown.
“Harrumph!” Melvyn grunted as Astrid accidentally trod on him as she tried to disentangle herself as the lights came on. “Fluff me, you weigh a ton!”
“Exsqueeze me?”
Astrid retorted. “A ton, I think not. I’m as light as a wispy feather!”
Melvyn pointed
to his tummy, “See, look at the indentation. You nearly crushed me.”
“Astrid, you
aren’t wearing lead-lined paws again, are you?” Vera asked.
“Drat,” Astrid
mumbled. “Yes, Vera, I am wearing the lead-lined paws. Why?”
Vera tutted
dramatically and replied. “You know you can’t use the lead-lined paws during take off
and landings as the lead interferes with the guidance systems. They are only
for gravitational emergencies.”
“I knew that,”
Astrid grimaced. And she went to check the coordinates on the control console.
Glancing at them, she sucked in another loud breath and said. “Oh dear, it
seems we’re off course by just a smidge.”
“A smidge or a
gaping chasm?” Vera enquired.
“I don’t really
know how to say this,” Astrid faltered.
“Say what?”
Melvyn asked.
“Er… it would
appear that we’ve gone back in time,” Astrid began.
“Yes,” Vera
prompted, her frustration clearly apparent. “How far?”
“It’s not that
bad, considering,” Astrid replied with a grimace. “We’re only off course by a hundred
million years or so.”
“WHAT!” Melvyn’s
eyes were the size of saucers. “That means we’re in the Cretaceous Period.”
“Oh Astrid,
what have you done!” Vera sighed.
“It’s OK,”
Astrid said. “Don’t panic. As long as we stay here, it’s all ok. Right?”
“Put the external
cameras on again,” Vera instructed. “And let’s see exactly where we are and
what is going on outside.”
The screens
pinged on again, and instead of showing the Purrminators attacking the T.T.T.B.
door inside the concrete room, they were now attacking the door in the
Cretaceous Period.
“Holy fluff and
capers,” Melvyn gasped. “How come they are still outside? I thought when we
jumped, they’d be left for dust.”
“I had a notion
that this may happen. If they were touching the T.T.T.B. when it jumped through
time, and because they’re machines, they can’t really die during the jump like organic
matter would,” Vera sighed. “And now we’ve brought two unkillable killing
machines to an era where everything else is a killing machine.”
Melvyn coughed
and pointed at the top right monitor. “I think we’ve got company.”
The T.T.T.B.
trembled and shook as the roaring T-Rex charged towards the red telephone box,
sitting rather conspicuously on a rocky outcrop by the edge of a misty lake.
“I don’t want
to be overly worrisome, but if that T-Rex collides with us, and we fall into
the water, then what?” Melvyn whispered to Vera.
“Then what, Astrid?”
Vera snapped. “Get us the fluff out of here, and make sure to leave the excess
baggage behind.”
Melvyn stared
at the monitor and watched as the two Purrminators turned on the T-Rex and hurtled
towards it.
“Holy mother of
fluff!” Melvyn gasped as he watched the machines launch at the huge dinosaur.
He turned away from the screen just as the blood splattered everywhere. “I don’t
want to see that.”
“Astrid, get
rid of the lead-lined paws and get us the fluff out of here now!” Vera commanded.
“On it,” Astrid replied, kicking off her boots and hitting the big red button again. There was a momentary ripple, and the T.T.T.B. vanished.
“Where are we?”
Vera asked.
“Well,
you’re never going to believe it, but we’re back in the bunker two minutes
after we left, and now, there are some really dangerous cat commandos at the
door,” Astrid groaned. “I really am off my game today…but the good news is, the two Purrminators are not here.”
“Astrid,
you’ve always been N.Q.R., but seriously, your coding needs a massive defrag
and clean up. I think you’ve got bugs!” Vera snapped. “Now open a comms channel
and let me speak with them.”
Astrid
mumbled about being completely bug-free on her last defrag, and the nerve to
insinuate that really bugged her tremendously. But she knew that fighting with Vera
was a one-way road to oblivion, so she opened the comms channel. “Ready when
you are Vera.”
Melvyn
watched the commandos and gulped. His dad had warned him that some fraction
from the future was after his powers, and he wondered if these soldiers were
that fraction.
“Hello, commando cats outside the telephone box,” Vera said in her cheery voice. “Firstly,
can you explain why you’re here?”
A
huge black Maine Coon, wearing matt black armour and carrying more weapons than
Melvyn had ever seen, other than his Great Uncle Basil, of course, stepped up
to the door and glared straight into the camera.
“I’m
here for the kitten,” he growled out with even more menace than Melvyn thought
possible, and he shook with terror.
**AND CUT**
Guys, mew know how we roll; so many apologies once again to cut it right there, but we will say, mew'll never guess what happens next - sorry to be a supurr dreadful tease! MOL
If mew would like to read Chapter Seven, let us know in the comments.
In the meantime...
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