Frontier Rats - Quest for Ratopia
Chapter 8 - Marooned

The ship drifts through space towards a spiral solar system, then slows down and orbits round planet PLEKREL 375, which has orange and yellow horizontal stripes around its surface and two orbiting rings: one orange inner ring and a yellow outer ring. Four small moons orbit the planet: one yellow and three orange moons pocked with craters that make them look a little like oranges. A loud alarm and a flashing red light rudely awakens Uphrasia and Konrad from their sleep. In various ducts rats are hustling and bustling around in a frenzy of activity. Uphrasia and Konrad meet Thompus in the main junction and watch the chaos. Uphrasia puts his paw on Konrad’s shoulder. “No volunteering, remember?” Konrad nods. Nute scurries along towards them carrying a box of gadgets and gizmos. Uphrasia grabs her arm. “What’s all the commotion about Nute?”

Nute looks at him and her lens motors whirr as the lens moves back and forth. “Planet, exploration, volunteers, highly dangerous, got to go!” She pants twice and moves off down the duct then calls back. “Shuttle departing in five minutes!”

“A planet!”

Konrad’s eyes bulge. “An eating opportunity!”

“We’ll probably all die if we go there” remarks Thompus.

Rose steps out of a duct wearing a spacesuit.

“You’re going?!” exclaims Uphrasia looking surprised.

She beams a wide smile. “Of course, wouldn’t miss it for the world; or, for another world in this case.”

He creases his snout. “Now if I don’t go I’ll look like a scaredy-rat.”

Rose lowers her eyelids. “Scrod’s offering double rations for all volunteers.”

Konrad licks his lips. “We would be foolish not to go, foolish not to go!”

“I suppose you’re right,” sighs Uphrasia.

“What about all that stuff about not volunteering?” pleads Thompus.

Konrad drools. “Double rations – double rations!”

Uphrasia slaps him on the back. “OK we’ll go. Just stop drooling.”

“Sorry.” He slurps and swallows.

Thompus makes a disgusted face. “You are truly repugnant.”

“Thank you.” Konrad grins.

In the huge cargo bay three space shuttles, short and square with pointed fronts, are parked. A few human technicians are milling around the bay busy refuelling and servicing the shuttles. Uphrasia, Konrad, Rose, Thompus and Nute hide behind a stack of cargo boxes. They are all wearing spacesuits, have shiny new helmets under their arms and have their mission rucksacks on their backs. Scrod hops down from inside one of the landing gear compartments and whispers, “Plenty of room. In you go!” They all creep out, climb up the shuttle’s landing gear, hop inside the cramped compartment and settle down.

Thompus looks around nervously. “Is this compartment airtight?”

“Helmets on!” orders Scrod as he enters.

They all attach their helmets as Professor Abler climbs in. “Sorry I’m late. Now, don’t eat or drink anything until Nute has tested it for toxins! Good luck everyone, and let’s all return safely.” He squeezes in next to Nute and puts on his helmet. “Oh, and remember where they park the shuttlecraft.”

Scout watches the shuttle as the engines roar. “Awe shucks, they get to go and visit a new world, while I have to complete this boring survey of the ship. Nothing exciting ever happens to me these days.” There is a sudden white flash. A laser zaps him and he drops down unconscious. A Cybormoggy walks past him and climbs onto the shuttle’s single forward leg just in time as the shuttle lifts up, blasts out of the cargo bay and arcs towards the planet. The landing gear legs start to rise up. The rats all pull their paws back as the landing gear enters the compartment. The front leg jams, sandwiching the Cybormoggy with a loud crunch. The shuttle darts past one of the orange moons then arcs downwards. It enters the atmosphere and the forward shield glows white hot with a halo of fire. It disappears in a cloud of yellow mist then re-emerges and cools as it descends towards the surface. The retro thrusters blast, slowing the shuttle down.

The planet is barren except for a few scrubby bushes with fluffy white buds on their skinny branches. The ground is rocky, yellow and very dusty. Here and there orange and yellow boulders sit in small craters. They have deep scars on their surfaces made by strong winds. Yellow and orange mountains fill the horizon with halos of orange and brown clouds against a deep blue sky. In the centre of these mountains the tallest has a deep volcanic crater. Black smoke rises up from it into the sky turning the yellow clouds brown where it meets them.

The shuttle extends its landing gear and touches down in a flat valley. Scrod is the first to hop out. “This way – follow me!” The rats hop out and head off together. The front half of the Cybormoggy drops onto the ground, rolls head over heels for a few feet then stops, smouldering and smoking. Its red eyes fade and go out.

The group wander about looking for signs of life as Abler fans an electronic device around. “The air quality seems fine, within safe parameters. Helmets off!” They all remove their helmets and breathe in.

Nute strokes her wires and frowns. She looks at Rose who returns an enquiring look. Nute shakes her head and Rose steps up close to her. “What is it?”

“Bad feeling.”

“On the scale of one to ten? One, like we should be concerned or ten, like we should run around screaming?”

“Ten, like we should to go back to the shuttle right now.”

“That’s a very bad ten then.”

Konrad scrunches up his snout. “Poo, what a pong! It’s just like a rotten crow’s egg!”

Professor Abler rubs some of the dust between his finger tips and sniffs it. “Sulphur, possibly from some volcanic activity.”

As they climb down a steep slope into a valley, Nute picks a bud of fluff from a bush and places a sample in her toxin-testing unit. Abler looks at her over his spectacles. “Edible?”

She hums, staring at the screen of the unit and shakes her head. “Ah! Nobody eat the white fluff!”

Uphrasia holds a clump in his paw. “Why not? It looks quite harmless!”

“It has a mild sedative toxin that may cause drowsiness, even deep sleep.”

The others gather round her and Thompus shakes his paw trying to shake off a blob of sticky fluff. “Good job you warned us in time.”

Rose looks around. “Konrad, Konrad?!”

Uphrasia looks back. “He was right behind us.”

“You three double back and look for him,” orders Scrod. “We can’t have anyone left behind.”

Uphrasia, Rose and Thompus head back up the slope. At the top they find Konrad laying on his back snoring, white fluff all around his mouth.

Uphrasia tilts his head to one side. “No guessing what happened here then.”

The ground starts to shake and they wobble around and Thompus yells through his chattering teeth “Whoa!”

Uphrasia grabs Rose’s arms and they steady each other. “Tremor!” Rose yells as a cloud of yellow dust covers them.

The tremor subsides and the two let go of each other, embarrassed. Uphrasia pats the dust off his fur. “We should head back to the shuttle.” He starts to pick up Konrad by the shoulders.

Rose frowns. “What about the others?”

“They know the rules, the Rat Way.”

“No! We go back for Nute, the Professor and General Scrod. He said no one gets left behind! He gave us specific orders! I’m not budging on this, not this time!”

“OK, OK! It’s very unorthodox but we’ll go back.”

She picks up one of Konrad’s arms and Thompus takes his feet, moaning. “Why do I have to lug this dead weight!”

“You’re one to talk!”

They reach the brow of the slope and find Scrod and Nute climbing up with Abler trailing behind. The ground shakes again and rocks start rolling and bouncing down the hill.

“Hurry!” shouts Uphrasia. Scrod grabs Nute’s arm and helps her up the slope. Then a huge crevasse ruptures the valley below, molten lava erupts in a great curtain and jets up into the sky.

Thompus whines. “Great! Now a volcano. We’ve really had our chips!”

Scrod and Nute reach the top and the others pull them up onto the level. Scrod surveys the valley below. “Quickly! Back to the shuttle!” Abler finally joins them and they run on all fours. Smouldering rocks land on the ground and bounce around them. Konrad is still out cold as the other three carry him.

“Raining rocks! Why me?!” Thompus wails.

Scrod urges him on. “Keep moving!” They reach the valley where the shuttle landed only to see it lift off and blast up into the sky.

Nute’s jaw drops. “No!”

“Were doomed!” Thompus puffs and sweats, hyperventilating. He does not notice a set of tracks like a line scraped in the ground right next to his feet.

Abler hobbles up puffing and gasping. “We need to find shelter immediately.”

Scrod scours the hills and spots a dark shadow up on the side of the mountain. “A cave! We can shelter in there. Quick, everyone!”

They all run up the opposite slope and start to climb towards the cave entrance. Uphrasia huffs as he struggles with his end of Konrad, he looks back at Rose. “Are you OK?”

“What do you care, Mister I follow the Rat Way!” They scramble up towards the cave and drag Konrad inside.

Something watches them from behind a rock as Scrod hurries Nute up the hill, but Abler is ten metres or so behind. “Wait for Grandpa!”

Scrod’s head darts around. “There’s no time. Come on Professor!”

Abler struggles up the hill, waving them on and gasping for breath. “Go on, be safe my dear, I’ll catch up.” Thud! A huge molten rock hammers him into the ground. Sᴇaʀch Thᴇ FɪndNøvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Scrod turns Nute around. “Don’t look!”

They run into the cave and stand looking out at the rocks and ash falling in the valley below.

“Professor Abler?” Enquires Rose. Scrod shakes his head. She spins around and vents her anger at Uphrasia, “Why didn’t you go back for him?!”

Scrod holds up his paw to calm her. “It’s not his fault, there was no time.”

Nute walks over to the edge of the cave and sits down with her back to them. Rose lets loose. “You and your stupid Rat Way! Your selfishness has cost Professor Abler his life.” She storms across the cave, sits next to Nute and puts her arm round her shoulders. She looks over her shoulder and scowls at Uphrasia.

He looks at the floor and spits, “Damn it!”

Thompus is resigned to his fate. “We’re all going to die here, aren’t we? I mean, if we’re not burned to charcoal, we will never get off this forsaken rock!”

Scrod stands to attention. “Now, now! Let’s have none of that quitting talk! We are rats, and what do we always do?”

“We survive.” Thompus mumbles.

“That’s right! We survive because of our selfishness, blind optimism and reckless boldness.”

Nute sobs and Rose tries to console her. “Don’t fret, Nute. We’ll make it.”

Nute lies down on her tummy. “I don’t want to be a rat anymore.” She buries her face in her folded arms.

Scrod looks out of the cave entrance and watches as clouds of yellow-and-black smoke rise up the slope towards them. “We must move away from the entrance!” Scrod takes a torch out of his rucksack and shines it deep into the dark depths of the cave. There is a small crack and he pokes his head through. “This will do. Come on all of you, quickly!” They all squeeze through the crack and enter a dark tunnel.

Out on the mountainside the remains of the Cybormoggy drags itself up towards the cave with a few wires trailing behind. It passes Abler’s body then moves on up. At the cave entrance it scans for lifeforms, then for temperature fluctuations. On its internal viewer it sees a red glow where the warm bodies of the rats have been. The heat trails all lead to the crack in the wall where they glow more intensely orange and yellow.

The rats enter a great dark cavern. They take out their torches and switch them on as they walk along a narrow ledge. The beams of their torches light up tall rounded stalagmites rising up around them, and their opposites, stalactites, hanging down from the ceiling. Water drips from their tips onto the rat’s heads and Srcod stops and opens his mouth to catch the refreshing drops. Steam vapour rises up from a pit that glows fiery red deep in the bowels of the mountain. Scrod looks down into it. “We better keep moving. I don’t like the look of that!” They climb up a steep rise and find a hole that is lit from inside. Scrod pokes his head in. “It looks safe enough. Can’t be sure.” He enters first, wriggling through; then his head re-appears through the hole. “It’s alright folks, come on inside.” The inside of the small cave is covered in stunning amber-coloured crystals from floor to ceiling that glow with a warm golden light.

Nute forgets her emotions for a moment, mesmerised by the beauty of this natural light show. “Calcite!” The others pull Konrad in through the hole and lay him down on the ground. They switch off their torches and look up. Rose touches the surface of the crystals.

“Where is the light coming from?”

“It glows with thermoluminescence, from the heat of the volcano. So beautiful!” Nute takes out her penknife and prises off some of the crystals.

Scrod looks up at the glowing ceiling. “I think we’ll be safe here for a short while. Just until we figure out what to do next. Try to get some rest all of you.”

The eruption has ceased. All is quiet. The rats lie fast asleep, huddled together on the cave floor. Konrad lays on his back snoring. Uphrasia gets up, sits down next to him and pushes him over onto his side. Konrad stops snoring and sleeps soundly. Although he can’t hear a word, Uphrasia talks to him quietly. “You’ve been a loyal friend to me old pal, you put up with my moods and tantrums and you stuck by me.” Uphrasia looks up at the glittering cave roof. “Our whole world seems to be changing so fast and I can’t keep up with it. It’s like everything I believed in is out dated, redundant. Am I rodundant?” He looks down and lets out a deep sigh. “Thanks for listening anyway buddy.” He pats Konrad on the shoulder and lays down and goes to sleep.

Thompus mumbles in his sleep. “Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow.”

The Cybormoggy crawls along the narrow ledge a few inches at a time. Its voice is feint and crackles. “Exterminate all vermin! Exterminate all vermin!” It digs its claws into the slippery ground and drags itself along.

A moonbeam enters through a tiny hole in the roof of the cave and moves slowly across the floor. Something stirs in the shadows. A white, glowing worm slithers out across the cave floor and over to where the rats are sleeping. It is very long and as thick as one of their snouts. It moves silently up to Rose’s left foot then lifts its head up, opens its mouth and its whole face peels inside out and back along its body. It starts to roll its face over Rose’s foot and up her leg. Very slowly it starts to drag Rose along the cave floor towards the darkness. The beam of light moves along the floor and lights up Konrad’s face. He yawns, opens his eyes and sits up. “Wow! What a light show! Are we camping?!” He gets up, walks through the sleeping rats and steps on the worm which makes a squelching sound as green and yellow goo squashes out. It then shakes itself violently, unwraps itself from Rose’s foot and silently slithers off back into the darkness. Konrad watches, bemused, then shrugs, sniffs the air and looks up to where the beam of light is coming from. He climbs up the wall of crystals, stands on a rocky ledge, sticks his head out through the hole and looks up into the starry sky. He scratches his groin, yawns and gazes up misty eyed at a bright light falling through the few wispy clouds. “I can see a falling star. It’s beautiful!” The bright, glowing light leaves a burning white trail that fades as it descends toward the valley below. Konrad frowns. “Are comets meant to slow down?”

Scrod sits bolt upright. “What’s that?!” He rapidly climbs up the wall, steps up beside Konrad and watches through the hole as the light gets closer. “A spaceship! Wake up, wake up everyone! There’s a ship. We must stow away before it departs!” They all get on their feet, stretch and yawn. Nute takes a pawful of the crystals and puts them in her rucksack. Then another white worm appears over her head. Again the mouth peels back around its body then suddenly it darts forward and grabs her by the shoulder. Nute screams and Uphrasia dashes over and tries to pull the squirming worm off. Three more worms slither over a tall, black and very smooth rock, down towards them. They take out their torches and swipe them away. One worm snatches and gulps down Thompus’ torch and the light slides along the worm’s stomach, lighting it up with a dull glow from inside as it goes back over the rock. More worms appear, slithering over the rock. They seem to be very long as their back ends trail off into the darkness. On top of the rock a huge figure appears. A giant slimy megoroslug monster lets out a huge roar! The worms are long tentacles attached to its mouth, and two great big, hungry black eyes on stalks stare down at them. The rats back up as the megoroslug slithers over the rock. It attaches another tentacle to Nute and starts to lift her up towards its open mouth, a circle of sharp, triangular, blade-like teeth start gnashing and grinding. “Help me!” Nute cries. Rose ducks as a tentacle darts at her. It misses, striking the wall of crystals behind her. There is a loud hiss and the tentacle zips back behind the black rock. Rose looks back over her shoulder to see a blob of slime smoking on the crystals. She leans down and picks up a pawful of crystal gravel and throws it as hard as she can at the mouth of the nearest tentacle. It swallows the grit and is frozen for a moment. Then it lets out a huge sneeze and explodes, splattering green and orange goo all over the cavern. Uphrasia leaps up and grabs Nute by the feet and hangs on to her. The tentacles pull her closer and closer to the gnashing teeth and Uphrasia braces his legs against the rock and tugs back on Nute. “Ouch you’re stretching me!”

Scrod and Konrad hop down and Rose gives them a pawful of grit each. “The monster seems to be harmed by the crystals! Aim for the mouth!” They all start to throw pawfuls of crystals at the beast, but they are too far away to get any in the mouth. A long tentacle wraps itself round and round Thompus, slowly turns him on his side and lifts him towards the monster’s mouth, head first.

“Yikes it’s going to gobble me up! Do something, please!?” His head is inches from the mouth of the megoroslug and the teeth gnash and grind faster and faster. Clear, gooey drool drips onto Thompus’ face as he wriggles and squirms!

Konrad picks up a large crystal in both paws. “Make a stack!”

Rose looks at Scrod. “There’s only two of us!”

“That will do!”

Uphrasia hangs onto Nute’s legs straining against the pull of the megoroslug’s tentacle. Nute cries out, “Ouch! Help!”

Scrod crouches down and Rose hops onto his shoulders. Konrad squats then runs forward and leaps up, his right foot landing on Scrod’s back and his left on Rose’s shoulder. He flies through the air holding the crystal out and lands head first in the mouth of the megoroslug. The teeth stop gnashing, the giant black eyes move slowly down to look at Konrad’s back end and tail sticking out of its mouth. Then it grunts, gags once, grunts twice, then kaboom!!! The whole body of the megoroslug explodes in a giant mass of slime and sticky goo! All the rats land on the ground covered in sluggyentrails.

Konrad lands on his back with a big splat in a giant gooey puddle. Nute sits up in a layer of slime. She wipes her face and eyes and looks at Konrad. “Thanks! I think.”

“Welcome.”

The others get up and brush off the slime. Scrod is covered from head to toe in the thickest layer of goo. He shakes himself free and wipes his face. “Yuck! What a fiendish beast. Tastes like slug! It must have mutated! I wonder how on earth it got here?” Konrad takes out his penknife and slices a large chunk of tentacle off and stuffs it into his rucksack.

Nute shakes her torch and it flickers to life. “I for one will never eat slug again! Or worms too come to think of it!” Her torchlight momentarily catches something moving in the dark depths of the cavern. She points the torch back at it. “Guys!” They all turn on their torches and point them into the darkness. Everywhere the torchlights land they see more and more megoroslugs slithering slowly towards them.

“We better get the hell out of here! Rats on the double! Up here!” They all start to climb up the cave wall towards the small hole. The Cybormoggy arrives, the hatch on its head opens, the laser weapon rises up and it targets Thompus. On its internal view screen, the crosshairs lock on to him as he climbs the cave wall. “Exterminate all vermin! Exterminate all vermin!” It fires but the weapon just sparks and makes a fizzing sound. Konrad squeezes out first, followed by Nute, Rose, Uphrasia and Thompus, then finally by Scrod. Three slug tentacles reach out of the hole after them but they hop clear and clamber down onto a rocky plateau. They look down onto the flat plain below. The ship floats down towards the valley and they can just hear the roar of the retro rockets as it slows down to land. The rats race down the slope onto the plain. The Cybormoggy crawls along the floor of the cave. “Destroy all vermin!” A tentacle lands on its back, lifts it up and carries it to the gnashing teeth of a megoroslug’s mouth. “Destroy! Destroy!” There is a loud crunch and the Megoroslug swallows the Cybormoggy.

They all walk down the steep slope towards the plain. The volcanic activity has stopped and black smoke rises from a deep trench. Nute slows down as she passes Abler’s crushed body. Only his pink tail is poking out from under the giant smouldering boulder. She frowns, stifles a tear and whispers, “Grandpa.” Scrod guides her past.

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