"I'm telling you guys, I need a baggie attached to my mouth! I don't fare well in launching and landings! Or anywhere in space, generally. Just lend me a baggie already — I secretly placed nine in each of your utility pockets and somehow forgot to put some in mine."

"Pardon me, but you seem to have mistaken me for some cat that actually gives a mousetail," a black tom mewed brusquely while keenly waiting for the take-off.

Greenface mustered a feeble glare and directed his emerald gaze towards Cedarflame while trying to swallow back the rising wave of nausea in his throat. "Why do you have to be so rude all the time, Cedarflame?" a recently adopted upset tone the crew would rather not hear spilled out of the engineer's mouth. 

The skinny white tom continued to complain about sickening surges of vomit that would duly emerge from his mouth if they didn't give him a baggie to barf into. No one cared. Everyone else was focused on the most important event following the successful mission of the Catmint 9; the take-off of Catmint 11, which would mark the commencement of one of the greatest missions the Earthian cats had ever participated in.

Greenface's voice was thankfully lost to the rumbling of the spaceship, so loud the communications carrier almost malfunctioned in Fernfrost's ear. The tabby she-cat's eyes dilated with exhilaration; it was her first time in a launching spaceship, of course. Breaths collectively held (except Greenface, who was panting from struggling not to vomit), the crew members counted silently.

5...

4...

3...

2...

1!

Fernfrost would have jumped in ecstasy if she weren't strapped to a chair. She felt the great beast beneath her leave the ground and accelerate upwards towards Earth's sky. The deafening roar of the spaceship gradually ebbed away, and the ship's pyrotechnician wondered if she'd leave this mission a deaf cat. It would certainly be worth it, though.

She was the first one to break the prevailing silence.

"This is brilliant. We're on a much shorter course and aided by the new, faster technology the scientists below us have been working on. We'll be there in less than half the time it would have taken for Catmint 9 to arrive on Mars from Earth."

Sageleap, from the seat in front of her, nodded in agreement. Cedarflame grunted in response and Feathershine seemed indifferent. Fallowstripe was acting like nothing important had happened and was prodding a succulent plant while whispering heatedly to it. Greenface, however, looked the happiest of them all; an expression of pure bewilderment shined on his pale face, though Fernfrost couldn't wonder why.

Knowing Greenface, he'd explain whatever phenomenon had happened in detail to the crew members as soon as he got over the initial amazement. Cedarflame unstrapped himself and stretched on the ship's pristine floor. Fernfrost followed his example and soon the other crew members were up and about, grooming and wandering. 

Sageleap raised his tail and called for a meeting once the cats had settled down again.

"Time to organise and distribute duties. Greenface, you —"

"Hang on, Sageleap, before you tell me to check the solar panels, I have to tell you guys this ridiculous thing that happened to me just then."

The crew leader sighed. "Yes?"

Greenface was positively glowing. "I didn't vomit this time! And good thing I didn't because then I don't have to clean up my spacesuit helmet." He reached up to tap his helmet, only to realise that he must have taken it off.

Thinking of his helmet, his whole body did seem lighter... horror dawned on each of the crew member's faces as they realised something that would possibly jeopardise the most crucial mission for all Earthian cats:

They had forgotten their spacesuits.

Written by Saph! 🍩✨