Sileea herded her two students along the edge of an ancient staircase carved into the side of a sheer stone cliff that drops thousands of feet into clouds. What had started as a routine field research exercise for the young teenagers had gone sideways fast, and now all three were out of breath, agitated, and very, very worried. Above them, a swirled tangle of vines was aggressively growing - in real-time - down the cliff, overtaking their path and forcing them downward, moving much faster than them down the sheer cliff face. Zero's fine sensor-fur bristled with alarm, the millions of tiny filaments that let the eyeless Duboran "see," picking up every detail of their deteriorating situation. His voice cracked with adolescent condescension and fear, "I thought you said it was safe! And 'oh, the ancients used to do it, balancing baskets on their shoulders.' Yeah, right!"
"Zero, speed-replicating flora is not a native species; there's no way I could have known it was here and certainly didn’t know it would activate as we passed." Sileea adjusts settings on her bulbous high-tech goggles. At the same time, the red tentacle-like appendages of her Moonbath hair writhe with agitation. Opal navigates the ancient, slippery stone footholds in silence, their tall, lanky frame long-horse-like neck moving with surprising grace as Zero stammers, "Do we even know if the stairs continue past those clouds? Or what's below them? We'll never make it!"
"We'll make it," Sileea blinks a series of commands to her goggles, the suction cups on her fingertips gripping the stone wall with each careful step. "Hamjo, we got a little situation. I know you'll disagree with this, and it's not protocol, and blah, blah, yeah, I get it, but I'm overriding you on this one. And it has to happen RIGHT NOW. I need you to send the mini-hopper to my coordinate. It's gotta be within one meter of my position and track me. We're descending the Whisperfall Staircase, the return route to the observation platform is blocked. We can't stop moving. And this has to happen RIGHT NOW."
Back to the students, "Ok, obviously none of this goes into the presentation, you understand? But we can sort that out on the hop back to Singko Academy. For now, I need you to focus. The mini-hopper will be here in a minute. The hatch door will be open. I know it's not a three-seater. We're going to get cozy. But we'll also have to jump because it can't anchor on the cliff."
"JUMP! Are you crazy!" Zero's sensor-fur flattens against his body in terror, making the intricate geometric patterns of his Duboran heritage stand out in sharp relief.
"Keep cool, Zero. We can do it. I'll go first." The air around them shudders as the mini-hopper hovers into position and slowly tracks with them as the group descends, the vines licking at their hands, shoulders, and heels It just won’t stop growing toward them. But before Sileea can adjust, Opal pivots and gracefully leaps across the vertiginous gap. Their skin erupts in a brilliant display of bioluminescence, turning from its usual subtle glow to a blinding flash of blue-white light that illuminates the entire cliff face – their body's involuntary response to the surge of adrenaline.
"Nice, I like the initiative. Good jump Opal." Sileea's octopus-like suckers flex as she tweaks a setting on her goggles again and launches herself across the expanse, her crimson tentacle-hair streaming behind her like a banner. She catches the hopper door with practiced ease, her specialized grip instantly securing her position. She spins to Zero, who's still scrambling away from the angry vines, his sensor-fur wavering in confusion from the hopper's thruster interference.
"You gotta do it now Zero."
"But, the hopper thrusters are messing with my sonar, I can't 'see' the hopper door." His fur ripples in distress, trying to make sense of the chaotic air currents.
"Focus on my voice. I'm here; you have to jump to me. Can you triangulate my voice?"
The mini-hopper wobbles as the thrusters create turbulent resistance off the sides of the cliff. Sileea stumbles and grabs both sides of the door to steady herself, her Moonbath physiology allowing her to maintain a grip where others would fail. Zero's sensor-fur whips wildly in the backdraft, further confusing his spatial awareness. "Keep talking. I can see your voice."
"Ok, talking! The chapter ten homework is due in cycle six class. Students will work in teams for the lab period while I grade the Yarillian Cave research papers. Cycle seven class will be the follow-up..." Just then, Zero leaps, arms outstretched, his fur aligned to track the sound waves as he spins through the air, "Keep talking!"
"Ok, ok, then the follow up on the student lab assignments…"
Sileea grasps Zero's arm, her suction cups latching onto his fur-covered skin, but he doesn't make it. He falls short. Sileea throws herself back and braces her arm against the side of the hatch as she takes Zero's total weight on her outstretched arm. Zero dangles from the open door, his fur registering the terrifying drop below in excruciating detail. The vines on the cliff wall overtake the stairs he just left and reach out viciously toward the hopper.
In her ear, Sileea hears Hamjo, who's piloting the hopper remotely, "Hold tight! Keep your eyes on Zero. I've got a visual feed from your goggles.” Just then, the hopper falls into a dead drop, weightless, heavier than Zero. The entire small craft lists sideways to position the door to the open sky, and Zero above it. Sileea falls backward into the cabin, pulling Zero in right on top of her, Opal's glow spikes again.
"We're in. Get us back to the big hopper, Hamjo. Remember everyone, not a word of this to the flight staff, and it does NOT go in the Space Hoppers Club daily log."
“We know, we know, Space Hoppers Club missions are for Space Hoppers Club only. Daily logs should only include what the administration ‘needs’ to know,” cracks Zero, seeingly recovered from the hair-raising leap.
Zero untangles himself from Sileea, his fur slowly settling back into normal patterns. "What was that?"
"Oh," Sileea says, smoothing her tentacle-hair back into place with her suction-cupped fingers, "I was already working on my lesson plans for tomorrow, so I shifted to saying them out loud so you could see my voice."