THUNDERCATHIANS
Chapter 5: Hello Cousins
A loud roar came from the sky, it seemed to be the cacophonous conjunction of a violin played without sense of melody and a blow of air caused by the breaking of the sound barrier.
What at first appeared to be a metal rod covered by intense white flames then became a gigantic monolith set horizontally and falling at a very sharp angle.
The lit monolith made a sharp turn and passed over the city of the avians and then crashed a few miles from the place.
“By Thundera, what's that!” Cheetara shouted as she covered her ears because the noise was so loud that it threatened to break her eardrums.
Not only was Cheetara, all the thundercats and others present were covering their ears. All the windows of the fallen city that were still intact, were blown open by the roar, and not only that, several walls were shaken and collapsed.
An orange light source was then followed by a bluish glow as the object from the heavens fell to the planet's surface.
The surprise was such that no one present dared to say anything, but when they saw the shock wave of the steel monolith coming towards them, they all began to shout and tried to flee the place.
The shockwave was not strong enough to knock someone down, but it caused a lot of fear in everyone present.
“Cheetara, what was that thing!” Wilykit shouted, as she hugged the thundercat.
“Looks like it was a meteorite that crashed into the surface.”
“A meteorite doesn't make such a sharp U-turn before it crashes," said Lion-O, who was sharpening his eyes and directing his gaze towards where the supposed meteorite had fallen.
“Lion-O," said Cheetara, "how about you use the sword of omens and try to find out what that thing really is.”
Lion-O nodded and drew his sword and listened to his friend's suggestion.
“Sword of omens, show me that which is beyond the obvious.”
The sword of omens showed Lion-O images of the wrecked cathian ship, which expelled strong, constant columns of pressurized smoke, all resulting from the ship's emergency cooling system.
“...It looks... it looks like a ship...”
“A ship, what do you mean, Lion-O?” Cheetara asked him.
“Which seems to be a spaceship, like in the books of the royal library.”
“Those books are children's books," said Cheetara.
“Please Cheetara! Don't tell me you still think all those stories are fairy tales!”
“Well, the technology thing turned out to be true, but.... a spaceship is already so absurd!”
“Don't you remember when I mentioned how the book of omens showed me scenes from the past! Scenes that unfolded inside a spaceship!”
“Stop fighting!” Wilykit interrupted, “Why don't we take a closer look at that spaceship?”
Both Cheetara and Lion-O exchanged determined glances and nodded in tandem.
Inside the cathian ship, the movement was intense and continuous. The red emergency lights had ceased, as had the rumbling of the alarm beeps, but the flashing of yellow lights continued, indicating that the entire crew had to be mobilized and carry out the work assigned to them under the emergency protocol.
“At what level is the emergency coolant!” Risu asked for information.
“It's eighty percent of the time, captain," Sebastian told him.
“That's all very well," Yuubi said, "how much structural damage to the ship was there?”
“Of seventy-eight percent, sir, it's a miracle we survived," said Jessie as she wiped the sweat from her brow.
“What about the ship's main engines?” asked Risu.
“Inoperable and with no possibility of repair," said Tara, who this time used the ship's intercom due to the lack of image transmission.
Rauri, who did not want to remain useless, tried to activate the reception of images to the main screen of the ship.
“My lord, I think I've already restored the optical signal to the ship's bridge.”
The bridge's battered main screen began to show diagonal stripes at first and then calibrated automatically to show various internal sections of the ship.
“Apparently most of the damage was focused on the outer hull of the spacecraft," Yuubi observed, "that and the communication antennas along with the main and auxiliary engines represent the most damage suffered on landing.”
“Rauri, show us images of the outside," Risu ordered, "I want to be more clear about where we are at the moment.”
The main screen of the ship stopped showing the different windows that showed several interior sections of the starry ship, and a single image began to show a sweep of 360% that showed those present the terrain in which they were.
“Stop the image in the southwest quadrant!” Yuubi ordered and Rauri obeyed immediately.
“What's that?” Risu asked as the ship's screen showed a trail of dust approaching the ship.
Soon the trail of dust gave way to what appeared to be a vehicle of enormous proportions. It appeared to be a kind of motorized vehicle whose shape resembled that of a silver-gray feline, which had attached to the top of the rear section a whole section destined for a military command bridge.
“I ask again, what the hell is that!” Risu shouted as he rose from his command chair.
“Prepare all the cannons of the ship!” Yuubi ordered at the time.
“Impossible sir, the external cannons were destroyed or are inoperable until we repair them!” Jessie reported.
“The vehicle at the front seems to be armed according to the readings of my console, sir," Sebastian reported this time.
Both Captain Risu and Yubbi soured the expression and clenched their fists because of the vulnerable situation they were in.
Although the command bridge of the feline tank was closed to the outside, the roar of the engines of the feline tank was still heard, the only sound since all the thundercats (with the exception of Pantro who was driving the feline tank) were silent as they watched the battered spaceship in front of them through the armored windows.
“It's incredible, Wilykat! It's a spaceship!”
“You're right, Wilykit, it's how our father used to tell us at bedtime.”
“Did your father tell you stories about spaceships?” Cheetara asked them.
“Yes, he was always interested in that kind of story," said Wilykit.
“Mom couldn't read and besides, she was more down-to-earth, the dreamer was Dad," Wilykat said.
“Dad built our house on the outside in the hope of having his own vegetable garden without having to rent the land to the royal family," said Wilykit.
“But the outer lands are swept away by natural disasters like floods, fires and tornadoes," said Cheetara.
“And what other choice was there?” said Wilykat frowned this time, "All the sowing lands belong to the royal house, as do the crops. After each harvest the taxes are so high that we have to settle for almost nothing to eat.”
“In our house we were always hungry," said Wilykit with a sad but at the same time proud look, "but at least the little we got was ours.”
“What happened to your parents?” Tygra asked.
“Dad died when a tornado hit our house," said Wilykat with a sad expression.
“Apart from our mother, we had two younger siblings," Wilykit continued, hugging her brother while she showed a sympathetic face, "the situation was unbearable, we were too young to help our mother but old enough to be on our own.”
“So as not to be a burden, we decided to run away from home and look for our livelihood in the capital, we wanted to get enough money to go back to Mom's and help her with the farm," Wilykat concluded as he reciprocated his sister's sad embrace.
Lion-O, along with Tygra and Cheetara, watched the brothers with pity but then their attention was turned to the huge metal mass that was now a little more than a stone's throw away from where they were.
“The vehicle has already shut down its engines," said Sebastian.
“I wonder who they might be?” Yuubi said in a loud voice.
“Maybe it's that race of cathians from outer space," Risu said, "look at their vehicle, it's in the shape of a cat, I hope they're friendly.”
A gate on one side of the high command center of the feline tank opened, and through it Lion-O came out, along with the other members with the exception of Panthro who was still at the controls of the feline tank.
“Look Yuubi, the crew members of that motorized cat are out!” Risu shouted excitedly.
“They seem to be bipedal and intelligent creatures, and their exterior appearance refers to a feline-like morphology," Yuubi frowned.
“However, it appears that his entire body is covered in fur," Risu observed. “His whole body, except for his faces.”
“They also have neither cat ears nor tails, except for those two small ones that seem to have tails... a fluffy tail, more similar to that of a canine than a feline.”
“I think their tails are adorable... and look at their little faces, they're so cute!” said Rauri, who was apparently delighted.
“They have almost the whole body covered in hair...” Jessie said.
“Look at those muscles...” Sebastian also said.
“They're cavemen cathians!” The two cousins shouted simultaneously as they raised their arms and waved them frantically, while gesturing expressions of surprise and fear.
“Stop it! There are no cave cathians or anything like that," Risu shouted. “Because of the way they dress and the vehicle they came in, they are most likely a high-tech, sensitive cat people. How about Yuubi, if we're going to introduce ourselves to these visitors?”
“I don't think that's the most sensible thing to do right now. The ship's instruments have not yet given us measurements of radiation or environmental toxicity...”
“Look!” Rauri gestured to the main screen, "It appears that a member of the crew had already left the ship to meet these strange cats.”
“No Tara, they're gonna eat you!” the two cousins shouted as they waved their arms up in greater frenzy, "They will beat you with a club and make you their wife!”
Tara walked confidently and with a gesture of authority. She was carrying what appeared to be a piece of the failed main engine, a huge piece that she carried on her right shoulder as if it weighed nothing.
“Hello cousins... I was wondering if you guys would have a spare for this thing?” Tara said to them as she winked at them and smiled aggressively, which made each of the thundercats look at her in surprise.
CONTINUARÁ...
Final notes from the author: I hope I have faithfully recreated the cathian ship's fall and its effect on structures such as glass and walls.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
