When Jerrix came to, he felt the pain of the stingers that had hit them. He looked at Gerry and saw him starting to wake. He turned his gaze to their surroundings and found they were chained to a brick wall, waist deep in a foul liquid. Their cell was a deep circular well.

“I can’t see anything,” Gerry complained.

“Don’t worry. I can see better than you. There is an overflow pipe by the far wall.”

“It can stay there,” the schoolboy replied. “We won’t be going anywhere.”

“You give up too easily.”

Gerry pulled at his chains but nothing happened.

“Save your strength. Let me try something.”

Jerrix pulled and felt a little give. Then he pulled even harder until the left chain pulled free. He was hanging now, but able to access his fork shaped device. Changing the settings, he cut his paw free before severing the second chain.

Once he was chainless, he waded to his friend and cut his bonds. “Now follow me,” he said hiding the device.

As they reached the open mouth of the pipe, the cat clambered inside and a bit reluctantly, Gerry followed. They crawled through the filth as the schoolboy complained about the mess.

“I can clean our clothes. Now I think we are almost there.”

He stopped beneath a grate and pushed upwards. He was thankful when it gave way. He crawled onto the surface, assisting Gerry into the pink miasma once more.

He gazed around and saw the dome in the near distance. He pulled out his device and reset it. Then he handed it over.

“Now Gerry, this is important. Return to the ship and put this inside a slot located at the south statue.”

“What do you plan to do?”

The cat’s face fell.

“The capsule should be large enough for a stowaway. Don’t worry; I know what I’m doing.”

Garry wished him luck and dashed off as Jerrix made for the dome. As he did so, a ray of yellow light arced into the sky towards the parent star. The solar ioniser had been used.

“Damn it. Not enough time.”

As he ran, he glanced upwards and saw the star turning red as it expanded. He dashed into the dome and reached the gantry. Without thinking, he started climbing towards the capsule as the expansion continued.

He reached the apex without incident and searched for the entry point. He spotted the hidden switch and pressed it hard. A small hatch slid open and he dashed inside, just in time.

Above the photonic rocket, the dome swung back and Jerrix felt the motors ignite. As the capsule shook violently, he was thrown to the floor as it left the gantry.

The G-force mounted as it gained altitude.
--
Within minutes however, the cat started floating as the rocket escaped Jawa’s gravity well. He managed to take hold of the central silver fertility tube, which contained the polyps. His agile mind quickly worked out the final sequence.

As they approached Earth, the capsule would detach and plunge through the thick atmosphere. Chutes would deploy and the base would unscrew itself, plunging the contents of the tube into the ocean.

It was marvellous technology of course. Simple but effective. The polyps would spread and within a year, the fully-grown Jawas would rise from the waters and colonise the planet.

He only hoped Gerry had made it out before the planet had been vaporised.

He could not think of that now. In the vacuum of space the missile was accelerating until, two hours hence it released the capsule. He had to think fast.

He floated over to the auto control, and after examination realised there was nothing he could do there. He scanned quickly and saw a hidden flap. Floating over he pressed, and examined what he saw there.

“The master drive circuit. I must be the luckiest cat in the galaxy.
Now I need something conductive to create a short-circuit, and voila.”

He fingered his gold throat clasp and smiled. Now there was only time. It was a high-risk gamble that had to come off. The fate of humanity depended upon it.

As the craft approached the bluish planet, passing the orbit of Mars now, Jerrix acted. He removed the clasp and thrust it into the circuit board. A blue flash sent him spiralling across the capsule until he collided with the waiting fertility tube.

The main drive cut at once, causing the rocket to spin nose to tail through space. It was still heading towards Earth but was destined to burn up on re-entry, due to the uncontrolled approach.

The cat floated free, sleeping due to the electric shock. He woke as the craft made its final approach. He could tell it was spinning, that was obvious. He saw the floating yellow cloak, damaged throat clasp, and managed to retrieve them. He reattached it and smiled.

“At least their plan was sabotaged. Everything will burn, including me. Well, I never thought it would end like this. Eight lives left too.”

As he contemplated his fate, the auto control made one last desperate effort to correct itself. Jerrix saw what it was doing and cursed. Floating over he said, “No you don’t.”

Raising his paws, he smashed the controls. Now he was really doomed. He detected the temperature rise as the craft began to burn, and hoped it would finish quickly.

He heard metal rendering as the capsule broke free, spinning recklessly through the upper atmosphere. The temperature began rising rapidly when a torch of flame erupted from the collapsing wall. Jerrix dodged, but as air escaped, he was sucked out.

Freefalling now, he escaped the inferno and reached the upper clouds.

Air rushed past his ears painfully as he descended. Holding his cloak firmly, he arranged a canopy that at least slowed him down.

“I think you know I might just survive this.”

He broke through the clouds and saw the ocean below. His rate of descent was falling just enough as he plunged in. He sank at once like a rock, fighting his way back to the surface. The drag of his cloak threatened to keep him under so he detached it, watching as the golden clasp sank towards the depths.

As his furry head broke free, he gasped desperately. Then he looked around. Not that far away was the green glow of his ship. As he swam, he saw Garry looking out.

“I was wondering where you were,” the schoolboy said helping him aboard.

“Not one of my better days,” the cat muttered walking towards the rear wall.

“We need to clean up.”

He was about to open one of the many drawers when the ship shook
violently and a hammer blow felled them.
...
As the ship moved crazily, Gerry called out, “What’s happening?”

“I don’t know. This should not happen.”

“Can’t you stop it?”

“I doubt it. We are out of control.”

As suddenly as it stopped, the violent careering stopped. Feeling rather sick, they climbed to their feet. Jerrix opened a drawer and reaching in, pulled out what looked like a hair drier.

As Gerry watched his ginger friend switching it on, the cat was bathed in a cream light, restoring the fur to its former clean state.

“Now you,” the cat said pointing it at him.

To his amazement, his uniform was cleaned and the cat switched it off. He tossed it into the drawer before closing it again. Then he opened a second before rummaging inside.

Moments later, he pulled out a dark blue cloak with a golden throat clasp. Opening it, he pulled the cloak on before snapping it shut.
Closing the drawer, he swirled around.

“Now that we are sorted, should we not investigate?”

“Why can’t we just leave?” Gerry asked.

Jerrix pointed to the cat statues.

“No power I’m afraid. The answer lies outside.”

He padded over to the south statue and saw the fork like device safely in its slot.

“I think we should leave that in place,” he muttered. “Lucky we have autopilot.”

Then he walked outside and stopped, gazing around. As Gerry joined him, he pointed.

“Definitely a prison. Labyrinth type I think. We have to complete the tests before we can leave.”

“What happens if we fail?”

Jerrix glanced at the schoolboy.

“Then we stay for all time.”

They had entered a room that looked bleak enough. Brown bare walls stared back and they crept forward cautiously.

“No exit,” Gerry commented.

“There is always one of those. We have to find it.”

They gazed around until Gerry spotted something incongruous.

“What do you think that is?” he asked pointing.

Jerrix looked and saw a small dark box bolted to the far left wall.

“We should check that out.”

He padded across and noticed the black dial.

“Reminds me of a safe,” Gerry said.

“Which means a combination. This could be rather awkward.”

The cat studied the dial, noticing the letters. Then he scratched his head.

“Words are the obvious answer. We had better get this right first time around.”

“What word though,” Gerry asked. “There are over a million.”

The cat screwed his eyes, as his agile mind whirred.

“This is a prison for us,” he muttered. “Therefore the answer will be specific to one of us.”

He thought a moment longer.

“As I’m more intelligent than you, I believe this is the answer.”

As Gerry watched, the cat spun the dial, spelling out Jerrix. For a moment, nothing happened. Then a hidden exit swished back.

“That solves the first test,” the cat said as they entered a second chamber.

They found themselves standing on a ledge, with rows of spikes across the open space. At the midway point, two ropes hung from the high ceiling.

“I will never reach that,” Gerry said. “No one can.”

“Oh I don’t think so. Watch this.”

The cat stepped back and leapt, grabbing the rope in his paws.
His forward momentum took him across to the far ledge where he landed safely. Still holding the rope, he called back, “When I throw this across, don’t miss.”

Gerry braced as the rope swung back and reached out with desperate fingers. He managed to hold it before stepping back and leaping into space. As he swung over, the cat grabbed him and helped him onto the ledge.

As the exit swished open, they entered another chamber.

“Who do you think brought us here?” Gerry asked.

“I wish I knew. Did you notice the drive system had not been activated? Something just picked the ship up and hurled us here.
That takes incredible power.”

Ahead of them stood an empty space with coloured lights forming a grid. Jerrix stared at it.

“Photonic lasers. This is getting tough.”

“We get zapped I take it,” Gerry commented.

“Only if we touch them. Now follow my steps exactly.”

As Gerry watched, the cat stepped gingerly over the lights and the schoolboy followed. The trek across was painfully slow and after an eternity they reached the far end. As they did this, a door swished open.

Stepping through, they found another chamber. A huge fan hung from the roof and Jerrix was suddenly alarmed.

“I really don’t like this one bit.”

Suddenly, the fan switched on and the friends were swept into the air.

The huge blades whirled round, threatening to turn them into mincemeat.