The Visitors - Chapter 5
Stranded
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**This chapter was written by Mrs. Wright with input from students. Be sure to take the survey after reading and we will use your input on Chapter 6!**
Whomp, Whump, Thump, Wham, Clash, Bang, Crash… The ship rapidly smacked into the earth, spinning them around causing the door to fling open.
“Captain Bob, are you ok?,” Leah asked as Bob sat up grabbing his head as it to stop it from spinning.
Suddenly the dog swooshed passed them escaping through the door.
“Yeet!! Come back!!,” Leah called. It was too late. The huge dog was out of sight and running off into the darkness.
“Great, now we have a giant chihuahua on the loose,” yelled Bob.
"Yo quiero Taco Bell. LOL," said Leah with a grin.
"What are you talking about?" asked Bob, confused. "What's this 'yeet' and 'yo quiero' nonsense?"
"Sorry, Captain," she replied. "I was trying to lighten the mood with some slang. Remember how they recommended it in the survey? From back home?"
"No, I must have missed that part," Bob grunted.
“Well, should we go and search for the dog?” asked Leah.
“No, we have bigger problems right now. I can’t get our ship controls to turn on. We have lost connection with our home planet. If we don’t get our ship working again, we could be stuck here… FOREVER!,” he warned.
Leah frantically pulled out the ship’s manual and tried to troubleshoot, but it was no use. She couldn't read the first page in the dark. And even if she could, there was no power to turn on the ship's controls.
Bob opened the fuel tank and noticed the leak caused by the harsh landing. The ship was powered by papywellia tree resin which grew abundantly on their home planet, but not on Earth. Luckily Bob remembered to pack several tanks of the resin. He made his way to the back of the ship, through the scattered boxes and supplies.
“Oh No!!,” cried Bob. “The giant chihuahua ate all of the resin!! First my tacos, now our only fuel to get home!”
Leah groaned. "It seems almost everything has gone wrong on this mission so far."
"Don't remind me!" said Bob with disgust. "The next several hours are very important for the mission. I was hoping to be ahead of schedule, but this has set us back."
"My pet obviously won't be ready," Leah added. "What about yours?"
"I checked the cage. The owl looked a little spooked, but he seemed fine."
"That's good. By the way, you never told me what he turns into when, you know...when it's time."
"That will be my little surprise," said Bob.
"Oh, so even I won't know?" asked Leah.
"Not until you need to," he told her as he turned toward the door of the cockpit area.
Bob and Leah both crawled toward the main door of the ship over some crates and other debris. Peeking out, Bob noticed it was getting lighter out and the sun was beginning to rise.
Stepping out onto the planet, they could see they landed in the middle of a clearing in a wooded area.
“At least our ship won't be found right away. We can begin exploring by foot,” Bob commanded.
“Here, I grabbed our backpacks,” replied Leah as she handed one to Bob.
The two of them began to walk toward the town.