That was what the ductopi had said. Why hadn’t I remembered that? I might have been able to escape if I had remembered that. I slowly backed up against the wall trying not to make any sudden movements. In vain, I came up with the idea that I might be able to hide in the lion’s den until it gave up.
As I crawled into the lion’s den, I realized that it was in fact, bigger than I expected. As I crawled along, the tunnel got wider and wider until I could stand up inside it.
“I thought lions were native to Earth,” I murmured to myself.
“They are.”
I was so started that I stood up and ran as fast as I could down the corridor. I was staring behind me and not looking where I was going until I tumbled off a ledge. Wherever I was, if it was even a room at all, was pitch black with twinkling stars everywhere and huge turning gears and cogs above me. Just when I though that I was somehow breathing in space and had fallen out of some sort of hatch, I hit my head with a thud on the floor.
I didn’t get knocked out, but it ws sort of hard to see. When I could see clearly I surveyed my surroundings. I went over to the nearest star speck and tried to touch it but my hand when right through, which gave the impression that this room was some sort of holographic image. Suddenly a shooting star went whizzing past me. Startled, I stepped backwards and kicked some kind of level with my foot. Suddenly the stars around me fizzed and crackled and vanished.
The room was a large, rust encrusted iron room with gears and cogs whirring up on the wall. As I stepped backwards even farther in amazement, I touched something. Instinctively I reached backwards to feel what it was and I landed my hand on something soft and furry. I felt it more and realized it was long hair. As I turned around I found myself staring face to face with the Alabaster Lion.
“GAAHHH!!” I said, more like shouted.
“Calm down, no need to get startled,” said the lion. Wait. Said the lion? How could the lion be talking?
“Your translator.”
“How did you know I was wondering about that?”
“The look on your face, kid.”
“Earlier you said, ‘they are’ when I said ‘lions are native to Earth’. How did you get here?”
“Long story. I’ll tell you sometime. In the meantime, I’ll show you the escape hatch.”
“Wait, what?”
“The escape hatch.”
“There’s an escape hatch? Wouldn’t we need space suits or something? Because I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a lion space suit.”
“The escape hatch to the escape pod,” he sighed impatiently.
“There’s an escape pod?”
“Look. I’ll answer your questions later, but for now I’m just going to show you where it is,” he said with a frustrated tone, “follow me.”
So I did. He led me back down the den, the tunnel I had thought was a den at first, then kicked a square panel in the wall of the main pit with his front paw. At first it didn’t do anything, than I heard a soft clattering which got louder and louder until a huge ladder smashed down on the floor with a loud clang.
“Up this way,” said the lion.
Staring in amazement at the volcano of light around me, I followed.