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“Come in Sun Incinerator, come in,” Lars repeated into the escape pod’s radio.
“Lars,” Stevonnie said to him, huddled near a porthole. Lars didn’t hear them.
They had been testing the Star Skipper Mk. V, when a fluke spatial anomaly hit them and threw their engine into meltdown. They just barely got away in an escape pod, jettisoning right as the spacecraft exploded. The pod wasn’t very large, containing just enough space for two people, but barely. Now they were stuck inside a massive nebula, one that the Sun Incinerator’s sensors were unable to pierce. And not only that, but the unusual properties of the nebula made it impossible for Stevonnie to enter Lars’ hair.
“Lars. Lars. Lars!” Stevonnie said, throwing a packet of emergency rations at the pink-skinned man.
“What?!” Lars barked, immediately regretting it as he saw Stevonnie’s terrified expression.
“...I’m scared,” Stevonnie muttered.
“Shit, I’m sorry ‘Von,” Lars sighed, sitting down next to Stevonnie and putting his arm around them. “We’ll...we’ll be okay, though, y’know?”
“I don’t know though!” Stevonnie cried out. “We could be stuck out here forever and no one will ever find us and we’ll never see Earth again!”
“Don’t say that!” Lars said. “We’re going to make it. Besides, we’re both basically immortal. If it takes them forever to find us, we’ll still be here!” Stevonnie got a chuckle out of that, their body relaxing somewhat. “Now gimme a hand with the transmitter.”
Lars pried open the ceiling hatch, finding a convoluted mesh of wires, most of them fried. Stevonnie gave him a sarcastic look.
“...Okay, I know this looks bad,” Lars began.
“Lars, you built this thing!”
“And we’re still alive, so I’d like to think I did something right.”
Stevonnie punched Lars in the shoulder, a smirk appearing on their face. “Fair enough. But we still need a transmitter.”
“I could get out and shout really loud.”
“Heh, if only space wasn’t a vacuum or else that might...work… Wait, Lars!”
“Yeah?”
“I have an idea.”
---
Lars stood outside the escape pod, in an emergency EVA suit. “Are you sure about this?”
Stevonnie chimed in over the radio. “Lion does it all the time. Besides, you just have to lower your helmet for like, a second, shout really loud and I’ll start the engines.”
“Okay, but like, what kind of shout? Like a wail? A scream?”
“I dunno!” Stevonnie shrugged. “Just...think of the Sun Incinerator when the portal appears.”
“Alright,” Lars sighed. “Here goes.”
Lars removed his helmet, letting the air escape from his suit — he didn’t mind, since he could go without air for up to 30 minutes these days. Using the last of the air in his magical lungs, he screamed as hard as he could, sending pink waves of energy out in front of the escape pod. A portal then opened up.
“Hang on!” Stevonnie said, throwing the throttle forward. Lars grabbed onto the handle for the entry hatch as the pod thrust into the portal, disappearing just as it closed.
Inside the warp tunnel, Lars screamed not to create portals, but because he was freaking the fuck out. Which coincidentally generated more portals in front of them, pulling the pod forward even faster.
“That’s it Lars, you’re doing great!”
“Gooooood tooooo heeeeeeeaaaar!” Lars shouted.
---
“Acting Captain’s Log,” Rhodonite began. “Stardate...later. We’re still waiting on Captain Lars and Stevonnie, but we don’t know where they are in the nebula. Are they dead? Are they missing? Will we ever see them again?! ”
“Rhodonite, I’m having another vision!” Padparadscha proclaimed. “Captain Lars will learn a new power with Stevonnie’s help!”
“Wait, what?”
Suddenly, a bright pink portal appeared on the bridge, with the Star Skipper Mk. V’s escape pod flying out of it and crashing into the bulkhead. Lars fell off the side of the pod, his body shaking.
“Captain on the bridge!” Rhodonite said, standing up.
“Mmmmmphhh,” Lars groaned.
“Hey guys!” Stevonnie waved, opening the hatch. “Sorry to wreck your bridge.”
“Technically it’s not ours/We stole it, remember?” the Rutiles said.
“Get us the fuck out of here, Rutiles,” Lars muttered, still laying on the floor. The twins plotted in a course and got the Sun Incinerator moving as fast as it could away from the nebula.
“We did it, Lars!” Stevonnie said, giving their friend a big hug.
Lars smiled, hugging back. “Yeah… I guess we did.”
He would have to invite Stevonnie along for the maiden flight of the Star Skipper Mk. VI.
It was sure to be a blast.