The pod. Yeni remembered. The sky was on fire and she knew she needed to find it, but her kittens, where were they? 

"Rez!" she mewed. "Cyril!" 

The ground shook beneath her paws. Her ears flattened, pulsing from the sound of distant blasts. A wave sent her flying through the air as she began to float high enough to see from below. She scanned the violet knotted trees and the red grass until she saw it, the pod. It was small and round and could travel the cosmos with the flick of a whisker. 

She descended back to the ground and ran to the pod. To her shock, her kittens were not there. 

A blinding flash lit the planet and suddenly all became silent. 

The big wave was coming, Yeni knew. She could feel it. It would destroy every last living creature on the planet. 

Flocks of birds rattled the treetops as they swarmed into the skies. There was nowhere for them to go. 

It was then, once the trees were cleared, that Yeni could see two small black dots up in the tree. 

"Rez! Cyril!" She bolted into the pod as it ascended. The pod moved wherever her eyes did. It floated up to the tree, getting caught and tangled in the branches. 

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Mama!" the kittens cried. The brothers were green-eyed and jet black, just like their mother. Cyril was lanky and delicate, while Rez was bulky. 

Yeni grabbed them by the scruff and put them into the pod. 

"The pod's stuck in the tree, Mama," Cyril said. 

"Keep it steady," said Yeni. "I'm going to push it out." 

"I can help!" said Rez. 

Yeni hissed. "No, you stay," she said. "I mean it."

She darted out of the pod and nudged it as far back as she could. Then, from the corner of her eye, she saw it coming, the wave, crashing through the trees, flattening everything in its path. 

With one more nudge, the pod was nearly free. She jumped in as the pod began to float into the air. They ascended, skimming just past the edge of the wave that sent them further up into the atmosphere. 

"Don't look down," Yeni said. It was a terrible sight through the window of the pod. Not one that any kitten should see. 

Cyril craned his small head. "What's happening, Mama?" 

She curled up next to them, keeping them warm as the temperature dropped. "We're going into space for a little while," she purred. "No need to worry."

"I'm not worried," Rez said. "I'll keep us safe."

Of course, Rez wasn't worried, her little warrior kit. 

"What about Papa?" Cyril asked. "And the Aunties?"

Yeni froze. Deep in her heart, she knew they may never see them again. There were no words she could say to bring them back.  

"We will wait for them at the station," she said, though there was a doubt they would make it that far as fragments of asteroids came hurtling toward the pod. 

As the black edge of space neared, their dying planet was now many miles below them.