"SPIRIT?"

"Yes," Nick replied confidently. "Right now, if you decide to invade Earth, you will gain nothing because of our spirit. We will stop at nothing to prevent you from entering our planet. And even though you may be able to ultimately defeat us, your victory over a nuclear waste of a planet would mean nothing."

The ferret stared at Nick with look of concentration. Nick stared back at it, keeping her best poker face and hoped she did not betray any obvious emotion.

"You understand that such a speech did nothing to change your fate?" the ferret asked coyly.

"It isn't easy to convince and sway beliefs with words," Nick replied. "And it is not my fate that I am speaking of."

"I will still carry out to do what I intended. You failed to convince to do otherwise."

"I am glad," Nick replied. "I had no intention to change your mind. I only wished to lend help in convincing yourself."

The ferret smiled, the sides of its mouth curving upward, looking strangely cute and sweet. If it had been born on Earth, it would have undoubtfully been a successful internet celebrity.

"So you did know?"

"You never tried to hide it. The map was too easy. I do wonder though, do the rabbits allow it? It would be much more difficult for me to convince them, and explain Exflibberaguil's rabbit murders."

"They never had anything against you and your friend," the ferret pointed out. "They are not as savage and insane as you peg them to be. You do not need to be punished."

"But Exflibberaguil?"

The ferret looked as if there was something it wished to say, but seemed to change his mind when he glanced at the red-haired alien. "I don't believe it would be necessary to keep him with us either. I have a feeling we would see him once more very, very soon. I hope you have nothing against that."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Nick sighed. "No. It would not be my responsibility then."

"You think clearer than most of your kind. Pity you were born from apes. I should think that my master would have liked you very much. You would have been successful on a galactic scale. Are you certain of your choice?"

"I do not wish to be running any more."

The ferret flicked its tail. "Wise decision. I suppose I should let these free?"

Nick glanced at the people struggling on the floor. "Please do."

Nick's ears popped as a sudden weight she had not noticed disappeared from her body. The doctor was the first to recover his breath, and began rushing to the aid of the others, his medical instincts taking over for him.

Exflibberaguil gasped loudly as the doctor felt for his pulse, intent on keeping an eye on his watch. Suddenly, he shook his head and sighed. "Of course," the doctor said without amusement, "I don't suppose aliens have the same heartrate as humans."

"No, I should not think so," Exflibberaguil gasped. "I'd hate to think I was in any way similar to Sodriew."

"But aren't we ignoring something here?" Timothy asked desperately. "What are we to become? What was Nick talking about?"

"But of course!" Exflibberaguil snapped impatiently. "We are to be let out!"

"Are you?" the ferret asked. "And how would you know? Because of a map that is likely false? Because of this locked door? Because of this key I hold that I may not give you? And how should you know if a pool of lava await you?"

"I'm sorry, did you give us a choice?" the doctor replied.

The ferret laughed, tossing a silver key across the room. The doctor caught it before Oakley could swallow it. It was nothing special. Anyone could have picked the lock, but the doctor suspected that it was not the door that was the true obstacle.

"The simplicity of the human mind," the ferret said, "always succeeds to amaze me. So primitive and stubborn, yet so effective."

The doctor did not listen. He marched to the locked door, and fitted the silver key into it. He unlocked the door without pausing, surprisingly anticlimactic. Yet everyone held their breath as the door gave way with a soft click.

Nick was the first to see it. The golden light of the setting sun flowed into the room in rays of warm orange and red. Nick breathed a sigh of delight, soaking in the sun like a flower raising its leaves.

"Congratulations," the ferret said. "We are on the ground. You can step out easily."

"Would you be keeping this ship?" Exflibberaguil asked, then sighed. "Of course. I suppose you deserve it."

"Nonsense. I am leaving on the ship of the rabbits. You keep this one. Master would have preferred it."

"You and Box are leaving then?"

"Yes."

"Goodbye sir," Box said, his cheery accent strangely heartbreaking.

Exflibberaguil smiled, looking at the sky.

"Goodbye then," he said simply. "I hope I would never see you again."