Chapter 36 — Farewell

The night was still deep in the middle of the woods. Now the giant egg was glowing mildly, and they were all standing close to it : Marvin, Angie and Milky, Fluffy and her five space cats.

The cats brought some kind of suitcase.

When opened, the suitcase let appear some sort of small uniform inside. It was white with a golden stripe on the shoulders and a golden emblem on the front: a cat paw surrounded by five stars. It looked just like the suits that the cats were wearing.

"Is it for me?" asked Milky enthusiastically.

"Yes, it is for you. This is your spacesuit." answered Fluffy.

Angie, who was holding the baby in her arms, put him down so he could walk on his own feet. He went straight to the box and wanted to try the spacesuit.

"I'll help you with that." said Angie while taking the uniform in her hands.

She could feel that the material it was made of was nothing like she ever sensed before. It was very resilient, though elastic. It seemed strong but not heavy at all. It was actually incredibly light.

"You almost can't get hurt with that on." commented Fluffy while Milky got dressed in it. "And it's temperature-adaptive. You never get too warm or too cold."

"I think the size fits perfectly on him." said Angie.

"Of course." said Fluffy. "It is made to automatically adapt."

"Wow! Look at me!" said Eugene. "I'm a real astronaut!"

"Wait till you see the helmet." said Fluffy.

They showed him the white helmet, that was also incredibly light. The helmet had triangular cat ears on top of it.

"But you don't have to wear it right now. It's only for extravehicular activity."

"I want the helmet now!"

"Okay, okay…"

So they put him the helmet on. It made him resemble some sort of little cat robot astronaut.

"Oh, wow! How do I look, Daddy?"

"You look amazing, son." said Marvin. "Daddy's so proud of you."

"I think you're set to get inside the Egg now." said Fluffy.

"How does one even get inside this thing?" wondered Angie. "There is no door on it…"

And indeed, the surface of the spaceship seemed perfectly smooth all around, without the slightest interstice that could indicate the presence of an entrance.

"You'll see." promised Marvin. "Actually you can enter right through it."

"Oh, yay! Yay! Yay!" rejoiced Eugene. "I want to go right through it!"

"You can go."

"Really?"

"Yes. But…" Angie turned towards Fluffy. "I was wondering about something else that keeps bothering me…"

"What is it?" asked kindly Fluffy, without impatience.

"What about the twins paradox?"

Marvin was a bit taken aback. "The twins paradox?"

"I see what she means." said Fluffy.

"I don't." said Marvin.

"The twins paradox…" explained Angie "this is how we call a prediction of Einstein's relativity theory. You know that time in the universe is relative, not absolute. It depends on the observer."

"Hum, yeah, of course…"

"So, if you travel at a high velocity, your time will be — let's say — 'slower' than someone's who stays still. Now, imagine two twins. They are both the same age, right ?"

"Yes, obviously."

"But one of them is an astronaut. He leaves the Earth aboard a space shuttle that travels at a very high velocity, while the other twin remains on Earth. The astronaut twin travels across the universe and then comes back home. What happens when he meets his brother again?"

"Hum… They're not the same age anymore?"

"Exactly! The astronaut twin is still young. But the other one has grown terribly old!"

And then, she continued turning towards Fluffy:

"That's what's going to happen to us! Tell the truth, Fluffy! When our baby comes back home, he'll still be a baby, while us, his parents, we're going to be older than his grand-parents! Or maybe even… I don't want to spend my entire life away from Eugene! That's not…"

Fluffy cut her desperate diatribe short.

"Don't worry." She chuckled. "Time is flowing in a very different manner in the Fluffy galaxy. I won't go into detail right now… But I can tell you, you won't have to wait that long. He'll probably be home before Christmas."

"Oh, really?"

Angie softened a bit and even smiled.

"He's going to be fine." said Marvin.

"He will." agreed Fluffy. "I promise he'll be safe with me."

Now they were all ready for departure. Marvin and Angie hugged Eugene one last time.

"One last thing before we go." said Fluffy. "Thank you, friends, for the help you've provided. I've actually enjoyed my stay in your family."

She winked at them.

Angie came and hugged Fluffy. Marvin came closer too, squatted down, and approached his hand. Fluffy let him caress her head and purred softly.

Now the cats started the boarding.

Nero, the black captain, went first. He approached the Egg and walked right through its shell. Angie saw that the surface was acting more like a liquid — although a very thick one — than the expected solid behavior that she had supposed.

When Nero went through the wall, it looked like if a small massive object was sinking in a pile of jelly. He somehow got absorbed and disappeared inside while the surface recomposed itself with remnant waves, until it became perfectly smooth again.

 Then Ruby, the white copilot with different colored eyes, disappeared inside too, followed by Topi, the soldier, and Pebbles, the bearded poet.

Parker, the ginger mechanic, said to Milky:

"Come on, little buddy. Follow me."

And he walked through the melted wall too.

Eugene was so impatient to go inside that he started running, but his mother stopped him:

"Wait! You're forgetting something."

She ran back to the car and came back with a small object in her hands. It was Milky's cuddly little friend.

"You're going to need Mr. Fox!"

"Oh, thank you, Mommy."

Angie explained to Fluffy:

"It is very light. And it won't take much room. Can he have it? Please."

"Yes, all right." said the cat goddess.

Now, Milky, holding his fox plushie by the hand, walked to the spaceship. He pushed on the surface that slightly rippled, but without yielding.

"Come on, push harder." said his parents to encourage him.

He looked back at them.

"Come on, don't be scared. Go."

He tried again. This time he pushed harder, and went right through it, getting absorbed inside. Then the surface closed with a slow wave.

Milky was gone.

"Farewell, friends." said Fluffy. "Don't stay too close. Go back to your car. You might feel some heat when we take off."

And the grey fluffy cat disappeared also inside the Egg.