Two astronauts stood in the purple nightfall of a warm and distant planet, facing a massive shipwreck stranded on the shores of the great acid lake. It was an ancient portugese man-of-war, split in two by a wide cavern across the middle. The plan was to reach the wreck by jumping across a river of debris floating from the bowels of the ship.

"We need to hurry Zalia, the moons are up," said one.

"I know. Just a couple more minutes, we can make it, Olo. Quick," said the other and jumped on a safest looking piece of plywood nearby. Olo followed.

"I wonder what it is this time," Olo said.

"Yes, I wonder," said Zalia.

They bounced across the debris much like frogs; jumping, landing, jumping again. Eventually, the jumps wore them down, and they got tired, and on the last jump, one of them, Zalia, lost his balance and fell short, dipping one foot hard into the acid.

"Zalia, no! Your foot touched it. You can't move it from the knee down now," Olo said.

"I know. Oh, how it burns," Zalia screamed and fell to the ground.

"Hold still. Turn on your side, relax," said Olo and palmed the corroding boot. A golden light emitted from his glove, mending the wound. Soon, the pain was gone.

"Thanks Olo," Zalia said.

"No problem. Ok, we're here. Where to?"

Zalia got up, limping. "To the quarter galleries in the back."

The explorers unholstered their weapons and betook towards the galleries. Their astro-suits danced and glistened under the mystic moonlight, checking corner after corner after corner. Soon, they found the front doors. They were massive and wooden and seemed sealed for thousands of years.

"There. Sensor is going nuts again," said Zalia. "You go ahead and open the doors. I'll prepare for whatever comes out."

Olo grabbed the copper door knob and opened the doors slowly, decompressing the stale old air. The explorers stood breathless, anticipating.

"Zalia, watch out; it's mrs. Rattle," Olo screamed. "She's huge, quickly, she knocked your astro-gun away; she's on you now, clawing you," said Olo.

"Get it off, get it off," Zalia cried.

"Now she pushed you away with her tentacles; she knocked you out!" Zalia threw himself back against the wall and closed his eyes. The lady now turned to Olo. He aimed his astro-gun and fired. The bullet folded her across the floor, her tentacles knocking and breaking things as she fell.

"Zalia," exclaimed Olo and rushed to his friend, "Zalia!"

"I'm unconcious and bleeding heavily," Zalia said without moving his lips.

"Right. No chance I'm leaving you," said Olo.

Olo checked the pulse and breathing and found none. He turned Zalia to his back, placed his palms on his chestbone, locked his elbows, and started pumping the chest compressions. One, two, three, four,...

"Not so hard," said Zalia the ventriloquist.

"Sorry," said Olo and continued, five, six, seven, eight... Come on Z, Olo wished out loud. After a dozen or so compressions - a cough. Zalia was back.

"Thank God," cheered Olo. "It's a miracle!"

"Let's finish this" Zalia said laughing through the caughs. Olo nodded and opened a big chest of gold behind mrs. Rattle. He put it all into his backpack, and Zalia glued the explosives to the wall and set the timer.

"Hurry, we only got fifteen seconds," warned Zalia.

"Fifteen? Why only?"

"The moons, remember?" said Zalia.

"Right," said Olo and zip-closed his backpack. They rushed up the stairs and out to the quarterdeck, aiming to jump off the wreck from one of the boarding boards extending from the ship.

"Wait, you're running," said Olo in the middle of chaos. "You touched the acid, you can't run."

"Olo you devil, you're right, I forgot. Oh the pain," said Zalia.

"No fear, I got you," he said and grabbed Zalia, the two of them limping towards the edge. Zalia dramatically counted down the remaining time, three, two, one..., dragging out the last couple of seconds to ensure a safe escape.
Zero.
A huge deafening explosion set off, sending a tremor through their insides, blasting wood and metal residue through the air. It blew them away across the acid onto the rocks, landing safely. They had made it. They turned around, watching the wreck dissolve into fire and smoke; the rain of splinters and nails still falling from the sky.

"Mission complete," said Zalia wiping sweat from his forehead.

"Playing again?" a cheerful girlish voice laughed behind them.

In an instant they were transported back to Earth, to a little town called Pleen. Their astro-suits became worn out t-shirts and filthy patched up shorts. The limp was gone, the wounds from the acid and the mrs. Rattle too, and the moons morphed to two lone street lamps. The grand man-of-war shrunk down to a small wooden shipwreck built for the children to play on, and the surrounding acid degraded to a pH-friendly sandpit. Zalia started to sweat.

"Playing? No, playing is for little kids," said Zalia.

"Aha," responded the girl. "What were you doing than?"

"We were... Exploring," Zalia hesitated.

"Exploring?" asked the girl.

"Yes, exploring... This", said Zalia and pointed to the head with a confused look on his face.

Olo saw that his friend is in trouble and decided to step in. Interrupting Zalia, he explained to the girl that Zalia got hit in the head on that spot and that he isn't very well. He also said they were in fact, inspecting, not exploring, the shipwreck to make sure it is safe to use.

"Oh like my father?" said the girl. "He's an industrial inspector."

"Yes, yes, yes," Olo said.

The girl giggled. "How nice. Shoot, the street lights are on. I have to go home..."

"What? Home?" laughed Olo. "Home is for babies. No, no. We're going to stay here, inspect some more."

She laughed again. "Well than, I'll leave you to your work than. I have to get going. See you around, inspectors."

"See you," said Olo.

"Later," said Zalia.

And the girl turned around, her long brown hair swinging about her long young body. They waited until she turned the corner, looking as grown up as they could.

"You are smart Zalia, but you haven't a clue about ladies," Olo laughed.

"What do you mean?" Zalia said.

"If I'd let you talk, the girl would think we're nuts. You can't tell her we were exploring, pointing to the head like that. Especially not before you ask her out."

"How are you an expert all of the sudden?"

"My brother told me. He already has a second girlfriend."

"Oh."

"Don't worry, you're fine. Just ask her out for real this time, because I'll go crazy."

"Yes, for real. The day after tomorrow, on the last school dance. Hundred percent, I'll ask her," said Zalia.

"You better. Now let's hurry. We're late."

Zalia pulled out a pair of old rollerskates from his backpack. He gave Olo the left skate and kept the right one for himself.

"I guess I'll see you in a month," Olo said.

"I guess. Safe trip," Zalia said.

They put the rollerskates on, calling them astro-bikes and hurried away, each to his own opposite side. By than, the dark was complete, its black full and thick, and in the little town called Pleen, nothing else could be heard or seen, save the promises of the summer night, and the hover of the astro-bike.