Book 8

## Chapter 1

“Now that that’s over,” Ice bear realised, “We can save the humans from 2079 from the aliens!” They hadn’t got to last time because they got beheaded.

“Yeah!!” Hop agreed instantly. “Hey, can the DOT come along?”

“Ummm…” The DOT was a domestic pet, the alien spaceship wouldn’t be safe for her…

“Please? I already told her she could come,” Hop said. As if summoned, the DOT appeared with a flash and looked at Ice bear with pleading eyes.

Ice bear knew the DOT had changed, but still… “Fine,” she relented.

The DOT grinned. “Yes! I love being a good guy!!”

“And I love ice cream!” Hop added.

Ice bear sighed and pulled out the ring. “Come on.”

Hop bear grasped the golden ring. The DOT looked at the ring longingly, almost evilly, but she shook her head and touched the ring too so they could all time travel.

“21 April, 2079,” they all declared together. Ice bear envisioned the large spaceships soaring down from space and the huge, unhelpful lockdown the humans had tried and soon, the bubble whisked them to that date.

The familiar scene enfolded in front of her, of screaming people and tractor beams. Ice bear was so glad this was the last time they were coming here. She knew it was the past, but it felt so present that she lost her thoughts for a second.

“Look! There’s us freeing the pets!” Hop bear pointed out, gesturing at a nearby spaceship. Sure enough, there were two bears inside unlatching the cages and a storm of pets streaming out of the tractor beam hole. Then, the DOT flinched and gasped.

“Oh! My…my old house!” The DOT’s eyes grew wide and she rushed forward on her cloud toward the warm yellow brick house she used to live in. Pictures of the once happy family were around the house, along with a sofa and a few cat toys. “There’s me…” she glanced fondly at the little kitten in the basket of apple cores.

Then, the DOT’s parents started coming back to the house. Since the bears had saved them in this timeline, her parents had come back to the house to be back with the DOT. They leaped in through the open window, purring and meowing as they were reunited with their daughter.

“Aww!” Hop bear smiled as he leaned into the window. “Wanna say hi, DOT?”

“No!” Ice bear pulled him back. “That will seriously mess up the timeline.” Her instincts from the ring told her that something horrible would happen if the same person from a different time met.

Thankfully, Hop just shrugged and plopped down near the house.

“So where are the humans we’re supposed to rescue?” the DOT wondered. “Do you think the GOT would know?”

Hop bear snorted from where he was sitting on the stone sidewalk. “Nah. he always wants us to figure things out by ourselves, while he goes and does VERY IMPORTANT THINGS like playing on our Xbox, and blah blah blahhh…”

As Hop was saying that, mist appeared in front of them and a familiar cool sensation washed over Ice bear.

Of course it was the GOT.

“Actually, I DO know!!” he exclaimed, making all of them gasp at his sudden appearance.

## Chapter 2

The DOT stared at the GOT in shock. Her deep eyes seemed to be filled with anger, and…something else Ice bear couldn’t place.

If the GOT noticed, he didn’t show it. “The humans are at the very top of the spaceship. Not the one with the pets, the really big one in the middle. All the spaceships are abducting the humans and transmitting them to that giant spaceship. You’d better hurry up, bears. According to my research, they’re going to be beheaded in…” the GOT looked down at a watch on his fluffy paw that Ice bear hadn’t noticed before. “Exactly FIVE MINUTES!!!” The GOT’s eyes were wide as he stared at the black watch. “Oh. Now 4 minutes 59 seconds…58…”

Ice bear beckoned the other two to follow her and they all sped toward the spaceship with the humans, leaving the GOT counting down the seconds. The giant metal dome was hard to miss. It was right in the middle of the crowd of spaceships, its edges lined with pitch black and dark grey lines. Circular patterns lay scattered all over the surface, and there was a weird alien language imprinted on the shell of the spaceship. Green-tinged tractor beams led up into the giant metal dome, sucking humans up left and right.

The DOT flew right into the tractor beam on her cloud without hesitation. “COME ON!” she called to the bears, getting dragged upward already.

Ice and Hop leaped into the tractor beam too.

This tractor beam was different from the one they had last been on with the pets. That one just felt like a soft warpy light bringing Ice bear up. But this one felt like it was too tight, like walls keeping her from breaking out of the beam. It shot her up into the spaceship straight like a canon, hurtling faster and faster—until they were in the ship.

They landed face-down on a round landing pad with the abducted humans. Abducted humans? Let's get them out of here! Ice bear was ready to get them all off the landing pad when she noticed a green grid light scanning over them. What? Last time, they hadn’t gone in the ship the same time as the DOT’s parents or their owners, because they’d stopped for a moment to make sure the DOT was safe. So they didn’t know what the aliens had put their abductees through…

The scanner passed over them and the humans. As it ran through Ice bear, Hop bear and the DOT’s fur, it glowed green, but as soon as it scanned the humans it went red with a loud BEEP!

“HUMANS DETECTED,” a cold robot voice announced. Then, suddenly, the humans beside them vanished!

“The aliens have teleportation!” The DOT realised. “That’s how they’re transmitting humans from all the spaceships to this one!”

That made sense, but…Ice bear then thought of something. Why hadn’t the DOT been teleported? She was a domestic pet! Surely the scanner must have detected that, unless it only detected humans.

Wait—that made sense. It probably did only detect humans. There was only one ship dedicated to abducting the pets…and the aliens still thought the pets were all in that spaceship. Of course there wouldn’t be any pets in here! What kind of a demon cat would willingly jump into a tractor beam into a spaceship that wasn’t even abducting them??

The DOT, that’s who.

Hop sat up. “Good thing we’re not humans.”

“Now we just have to get to the top of the ship to find them,” the DOT said. She glanced around the metal room and spotted a tall, spiralling staircase. “Any guesses that leads up to the top?”

“I bet it does!” Hop exclaimed, leaping to his feet. He raced toward the winding staircase and dashed up the metal steps. Then he twisted around to face Ice and the DOT. “Aren’t you coming?”

Ice bear approached the staircase with the DOT floating up behind her. The cat pointed upward—there were at least 999 million steps to the top! Climbing that would take about 20 years at least. “We need a more efficient method to get up,” Ice bear announced, eyes darting around the room. How would the aliens get to the top? Surely they didn’t take the stairs…

Just then, a dip in the wall caught her eye. It was…a lift! Ice bear couldn’t believe their luck.

It seemed to be a normal lift, but on the right there was a sign that read, “Elavete Elevete Lift”. There were two metal doors that would split open to let them in, along with colourful lights running along the edges. “Guys!” Ice pointed, walking to the lift excitedly.

Hop and the DOT turned around to face her and their eyes widened when they saw the elevator.

“Yes!” The DOT floated over victoriously and pressed the button at the side. Immediately, the lift opened with a soft whirring noise.

Hop meanwhile sighed when he saw the sign beside the lift. “Wow, these aliens are dumb. Even I know how to spell elevator!” He continued, “E-V-E—wait—E-L-V…um…I-O-P-S-T-X-Y…”

Hop bear clearly could not spell ‘elevator’ either.

The trip stepped into the open lift. It was shiny and bare, with no buttons to press. Circular dents like the ones on the outside of the spaceship were patterned on the ground, and they lit up when Ice bear stepped on them.

“Are they…supposed to do that?” she asked a little anxiously.

“Look, another sign!” Hop bear realised, looking at the wall. “Without spelling mistakes this time!! It says…’travels at light speed’…”

Before Hop could even finish his sentence, the lift shot them straight up. Bright, blinding light filled the lift as they catapulted upward. Ice bear felt herself falling to the ground, pressed hopelessly against it as the lift went faster and faster. Her heart shot right down to her stomach. A loud, almost unbearable whooshing noise attacked Ice bear’s ears as blasting cold air formed a cage around her. She wanted to scream, but nothing came out, and she couldn’t even move her head to look at the others. Her whole body was just stuck, held still by the sheer momentum of the lift.

It felt like both a million years of agony and a mere couple of milliseconds until the lift screeched to a halt.

“Ugh, my stomach,” Hop bear moaned as the lift doors opened with a way too cheerful ding!

“Yeah, let’s take the stairs next time,” the DOT agreed, wobbling on her cloud.

Ice bear hoped there wouldn’t be a next time. “That was like the worst amusement park ride ever,” she added. “More like ABUSEment park.” Hop bear complained.

They stumbled out of the elevator, walked through a long, bare hallway and reached a single pale blue door. There were large silver words marked on the door: HUMANS ARE NOT HERE.

Hm, that’s an oddly specific thing to put on a door, Ice bear thought suspiciously.

“Oh…they’re not in there,” Hop sighed, disappointment in his eyes. “Guess the GOT was wrong…”

He leaned against the door defeatedly…

And almost fell backward when it swung open.

“Are you okay?” Ice bear asked as she helped him back up.

“Told you it was an ABUSEMENT PARK,” Hop bear joked as he got to his feet. Suddenly, loud voices of humans rang around the room.

“The door’s open!!”

“Are those…bears?”

“And a weird floating cat?”

And in front of Ice bear was a scene she never thought she would see…at least a hundred humans in each cage staring back at her.

## Chapter 3

They were in a domed-shaped room. The human cages were a lot like the ones that held the pets…but bigger.

Suddenly, cheers erupted in the room. “The bears are here to save us! The bears are here todayyyy!  We won’t be dinner anymore or go extinct hooorayyyy!!!”

“Shhh!” Ice bear raised her voice, and the room went quiet. “Yes, we are planning to save you. but we have to be quick and quiet or the aliens might hear us! Once we free you, please help us to free everyone else. There are so many of you here.”

As she spoke, another human was teleported into the room from an open vent at the top. She was a girl with pale skin and a ponytail who had a scared look on her face. The girl was lowered into an empty cage in front of Ice bear and Hop bear, and then the top of the cage smashed shut.

Uh oh. Ice bear had forgotten that new humans would get teleported here every time the aliens abducted one. This was going to be a problem…

The DOT was staring at the girl in surprise. Then, one of the humans spoke up:

“That happens a lot. As long as a cage is detected empty, the next abducted human will be teleported in. Once a human is inside—” Just then, the cage with the girl moved over to the side, “the cage will move over and a new empty cage will take its place. The spot you’re at is where the next empty cage will be until it has humans inside.”

“Wow. That’s…very helpful, random human,” the DOT said. She thought for a while as a new, empty cage slid into that position. “So you’re saying…if I do this…” She heaved the empty cage to the side, leaving a space. “The next human that spawns here won’t be caged? Since the cage will still detect no humans in it?”

Ice bear stared at the DOT. How was she so smart?? Now they could free the humans without fear of new humans being trapped!

They all quickly got to work, unlocking the cages. The freed humans leapt out of the cages, looking amazed to be free—then immediately got to freeing everyone else.

A few more humans got teleported into the room, but they just fell into the empty space where the cage should have been. Ice bear quickly explained what was happening. “We’re freeing everyone the aliens abducted. Come help us!” The humans looked like they had a lot of questions, but didn’t ask right then. Instead, the more humans that got teleported in, the more help they had.

In less than an hour they were done.

The humans all erupted into screaming and hugging each other. Ice bear felt a smile stretch her face as she looked at all the happy humans.

“Quick, let’s go,” the DOT said. “We can celebrate all we want after WE GET OFF THIS SHIP.”

The DOT was right. “Do we have to take the elevator again?” Ice bear asked.

“Ughhhh, noooooo,” Hop bear groaned.

Ice bear was thinking of an alternate plan when something happened. She saw a button on the back wall that read, “Deactivate human abduction.” Last time, it had been covered by all the cages and humans! But now Ice bear could crawl through the cages to get to that button and she pressed it.

The vents at the top of the ship slowly closed. A robot voice announced, “Deactivated.”

“Great job, Icy!” Hop high-fived her when she crawled back out through the jungle of cages. Now there would be no more humans transmitted to this room! But then, Ice bear heard something.

Alien footsteps, right outside the door.

This wasn’t good.

“Um, guys—” That was all Ice bear managed to say before an alien stormed into the room. He had googly eyes and green limbs, and he shouted, “MEAL TIIIIII—wait, why are there animals in here?” Shock settled in his face when he gazed at the freed humans. “How…HOW IS OUR DINNER FREE????”

There was no time to think. Were they going to get beheaded again? Ice heard Hop’s voice screaming, “RUN!!” and all the humans booked it past the alien and down the hallway toward the lift.

As they were running, the DOT got close to Ice bear. “I’ve got a plan,” she whispered. “We can freeze the alien in time…”

Ice shook her head, sprinting down the hall. “The ring and diamond don’t work in alien spaceships. That’s why we couldn’t escape from getting beheaded, remember?”

“Then—but—how—” the DOT stared at Ice bear. “How do we get them out then? Did we even have a plan for this situation?”

“Um…no?” Anxiety crept into Ice’s voice. “But don’t worry. He’s chasing us from behind, so as long as we get to the elevator—”

Just then, the alien’s voice came from behind them. “CATCH THE HUMANS!” he yelled.

Ice bear tried not to worry. The lift was just in front of them. She could see it…

But just as she reached it, the lift let out a soft ding! and a swarm of aliens came out from the lift.

Ice bear screeched to a halt. No, no, not this! She did a sharp 180 turn, just to see the first alien charging toward the humans.

“CATCH THE HUMANS!”

“Uh oh,” Hop said as the group of humans huddled in a big crowd, the aliens around them closing in.

“DOT,” Ice bear whispered as the aliens stepped closer. They were doomed… “Please, please say you have a plan.”

The DOT did have one—but not one she wanted. It would be dangerous. And scary.

The DOT did not care.

She raced away from the crowd, into the distance. All the aliens turned their heads and fixed their slimy green gaze on her.

“DOT, what are you doing?” Hop bear sounded horrified.

“I’m saving you.” The DOT stared the aliens right back in their giant googly eyes and said, “Come get me. I’m a domestic pet, right? You want me, right?”

The aliens blinked at each other. Then they nodded, slowly storming toward the DOT.

She held her breath. This wasn’t time to be scared. The cat waited until all the aliens surrounded her and closed her eyes.

She could hear the bears gasping out her name, pleading her to run. Be quiet, she thought. I can do this.

The last alien closed in. “Meal time.”

“MEAL TIME. MEAL TIME.”

Trembling, the DOT raised her stick. The precious one that the GOT had given to her as a gift when they were still together…but she didn’t let herself think about that. Energy pulsed in her paws and swelled in her brain until she had all she needed.

“MEAL TIME! MEAL TIME!!”

With a final burst of blue light the DOT zapped all the aliens around her. She let all the energy out through the vibrating stick…and the last thing she saw were the wide-eyed aliens as they all fell to the ground.

## Chapter 4

Ice bear’s eyes widened when she saw the DOT standing in the middle of the heap of unconscious aliens. The DOT really had changed! From wanting to take over time from changing the timeline into a better one…

There was complete silence in the room. And then Ice bear heard a single voice: “YAY DOT!!!!” her brother screamed.

The whole room of people started adding to that noise, cheering and clapping a huge round of applause for the DOT. The cat glanced over her shoulder with a slight smile on her face and floated back to her friends.

A bearded man near them smiled and said, “Thanks, random animals! If not for you, who knows what would happen to us!”

“RANDOM??” Hop fumed. “At least I can spell elevator! E-R-V-A-L-T—no—I-L-E-V…”

Ice bear smiled and shook her head fondly at Hop. Through the crowd, many people were coming to see their rescuers for themselves and thanking them. One man had a notebook in his hand. “I’m a journalist, and…when we were abducted, I started writing an article for the end of humankind. But now, I can make it a happy article after all!” He smiled. “Especially with you, random cat in a hat.”

The DOT looked slightly annoyed, but her expression was quickly replaced with a grin. “Anytime, random human in glasses.”

Everyone swarmed the lift to get back to the bottom. It took a lot of trips, but thanks to the speed of light technology, it was only a couple of minutes to get everyone down.

Hop was delighted when everyone agreed with him that it was like an abusement park ride.

Since the human abduction system had been deactivated, the tractor beam was replaced with a long rope ladder leading to the ground.

“The aliens were smart to plan this system in case anything happened,” the DOT said with a mischievous grin. “But we’re smarter.”

When they arrived back at the bottom, the humans thanked the bears and DOT once more before heading home.

Hop sighed, flopping down on a random stretch of grass. “That was great,” he said. “Now let’s go home where there are no lifts that travel at the speed of light.”

Ice bear nodded. She was tired, too. But before she could take out the ring, a familiar splash of mist appeared, along with the shape of a cat.

“Well done!” he said to the bears. “I saw the whole thing! That was incredible!” Then, his eyes shifted to the DOT.

Her body was tense, but she stared the GOT dead in the eyes.

The GOT cleared his throat. “Especially you, DOT.”

The DOT glared at him.

“Whaaat?” The GOT asked innocently.

“Says the one who refused to reset the timeline to save my parents.”

Hop gasped. “GOT…why?? That was a horrible boyfriend move!” he accused.

The GOT nodded, his ears drooping down with guilt. “I know. I’m sorry. That was before I really knew how to reset timelines…I was so scared of messing up. And I knew how dangerous it would be for you if you went without anyone. I guess—I just wanted to keep you safe.” Rose pink warmth tinted the GOT’s cheeks.

“You could have come with me,” the DOT told him. “I bet we could have done it together.”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry.” The GOT looked down at his paws. “But you did try to take my power.”

The DOT was blushing now, too.

“I’m sorry for trying to take over time. I have been trying to change for a while now.”

“Well, good,” the GOT sounded sweet as he floated closer to her. “Well, I…” he paused, trying to find the right words. “I’m sorry for breaking up with you.”

“KISS! KISS! KISS!!” Hop suddenly chanted.

The cats barely noticed him. “Do you want to—” the DOT started. “Get back together?” The words that she’d never thought she’d say sounded strange in the thick air.

The GOT laughed softly. “No. I mean—maybe. We don’t ever have to be what we were. But we can be friends, and maybe one day we’ll get back to that. If—if you want.”

“Sounds good,” the DOT agreed. The two cats stared at each other, sinking into each other’s deep blue eyes.

“OOOOO love story!!!!” Hop bear smirked, dancing and cartwheeling around the GOT and DOT. He plucked some flowers from the ground and proceeded to toss them over their heads.

This time, the two cats snapped out of their conversation to glare at Hop. Hop laughed nervously, inching closer to Ice bear. “I’ll leave now…err…bye!” he stammered, dragging Ice bear along with him.

“Wait! DOT, do you want a ride back to 2144?” Ice yelled over her shoulder as Hop pushed her away from them.

“No, I can time travel her back later,” the GOT called back. The DOT nodded in agreement. “Thank you, bears, for everything…” she added, her voice full of warmth.

“Bring us back to LA, our house, 2144,” Ice bear whispered to the ring, and a bubble warped softly over them.

But at that moment, as the world was fading away…a younger, 5 year old George, the alien helping to abduct pets from this time, and the bear who used to be their landlord…strolled out of one of the large spaceships. Surprisingly, he was in his bear form and not his alien form. He grinned evilly into the air and there was a bright white flash…