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    “Flyspurrr!” Rover’s booming voice thundered through the hollow cavern, bouncing off the blue walls and coming back to him in a shower of tinny echoes. Several large icicles broke loose from the domed ceiling and shattered into millions of sparkling pieces as they crashed into the cave floor.

    There was a startled squawk as Dr. Cloud Featherstone narrowly missed being skewered by one of the errant stalactites. He shook himself, forcing his ruffled feathers to smooth back down. “Perhaps we should keep it down.” He suggested, just loud enough so the starship captain could hear him from the other side of the cavern. “We can hardly continue our search if we get ourselves impaled.”

    “Keep lookin’!” Rover called back, ignoring the warning. “He’s around here, someplace.” He cupped both hands around his mouth and called again, and once more only echoes replied. “Come on, Blue.” He whispered harshly, his breath coming out in puffs of misty ice crystals. “Why in the starry cosmopolitan won’t you answer?”

    Diffused light filtered in through tons of ancient ice giving the cavern an eerie blue glow and making everything seem even colder than it actually was. The temperature was just pushing 12 degrees, a virtual heat wave on a planet where the climate rarely climbed above zero. Rover, of course, didn’t feel the cold with his PEG (Personal Environment Generator) clipped tightly to his belt, keeping everything within the skin-tight forcefield a comfortable 72. The moment they had landed on this planet Flyspur had insisted on thoroughly checking everyone’s PEG before they stepped out onto the frigid planet. Some of them hadn’t been up to his standards and he had spent nearly half an hour tinkering with the little devices before he deemed them ready for use. As much as Rover liked his first mate Flyspur could be annoyingly persnickety at times.

    This Class EC (or Extra Cold) Planet wasn’t exactly anyone’s first choice for a vacation spot but their sensors had picked up traces of fissionstone, a rare mineral capable of storing enough power to run a starship for years, a handy thing to have on board if they could rig up a converter. And Rover wasn’t about to pass up an opportunity to do a little mining even if the weather was a bit chilly.

    They hadn’t pulled their mining tools out right away, of course. One of the crew had never seen snow before and most of them were only passingly familiar with it so the first steps onto this new planet had resulted in a full blown snowball battle. With his four arms Flyspur had had an unfair advantage, or so Dr. Featherstone commented when he had his glasses knocked off.

    After perhaps a good deal of fun Rover pulled out the scanner and they headed off in the direction of the fissionstone readings. The device had lead the small band across the barren, white terrain and into a large hole in the side of a glacier. The cavern was enormous, but even so it wasn’t long before they found the source of the fissionstone readings. Unfortunately it had turned out the stone was not naturally occurring. In scattered behind one icy wall of the cave were the broken remains of a starship. It must have crashed decades, if not millennia ago, and the bits of fissionstone from it’s shattered engine still glowed with enough power to be read on sensors.

    They had just been discussing if they should melt the walls -even if they hadn’t hit the motherload those small pieces were still valuable- when a thunderous roar shook the cavern.

    The creature towered above them, huge jaws agape, snarling and angry, with paws the size of trash can covers and twin tails swirling about it like bullwhips. Where it had come from they hadn’t a clue but it only took one look at the behemoth to send the entire expedition packing.

    How they had managed to stay ahead of the beast he would never know but it chased them out of the cave and for some distance beyond before Rover managed to coax the blowtorch attachment from his left arm. Thankfully, despite it’s great size and strength, the creature was terrified of the heat and high-tailed it out of there right quick.

    It was only then, when they didn’t hear Flyspur’s voice asking: “Is everyone here? Is everyone okay?” that they realized he was not with them. And he was not answering his communicator.

    They had quickly split up with Rover and the Doc taking inside the cave and the rest searching outside.

    Rover swallowed the inexplicable lump in his throat. There was a perfectly good reason he wasn’t answering. He just got turned around a bit is all, or maybe he got tuckered out after all the excitement and was…taking a nap. Sure. Perfectly reasonable. He was just beginning to believe that when a splash of bright yellow caught his eye. Flyspur’s coat!

    He was there in a second.

    The Jssfloon’s thin form was curled into a tight ball with his knees to his chin and his small brushy tail curled around his ankles.

    “Fer the sake of Roy Rogers, Blue! We’ve been callin’ you for half an hour!”

    But Flyspur’s eyes were closed and he still didn’t answer.

    “Hey…” Rover’s voice softened. “You alright?” He put a hand on his friend’s shoulder to shake him but he quickly jerked his hand back as if he had been burned. He was cold…and stiff. Only now did Rover notice the frost on Flyspur’s clothes and the way his blue skin sparkled faintly in the muted light. And then he saw why. The PEG system was still clipped to his belt but the screen was shattered and the side cracked open.

    Rover felt as if his had stopped working as well because he suddenly felt cold all over. “DOC!” He cried at the top of his voice. “Doc! Over here!”

    Doctor Cloud was at his side in seconds. “Oh…oh dear.” He adjusted the small round spectacles that sat astride his beak. What appeared to be a pair of wire-rimmed glasses were actually a highly sophisticated diagnostic instrument.

    “He’s…He’s alright.” Rover asked.

    “No.” The doctor closed his eyes and let out a defeated sigh. “He’s frozen…solid.”
~~
I actually hadn't intended this to be a story. I did the previous picture because there was this crazy cold front and I just couldn't keep me warm enough, and my feet were freezing and the picture kind of came from that. Then...well, I just couldn't leave it at that. From the pic came a story and this is just the second part. (this would have been a full blown story but I only have four of the characters worked out so for now it's going to be in three vingettes)

Description
Previous: chill13.deviantart.com/art/So-…
Next: chill13.deviantart.com/art/War…

    “Flyspurrr!” Rover’s booming voice thundered through the hollow cavern, bouncing off the blue walls and coming back to him in a shower of tinny echoes. Several large icicles broke loose from the domed ceiling and shattered into millions of sparkling pieces as they crashed into the cave floor.

    There was a startled squawk as Dr. Cloud Featherstone narrowly missed being skewered by one of the errant stalactites. He shook himself, forcing his ruffled feathers to smooth back down. “Perhaps we should keep it down.” He suggested, just loud enough so the starship captain could hear him from the other side of the cavern. “We can hardly continue our search if we get ourselves impaled.”

    “Keep lookin’!” Rover called back, ignoring the warning. “He’s around here, someplace.” He cupped both hands around his mouth and called again, and once more only echoes replied. “Come on, Blue.” He whispered harshly, his breath coming out in puffs of misty ice crystals. “Why in the starry cosmopolitan won’t you answer?”

    Diffused light filtered in through tons of ancient ice giving the cavern an eerie blue glow and making everything seem even colder than it actually was. The temperature was just pushing 12 degrees, a virtual heat wave on a planet where the climate rarely climbed above zero. Rover, of course, didn’t feel the cold with his PEG (Personal Environment Generator) clipped tightly to his belt, keeping everything within the skin-tight forcefield a comfortable 72. The moment they had landed on this planet Flyspur had insisted on thoroughly checking everyone’s PEG before they stepped out onto the frigid planet. Some of them hadn’t been up to his standards and he had spent nearly half an hour tinkering with the little devices before he deemed them ready for use. As much as Rover liked his first mate Flyspur could be annoyingly persnickety at times.

    This Class EC (or Extra Cold) Planet wasn’t exactly anyone’s first choice for a vacation spot but their sensors had picked up traces of fissionstone, a rare mineral capable of storing enough power to run a starship for years, a handy thing to have on board if they could rig up a converter. And Rover wasn’t about to pass up an opportunity to do a little mining even if the weather was a bit chilly.

    They hadn’t pulled their mining tools out right away, of course. One of the crew had never seen snow before and most of them were only passingly familiar with it so the first steps onto this new planet had resulted in a full blown snowball battle. With his four arms Flyspur had had an unfair advantage, or so Dr. Featherstone commented when he had his glasses knocked off.

    After perhaps a good deal of fun Rover pulled out the scanner and they headed off in the direction of the fissionstone readings. The device had lead the small band across the barren, white terrain and into a large hole in the side of a glacier. The cavern was enormous, but even so it wasn’t long before they found the source of the fissionstone readings. Unfortunately it had turned out the stone was not naturally occurring. In scattered behind one icy wall of the cave were the broken remains of a starship. It must have crashed decades, if not millennia ago, and the bits of fissionstone from it’s shattered engine still glowed with enough power to be read on sensors.

    They had just been discussing if they should melt the walls -even if they hadn’t hit the motherload those small pieces were still valuable- when a thunderous roar shook the cavern.

    The creature towered above them, huge jaws agape, snarling and angry, with paws the size of trash can covers and twin tails swirling about it like bullwhips. Where it had come from they hadn’t a clue but it only took one look at the behemoth to send the entire expedition packing.

    How they had managed to stay ahead of the beast he would never know but it chased them out of the cave and for some distance beyond before Rover managed to coax the blowtorch attachment from his left arm. Thankfully, despite it’s great size and strength, the creature was terrified of the heat and high-tailed it out of there right quick.

    It was only then, when they didn’t hear Flyspur’s voice asking: “Is everyone here? Is everyone okay?” that they realized he was not with them. And he was not answering his communicator.

    They had quickly split up with Rover and the Doc taking inside the cave and the rest searching outside.

    Rover swallowed the inexplicable lump in his throat. There was a perfectly good reason he wasn’t answering. He just got turned around a bit is all, or maybe he got tuckered out after all the excitement and was…taking a nap. Sure. Perfectly reasonable. He was just beginning to believe that when a splash of bright yellow caught his eye. Flyspur’s coat!

    He was there in a second.

    The Jssfloon’s thin form was curled into a tight ball with his knees to his chin and his small brushy tail curled around his ankles.

    “Fer the sake of Roy Rogers, Blue! We’ve been callin’ you for half an hour!”

    But Flyspur’s eyes were closed and he still didn’t answer.

    “Hey…” Rover’s voice softened. “You alright?” He put a hand on his friend’s shoulder to shake him but he quickly jerked his hand back as if he had been burned. He was cold…and stiff. Only now did Rover notice the frost on Flyspur’s clothes and the way his blue skin sparkled faintly in the muted light. And then he saw why. The PEG system was still clipped to his belt but the screen was shattered and the side cracked open.

    Rover felt as if his had stopped working as well because he suddenly felt cold all over. “DOC!” He cried at the top of his voice. “Doc! Over here!”

    Doctor Cloud was at his side in seconds. “Oh…oh dear.” He adjusted the small round spectacles that sat astride his beak. What appeared to be a pair of wire-rimmed glasses were actually a highly sophisticated diagnostic instrument.

    “He’s…He’s alright.” Rover asked.

    “No.” The doctor closed his eyes and let out a defeated sigh. “He’s frozen…solid.”
~~
I actually hadn't intended this to be a story. I did the previous picture because there was this crazy cold front and I just couldn't keep me warm enough, and my feet were freezing and the picture kind of came from that. Then...well, I just couldn't leave it at that. From the pic came a story and this is just the second part. (this would have been a full blown story but I only have four of the characters worked out so for now it's going to be in three vingettes)