Tokala sucked in a breath, his tongue sliding along slowly enlongating fangs as he became anxious with how close his ward was flying to the deadly chunks of frozen rock. It was difficult for him to resist the temptation to distract the younger Pantharni with useless words about the obstacles as Nahuel's attention was entirely focused on keeping them moving forward, towards safer routes. Nahuel was calm though, feeling a connection to the shuttle that felt almost psychic; he would think of a maneuver and hardly start the movement to command the ship and yet, the maneuver would be done flawlessly.
                              
With his eyes focused forwards and his body throbbing with forceful heartbeats, he could almost believe that there was no ship, no Tokala watching, just his body swimming through the glorious vastness of space. He loved the feelings of flying like this, where there were no others talking, voices murmuring, nails clicking against building materials as they moved about. He didn't feel like there were hundreds of eyes on him, judging him, expecting things from him. He had been one of the few males born under the shattered moon's light, the three broken fragments of the moon rarely being close enough together to relect light back to the plains. Because of this, those males had been gathered and tested since infancy. The group had whittled down until there were only three young males left. Tokala had believed there was something special about Nahuel and had volunteered to be his Mentor. The Cheiftan had agreed and other Elders and Advisors had volunteered to Mentor the other two Panthari. Until they completed their testing treks, they would remain Panthari, children. When their Menthors felt appropriate, they would undergo  a ritual and become Pantharn, adult.
                              
Nahuel frowned as an asteroid suddenly collided into another just beside them. It seemed unusual that there was sudden lateral movement to these rocks as moments before both had been paralell. But none of the other asteroids appeared mobile and Nahuel relaxed, moving into the cleared space of the gas planet. Even from the pocket edge of safe space, the Pantharni could see the swooping shapes of the O'oolem swim in the planet's atmosphere. The creatures were almost equine in herds, charging in the same direction around and around the sphere of the planet. Their colours swirled and danced, a glittering refraction of lights and defragmentation of gas colours. It was stunning. Tokala watched the spectacle and laughed, amazed at the site below them.
                              
Tokala pressed a series of commands into the shuttle and it began recording the events in front of them, capturing the images to take back with them to enrich the Tribe. There were very few whom had ever seen the O'oolem, and most would only hear verbal accounts of the wonderous sight now before them. The elder Pantharni looked at his charge and grinned at him, sharing in the childish joy at being able to see these creatures.
                              
"Well done Panthari. Your ancestors would be honoured to know of your success thus far. You have shown a strong grasp of navigation and seem to have a natural talent for...." he was interrupted in his praise as the shuttle lurched to the side, barely avoiding an asteroid that hurtled towards them from the belt.
                              
Nahuel was no longer smiling, instead he directed the ship in a tight orbit around the gas planet, no longer enjoying the O'oolem's dance. Instead he seemed focused on the asteriod belt around them, because suddenly, there were chunks of rock grinding all around them. As if the asteroid belt intself had woken up and taken a swipe at them. The way they had come in was a death trap of colliding rocks and hurtling fragments. Without hesitation, Nahuel guided the shuttle through an opening in the belt on the opposite side of the gas planet. It was in the wrong direction, but it got them out of the way of two massive slabs grinding into each other.
                              
Tokala's fingers danced across the defence readings of the shuttle, coaxing the ship into defensive mode while Nahuel remained navigational control. He dared not interrupt the younger Pantharni and assume control of the ship. In the mere seconds it took to transfer control over, they were be ground into space paste. So instead he activated the ships's natural defences, a secretion that the metal and organic ship would use to coat it's exterior surface that was absorbed impact, decreasing the force endured. And all around them, the shape of the ship slowly adjusted, condenscing down and becoming a smaller target. The ship could not maintin defence and evasion indefinitly, but for now Tokala felt it would suffice.
                              
Their ship shuddered as smaller rocks skipped across the surface of the ship's defense. They were not serious and decreasing as Nahuel expertly moved them away from danger and into a clearer patch of space. When it appeared they weren't in immediate danger of a very squishy death, Nahuel let his breath rush out and he stared at his Mentor, wide eyed.
                              
"Master, what was that?" he wondered.
                              
Tokala took over controls of the ship, noticing the tremor in the younger Pantharni's hands. "I have no idea Nahuel. It was not natural." he admitted, realizing that the ship had recorded the entire event while they fled. He deactivated the recording and stored the footage for later study. "We need to find navigational points. I'm gonig to try and locate the outer gas planet." he instructed his pupil and directed the ship in the direction that should have led to the last encountered gas planet his people had mapped.
                              
But as they drifted through the asteriod belt, neither Pantharni noticed that the rocks of the belt seemed to move around them, sublty redirecting them somewhere else. And although Tokala knew the approximate location of the gas planet, and was more than competent enough to navigate to it, the asteroid belt itself seemed to suddenly dip and heave, spewing their tiny shuttle out into a deserted stretch of space. The ship around them shuddered and the frame stretched back out into it's natural form, the guidance system gonig offline. The ship was still maintaining environmentals, but neither Pantharni could actively control the direction or thrust of the ship.
                              
"What's happening?" Nahuel asked, somehow keeping calm while their partially sentient ship hurtled them out into unknown space.
                              
"It seems that the ship is responding to something." Tokala replied, hands dancing on four different controls as he tried to gain some form of control.
                              
Nahuel stared at his Mentor in surprise, face stretching out into a muzzle with his anxiety. His pupils were wide, and his flat nostrils flared as he took in a deep breath. "We're being pulled in?" he asked, not understanding.
                              
"Not quite. There's nothing out there to pull us." Tokala explained. "No, I think there may be some kind of deep space beacon and the ship is responding to it. She is a sentient creature and may recognize the distress signal of species we've never encountered." The elder Pantharni instructed.
                              
"So we're hurtling through space in a ship that has a mind of its own, towards a destination unknown and a species we have no clue about?" Nahuel asked, running a tongue along his fangs nervously.
                              
"Exactly." Tokala nodded, keeping his own fear at bay.
                              
"Well I promised to make this trip interesting..." Nahuel muttered, muzzle flattening out as he forced himself to calm down. His offhand remark had the desired effect and made Tokala laugh. Both Pantharni settled down a fraction and stepped away from the edge of panic.
                              
"We should gather our equipment so we are ready to handle whatever it is we find when we arrive." Tokala left his seat and headed over to the storage lockers where the standard exploration gear was located.
                              
"Better hurry. It looks like we're here." Nahuel encouraged, pulling on the organic webbing of the explorer's suit. Both males sped through their equipping procedure, casting nervous glances at the planet they were barely able to see. But on the horizon was a fat oval of a planet, atmosphere swirling with gray and rare blue patches. It looked forboding and as both Pantharni slipped their breathers into place, they were wondering what exactly broguht their ship here.