Wolf and the Nebula Trap

Chapter 1: The Bark That Changed Everything

The stars zipped by as Wolf lounged in the cockpit of the Wolf Rocket, flipping through a comic book from Earth printed on glow paper. Moon sat co-pilot, nose twitching, eyes locked on a glowing cloud outside the viewport.

“Something bothering you, Moon?” Wolf asked.

Moon let out a sharp bark, pawing at the controls as the rocket drifted past a swirling purple and green nebula.

Wolf glanced at it. “You wanna check that out? Looks like nothing... but nothing usually means trouble.”

He steered the ship toward the nebula. As they neared it, space shimmered. A flash of light burst in front of them, and crack! a wormhole snapped open like a cosmic bear trap.

“Uh-oh,” Wolf muttered.

In an instant, the ship jerked sideways. Wolf was pulled from his seat and sucked into the wormhole. Gone. The Wolf Rocket, with Moon still aboard, spun into auto stabilization mode. The cockpit lights flickered red.

Moon’s ears perked. Wolf was gone.

His communicator sat on the dash, blinking.

Moon hopped up, sniffed the panel, and pressed his nose to a hidden port.
 BEEP.

 “Voice code accepted,” said the ship’s AI.

 “Initiating Doctor WOW Emergency Channel.”

Chapter 2: The Doctor Takes a Taxi

Back on the outskirts of Jupiter’s moons, Doctor WOW was mid-sip on a bubbling can of green alien soda when a hologram of Moon appeared in front of him, barking, whining, pointing with his nose at the nebula data feed.

“Moon?” Doctor WOW blinked. “Where’s the boy wonder?”

When the feed showed Wolf disappearing into a wormhole, Doctor WOW jumped to his feet.

“Oh space gravy! That’s my Nebula Nexus Trap Tech! I told the Space Council to burn that file!”

He dialed a ride.

 “Galactic Goober Taxis, what’s your emergency?”|

 “Time sensitive rescue! I need a ride to Moon the dog! Immediately!”

The taxi dropped him off an hour later, floating beside the Wolf Rocket. Doctor WOW scrambled aboard, greeted by Moon’s anxious bark.

“You didn’t touch anything did you?”
 Moon barked once.

 “Good. Let’s not eject the antimatter core.”

Doctor WOW aimed his Chrono-Port Projector at the nebula’s coordinates.

 “Strap in, Moon. We’re teleporting in.”

Chapter 3: The Core

The two materialized just outside the shimmering edge of the Nebula Nexus. Electric pulses of warped space danced across the sky. Doctor WOW held out a scanner.

“There. My old Trap Core's been reverse engineered... probably by those tentacle-faced tech thieves, the Nemisens.”

He eyed Moon. “You ready for this?”

Moon growled and wagged.

Inside, they snuck through a maze of floating platforms and antigrav chambers. Doctor WOW whispered, “This place shouldn’t exist. I designed it for containment, not kidnapping!”

Deep inside, they found Wolf suspended in a floating hex cage, unconscious, surrounded by a ring of Nemisen drones.

“Moon,” whispered the doctor. “You distract them. I’ll reroute the trap.”

Moon charged in barking like mad. The drones chased him in all directions.

Doctor WOW pulled out his Phase Disruptor Wrench and jammed it into the wall.

ZAP!

The hex-cage shattered. Wolf dropped to the floor, groggy but grinning.

“About time,” he said. “Miss me?”

Doctor WOW laughed. “We’ll catch up later. We’ve got about forty seconds before this whole place collapses.”

The trio raced out just as the Trap Core overloaded and folded in on itself, sealing the nebula behind them.

Back aboard the Wolf Rocket, Wolf looked at Moon.

“You barked up the right nebula.”

Moon wagged.

Doctor WOW leaned back. “Let’s just not check out any strange clouds next time.”

Wolf smirked, flipped a switch, and said, “Where to next Moon?”

The End… until curiosity strikes again.