"Left! Left!" Caspin squeaked, leaning in that direction so much in the copilot chair that he nearly fell out of it.

The Vulpan sighed in relief as Adrian steered them safely around the unexpected asteroid. The human was grinning like an overexcited child. Space was generally empty, so having the human drive wasn't particularly dangerous, that was until Adrian decided he wanted to explore the nearby solar system. The big man was actually doing quite well. He'd only nearly given Caspin a heart attack a few times.

There was a beep and Cas leaned forward to peek at his screen. He poked a few icons and grinned.

"You want to explore a new planet?" Caspin asked. "There's one in this system that supports carbon-based life and has a good atmosphere. It doesn't have much to note for legally harvestable resources since it seems to have quite a bit of life, but we can still add it to our maps."

"Definitely!" Adrian replied as they headed towards the new planet. "And since we'll be landing there, can you show me how to manually land, as well?" He pleaded.

Caspin agreed, not sure he could deny his mate anything when he looked at him with such sweet enthusiasm. The fox gently instructed while Adrian flew them toward the new planet. It looked like a pretty marble, swirled with blue, green, and white. Adrian steered carefully around one of the planet's two moons. The ride got rougher when they hit the atmosphere, but Cas reassured the concerned human that it was to be expected. The autopilot gave a much smoother ride since it could make much faster steering adjustments.

Once they were near the surface, the turbulence passed and Caspin praised his human. The fox bounced happily in his seat. He loved exploring new planets. The sensors were logging everything as they flew over mountains and plains.

"There's a spot up ahead that would be good for landing." Caspin told Adrian. "Go ahead and slow down and punch in that sequence I showed you. It will release the landing gear."

Adrian nodded seriously, carefully decreasing their acceleration and steering toward a huge clearing. The human pressed the icons on the screen in the sequence to engage the landing gear. Caspin had told him to be ready for the vibration it would cause. The human frowned as the handles jerked in his hands and an insistent beep blared from the console.

Caspin immediately sat forward, tapping on his own screen. The fox stifled a snorting giggle and entered a sequence onto his screen, causing a smaller vibration and the cessation of the beeping. With the fox's encouragement and guidance, they landed with only minimal bumping.

"Let's go see what we lost." Caspin said with a grin.

Adrian looked at him in confusion. "Lost?"

"Yep." The little fox stood. "Apparently the code for engaging the landing gear is a little too close to the one for spacing the contents of holding bay four. If we'd been in vacuum it would have sucked everything out into space. Since we were in atmosphere it wasn't as bad. We only lost one crate."

Caspin grabbed a couple antigrav movers on his way out. He could attach them to the lost crate and it would hover. They'd be able to push it back to the ship with one finger, if they wanted.

Though the fox didn't seem like he minded, the human was very concerned about having pressed the wrong button and losing one of their crates. "My apologies. I'll be more careful from now on."

Caspin slung a satchel across his shoulder, dropping the antigravs inside, before reaching up to kiss Adrian's cheek and leading him outside.

"It's fine." Caspin said with a smile. "I should have written the sequence down for you. Besides, now we can have an adventure!" Caspin paused, digging in his bag for a moment before pulling out two thin objects. He tied one around Adrian's wrist and another around his own. "Don't want to forget those. If we run into anything poisonous, venomous, or pissed off with big teeth this will keep us safe without harming the local wildlife." When Adrian opened his mouth to ask how it worked, Caspin waved a hand before grabbing the big human and pulling him along. "I'll explain later. Adventure! It's been years since I actually explored a new planet!"

"For me, it'll be my second time." Adrian admitted, having counted the planet Caspin came from as his first outside of Earth. As the two of them made their way through paths and foliage unique to the planet, the human was enthralled.

"This is amazing." He took a deep breath, feeling relieved when his lungs filled with oxygen. In fact, he felt a little euphoric. Perhaps this planet had more oxygen than Earth?

"Adrian!" Caspin called excitedly. "Look at this!"

The fox was nearly hidden in the tall grass that was a similar color to his tan fur. The human leaned over, next to the much shorter fox, to peer through the stalks.

Little huts dotted a hollow between two hills. Grass and flowers grew on sod roofs. In the center of the small village was a clear area with a large fire pit. A few of the creatures that populated the village were sitting or standing outside huts, working or talking. Their skin tone varied from light tan to dark brown, with hair a few shades lighter or darker on their heads. What fascinated Adrian the most, though, were the small fluffy tails peeking above skirts or rough-hewn trousers and long ears standing straight in the air or hanging down to lay on shoulders or hang between shoulder blades.

"Bunnies." The soccer player said with wonder. "They're bunnies."

Caspin looked over his shoulder to ask what the human was talking about but froze, green eyes wide, looking past Adrian to the space behind him. The man followed his gaze to find two of the beings they'd seen in the village standing close. They held spears at their sides, but were not threatening them...yet. Adrian remembered what Caspin said about the bracelets protecting them from any attack, but he’d rather not test it.

Adrian and Caspin stood straight up. The spearmen grunted and shifted, as if asking the pair to follow them, and the human and fox did so. As they walked into the village, the rabbit people cleared a path for them and gaped openly. They finally caught sight of the crate that had fallen. It had burst open and the contents were being divvied up between the villagers.

"So, that's where the crate fell..." Adrian mused.

One of the spearmen was shocked to hear the human speak in their language. "The crate...you gave it?"

"It fell from our ship when we were landing." Caspin explained.

"Ship...is that what you call the house flying in the sky?" The other spearman wondered out loud.

By then, the four of them had reached the biggest hut of them all. The fox and the human walked inside when urged by the spearmen. They came face to face with a large, husky man with salt and pepper hair.

"Welcome, star people. I am Chief Ilaro. This is my father, Kalil." He introduced as he motioned towards an older man with silver hair. "And these are my sons; Carel, Binn, and Phenner."

Kalil was a noble-looking man with deep-set smile lines on his face and silvery hair and ears that stood tall on his head. Carel and Bin stood and bowed. One was caramel-colored everywhere from his skin to his hair and ears. The other had brownish hair and matching ears with white spots. The third son, Phenner, didn't stand, but knelt and bowed his head. His ears and hair were snow white, with creamy pale skin. His ears lay down, reminding Adrian of lop-eared rabbits back on earth. The young man's most startling feature, however, were his eyes. The iris was a shocking pink. There was a weariness, though, in the set of his shoulders and the depths of his odd eyes.

“I’m Caspin, and this is my mate Adrian.” The little fox was so proud to be able to claim the tall human as his.

"Did you send us the box from the sky?" the chief asked.

"Something like that," Adrian muttered under his breath.

Caspin hugged Adrian's arm and chuckled. "My mate did that. You may keep it, of course. It's all food, I believe."

"We thank you, star people." The chief bowed. "It's a generous gift. You must be weary from your journey. Please, let us give you hospitality and a place to relax."

"Thank you." Caspin said, following the chief out of the hut with the other rabbits trailing behind them. "Is food scarce?"

"There was a fire late this season." The chief grimaced. "It took many of our stores for winter. The young men will be fine, they don't need much during the cold time when we sleep. But the pregnant does and the very young and old need more food. The men have been brave and generous, rationing themselves so the others needn't suffer when the cold rains and snows come."

"I'm so sorry." Adrian said genuinely. "I'm glad I dropped the crate. I wish there was more we could do."

"There is!" Caspin squeezed Adrian's hand and beamed happily. "I'll sign up these coordinates for a monthly delivery service. I'm paying for it already, but I really never need as much as they send. I'll have them bring one crate here every month. The rest they’ll keep sending to the ship." The fox's tail wagged happily. "I would be glad to do it."

The Chief began to speak in hushed tones with his two oldest sons for a moment. He then turned towards his youngest. "Phen, please show them to the pewter hut." He instructed. The pewter hut was one of the largest of the huts and with the most amenities. As he turned towards the star people, he added. "You honor us with such gifts."

Caspin blushed and ducked his head. Adrian ruffled his hair as they followed the albino rabbit into the hut. There were a few small tables, but most of the area was taken up by pillows, cushions, and blankets. The whole room was like a giant bed.

"Please, rest." Phenner said softly, eyes downcast. "I'll be back with some refreshments."

"Do you think he'll be gone long?" Caspin asked mischievously.

"I'm not sure, why?" Adrian asked.

Cas set aside his bag and grinned up at his mate.

"Catch me if you can," the fox said with a grin before shifting into his little fox form.

With a little yip, Cas escaped his clothes and dove under the pillows. The little fox burrowed under blankets and hid under cushions, his heart racing as he waited for Adrian to chase him.

The human felt excitement coursing through him when he saw his lover running around in fox form, eager for him to give chase. Adrian stripped himself free of his own clothing as he walked around the pillow-bed.

"I'm going to find you," He called in a sing-song voice. He tossed off one pillow at a time onto the ground. But, when he was left with the final four, he quickly slipped his arms beneath them to scoop the fox into his arms.

"Gotcha!" He then flopped sideways onto the pillow-bed and pressed loud kisses across the fox's fluffy chest.

Caspin began to purr and lick at the human's hair from his position. When Adrian pulled himself into a sitting position, he quickly hopped onto all fours and gave a leap off the pillow-bed, ready to begin the game again. However, he didn't count on Adrian reaching out and grabbing him by his lower half so that he was dangling.

And that was how the albino rabbit caught them. The naked human had one leg off the largest pillow serving as the bed and the other still on it and was holding a petite fennec fox upside down.

"Cosmos!" Phen squeaked. The snowy rabbit nearly dropped the tray. "Oh, please, don't hurt it!" The albino begged, rosy eyes wide as he took a moment to set down the tray and look imploringly at the human.

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