It's been too long. At least a couple years. But after all this time, the inspiration for this story came to me in a dream. If you like it, make sure you show it support in the comments. If you don't, any feedback is always welcome. This is for anyone to enjoy, but be warned: it's rated T for some dark material and action, as well as other adult themes.

CGI verse. Not that this should come as a surprise to any of you, but I do NOT own the Chipmunks or any characters in the Chipmunks' franchise.

Also FYI the first chapter is a little slow and heavy on the drama. Bear with me.

Chapter 1: Out of Options

"In space, no one can hear you scream."

Alvin's POV

No one at the table said a word. Eleanor, Theodore, Jeanette, Simon, Brittany, myself, all looked at each other in shock and disbelief. Dave seemed somber but hardly surprised.

"Do any of you have any questions?" our agent, Mr. Helling asked.

I can't speak for anyone else in the dimly lit room, but I for one felt insulted. Here this guy was, who we had literally just hired, telling us our careers were basically over.

Again, no one said anything.

"Come on, guys," Dave piped up. "It's not like this is the end."

"Really?" Brittany retorted. "'Cause that's what it sounds like."

Mr. Helling sighed. "Look, attendance at your concerts has steadily dropped for a full two years. Madonna is out-selling you on iTunes and all other major music outlets. Singing chipmunks used to be hot and amazing, but the shock factor has died and the fact of the matter is that most people just don't enjoy your voices."

"Y-you're our agent," I said. "Isn't it your job to fix this?"

"It's my job to ensure that you guys remain as profitable as possible through the twilight of your careers," he said, looking at me frankly. "That means scaling things down a bit. Doing a lot of non-music related projects. Performing in smaller venues. Doing whatever it takes to squeeze every dollar out of you guys until you retire in a year, maybe two."

Anyone who knows me knows the phrase "scaling down" isn't in my vocabulary. I kept my mouth shut, but I knew this was bothering everybody. It was a slap in the face. No longer popular, on the last leg of our careers. Soon to be washed up and forgotten, at only the age of 18.

Without a word, I hopped off my chair onto the floor and started walking towards the door. The others quickly followed my lead.

Dave followed behind us. He opened the door for us while Mr. Helling still sat at the table, and stopped and turned as he was about to close the door behind us and said, "Let us know if you come up with anything."

Mr. Helling nodded as Dave shut the door softly.

Simon's POV

The car ride home was mostly silent, minus Dave's 80's rock station.

"Soon we're gonna be as washed up as whoever sings this damn song," Alvin moaned.

"Alvin!" Dave scolded.

Alvin shut up. This was hard news for all of us to hear, although Dave probably already knew, but this was especially hard on Alvin. I think he always envisioned that his music life would never die, that he was infallible. Now he was dealing with his own mortality, and it wasn't pretty.

"I refuse to let myself slip like that," Alvin said. "Dave, we need a new manager. Mr. Helling has got to go."

"Mr. Helling isn't the problem here," Dave replied. "He's just trying to make the most out of a bad situation."

"Well ever since you hired him, all he's been focused on is down-sizing and it's because of that that our numbers have been slipping! He hasn't been getting us out there enough!"

"Alvin…" Brittany said softly as she put her hand on Alvin's shoulder.

He frowned as he looked into her eyes, then let his eyes sink back to the floor of the car.

Again, this was hurting all of us, but Alvin was taking it especially hard. And the rest of the car ride was pretty much silent. Minus the 80's rock.

Brittany's POV

We all had that sick feeling in our stomachs still. And I didn't know how to make Alvin feel better. The second we got home he just went straight up to his room and didn't come out or make a sound.

I gave him a half hour or so before I went up and knocked on his door.

"Who is it?" his voice softly responded through the door.

I turned the doorknob and walked in. "Your favorite," I said flirtatiously.

"Oh…" he sighed, sitting on his bed facing his window. "Hey Brit."

I walked up to him and sat myself right next to him. "Y'know, Al', we're gonna be fine. We already have enough money that if we spend it wisely we can live comfortably for the rest of our lives."

He shook his head. "It's not about the money, Brit. It's about me. My pride, my legacy. My music. Music is my life, and I can't just let it go."

"We can get into other things," I tried. "It's not like we're just gonna be sitting around, bored."

"Then what will we do? Simon and Jeanette aren't sweating it, they can get into any field of work they want. And Theo and Ellie are already getting the green light for that cooking show they've always wanted. They'll still be able to follow their passions. Music is my passion."

I smiled at him. "If you ask me, being a showoff is your passion." He rolled his eyes and grinned at me. I winked at him. "Plus I can think of one or two other things that you seem to be pretty passionate about, and those won't go away with our record deals."

He hugged me, but then I heard him sigh. At the very least I had made him feel a little bit better.

Later that night, I noticed Alvin didn't feel as warm as he usually does. He was shivering, despite the fact that he had all the covers.

Dave hadn't cared about us sleeping together really since we had turned 18. Not that we had waited that long to try.

Neither of us really said a word that night. We just spooned and waited for our alarm clock to go off in the morning. Kind of like how we were all just waiting for our fame and fortunes to slowly dwindle down until there's nothing left.

Eleanor's POV

It was already 7 am, and Alvin and Brittany still weren't up. Not that we were surprised. Pretty sure their motivation to work was long gone after yesterday.

We all sat around our kitchen table, including Dave, having already eaten breakfast.

"Should we just start working without them?" I asked.

Dave shook his head. "I actually have something very important to talk to all of you about," he said, "before we get started on anything."

As if on que, we heard Alvin's bedroom door upstairs open and close, with two pairs of tiny feet pit-patting their way down the stairs. They both entered the kitchen, side by side, looking groggy from lack of sleep.

"Morning, you two," Dave said, somewhat uncomfortable.

Alvin quickly noticed that we were waiting for them. "What's this all about Dave?" he said, yawning.

"Sit down," Dave said, grinning. "I have exciting news."

Alvin's ears perked as he took a seat.

Once we were all seated and looking at Dave in anticipation, he let his grin turn into an ear to ear smile. "Ok, so Mr. Helling got back to me last night."

Everyone looked like they had been let down already, especially Alvin.

"No no no, you're going to like this," Dave insisted. "NASA is planning a mission to Mars. But they don't just want astronauts to go. They're looking for celebrities to train and tag along. To boost publicity and interest in the program."

Everyone's eyes were wide with amazement.

"We have a meeting with the heads of the department today," Dave continued, "and it sounds like they wanna offer the positions to you six."

Jeanette's POV

You could tell that everyone was nervous as Dave powered up his MacBook, while we all stood on the kitchen table in front of it. Mr. Helling, who had driven down to our house for the meeting, was the only one who truly seemed relaxed. "There's no need to be nervous," he assured us. "This isn't a job interview, per se. They're mostly going to be pitching the trip to you."

That made us feel a little better. Or, at least, it made me feel better. I had to admit that the prospect of visiting space was exciting for me, no less Mars. But I had my doubts, especially when it came to a government agency that was trying to use celebrities for a publicity stunt.

The MacBook had finally booted up, and just in time for 1pm. We all waited tensely, when suddenly the Facetime app opened with an incoming call. It was an unknown number from Austin, Texas. Dave hesitated, for some reason, before finally clicking the green button at the bottom of the screen.

The live video feed went full screen, with two men sitting in front of a plain white wall. The man on the left was wearing a nice suit and tie with thick brown hair combed to the side. The man on the right was mostly bald, with thick glasses and wearing a white lab coat.

The man in the suit looked at all of us and said, "Hey all, how are you guys doing."

We all looked at each other before Dave answered for us, "We're fantastic."

"Great! Great… well I should introduce myself. I'm Julian Mitchell, I'm NASA's Public Relations Department Head, and with me right now is Tom Butler, who's been assigned to direct the mission that you guys just might take part in. He'll be the head honcho behind the whole operation."

The bald man nodded at us and said in a thick southern accent, "pleasure to meet you all."

"The pleasure is all ours, sir," I said nervously.

"Charming," Tom said.

"Yes, well, I'm sure you all have a lot of questions," Julian said.

We all agreed.

"Well, let me give you the rundown," Julian began. "Essentially we're trying to land non-professional astronauts on the planet Mars for the first time in history. Thanks to recent revelations in rocket technology, among other things, we can not only equip you guys with the ability to travel all the way to Mars in about 1 week, but you'll have enough fuel to get you all the way back as well."

"So, how long total would we be gone?" Theodore asked.

"If all goes according to plan, exactly 44 days," Tom said abruptly.

"See, you're going to fly there for 7 days, set up base camp and live there for exactly 30 days, then take another 7 to pack up and return home," Julian clarified.

"I have some questions myself," I said.

"Ask away," Julian shrugged.

"First off, how is this any different from the fatal Challenger mission in 1986 where those ordinary citizens died trying to go to the moon?"

Julian nodded. "That tragedy could have been affected if only someone had heeded many weather concerns at the launch," he said solemnly. "We've learned from that incident. Nothing even close to that awful has happened since then."

"Ok, I guess," I said, shrugging, "but I also still have my doubts that you guys could physically get us to and from Mars in 2 weeks. Seems impossible to me."

"Well see, that's where you guys come in," Julian said.

"You six offer the unique advantage in that you think and in most cases act just like human beings, but are considerably smaller," Tom clarified. "All of the equipment, including the shuttle, will be chipmunk-size. Perfect for you guys to live comfortably, and because it'll all be so much smaller than usual, we can send you with enough rocket fuel for the return trip."

"Wait wait wat!" Simon bursted. "We're not going to have any experienced astronauts with us?"

"That's correct," Tom said.

"But see, you'd each go through an extensive training camp to prepare you and teach you the ins and outs of the mission," Julian said.

"So this means that either we do it, or there's no mission?" I asked.

"That's correct," Tom said. "The choice is all yours. We can compensate you with 750,000 dollars each, and we can fly you down here on our dime for your training. But please get back to us as soon as possible so I can make an announcement."

"Will do, you guys," Dave said, "Thank you."

Tom nodded, before the screen went dark with the words "Unknown Caller has ended the call".

Theodore's POV

Dave sighed. We all had our doubts, but I think we all secretly wanted to do it.

"Well," Mr. Helling piped up, "you want a popularity boost, this is as close to a sure thing as you can get."

Dave nodded. "Look you guys, you're all 18. You're adults, which means this is your decision. Is there anyone that definitely doesn't want to do it?"

No one made a move.

"Ok, so is there anyone who definitely does want to?"

Alvin raised his hand right away, followed closely by Simon and Jeanette.

Soon Eleanor raised her hand as well, and when she saw the worried look I gave her, she said, "this is our once-in a lifetime chance, Theo. To do something incredible."

Well, shit. If my baby's going, then it's my job to protect her. I raised my hand. That just left Brittany, who was clearly on the fence.

"Brit," Alvin said softly, "We just need this one little thing. This one thing and our careers are back on track. Don't you ever miss the days of being adored by the public?"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine." She raised her hand.

Dave looked like he wanted to cry, both tears of joys and sadness. "I guess that settles it," he said. "Pack your things, we're going to Austin."

And that was Chapter 1. Again, I know it was slow. Things will pick up a lot next chapter. If you enjoyed it, please let me know that you want more. If you think there are ways it can be improved, please give me any constructive criticism you want.

Also, if you can tell me where the quote at the top comes from you get mad props.