The Underwater Planet (Geronimo Stilton Spacemice #6) Read online

  Professor

  Paws von volt

  Geronimo Stilton

  My dear mouse friends,

  Have I ever told you how much I love science

  fiction? I’ve always wanted to write incredible

  adventures set in another dimension, but I’ve never

  believed that parallel universes exist . . . until now!

  That’s because my good friend Professor Paws

  von Volt, the brilliant, secretive scientist, has

  just made an incredible discovery. Thanks to some

  mousetropic calculations, he determined that there

  are many different dimensions in time and space,

  where anything could be possible.

  The professor’s work inspired me to write this

  science fiction adventure in which my

  family and I travel through space

  in search of new worlds.

  We’re a fabumouse crew:

  the spacemice!

  I hope you enjoy this

  intergalactic adventure!

  Grandfather

  william

  stiltonix

  robotix

  benjamin

  stiltonix

  and

  buGsy

  wuGsy

  traP

  stiltonix

  thea

  stiltonix

  Geronimo

  stiltonix

  Scholastic Inc.

  The

  underwaTer

  planeT

  Copyright © 2014 by Edizioni Piemme S.p.A., Palazzo Mondadori, Via

  Mondadori 1, 20090 Segrate, Italy. International Rights © Atlantyca

  S.p.A. English translation © 2016 by Atlantyca S.p.A.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any

  responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  GERONIMO STILTON names, characters, and related indicia are copy-

  right, trademark, and exclusive license of Atlantyca S.p.A. All rights

  reserved. The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  Based on an original idea by Elisabetta Dami. www.geronimostilton.com

  Published by Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920, 557 Broadway, New

  York, NY 10012. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks

  and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  Stilton is the name of a famous English cheese. It is a registered trade-

  mark of the Stilton Cheese Makers’ Association. For more information,

  go to www.stiltoncheese.com.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright

  Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, trans-

  mitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or

  introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form

  or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or here-

  after invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

  For information regarding permission, please contact Atlantyca S.p.A.,

  Via Leopardi 8, 20123 Milan, Italy; e-mail [email protected],

  www.atlantyca.com.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents

  are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously,

  and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business estab-

  lishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  e-ISBN 978-0-545-87527-1

  Text by Geronimo Stilton

  Original title Il mistero del pianeta sommerso

  Cover by Flavio Ferron

  Illustrations by Giuseppe Facciotto (design) and Daniele Verzini (color)

  Graphics by Marta Lorini

  Special thanks to AnnMarie Anderson

  Translated by Anna Pizzelli

  Interior design by Kevin Callahan / BNGO Books

  First printing 2016

  In the darkness of the farthest galaxy in

  time and space is a spaceship inhabited

  exclusively by mice.

  This fabumouse vessel is called the

  MouseStar 1, and I am its captain!

  I am Geronimo Stiltonix

  , a somewhat

  accident-prone mouse who (to tell you

  the truth) would rather be writing novels

  than steering a spaceship.

  But for now, my adventurous

  family and I are busy

  traveling around the universe

  on exciting intergalactic missions.

  This is The

  laTesT advenTure

  of The spacemice!

  a rare day off!

  It all started

  early

  one morning. I woke

  up feeling

  fabumouse

  ! Of course I

  would have loved to stay in bed for another

  hour or two. In fact, given the chance,

  I would

  snuggle

  under the covers until

  midday!

  But I was up earlier than usual for a good

  reason. Oh, I’m so sorry! I almost forgot

  to introduce myself! My name is Stiltonix,

  Geronimo

  Stiltonix

  , and I’m the captain

  of the MouseStar 1, the most mouserific

  spaceship in the universe. (Honestly, though,

  my secret dream is to be a

  world-famouse

  writer!)

  As I was saying, I had asked my

  personal

  assistant robot

  , Assistatrix, to wake me up

  early that morning. I was planning to enjoy

  a rare day off at MouseStar 1’s mousetastic

  space beach

  . Even the captain deserves

  a little rest and relaxation every once in a

  while, don’t you think?

  So I put on my

  bathing

  suit

  instead of my captain’s uniform, and I

  double-checked my bag to be sure I had all

  the

  essentials

  . . .

  Massaging

  flip-flops

  Sun-shading hat

  Self-drying

  towel

  Snorkeling

  mask

  Floating beach umbrella

  Massaging

  flip-flops . . .

  check!

  Sun-shading

  hat

  . . . here!

  Self-drying towel . . . got it!

  Snorkeling

  mask . . . there it is!

  Floating

  beach umbrella . . .

  yep!

  Digital

  sunglasses

  . . .

  hmmm . . . where were they?

  I couldn’t find them anywhere!

  Where could they be?

  Oh yes,

  how embarrassing!

  They were right on

  top of my head!

  I was ready to go.

  “Beach, here I come!” I cried

  happily. Then I opened my cabin

  door and . . .

  bang!

  I bumped right into my cousin Trap.

  “Wow, Cousin!” he said in

  surprise

  .

  “What are you doing up so early?”

&nbs
p; “N-nothing special,” I mumbled quickly.

  Trap gave me a look. “Oh, really?” he said

  skeptically. “Then why are you

  DRESSED

  like that?”

  “W-well, I w-was . . .” I stuttered.

  My cousin pulled one of my

  flip-

  flops

  out from the top of my bag.

  E

  r

  .

  .

  .

  “Don’t tell me you’re going to the beach

  without

  inviting

  any of your family or

  friends?!” he said.

  Black

  holey

  galaxies

  , he had

  figured it out! Now what was I going to do?

  Don’t get me wrong: I really

  love

  my cousin.

  But I had been looking forward to

  relaxing

  on the beach all by myself. I wanted to focus

  on the new

  book

  I was writing. With Trap

  there, I would be forced to play one beach

  game after another! Sigh.

  “Er

  .

  .

  .

  yes, that’s where I’m going,” I

  confessed. What can I say? I’m an

  honest

  mouse!

  “I knew it!” Trap said

  triumphantly

  .

  “But you’ll be so

  bored

  there by

  yourself. You know what? I’ll get my things

  and come with you!”

  to the beach,

  everyone!

  Benjamin!

  Hi, Uncle!

  In the end, Trap was right: A day at the beach

  is a lot more

  fun

  with good company! So

  I

  called

  my nephew Benjamin; his friend

  Bugsy Wugsy; and my

  sister

  , Thea.

  When we went by to pick them up, they

  were all ready to go.

  “

  Hi,

  Uncle!

  ” my sweet

  nephew exclaimed as he

  jumped into my arms and

  gave me an

  enormouse

  hug.

  “Thanks for inviting us to go

  to the beach with you!”

  “You’re welcome!” I said.

  “Now we’re all here.

  Let’s

  go!

  ”

  “Not so fast, Cheesebrain,” a loud voice

  called. “You weren’t thinking of going to the

  beach without me, were you?”

  It was my grandfather,

  William

  Stiltonix

  ,

  MouseStar 1’s retired admiral (and the

  former captain of the ship!).

  “H-hello, Grandfather,” I stuttered. “I-I

  thought you hated the beach. You know, the

  SUN

  , the space sand

  —”

  “Well, you thought

  wrong

  !” Grandfather

  interrupted me. “Everyone knows

  the

  ocean

  air is good for a

  mouse my age!”

  So we all

  squeezed

  into

  an astrotaxi and sped off

  toward

  MouseStar 1’s very

  own space beach.

  I know it sounds

  impossible

  , dear reader,

  but it’s true! The lower part of our spaceship

  is a natural biosphere that contains various

  habitats: There are very

  tall

  mountains,

  rainforests

  , lakes, and a wide beach

  with golden sand by a

  crystal-clear

  ocean!

  “It’s so beautiful here!” Thea exclaimed

  when we arrived at the beach.

  “You had an

  excellent

  idea this

  time, Cuz,” Trap proclaimed.

  “Yes, an excellent idea, Captain,” said a

  voice behind me.

  I turned around to see

  Sally

  de

  Wrench

  ,

  MouseStar 1’s expert in photon circuitry,

  hyperspace engines, and stellar energy.

  In other words, she’s our ship’s technical

  genius

  ! And she also happens to be the

  loveliest

  rodent in the entire galaxy.

  “I hope I’m not

  intruding

  ,” Sally

  continued. “Thea told me you were coming

  How

  nice!

  From the Encyclopedia Galactica

  Natural biosphere

  This area of the

  MouseStar 1

  includes

  various natural habitats, including an ocean,

  mountains, a desert, and a lake. It’s an ideal

  place for a fabumouse space vacation!

  Catch!

  to the beach, so I thought I’d join in the

  fun.”

  “No, no,” I told Sally, turning as

  red

  as a

  space tomato. “It’s absolutely no bother at

  all. It’s a

  pleasure

  to have you with us!”

  “Okay, okay, enough talking!” Trap

  interrupted us. He was dressed from snout

  to tail in

  swimming

  gear, complete with

  a mask and fins. “Everybody in the ocean!”

  Then he grabbed my paw and pulled

  me toward the water.

  a mysterious

  object

  As you’ve probably figured out by now, I

  love

  the beach. There’s nothing better than

  warm sand under my

  paws

  and the sun on

  my

  fur

  while I clutch a cheese shake with

  a

  floating

  umbrella in one paw.

  Ahhhh!

  While I enjoy taking a gentle dip in the

  ocean to

  cool

  off, though, there’s one thing

  that’s definitely

  not

  for me:

  diving

  !

  But thanks to my cousin Trap, I found myself

  at the top of a cliff with the ocean

  far

  ,

  far

  ,

  far

  below me.

  “Come on!

  Jump!

  ” Trap said, prodding

  me from behind.

  Sally was

  watching

  us from the beach. I

  Jump!

  didn’t want to make

  a fool of myself.

  I leaned out a bit to

  look at the

  sparkling

  water. Suddenly, Trap

  gave me a shove! I

  flew clumsily off

  the cliff, belly

  flopping into the

  ocean below.

  Splash!

  how embarrassing

  !

  When I got out of the

  water

  Trap

  was busy making fun of me.

  “What a flop, Cousin,” he teased.

  “Diving is definitely not your

  forte

  ! Let’s

  play some Frisbix instead.”r />
  “

  Good idea

  ,” I replied, hoping to make

  up for my superstellar flop.

  But the game turned out to be harder than I

  thought

  . I tried to throw the

  Frisbix

  disk along the programmed trajectories, but

  it kept bouncing off course, flipping around

  by itself, and getting

  stuck

  in the sand!

  “Hmm,” Trap said teasingly. “Maybe

  Frisbix isn’t your forte, either. Maybe you

  should go help the mouselings build a

  sand

  spaceship

  !”

  From the Encyclopedia Galactica

  Frisbix

  Frisbix is a favorite game of spacemice

  at the beach or park. To play, mice throw an indestructible

  disk made of stellar steel along various trajectories

  programmed into it. The momentum created by the

  player’s throw determines where and how far the

  disk flies.

  Help!

  I ignored my

  cousin and tried throwing the disk

  again with all my strength.

  Wooooosh!

  Galactic Gorgonzola! I had flung the

  disk so hard I was sure it would stay on

  course now.

  “See!” I shouted proudly. “Look how

  fast

  that disk is flying!”

  Hey, wait a minute

  —

  the disk wasn’t

  stopping

  !

  It soared over Trap’s head, past

  Grandfather William (who was sleeping in

  the

  sun

  ), and landed right in the sand

  spaceship that Benjamin and Bugsy Wugsy

  had just finished building.

  What a disaster!

  I ran over to the mouselings to apologize.

  But before I could utter a word, an ear-

  piercing scream made my

  fur

  stand

  on end.

  “Ouuuuchhhh!”

  When he’d ducked out of the way of the

  flying

  Frisbix disk, Trap had stubbed his

  paw on something in the sand. Sally dug it

  up to see what it was: a perfectly

  smooth

  sphere.

  “Hmmm,” Sally said as she studied the

  object, a

  puzzled

  expression on her snout.

  “This looks like an

  alien

  object. I’m not

  familiar with this

  material

  . . .”

  “Well, why don’t we put it aside so nobody

  else gets

  hurt

  ?” I suggested.

  “Ahem.” Thea cleared