Beware! Space Junk! (Geronimo Stilton Spacemice #7) Read online

  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!

  Geronimo Stilton

  PROFESSOR

  PAWS VON VOLT

  Grandfather

  william stiltonix

  robotix

  benjamin

  stiltonix

  and buGsy

  wuGsy

  Geronimo

  stiltonix

  traP

  stiltonix

  thea

  stiltonix

  BEWARE!

  SPACE JUNK!

  Scholastic Inc.

  Copyright © 2015 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, transmit-

  ted, 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 hereafter 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 978-0-545-87531-8

  Text by Geronimo Stilton

  Original title Pericolo spazzatura spaziale!

  Cover by Flavio Ferron

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

  Graphics by Francesca Sirianni

  Special thanks to AnnMarie Anderson

  Translated by Julia Heim

  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!

  AN ANNUAL

  INSPECTION

  It was a calm Monday on the spaceship

  MouseStar 1. There were no

  cosmic

  disturbances, no

  alien invasions

  in the galaxy, and no

  UNKNOWN

  planets on the horizon.

  Basically, it was a stress-free day, which

  hadn’t happened in

  weeks

  ,

  months

  , or

  maybe even

  years

  !

  I was about to sit back

  in my command chair, kick up my paws, and

  put the spaceship on autopilot.

  Then suddenly . . .

  What was that

  annoying

  noise?

  I looked at the screen in front of me. My

  BEEP!

  BEEEEP!

  BEEEEEEP!

  Captain’s

  calendar

  URGENT

  MEETING

  DIGITAL CALENDAR

  had an urgent

  meeting on it. Galactic Gorgonzola, I had

  completely

  forgotten

  !

  Oh, excuse me, I haven’t introduced

  myself: My name is Stiltonix,

  Geronimo

  Stiltonix

  . I’m the captain of the MouseStar 1,

  the most fabumouse spaceship in the

  universe (though to

  be honest, my

  real dream

  is to be a

  writer!). Now,

  where was I? Oh,

  yes: According to my digital

  calendar, today was the MouseStar 1’s

  annual

  mechanical

  inspection.

  I was scheduled to tour the ship with

  our mechanic, Sally de Wrench. We would

  closely

  examine

  the motor room, the

  boiler room, the garbage storage room, and

  a

  zillion

  other places.

  Stellar Swiss!

  I was so

  nervous

  about

  the inspection that my fur was soaked with

  sweat. You probably think I was

  afraid

  the ship wouldn’t pass the tests! But the

  real reason for my anxiety was Sally de

  Wrench. You see, she is the most

  fascinating

  mouse in the entire galaxy, and I have an

  enormouse

  crush on her!

  Every time I see her, my legs go as soft as

  cream cheese, my squeak gets stuck in my

  throat, and

  my brain turns to Brie

  !

  As I was thinkin
g about Sally, MouseStar

  1’s onboard computer, Hologramix, spoke

  up.

  “

  Sally

  de

  Wrench

  is waiting for

  you on the lower level!”

  I began to

  tremble

  from the ends of

  my whiskers to the

  tip of my tail. I tried

  to get out of my

  command chair, but

  my paws were heavier

  than wheels of aged

  Parmesan and my

  knees

  wobbled

  like

  sticks of string cheese.

  Unfortunately, my

  cousin Trap was

  sitting next to me,

  playing

  space

  checkers against his

  computer.

  “What’s up, Cuz?”

  he asked. “You seem

  stuck

  !”

  “N-no, it’s nothing,”

  I stammered, my snout turning red with

  embarrassment. “I was just getting up.”

  Trap took one look at me and

  figured

  out

  what was going on.

  “Looks like someone is

  afraid

  to be

  alone with Sally, hmm?” he teased me.

  sweet as honey

  on cheese!

  Trap

  pushed

  me toward the door of

  the command center.

  “Cousin, you are as

  sweet on Sally

  as honey on cheese,” he said, shaking his

  snout. “But

  luckily

  I’m here to help

  you. Let’s go

  —

  you don’t want to keep her

  waiting!”

  Mousy

  meteorites!

  Trap wanted to

  come with me for the inspection. I knew

  he would only make me feel even more

  embarrassed

  ! But before I could

  protest, my cousin had grabbed me by the

  paw and pushed me into the

  liftrix

  , the

  special elevator that transports spacemice

  from one floor of our spaceship to another.

  As soon as I stepped into the liftrix, a jet

  of air whisked me down to the lower levels

  of the MouseStar 1.

  “Ahhhh!” I squeaked, caught off guard.

  In one galactic second, I

  tumbled

  out of the glass tube and onto the floor of

  the lower level of the spaceship. I was about

  to get up, when . . .

  BAM!

  Trap

  crashed

  into me like an out-of-

  orbit meteorite!

  “

  Whoops

  ,” my cousin

  squeaked. “Sorry, Geronimo!”

  Before I could

  get out

  from

  under him, I heard a sweet

  female

  voice.

  “Are you okay, Captain

  ?”

  the voice asked. “What

  happened?”

  Sally de Wrench

  was

  right in front of me.

  Holey moon craters!

  How embarrassing!

  I got to my paws and tried to think of

  something

  intelligent

  to say. But as I

  stood there staring at Sally’s big

  blue

  eyes,

  my thoughts vanished like

  cheese

  in a black

  hole!

  Luckily, Trap came to my rescue.

  “A pressure problem inside the liftrix

  made us lose our

  balance

  !” he

  fibbed.

  “Oh, my,” Sally replied. “I’ll be

  sure to take a look at that later.

  Now, are you ready to begin our

  inspection

  , Captain?”

  “N-no,” I stuttered. “I mean,

  y-yes!”

  Trap

  pinched

  me on the tail.

  YIKES!

  I had to get my nerves under

  control!

  I cleared my throat and did my best to

  sound

  confident

  .

  “Yes, I’m ready!”

  Trap patted me on the shoulder so

  hard

  I almost fell over again.

  “Good,” he said with a wink. “I’ll head

  back to the

  command

  center

  , then.

  See you later, Cuz!”

  And so I

  set

  out

  on my inspection of

  the

  MouseStar 1 with Sally as my guide. She

  explained all the

  technical

  details to

  me as we toured the spaceship. Even though

  I’m the captain, I have to admit that I don’t

  have a

  CLUE

  about how the ship works!

  It’s a good thing Sally is such an

  excellent

  mechanic.

  “Well, that’s

  everything

  , Captain!”

  Sally announced after we had completed

  our inspection of the craft’s

  air filters

  .

  I tried to think of something witty to

  squeak

  so that I’d get just a little

  more time with Sally, but my mind went

  completely

  blank

  .

  “Um, er, e-e-everything seems to be okay!”

  I stuttered.

  Sally

  smiled

  .

  “If you need any further explanations, just

  let me know,” she said kindly.

  Then she shook my paw and

  walked off.

  The touch of her paw made

  me turn

  redder

  than

  the planet Mars. Oh, I’m such a

  hopeless

  romantic

  !

  DON’T BE LATE!

  As soon as I returned to the

  command

  center

  , Trap practically jumped on my

  tail.

  “So, how did it go?” he asked.

  “Well, Sally did

  shake

  my paw,” I said

  with a sigh. “But I couldn’t think of anything

  intelligent to say!”

  “When’s the next inspection?” Trap asked.

  “Not for another six months,” I replied.

  “But that’s such a

  long

  time from now!”

  my cousin said with a

  gasp

  .

  “That’s the protocol,” I said with a shrug.

  “And I’ll have plenty of time to write my

  novel in the meantime.”

  Trap shook his head. Then he got a

  mischievous

  gleam

  in his eye. That look

  meant only one thing:

  trouble!

  “Wh-what is it?” I asked, suddenly very

  worried

  . My cousin always seems to come up

  with the most

  IMPOSSIBLE

  schemes!

  “Geronimo, what do you say we have a

  nice dinner together tonight?” he asked

  innocently.

  “Thanks, bu
t I’m very busy —” I began.

  “Come on!” he said, cutting me off. “We

  can have a

  fondue feast

  ! We never spend

  any quality time together.”

  Hmm. I considered his proposal. The

  MouseStar 1’s chef, Squizzy,

  does make

  delicious

  fondue.

  “Oh, all right,” I said. “You convinced

  me! After all, it’s easier to write on a

  full

  stomach

  .”

  “Meet me at eight at the Space Yum Café,”

  Trap ordered. “And don’t be late!”

  I headed back to my room to get ready.

  As soon as I opened the door, my personal

  assistant robot,

  Assistatrix

  ,

  grabbed me, lifted me up, and dropped me

  in my

  SparkleMousix

  shower pod.

  “

  Help!

  ” I squeaked. “Let me go!”

  But Assistatrix

  ignored

  me. A

  moment later, my fur was being scrubbed,

  rinsed, and dried.

  Then it was time to get

  dressed

  .

  “Captain, I suggest you wear a

  dinner

  jacket

  and your

  tie

  with the galaxies on

  it,” Assistatrix said.

  “Dinner jacket?!”

  I protested. “But

  I’m not going to an

  interstellar gala!”

  “Your cousin

  advised

  me to dress you

  elegantly

  ! ”

  Assistatrix said.

  “But you’re my

  personal assistant

  robot, not Trap’s,”

  I replied. “You’re

  supposed to do

  what I —”

  Before I could

  finish my sentence,

  though, Assistatrix

  had slipped the suit

  over my head

  and sprayed

  me in a cloud

  of

  Cosmic

  Cheddar

  cologne

  !

  Then it nudged me out of my room with

  a firm

  shove

  .

  “Hurry, Captain,” it yelled. “You’re already

  late!”

  I looked around, hoping to catch an

  astrotaxi

  to the Space Yum Café.

  Then I heard a little voice behind me.

  “

  Uncle G!

  You look so elegant!”

  It was my sweet nephew

  Benjamin

  and his friend

  Bugsy Wugsy

  !

  “Hi!” I greeted them. “I’m meeting Trap