Away in a Star Sled (Geronimo Stilton Spacemice #8) Read online

  gets involved, I’m the one who gets into

  trouble

  !

  Before I could stop him, my cousin

  grabbed

  the Tail Twister 2000.

  “Let’s try this thing, Ger!” Trap said

  enthusiastically. “In just a few seconds, I’ll

  give you a really modern

  space tailstyle

  !”

  He pressed the button, and the Tail Twister

  2000 began to

  buzz

  loudly.

  Black holey galaxies!

  That contraption

  2.

  . . . then it pinched

  my tail . . .

  Let’s

  do this!

  Almost

  done

  Ouch!

  Huh?

  1.

  The Tail Twister 2000

  started to buzz . . .

  3.

  . . . and twisted it into

  an enormouse curl!

  pinched

  my entire tail! A second later, Trap

  stepped back and smiled, looking very

  pleased

  with himself.

  “Ta-da! What a

  mousterpiece

  !” he

  said.

  I turned to take a look.

  Solar-smoked Gouda! My tail was

  completely

  curled

  ! I looked ridiculous. That

  tail certainly was not fit for the CAPTAIN

  of a

  spaceship! I wanted to

  cry

  .

  What?!

  Ta-da!

  “Isn’t it great?” Trap said with a chuckle.

  “Don’t you know that curls are the

  latest fashion

  in the whole

  galaxy?”

  “There’s nothing to

  laugh

  about, Trap!”

  I replied.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I could see

  that Professor Greenfur and Benjamin were

  laughing

  , too.

  I was about to return to my cabin with

  my

  curly

  tail between my legs when

  Hologramix, the MouseStar 1’s computer,

  appeared in front of me, yelling:

  Mousey meteorites! What could have

  happened?

  “Yellow alert!

  Yellow alert!

  Yellow alert!”

  I Might Toss

  My Cheese . . .

  We all raced out of the lab and headed

  toward the

  control room

  .

  “Hurry, Uncle G!” Benjamin squeaked.

  “Something

  serious

  must have

  happened.”

  He was right: The yellow alert kept getting

  LOUDER and

  louder

  !

  “Let’s take the

  liftrix

  !” Professor

  Greenfur suggested.

  Oh no! Not the liftrix! Do you know what

  the liftrix is?

  It’s a big

  glass

  tube

  that transports

  passengers on the MouseStar 1 from one

  floor to another. It uses a very strong

  H

  e

  e

  e

  e

  e

  e

  e

  e

  e

  e

  l

  p

  !

  jet of air

  to lift

  mice up or lower

  them down to the

  desired floor.

  Every time I

  use it, I get off

  with my whiskers

  trembling

  and my stomach

  in my throat. I

  was about to

  suggest taking an

  astrotaxi

  instead

  when Trap grabbed

  me and pushed me

  into the liftrix.

  “

  Let’s

  goooo

  !

  ” he

  shouted.

  A stream of air

  LIFTED

  us and pushed us up as if we

  were missiles headed toward a faraway

  planet. When I got off, I felt like I was about

  to

  toss my cheese

  ! I will

  never

  ,

  ever

  ,

  ever

  get used to the liftrix!

  Ugh! I feel

  so sick!

  Interstellar

  Interference

  As soon as we arrived in the control

  room, Grandfather William began

  scolding me.

  “Geronimo!” he exclaimed. “Where have

  you been? Didn’t you hear the

  YELLOW

  ALERT

  ? A yellow alert means you have

  to get to the control room

  right

  away

  .

  I mean

  im-me-di-ate-ly

  ! In fact, you

  should have been here before you even

  heard

  the alert!”

  Huh?

  How was that even possible?

  I was about to reply when Grandfather

  continued.

  “And

  what in the name of cheddar

  Where

  were you?

  happened to your

  TAIL

  ?” he squeaked.

  “Uh, well, you see

  —” I began, but he cut

  me off.

  “Not now, Geronimo!” Grandfather

  bellowed at me. “We don’t have time

  for chitchat. There’s a very

  serious

  problem!”

  Great galaxies! My whiskers

  trembled

  with worry, and it wasn’t just because of the

  serious problem. I had just noticed Sally de

  Wrench

  staring

  at my curled tail!

  How embarrassing!

  Luckily, my sister, Thea,

  brought me back to the present.

  Uh . ..

  “Geronimo, the situation is really serious,”

  she said gravely. “We have received a

  MYSTERIOUS

  message from Twinklix.”

  “

  Twinklix?

  ” I gasped. “Are the

  elfix in trouble? Let’s listen to the message

  right away!”

  “Of course, Captain,” Sally replied. “But

  the message isn’t very

  clear

  . We seem

  to be experiencing some

  interstellar

  interference

  .”

  “Huh?” I asked.

  “Our sound system’s

  functionality

  is not ideal,” Sally explained.

  I still didn’t have a

  clue

  what she was

  talking about. Thea must have seen it on my

  snout.

  “Basically, there’s a lot of

  static

  ,

  Geronimo,” my sister explained.

  Sally pressed the button to play the

  “Ugh!” Trap groaned, putting his paws

  over his ears. “What an

  awful

  sound! I

  couldn’t understand a thing!”

  “Clearly we need to stabilize the

  sound

  input

  and adjust the

&nbs
p; magnetic waves

  ,”

  Hologramix chimed in.

  I looked at the computer blankly. But I

  didn’t want Sally to know I was

  clueless

  again!

  “Well, why didn’t

  you say so?” I said

  instead. “Sally,

  please

  stabilize

  the sound input

  message, but all we heard was:

  b

  zzzzzzzz

  zz

  zzz

  zz . . .

  and

  adjust

  the magnetic waves!”

  Sally nodded and immediately started

  pushing

  buttons and

  flipping

  switches.

  “There!” she exclaimed. “Now the sound

  system should work!”

  The reception was still fuzzy, but we were

  finally able to make out some of the message:

  “H-h-help! Bzzzz . . . bzz . . . W-w-we

  are . . . bzz . . . bzz . . . prison . . . bzz!”

  The message stopped abruptly.

  “

  We are prison?

  ” Trap asked. “What

  does that mean?”

  “I think it means ‘we are

  prisoners

  ’!”

  Benjamin squeaked.

  The room became

  silent

  . You

  could have heard a slice of cheese drop. It

  sounded like the elfix had been elf-napped!

  A Mission for

  the Spacemice!

  We were all stunned. Our friends

  the elfix were in

  trouble

  — it

  sounded like they were being held

  against their will! But

  who had

  taken them? And

  why

  ? And,

  most importantly,

  what

  were we going to do

  about it

  ?

  “We have to head to

  Twinklix right away!”

  Thea exclaimed. “That

  way we can figure out what

  happened and what we need to do next.

  This is a mission for the

  spacemice

  !”

  “Thea is right,” Professor Greenfur agreed.

  “We can’t waste any time. The elfix may be

  in

  danger

  !”

  “We’re coming, too!”

  Benjamin

  and

  Bugsy Wugsy

  shouted

  together. “We want to

  help you save the elfix.”

  I hated to disappoint

  them, but I shook my head.

  “I’m sorry, but you

  two can’t come along,” I

  explained gently. “It might

  be

  dangerous

  !”

  Benjamin and Bugsy Wugsy

  looked crestfallen.

  “Well, I could stay on the spaceship with

  them . . .” Trap offered slyly.

  Martian

  mozzarella!

  My cousin was trying to get out of going on

  We’re

  coming, too!

  the mission with us! That sneaky rat.

  Thankfully, Grandfather William set Trap

  straight.

  “I don’t think so, Trap!” Grandfather

  bellowed. “We’ll need

  everyone

  on board to help save the elfix

  —

  including

  you. And of course Geronimo will be the

  commander

  of the expedition. After

  all, he is the captain of the MouseStar 1!”

  Grandfather was right, but I was still as

  scared as a mouse being chased by a cat!

  “Of course I’ll lead the expedition,” I

  squeaked, trying to sound more

  confident

  than I felt. “But who

  —

  or what

  —

  are we

  looking for?”

  “Captain Stiltonix is right!” Professor

  Greenfur exclaimed. “We don’t know who

  GULP!

  took the elfix, or why! The elfix are such

  sweet

  and

  gentle

  creatures. Everyone

  in the cosmos

  loves

  them. What in space

  could have happened?”

  “There’s only one way to find out,”

  Thea replied

  firmly

  . “We must leave for

  Twinklix right away!”

  If only I was as

  brave

  and

  courageous

  as my sister, Thea!

  GULP!

  A Real Captain

  Does the

  Right Thing

  We started planning the

  mission to Twinklix

  immediately.

  I

  had no idea what

  to expect when we

  arrived. Would we

  come

  snout-to-

  snout

  with giant

  blue aliens with purple

  tentacles when we landed

  our spaceship? Or would spotted

  green aliens with enormouse teeth

  attack

  us?

  Who knew?

  Help!

  My whiskers

  shook

  with fear. I really

  don’t like going on dangerous missions

  —

  “Geronimo,” Grandfather William said

  seriously. “There is a time to

  sit back

  and watch, and there is a time to

  take

  action

  . A real captain does the right

  thing.”

  Solar

  Swiss

  ! Grandfather was right. I

  knew what I had to do: save the elfix!

  Just then Sally asked, “Captain, are you

  ready to be teletransported?”

  “Absolutely,” I replied as confidently as

  I could. Then I bravely stepped onto the

  Teletransportix platform along with Thea,

  Trap, and Professor Greenfur. I closed my

  eyes and took a

  deep breath

  . . .

  I really

  don’t

  like

  being teletransported

  I just want to be a writer!

  around the galaxy. I’m afraid I’ll

  lose some

  whiskers

  or the

  tip

  of

  my

  nose

  or an

  entire

  ear

  during the

  molecular transfer.

  Yikes!

  I opened my eyes

  again, relieved that

  the transfer was over.

  But I was

  shocked

  : We

  hadn’t moved an

  inch

  !

  “What’s going on?” Trap

  snapped grumpily.

  “I don’t know,” Sally replied. “It’s very

  weird

  .”

  Then she pressed the Teletransportix

  switch for the second time.

  “

  Still nothing!

  ” Thea said.

  Yikes!

  Ahhhh!

  Huh?

  We

  haven’t

  moved!

  Why not?

  Sally tried
one more time . . .

  Still no luck!

  “It looks like the Teletransportix is

  broken,” Sally said.

  Professor Greenfur examined the machine

  carefully.

  “It’s not the

  Teletransportix

  !”

  he announced. “It looks like something is

  blocking

  the atmosphere and Twinklix.

  That’s why we can’t teleport ourselves. We

  have to find a

  different

  way to

  get there!”

  Phew!

  I was relieved. Now I wouldn’t

  have to worry about my whiskers! But I

  had another problem: How would we get to

  Twinklix?

  “I know!” Thea chimed in. “We can take

  my

  space pod

  !”

  “Great plan,” Sally said. Then she smiled

  right at me. “

  Good luck with the

  mission, Captain!

  ”

  My fur turned as red as a cheese rind.

  Did

  this mean she liked me?

  I said good-bye to Benjamin and Bugsy

  Wugsy and climbed into the space pod

  with Thea, Professor Greenfur, and Trap.

  Moments later, we were on our way to

  Twinklix

  .

  Good luck!

  See you

  soon!

  Let the Mission

  Begin!

  During the

  flight

  , Professor Greenfur

  organized his scientific equipment. He had

  brought

  a

  lot

  of it with him!

  “Do you really think we’ll need all that

  stuff, Professor?” I asked.

  “Well, you never know,” he replied. “I’d

  rather be prepared for anything. After

  all, we might encounter fur-

  eating

  microorganisms

  ,

  intergalactic

  insects

  , or

  pirate

  spacecats

  !

  There are so many

  dangerous

  things

  in the Cheddar Galaxy.”

  How scary!

  Galactic Gorgonzola! D-d-dangerous?

  I began to

  shake

  and turned as

  pale

  as

  lunar mozzarella.

  “Hey, Cuz, stop

  shaking

  so much!” Trap scolded

  me. “The space pod is

  lurching back and forth.

  I can’t get any sleep!”

  He yawned loudly and

  leaned back in his seat,

  closing his eyes.

  “How can you

  sleep

  right now?!” I asked,

  exasperated.

  But then Thea got on my

  case, too.

  “Trap’s right, Ger!” she squeaked. “This