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

  shaking is

  distracting

  me from

  driving!”

  So I tried to sit

  calmly

  in my seat.

  One positive thing was that the

  curling

  effect of the Tail Twister 2000 had worn

  off — my tail was back to normal!

  We continued to cruise through space

  until we heard a

  strange

  buzzing sound.

  “What’s that sound?” Thea asked.

  Zzzzzzzz . . .

  “It’s just Trap,” I replied. “He’s snoring!”

  Bzz . . . bzz . . . bzz . . . Zzzzzzzz . . .

  “No, Trap’s snoring is getting mixed in

  with another sound in the background,”

  Professor Greenfur explained. “Can’t you

  hear

  it?”

  Bzz . . . bzz . . . bzz . . . Zzzzzzzz . . .

  The professor was right: What could it

  be?

  “Trap, wake up!” Thea shouted.

  Only then did I realize where the

  What’s that

  sound?

  B

  z

  z

  z

  z

  z

  z

  z

  Z

  z

  z

  z

  z

  z

  z

  z

  sound

  was coming from: my wrist

  phone! It was

  vibrating

  loudly.

  “It’s me!” I exclaimed. “There’s a call

  coming through!”

  I answered the call with a push of a

  button

  .

  “Hello?” I squeaked.

  Even though the connection was

  terrible

  ,

  I could hear Sally’s voice faintly: “Captain

  Stiltonix, Captain Stiltonix ...

  bzz

  bzz

  .

  .

  .

  I have finally managed to

  BZZ

  BZZ

  . . . get in touch with —”

  “What was that?” I asked. “There’s a lot

  of

  static

  !”

  “Captain, can you hear me?” Sally

  continued. “The connection isn’t working

  properly. It’s as if there is an

  energy

  field

  blocking the

  bzz

  . . .

  bzz

  . . .”

  The buzzing sound cut her off again. It

  was the same type of interstellar interference

  we had heard in the

  control room

  when

  we were trying to listen to the elfix’s message.

  “Captain, Captain!” Sally said loudly. “It

  will be hard to get another connection, so

  please listen

  carefully

  . There’s someone

  else on Twinklix in addition to our elfix

  friends.”

  “Someone else?!” I shouted. “But

  who

  ?”

  There was

  no reply

  : My wrist phone

  had suddenly turned off. But thanks to my

  shouting, Trap was finally awake.

  “What’s going on?” he yelped. “Who woke

  me up?

  Did I miss anything?

  ”

  “Yes, you missed the entire flight!” Thea

  said with a sigh. “Now we’re getting very

  close to

  Twinklix

  . Prepare for

  arrival!”

  Twinklix

  The Planet Twinklix

  I had never

  SEEN

  Twinklix, but I had

  read in the

  Encyclopedia

  Galactica

  that it was a

  beautiful

  planet

  covered in brightly

  colored

  plants.

  But when we landed, I was

  shocked. Everything was dark

  and gray. There was no color

  anywhere

  !

  “

  How

  strange!

  ”

  Professor Greenfur

  exclaimed.

  The space pod had landed near a village

  made up of

  small

  houses with

  pointy

  roofs. The houses were decorated with

  round

  wreaths.

  But instead of the

  bright

  colors

  that

  we had seen in the Encyclopedia Galactica,

  everything here was

  dull

  . Plus, the village

  was shrouded in a damp,

  foggy

  mist.

  What was going on?

  How strange!

  We took a few steps forward, but we

  couldn’t

  see

  a thing.

  Suddenly, we heard a loud sound from

  near our space pod.

  “W-what was that?” I stuttered.

  Was it a scary alien from Venus?

  A horrible, fur-eating monster?

  Crash!

  Huh? What

  was that?

  Crash!

  A dangerous mutant space vegetable?

  The space pod door

  creaked

  open slowly.

  “Uncle G!” squeaked a

  tiny

  voice.

  I breathed a sigh of relief: It was Benjamin

  and Bugsy Wugsy!

  “What are you two doing here?”

  I asked. “I told you this mission

  was too

  dangerous

  !”

  It’s you!

  Uncle G!

  “We want to help the

  elfix

  , too,” Bugsy

  Wugsy explained.

  “Plus, we want to be with you, Uncle!”

  Benjamin added.

  I was touched. The mouselings’

  bravery

  reminded me that I needed to be

  brave

  ,

  too.

  “Okay, you can come,” Thea said. “But no

  more stowing away! You have to stay with us

  all the time. Trap, grab the

  flashlights

  !”

  “Uh, how many are there supposed to

  be?” Trap asked. “I only see

  two

  .”

  “There should be

  FOUR

  ,” I reminded him.

  “Didn’t you pack them?”

  “I thought you were doing it!” he replied.

  “After all, you are the captain!”

  I was about to reply when my sister cut us

  off.

  “We don’t have time to

  argue

  !” Thea

  said in exasperation.

  “We have to find the

  elfix

  !”

  So we began to

  walk through the

  deserted

  village. Trap and I

  held the flashlights,

  but they didn’t

  illuminate

  much. We could barely see two pawsteps in

  front of our snouts!

  Suddenly, Professor Greenfur

  stopped

  walking. I was right on his tail, and I crashed

  into him.

  “

  Ouch!

  ” I sque
aked. “What is it? What’s

  happening? Why did you stop?”

  “Captain, I see

  pawprints

  !” he

  replied.

  to do it!

  You were

  supposed

  No, it was

  your job!

  Pawprints in

  the Dark!

  Pawprints?! Trap pointed his

  flashlight

  at the ground, where we could clearly see

  an enormouse

  pawprint

  on the

  planet’s sandy surface.

  Holey

  craters!

  My

  tail curled up in fear.

  Those pawprints were

  much too

  big

  to

  belong to the elfix.

  “

  Look!

  ” Thea

  exclaimed, pointing

  ahead. “There are more.

  Let’s follow them and

  see where they lead.”

  “

  F-F-FOLLOW THEM?” I stuttered,

  my whiskers

  trembling

  . “A-are you s-s-

  sure that’s a g-good idea?”

  Before we could make up our minds, the

  flashlights suddenly

  went off

  .

  I almost

  jumped

  out of my fur.

  “What’s going on?” I asked, worried.

  I

  checked

  one of the flashlights,

  and it suddenly

  turned back

  on

  , shining

  right in my

  snout!

  Then, two

  astroseconds

  later, the

  light

  went out again.

  “There must

  be some sort of

  What’s

  going on?!

  interstellar interference in this area,”

  Thea pointed out. “That’s probably why

  our

  equipment

  isn’t working very

  well.”

  Suddenly, I was very aware that we were

  on an unusual planet at the edge of the

  cosmos in the complete

  dark

  . Squeak! I

  was so scared, my

  fur

  was standing on

  end!

  Then I realized I hadn’t heard Benjamin

  or Bugsy Wugsy

  SQUEAK

  in a while.

  “Benjamin?” I called out. “Bugsy Wugsy?”

  “We’re right

  here

  , Uncle,” Benjamin

  replied.

  “Great!” I said, trying to sound more

  confident than I felt. “Stay close.”

  A light ahead of us caught my attention

  —

  it looked like a flashlight!

  “Nice work, Trap!” Thea exclaimed. “How

  did you fix the flashlights?”

  “Uh

  .

  .

  .

  well, to be honest, I didn’t do

  anything

  !”

  The next thing I knew, I saw

  two

  ,

  four

  ,

  six

  ,

  eight

  more lights go on!

  Galactic

  Gorgonzola!

  Those lights couldn’t

  have been our flashlights, because we only

  had

  two

  of them!

  I soon realized what they were. The bright

  lights that had looked like flashlights were

  really the

  Eyes

  of some

  mysterious

  aliens!

  W-w-who

  are they?

  Huh?

  Run!

  cauGht!

  I gulped. The aliens were looking at us

  threateningly.

  “Back to the spaceship, quick!” Thea

  yelled. “Come on!

  Run!

  ”

  But the aliens didn’t intend to let us get

  away. They

  set off

  after us faster than a

  falling meteor, caught us, and

  tied

  us

  up tightly like we were

  Night

  of

  the

  DaNciNg

  StarS

  gift

  packages!

  We weren’t able

  to

  move

  a

  whisker. Then

  the

  aliens

  picked us

  up and

  carried us each away. It was

  pitch-

  black

  .

  Stinky space cheese! A thousand questions

  crowded my mind:

  1.

  Who were these mysterious aliens?

  2.

  Where were they taking me?

  And most importantly . . .

  3.

  Where were my friends?

  Then I heard the sound of a door opening,

  and a dim light flooded the space. From the

  corner of my

  eye

  I could see Thea, Trap,

  and Professor Greenfur. We were in a large

  room with a

  hardwood

  floor. But there

  was no sign of Benjamin and Bugsy Wugsy!

  At least we could get a clear look at the

  aliens who had

  mousenapped

  us.

  They were enormouse! Their gray fur was

  matted and tangled, and they had gigantic

  fangs

  hanging from their mouths.

  I glanced at Professor Greenfur to see if

  he seemed familiar with the species. But he

  looked as shocked as I was! I noticed that

  each alien had a

  dark little ball

  at the tip

  of its tail.

  How strange!

  Then a large,

  husky

  alien came toward

  me. He seemed like the

  boss

  . He looked

  me up and down carefully.

  “What mouseoid species are you?” he

  asked menacingly. “We want to know

  why

  you came here and

  what

  you want!”

  “We are spacemice,” I replied, trying

  my best to sound

  firm

  and

  brave

  . “My

  name is Geronimo Stiltonix, and I am the

  captain of the MouseStar 1! These are my

  shipmates. We are here because we received

  a message from our friends the elfix asking

  Hee,

  hee,

  hee!

  Squeak!

  for our help! Now,

  who

  are you? And

  what are you doing on Twinklix?”

  “We are the

  nebulos

  , and we come from

  the planet

  Nebula

  ,” he growled in

  reply. “My name is

  Negativix

  , king of

  the nebulos. We have invaded Twinklix and

  captured all the elfix. Hee, hee, hee!”

  “But

  why

  ?” Thea asked. “And where

  are our friends now?”

  Negativix burst out

  laughing

  .

  “Oh,
they’re safe!” he replied. “But we had

  to imprison them! You see, the

  elfix

  never

  bring us any gifts! Year after year passes,

  and they’ve never come to Nebula. Not even

  once! So we decided to come get the

  gifts

  ourselves. And to make up for lost years,

  we’re forcing the elfix to make presents for

  us

  and only

  us

  !”

  “But surely there’s been a mistake,”

  From the Encyclopedia Galactica

  THE NEBULOS

  Home Planet: Nebula

  Personality:

  Bad-tempered and

  obnoxious

  Distinguishing Mark:

  Each alien

  has a mysterious dark ball at the

  tip of its tail.

  Motto:

  “When the gifts don’t come

  to us, we go take them without a

  fuss!”

  Professor Greenfur said simply. “The elfix

  are

  good

  and

  gentle

  . They wouldn’t

  have skipped Nebula on purpose! They

  drive their star sled all over the universe,

  delivering gifts to

  everyone

  .”

  But Negativix just shook his head.

  “What I say is true,” he replied. “We poor

  nebulos have

  never

  received anything

  from the elfix.”

  They’ve

  never

  given

  us

  anything!

  “But couldn’t you have talked to them

  first?” Thea suggested. “You didn’t have to

  imprison

  them!”

  “Enough!” Negativix growled. “It’s

  too

  late

  now. And we can’t let you get in the way

  of our plan. Guards, take these spacemice to

  prison

  immediately!”

  He signaled to two aliens behind him. We

  tried to fight back, but the nebulos were

  much

  bigger

  and

  stronger

  than we were. They lifted us and carried us

  down

  a steep staircase. Then one guard

  opened the door to a room with many cells.

  The other alien tossed us into a cell and

  locked it behind us.

  We were in big trouble!

  a

  brave

  little

  elfix

  The situation was as prickly as a Plutonian

  thorn bush: We were in a

  dark

  cell with

  iron

  bars all around us and no way out!

  “Now what do we do?” Trap asked,

  sounding discouraged.

  Thea sat next to him on the floor,

  looking worried.

  “We’re in big