Rescue Rebellion (Geronimo Stilton Spacemice #5) Read online

  Professor Greenfur looked at the mouselets

  and then rested his gaze on me.

  “Captain, there is one other possibility,”

  he said seriously. “We can secure the net

  manually

  !”

  the last

  resort

  There are times when the captain has to

  show he’s a real

  leader

  . At these times,

  everyone counts on the captain to make the

  right decision in a

  stressful

  situation.

  This was one of those times!

  “

  GRANDSON!

  ” my

  grandfather barked.

  “

  Why

  are you

  still standing there?

  Take action!

  Hurry up and put on

  your

  spacesuit

  .

  We have a planet

  to save! Snap to it!

  Snap!

  Snaaaaaap!

  ”

  Grandfather William’s

  booming

  voice

  penetrated my thoughts.

  “Got it, Grandson?” he shouted again.

  Of course I got it! The only way to save

  Jurassix

  from destruction was for me to fly

  out into space and manually harness the net

  around the comet. And everything had to be

  done incredibly

  quickly

  because the

  comet was going to

  crash

  into Jurassix

  in less than an

  hour

  !

  I knew what I had to do, but truth be told,

  I was

  scared

  . I would have to go out into

  deep space all by

  myself

  !

  Luckily, Thea seemed to sense my

  fear

  .

  “Okay, I’m ready,”she announced

  calmly

  .

  “I’m going with you, Geronimo!”

  What a brave

  and

  courageous

  sister I had! Still, I continued to

  tremble

  with fear. The mission in space was going to

  be very, very

  dangerous

  !

  “Uncle, we have

  faith

  in you!” squeaked a

  reassuring

  little

  voice. It was Benjamin, of

  course. “You’re the best uncle

  in the whole

  universe

  !”

  Ahhh, my sweet little nephew.

  What would I do without him?

  Before I could change my mind, I

  put on my spacesuit and headed

  toward the exit

  hatch

  .

  Just as I was about to

  open the door, I felt a

  HUGE

  claw clamp

  down on my shoulder. I turned and saw an

  enormouse tear

  sliding

  down Reginald’s

  worried face.

  “Grrooowwl roar frrrr!”

  *I’m sorry!

  “He says he’s moved by

  the great

  risk

  you

  are taking to save

  his planet,” Robotix

  translated. “Also, he’s

  sorry he tried to

  eat

  you.”

  I smiled at him. “Well,

  we all make mistakes!”

  a Walk

  in Space

  When the

  hatch

  first opened, I was

  paralyzed with fear. The comet was right

  in front of me, but beyond that was

  outer

  space

  ! As a spacemouse, I had gone through

  six galactic months of training to learn how

  to use my

  special

  spacesuit, how to

  walk

  and

  float

  in space, and even how to make

  basic

  repairs to the MouseStar 1. But it had

  been a long time since I had gone through

  training. Now that I needed to use those

  skills

  , I couldn’t remember a

  thing

  !

  I heard a

  voice

  through my helmet’s

  headphones.

  “Hurry up, Geronimo,” Thea squeaked.

  “Jump!”

  “O-okay, I’m

  coming!” I tried to

  sound

  confident

  ,

  but I was so scared my

  legs felt as soft as

  Brie

  !

  I took a

  deep

  breath and

  jumped into space! Then I activated

  the small motor on my spacesuit that

  would allow me to

  move

  around.

  But when I pushed the button,

  I

  jolted

  forward, losing my

  balance! Suddenly, I was

  hanging

  upside

  down

  !

  Solar-smoked Gouda!

  I couldn’t turn around!

  “Ger, what are you

  doing?” Thea asked.

  “To regain your

  equilibrium

  ,

  you just have to

  move your arms!”

  I began

  flapping

  my arms and legs

  like crazy. After

  a lot of effort, I

  finally got back

  into a

  vertical

  position. Then Thea

  and I moved toward

  the comet together.

  But a moment later,

  I found myself

  inside a

  cloud

  of

  stardust. I couldn’t

  even

  see

  my own

  whiskers!

  Galactic Gorgonzola!

  I was lost in space!

  “Thea, where are you?” I

  shouted into my space helmet.

  “I’m right in front of you,” she

  replied. “Don’t you

  see

  me?

  Come

  forward

  slowly!”

  Slowly?

  That

  was easier said

  than done!

  I could

  barely hold myself

  upright, much less

  control my speed.

  In fact, I inadvertently

  turned up the speed of

  the motor in my spacesuit.

  I

  took

  off

  like a bolt of lightning

  and smacked right into my sister!

  “OOOF! SORRY!”

  “Well, at least we found each other,” Thea

  said. “From now on, hold on to me. We can’t

  afford to

  lose

  each other!”

  A few minutes later, we found ourselves

  right in front of the

  enormouse

  comet.

  “Take out the space net,” Thea instructed

  me. “We’re close enough to launch it now!”

  I turned and saw that the comet was very,

  very close to

  Jurassix

  .

  “I hope this works,” I whispered to myself,

&n
bsp; crossing my paws for good

  luck

  .

  a speck of

  Moss Dust

  Thea and I floated on either side of the

  comet, ready to

  launch

  the space net.

  “We’re almost there, Ger!” Thea said. “I’ll

  throw the net around the comet, and you’ll

  have to tighten it —”

  Suddenly, sparks shot out of the

  comet

  .

  One of them hit Thea, and she dropped the

  net. I was able to retrieve it quickly, but Thea

  wasn’t responding. She had

  fainted

  !

  I shook her and shook her until she came

  to.

  “Would you please stop

  shaking

  me

  Zzzaaaap!

  like a cream cheese milkshake?” she said in

  a wobbly voice.

  I breathed a deep sigh of relief.

  “I’m so glad you’re

  okay

  !” I replied.

  “You gave me a real

  galactic

  fright!”

  “I’m okay, except my paws feel a little

  numb

  ,” she admitted. “I must have gotten

  too close to the comet and been

  hit

  by the

  sparks.”

  “I have to take you right back to the

  MOUSESTAR

  1

  !” I told her.

  “No,” Thea said firmly. “We don’t have

  time. You must get the net on the comet

  quickly

  . Otherwise everything we’ve

  done so far is for nothing!

  Come on!

  ”

  I

  sighed

  .

  I knew my sister was right. But would I

  be able to do it by

  myself

  ? I thought again

  of Benjamin and Bugsy Wugsy, and of

  Reginald’s

  big

  ,

  worried eyes. There

  was no question about it.

  It was up to me to

  save the

  planet

  !

  I couldn’t possibly let the spacemice

  —

  or

  the cosmosaurs — down. So I picked up the

  space net once more,

  shook

  it out, and

  tried to center it on the comet. But I lost

  my equilibrium and began

  rolling

  around

  again!

  “Be strong, Ger,” Thea said encouragingly.

  “You can do it!”

  She was right. I

  could

  do it! I managed

  to stop

  spinning

  . Then I gathered all

  my

  strength

  and picked up the space

  net. Suddenly, what looked like a

  tiny

  speck of Jurassix moss dust floated in front

  of me and landed on my nose. I felt the usual

  ITCH

  . . .

  “

  Oh no!

  ” I squeaked. “

  No, no, no.

  Not now!

  “Aaaaachooooo!”

  The sneeze made me lose my balance

  again

  ! I started rolling head over tail.

  When I regained control, I couldn’t believe

  my

  eyes

  . The comet was perfectly wrapped

  and harnessed inside the space net!

  “You rock, Ger!” Thea exclaimed. “That

  was

  perfectly executed

  ! Now let’s get back

  to the space shuttle. We have a comet to tow

  away from Jurassix!”

  I took Thea’s arm. Then we followed

  the safety

  cable

  all the way back to

  MouseStar 1.

  engines on!

  full Speed ahead!

  When our

  paws

  were firmly planted

  back on the MouseStar 1, we were greeted

  with a big

  cheer

  . But the mission wasn’t

  complete yet: We still had to

  tow the

  comet

  away from Jurassix.

  “Spacemice, to your posts!” I ordered.

  “There’s no time to

  lose

  ! Engines on! Full

  speed ahead!”

  The

  display

  signaled that

  we had exactly

  four minutes and

  fifty-two seconds

  before the comet

  crashed

  into Jurassix!

  “Roger that, Captain!” Thea replied.

  Then she revved up the engines to full

  speed. We looked out the window and saw

  that the net was

  stretching

  ! Would

  it hold?

  What if the comet was too

  heavy

  for

  the

  MouseStar 1 to move?

  What if the professor had made a

  mistake

  in his calculations?

  What if . . .

  Suddenly, the ship began to

  inch

  forward

  . . .

  But Professor Greenfur was worried.

  “The engines are working too

  hard

  ,” he

  said anxiously. “The comet is too

  heavy

  !”

  “Thea, give it more

  power

  !” I

  shouted.

  Black-holey galaxies!

  Everything began to

  tremble

  . I held on

  tightly to my seat so I wouldn’t

  roll

  to the

  floor! The comet was now very, very close to

  Jurassix. The countdown clock showed just

  one minute

  remaining before impact . . .

  Then

  fifty seconds

  !

  Forty . . . thirty . . .

  twenty . . . ten . . .

  A golden cloud of

  space

  dust

  rose

  from the collision as thousands of sparks

  streaked across space.

  MouseStar 1 suddenly

  accelerated

  ,

  pulling the comet along with it. Then the

  comet began to

  spin

  . At that point, we

  released the space net. The comet moved

  away from us like an enormouse top,

  whirling

  wildly toward the asteroid

  Solitarius.

  “In a few minutes, the comet will

  hit

  Solitarius,” Professor Greenfur announced.

  “Come,

  look

  !”

  We all held our breath as we looked out

  the window, waiting for the comet and the

  asteroid to collide.

  Wow! What a show!

  It was as if we were watching an exhibition

  of interplanetary

  fireworks

  !

  “Uncle G, this is even better than a

  5-D

  mega mouserific movie

  , isn’t it?”

  Benjamin whispered as he hugged me tightly.

  “It sure is!” I answered my little nephew

  with a

  smile

  .r />
  I had already

  forgotten

  that this

  entire adventure had started just one day ago

  at the movie theater. So much had happened

  since then that it seemed as if an entire lunar

  century had gone by. But most important,

  we had

  accomplished

  our goal:

  Jurassix was finally

  safe!

  *Hooray!

  PUT YOUR

  PAW HERE!

  Thea slowed

  MOUSESTAR

  1’S

  engines.

  Mission accomplished! We had done it. We

  hugged one another

  happily

  .

  Robotix and I approached Reginald.

  “We did it,” I told him. “Your planet is

  safe

  !”

  He looked at me suspiciously.

  “Grrrowlll frooar?” he roared

  softly

  .

  “He’s asking if you’re sure,” translated

  Robotix.

  “Absolutely!” I replied, smiling at him.

  “The

  comet

  will no longer be a danger

  to anyone!”

  The cosmosaur breathed a

  sigh

  of relief.

  * Thank you!

  “Spacemice, you’ve saved my planet,” he

  said through Robotix. “You’re

  awesome

  !

  Put your

  paw

  here!”

  He took my paw and

  squeezed

  it so hard

  he almost

  CRUSHED

  it!

  Thea turned the ship and headed to Jurassix

  to take Reginald home. This time, the

  cosmosaurs

  welcomed us

  like heroes.

  They had

  seen the

  comet

  crash

  into Solitarius. Reginald

  explained we were the ones who had

  changed

  the comet’s course and saved

  their home!

  Benjamin and Bugsy Wugsy found their

  little friend

  Fred

  with a bunch of other

  cute, gentle baby cosmosaurs. When we

  were all gathered together, King Rex the

  Sixteenth made a speech.

  “I want to thank our new friends, the

  spacemice