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

  the first wise one explained.

  We all stepped closer to the chest,

  eager

  to see what was inside.

  “Let’s hurry up and open it!” Trap said

  impatiently. “I’m so curious, and my tummy’s

  really

  grumbling!”

  Then he stepped up to the chest and

  placed the sphere in one of

  the two round

  openings

  in the middle.

  We all held our breath,

  waiting to hear the

  clicking

  sound of the

  lock. Instead, the chest projected a

  blue

  ray of light

  that spelled out this message:

  “The chest of light will

  open for you.

  Just place the second

  sphere here, too!”

  The wise ones shook their heads.

  “There are two keys!” the third one said.

  “Our ancestors created

  two

  spheres, but

  both were lost!”

  We were all

  disappointed.

  “Then we came all this way for

  nothing?”

  Sally asked sadly.

  Before anyone could reply, we heard a

  cackle behind us.

  “Oh, this is going to be good!”

  We all turned around.

  Black holey galaxies: It was

  Black Star

  ,

  captain of the

  pirate spacecats

  !

  How did I recognize him, you might ask?

  It’s simple: Every mouse in the

  Cheddar

  Galaxy

  knows about the terrible pirate

  spacecats and their ruthless captain, Black

  Star. Plus, he has a

  big black star

  on his forehead! The pirate spacecats

  love to invade different planets and steal

  whatever

  precious

  treasures they

  can find. They’re

  feared

  across the

  galaxy!

  I tried to contact Thea immediately. But

  my helmet

  microphone

  seemed to be on

  mute.

  BLACK STAR

  Captain of the pirate spacecats

  Species:

  Feline

  Specialty:

  Attacking alien

  planets to hunt for riches and

  treasures

  Characteristics:

  He’s cold-blooded,

  but has aristocratic manners.

  Defining Features:

  A black star on his

  forehead and foul breath that stinks like moldy sardines

  “Don’t even

  think

  about trying to contact

  your

  spaceship

  , Captain,” Black Star

  growled into my ear. “It’s no use.”

  Then he motioned to a particularly

  vicious-looking member of his crew. The

  spacecat brought in someone who looked

  very

  familiar

  : It was Thea, and she was

  tied

  up!

  Mousey meteorites!

  The pirates had captured her!

  P

  i

  r

  a

  t

  e

  s

  p

  a

  c

  e

  c

  a

  t

  s

  !

  H

  u

  h

  ?

  How Should

  I Put It?

  “

  Let her go right now, you

  putrid and pugnacious pirates!

  ”

  Trap shouted.

  “Huh?” asked the spacecat.

  Black Star rolled his eyes.

  “He wants you to

  release

  the

  prisoner,” he told his crew member. Then he

  turned to Trap. “There’s no need to yell big

  words. We didn’t come to this awful planet

  to get our

  tails

  wet with you, spacemice.

  Let her go, Galaxia!”

  As soon as the

  spacecat

  untied her, Thea

  filled us in on what had happened.

  “Those pirates took me by complete

  surprise,” she explained. “I didn’t have time

  to sound the

  alarm

  . And I’m afraid they

  may have

  destroyed

  our spaceship!”

  “Quiet!” Black Star growled. Then he

  reached into his bag for something.

  Holey craters

  , what was that?

  A lunar laser? A stellar space sword? A

  meteorite slingshot?

  I covered my eyes with my paws. Good-

  bye, universe! I thought.

  Thank goodmouse I was wrong: Black Star

  pulled out the second sphere!

  “Were you looking for this?”

  he asked with a sneer.

  The wise ones were

  shocked.

  “H-how did you get

  that?” the third one

  asked.

  “Calm down, calm down, no need to get

  excited,” Black Star began. “The story

  is

  simple

  : I was returning from one of

  our

  —

  how should I put it?

  —

  one of our

  sightseeing voyages . . .”

  At that, the other spacecats

  burst out

  laughing.

  “Ha, ha, ha!” they chuckled. “Sightseeing!

  That’s a good one, Captain!”

  “

  Quiet!

  ” Black Star yowled. “How

  many times do I have to tell you not to

  interrupt me?”

  The four pirates immediately quieted

  down.

  “Now, where was I?” Black Star continued.

  “Ah, yes. We were coming back from a

  voyage

  in the galaxy and I was going

  through all the objects that the nice aliens we

  met had

  —

  how should I put it?

  —

  given

  to

  us . . .”

  “Ha, ha, ha!” the spacecats burst out.

  “

  Given

  to us! Where do you come up

  with such funny

  jokes

  , Captain?”

  “

  Quiiiieeeet!

  ” Black Star roared

  again. “The next one who meows

  without authorization will stay here

  underwater —

  forever

  !”

  Trembling with fear

  ,

  the four pirates quieted down again.

  “As I was saying,” Black Star continued,

  “I found this

  mysterious

  sphere

  among the various objects we had collected.

  I didn’t know what it was, but the other day

  it suddenly started to

  shine

  . It revealed a

  map that led the way to

  Aquarix

  , and

  now here we are!”

  “

  Of

  course!

  ” Professor Greenfur exclaime
d.

  “When Captain Stiltonix

  activated

  our

  sphere, the

  second

  sphere was activated

  as well!”

  “Do you mean the spheres are designed

  to force the owners of each object to meet

  up?” Trap asked.

  “

  Yes,

  exactly!

  ” Professor Greenfur confirmed.

  “And the two spheres have to come together

  in order to open the chest.”

  “Well said, spacemouse!” Black Star said.

  He extended his

  paw

  , and his

  SHARP

  claws glistened in the seawater. Then he

  tapped poor

  Professor Greenfur’s

  helmet.

  Click! Click! Click!

  “Now

  please

  tell me, what do I need

  to do to open this chest?” he asked with a

  polite growl.

  Professor Greenfur

  shook

  like a leaf.

  “I . . . w-well . . . s-so . . .” the professor

  stuttered.

  Then the first wise one

  spoke

  up.

  “Place the second sphere . . .”

  “In the second opening

  .

  .

  .” the second

  wise one continued.

  “And the chest will open!” concluded the

  third wise one.

  “Thank you, little aliens!” Black Star

  purred

  happily. He knew it didn’t hurt

  to use

  good manners

  , even if he was

  stealing

  something that didn’t belong to

  him!

  Grab the Treasure!

  All we could do was watch the pirate insert

  the sphere into the chest.

  Clack!

  The key clicked into place and the chest

  opened up.

  A

  blinding

  light lit up the room.

  Black Star had to cover his eyes with his

  paw

  as he peered inside.

  “Mouse skulls and fish bones!” he

  exclaimed happily. “There are dozens of

  cosmostars

  in here! I’ll sell these all over

  the galaxy, and then I’ll be

  rich!”

  Then he turned to his crew.

  “Come on,

  Galaxia

  ,” Black Star said

  to one of the pirates. “Get moving,

  Flea

  Face

  . Grab the treasure and load it onto

  our

  spaceship

  .”

  Then he gave the rest of us a threatening

  look.

  “If you stay here quietly, I’ll leave you

  alone,” he hissed menacingly. “I won’t pull a

  single

  hair out of your fur before I leave

  with the treasure. But if you try to stop

  me . . .”

  “Th-then what?” I asked, my whiskers

  trembling

  .

  He showed off his

  sharp, shiny

  claws.

  “Then you can kiss your fur

  good-bye,

  spacemice!”

  No one had the

  courage

  to move

  a muscle. But even if we had been brave

  enough to try to stop the pirates, what could

  we have done? The citizens of Aquarix were

  peaceful creatures, and there were many

  more spacecats than there were spacemice.

  We had to

  save our fur!

  So we watched

  helplessly

  as the

  pirates loaded the

  big

  chest onto a trailer

  that was tied to their

  spaceship

  .

  Just before he closed the door to the

  spaceship, Black Star turned back to us.

  “Oh, how

  rude

  of me!” he purred.

  “I almost forgot to thank you! It was a

  pleasure

  doing business with you. Hope

  to see you all again soon!

  Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!”

  Then the spaceship door slid closed and

  the spacecats took off in a swirl of

  bubbles

  and

  sand.

  The wise ones were

  devastated.

  “Our

  precious

  cosmostars!” the first

  one moaned.

  “They are lost

  forever

  ,” the second one

  said sadly.

  “What are we going to do now?” the third

  one asked.

  I felt

  awful

  . We had been so close

  to helping the polpyx get their cosmostars

  back, but instead we had unwittingly led the

  pirates right to the

  treasure

  !

  As we watched the pirates’ spaceship

  zoom

  farther and farther away, a

  strong

  current

  made me lose my balance.

  “Look up!” Thea shouted.

  It was Lucas, the

  gigantic

  silverix

  whale we had met during our trip. He had

  emerged from behind a rock and was now

  following

  the pirate spaceship!

  Unexpected

  Help

  Something

  flashed

  by me. Wait,

  had I seen that correctly? I looked again.

  Martian

  mozzarella!

  Benjamin and

  Bugsy Wugsy were holding on to Lucas’s

  fin!

  The whale reached the pirate’s spaceship

  in three quick tail

  flaps

  . Then Lucas

  grabbed the spaceship in his gigantic fangs

  and shook it from

  left

  to

  right

  and

  up

  and

  down

  . I wouldn’t have wanted to be in the

  pirates’ fur: They must have been feeling

  very

  seasick!

  A moment later . . .

  snap!

  The rope that was pulling the trailer with

  the chest broke, and the pirates’ spaceship

  took off

  at high speed.

  SNAP!

  I

  t

  h

  a

  p

  p

  e

  n

  e

  d

  l

  i

  k

  e

  t

  h

  i

  s

  .

  .

  .

  I got a glimpse of Black Star’s face in the

  porthole. He was growling

  angrily

  .

  Great galaxies!

  The spacecats were gone!

  I hoped I never saw those

  ferocious

  felines again.

  Lucas swam back to us and

  gently

  placed the chest in front of me. Then he very

  delicately

  lowered Benjamin and Bugsy

  Wugsy from his fin. The rest of us rushed

  over to the mouselings, gr
eeting them with

  enormouse

  hugs.

  “Well done!” I told them. “How did you

  do it?”

  “We were out

  playing

  with

  some polpyx when we saw the

  pirates’ spaceship, so we

  hid,” Benjamin explained.

  “When we realized what

  the spacecats were up to,

  Bugsy Wugsy had the idea to ask

  Lucas

  for his help.”

  “Amazing!” Sally said.

  “Without you two, the treasure would

  have been lost forever!” Thea added. “And

  thank you, too, Lucas!”

  The whale let out one of his whistles.

  Sally’s invention translated for us:

  “It was my pleasure,

  spacemice

  !”

  Lucas

  waved

  good-bye with one fin

  while Sally helped the

  polpyx

  get their

  chest back. We all gathered around the

  chest and admired the precious cosmostars

  that

  glowed

  so brightly in the dark abyss.

  The three wise ones approached me.

  “

  Captain Stiltonix

  , the creatures of

  Aquarix City thank you for coming here and

  helping us find our cosmostars,” the first

  one said.

  “They are essential to the

  survival

  of

  our species!” the second wise one added.

  “According to our customs, when another

  creature finds something of ours, he has the

  right to keep

  half

  of it,” the third wise

  one told us.

  Trap’s eyes lit up

  greedily

  .

  “Oh, that’s so kind of you —”

  “But of course we

  CANNOT accept!” I

  interrupted, finishing my cousin’s sentence

  for him. “We know how important these

  stars are to

  you

  and your

  planet

  . They

  belong here, not with us!”

  As we turned to leave, I looked back at

  Aquarix City: The polpyx’s capital was

  now shining

  brightly

  thanks

  to the cosmostars. What a

  warm

  and

  welcoming

  place!

  O

  u

  r

  m

  i

  s

  s

  i

  o

  n

  h

  a

  d

  b

  e

  e

  n

  a

  g

  r

  e

  a

  t

  s

  u

  c

  c

  e

  s

  s

  !