Professor
Paws
von
volt
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
robotix
benjamin
stiltonix
and
bugsy
wugsy
THE SPACEMICE
Geronimo
stiltonix
traP
stiltonix
thea
stiltonix
grandfather
william
stiltonix
Geronimo Stilton
SPACEMICE
SLURP MONSTER
SHOWDOWN
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 © 2017 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 copyright,
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 trademark
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, transmitted,
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 foreignrights@atlantyca.it, 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 establishments,
events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
e-ISBN 978-1-338-08858-8
Text by Geronimo Stilton
Original title Stiltonix contro il mostro slurp
Cover by Flavio Ferron
Illustrations by Giuseppe Facciotto (design) and Daniele Verzini (color)
Graphics by Francesca Sirianni
Special thanks to Tracey West
Translated by Julia Heim
Interior design by Kevin Callahan/BNGO Books
First printing 2017
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 unexPlored
Planet!
Everything was cosmically
calm
when I
woke up on my spaceship
that morning.
I left my cabin, whistling as I headed to the
control room. I couldn’t wait to
sink
into
my captain’s chair and munch on some
Gorgonzola
granola
, but when I got
there . . .
Oh, excuse me
—
I haven’t introduced
myself. My name is Stiltonix,
Geronimo
Stiltonix,
and I am captain of the
MouseStar 1, the most mouserific spaceship
in the universe!
As I was saying, as soon as I entered the
control room, a
thunderous
voice hit
my ears.
Look
“Look lively, you limp lunar
cheese sticks!” yelled my grandfather
William Stiltonix. He was sitting in my chair,
shouting
orders at the whole crew.
“Grandfather, how nice to
see
you,” I
said. “What brings you to the control room?”
“My feet, Grandson
—
and they’re a lot
FASTER
than yours!” he snapped. “You’re
late
for work!”
I stammered. “B-b-but we didn’t have any
missions
planned today!”
“What a lazybones!” Grandfather said. “If
it were up to you, this spaceship would stay
in
orbit
forever.”
Before I could defend myself,
Robotix
, the ship’s
robot, floated over to
Grandfather.
“Admiral Stiltonix,
we’re ready!” he said.
“We have locked in the
coordinates
for our
launch into hyperspace.”
Launch into hyperspace?
Holey craters!
Hearing those words made my whiskers
tremble in fright.
Entering hyperspace meant
accelerating
faster than the speed of light
—
which really
does a number on my stomach!
“Er, Grandfather, why exactly do we need
to
launch
into hyperspace?” I asked.
“Because we’re
explorers
, Grandson!”
he replied. “I recently identified a planet all
the way at the end of the universe. It’s named
Mozzarellon
, and no spacemouse has
ever set paw on it. We will be the first to
explore it!”
I gulped. “The end of the universe?” That
sounded awfully
far away
.
But Grandfather had his mind made
up. “
Full
speed
ahead!
” he
commanded.
The ship lurched forward, and the
Aaaaargh!
Hang
on!
Hey!
V
R
O
O
acceleration
was so strong that I flew
backward! I
bumped
my head on the
floor, fainted, and began having the most
wonderful
dream . . .
In my dream, I was on the beaches of the
planet
Tropicalix. Walking next to me
Full
speed
ahead!
Heeeelp!
Ha,
ha,
ha!
O
O
M
was
Sally
de
Wrench
, the talented
technician of the MouseStar 1
— and also
the most
fascinating
rodent in the
galaxy . . .
A pull on my whiskers
jolted
me
awake. I opened my eyes and gasped. I wasn’t
looking at the kind face of Sally de
Wrench
—
I was looking at the goofy
face
of my cousin Trap!
“Wake up, Geronimo!” he said,
shaking
me
forcefully. “We’ve arrived at the planet
Mozzarellon. It’s a
mousetastic
place!
We’ve got to get out there and explore!
Come with me right now!”
A mousetastic place?
Go with him?
the
exPloration
mission
I was still
fuzzy
from bumping my head. I
couldn’t
remember what had just happened,
and I didn’t
understand
what Trap
was talking about. But I knew one thing for
sure: I didn’t want to do it!
Trap grabbed me by the
paws
and got me back
on my feet.
“Cousin, what
is this all about?”
I snapped.
“I’ll
show
you,”
he replied.
He led me to the
Come on,
Geronimo!
large
monitor
and showed me a planet
as white as
milk
, surrounded by a cosmic
cloud.
“It’s the planet
Mozzarellon
!” he told
me. “While you fainted, we launched into
hyperspace and entered the planet’s
ORBIT
!”
Then Trap typed into a keyboard and
an encyclopedia entry popped up. “Look!
From the Encyclopedia Galactica
MOZZARELLON
This planet is known for its milky-white
color. It has never been explored by
spacemice, but visual data confirm
that the surface is covered in wild
mozzarella shrubs. Space probes have
shown that the surface is soft and gummy.
The planet’s inhabitants, the cheesix,
appear to resemble balls of mozzarella
cheese.
There’s
wild
mozzarella
growing on the planet. We have to go check
it out!”
Suddenly, I
remembered
Grandfather
William’s plans to
explore
the planet. I
was trying to gather my thoughts when Trap
interrupted me.
“Come on, Ger!” he urged, pushing me
into the teleportation room. “The
Teletransportix
is ready
to teleport us to the planet’s
surface! By lunchtime we’ll
be
enjoying
the
first wild mozzarella
in space!”
“Wait just one
minute,” I protested. “No
mouse has ever set paw on
Mozzarellon
before.
We need to do some
tests
before we
go down there. There could be CALACTIC
GERMS, or
cosmic bacteria
, or
space
microbes
. . .”
My voice trailed off when the doors
of the
room
opened up, and in stepped
Sally
de
Wrench
!
Glittering galaxies
, she was even
more fascinating
in person!
I didn’t want her
to see how
nervous
I was, so I turned
to Trap and
spoke in my
most captain-
like voice.
“Cousin, I
would be happy
Come
on,
Cousin!
I’m
sorry,
but
I
have
to
work!
to accompany you on your exploration
mission, but as
captain
of this spaceship
I must stay here and do some important
captain business!”
“But every
exploration mission
needs two rodents,” Trap said. “How will I
do it alone?”
Then something happened that I did not
expect
at all.
Sally stepped
forward. “Trap, I
will go with you,”
she said.
Cheesy
comets!
Was the
rodent of
my dreams
about to go
Hey,
but
.
.
.
on an exploration mission with my cousin,
without me?
Was this a bad joke? A
nightmare? A horror film?
“Please,
wait
until we can do some tests,”
I said, but Trap and Sally ignored me. The
two
adventurous
rodents were
so eager to explore Mozzarellon! They
stepped into the Teletransportix and
entered the planet’s coordinates. Then they
dematerialized
right before my eyes!
I
stared
at the empty Teletransportix for a
few minutes, blinking. Then I headed back
to the control room.
So far, my morning was
stinking
worse than rotten cheese!
Code yellow!
I
slumped
back to the control room,
disappointed in myself. I was worried that
I had looked like a
scaredy-rat
in
front of Sally!
To make matters
worse
, Grandfather
William started yelling at me.
“What are you doing here, Grandson?” he
asked. “You should be on
Mozzarellon
!”
I sighed. “I just think we should test for
space bacteria
, and . . .”
“Tests take too much time!” said my sister,
Thea. “I can’t wait to get down there!”
“Really?” I asked.
Thea nodded. “I want to ride my
SPACE
MOTORCYCLE
on the surface!”
“Did you hear that, you
cheese
loaf
?”
Did
you
hear
that?
But
I
.
.
.
Grandpa asked. “Thea has the spirit
of a
true captain
!”
Red
with embarrassment, I walked
over to my nephew Benjamin.
He was watching Trap and Sally’s mission
on one of the
screens
in the control
room.
Benjamin
SMILED
at me. “Uncle, don’t be
worried
about exploring Mozzarellon.
Bugsy and I will go with you when you’re
done
testing
for space bacteria.”
Galactic Gouda
, he is such a sweet
little nephew!
I watched the screen with him. Trap
and Sally were walking inside a shallow
crater
.
“Look! They found the
wild
mozzarella
shrubs!” Benjamin
cried.
The crew gathered around us,
curious
.
Starry space dust, it was true! Growing
inside the crater were
strange
space
plants that had plump balls of mozzarella
growing on their branches!
Professor Greenfur
, the
ship’s scientist, nodded his head. “Now