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
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