Yum!
We
found
the
wild
mozzarella!
this is a truly mousetastic discovery!” he
remarked.
Then we heard a
yell
from
Hologramix, the ship’s computer.
“Unidentified aliens are approaching the
exploration team!
Code yellow!
Code yellow!
Code yellow!
”
Thea turned on her wrist phone. “Trap,
can you hear
me? You need to be careful.
Someone is coming toward you. It could be
dangerous
!”
But it was already
too late
. On the screen
we could see Trap and Sally’s
terrified
faces. Then Trap began to stammer.
“H-Hey, what do you want from us?
We’re not doing anything wrong!
Help!”
Help!
Aaaaah!
Then the screen went blank. Total
silence
fell over the control room.
“Something tells me that those aliens
weren’t
friendly
,” Professor Greenfur
said.
My fear had
frozen me like
Plutonian ice.
Thea shook me.
“We’ve
got to get
down there!
There’s not a
moment to lose!
” she cried.
Oh, for all the shooting stars
— my sister
was right!
I sprang into
action
and started to
quickly organize a
rescue mission
.
Robotix, Thea, and I would go to the
planet. Grandfather William and Professor
Greenfur would coordinate the operations
from
Mousestar
1
.
I stepped onto the
Teletransportix
platform with my team when Benjamin and
his friend Bugsy ran up to me.
“We’re coming, too!” he announced.
“We’ve already made a
map
of this planet,
so we’ll be useful.”
I shook my head. “No way! This could
be a very
DANGEROUS
mission,”
I said.
But the two little spacemice
climbed
onto the platform just as Professor Greenfur
activated it!
My head began to
spin
as the machine
started to break apart our
molecules
into tiny pieces.
Cosmic cheese chunks
, what
a terrible feeling!
I
was
ready
for
anything!
Gulp!
We’re
coming,
too!
I don’t like the Teletransportix, but I had
to help Trap and Sally.
Crusty,
rusty
bolts!
The
wild
mozzarella!
We landed inside the same crater that Trap
and Sally had been exploring. But
where
were they? And
who
— or
what
— had
scared them?
We began to examine the crater for
clues
.
Thea studied a wild mozzarella shrub.
“
Amazing!
Imagine that — mozzarella
growing from a bush!”
Benjamin started to
bounce
up and
down. “The planet’s surface is soft and kind
of
gummy
,” he remarked.
“It’s like walking on a big mattress!” Bugsy
said happily.
I didn’t like the
bouncy
surface. It was
starting to make me feel
seasick
! I
took a few steps and lost my balance, landing
Luckily, it was so
soft
that I wasn’t
hurt
—
and from down there I could see
tracks
along the bottom of the crater.
Shhhh!
It’s
them!
“Those are
Trap’s and Sally’s
pawprints!” I exclaimed.
“Good job, Ger!” Thea praised me.
We saw
smaller
tracks next to the
pawprints.
“Those must be
alien
tracks!” Thea
guessed.
Hey!
Untie
us!
We followed them. After a while, Trap and
Sally’s tracks
disappeared
. And the alien’s
footprints looked
deeper
.
“Hmm. What happened here?” Thea
wondered. Then we heard voices.
I
jumped
at the noise. “That sounds
like Trap and Sally!”
Thea raised a finger to her lips. “SHHH!
We don’t want the aliens to see us!”
We
hid
behind the edge of the crater
and peeked out.
Shooting stars!
Trap
and Sally were tied up on a pole!
The aliens who had captured them were
small,
round
, and
chubby. They all
wore milky-white clothing. They each had
two cheerful
eyes
on top of tall stalks.
“These must be the
cheesix
aliens,” Thea
whispered. “Let’s approach them carefully.”
So Thea, Benjamin, Bugsy, Robotix, and I
quietly
stepped out of our hiding place and
began to follow them from a safe distance.
a
very
Cheesy
Planet!
After a really
long
walk, the aliens arrived
in what looked to be their capital city. We
walked past houses that looked like
giant
soft, round mozzarella balls painted in light
colors.
Mousey meteorites
, this was turning out
to be one cheesy planet!
The cheesix led Trap and Sally into a large
square, where their
king
was seated on a
throne that almost looked like a washing
machine. I could tell he was a king because
he wore a
crown
on his head.
The king also wore a fancy
turquoise
outfit, complete with a long cloak. On either
Trap,
not
now!
Your
Majesty,
I’m
hungry!
Bow
down!
side of his
throne were large
platters
of
mozzarella.
The aliens carried Sally and Trap to the
foot of the throne. Then the aliens watched
with
fearful
looks on their faces,
waiting to hear what the king would say.
“Untie the foreigners and bring them
closer!” he commanded. “I want them to
bow down to
Spherus
the
Third
,
the leader of Mozzarellon and king of the
cheesix people . . . me!”
The aliens quickly untied Sally and Trap.
My cousin
blurted out
, “Your Majesty, I
am very hungry!”
The king frowned. He did not look pleased
with Trap’s
bad manners
.
“Trap, not now!” Sally hissed.
But Trap continued. “I have wanted to
taste your
wild
mozzarella
ever since I
landed on this planet.
May I?
”
Without waiting for an answer, my cousin
reached his paw toward one of the king’s
platters and
grabbed
a mozzarella ball! He
bit into it.
“
Tasty!
” he exclaimed, with
his mouth full. “Do you know what goes
great with mozzarella balls? A touch of
tomato
sauce
from the planet
Vega. Put them together and you get a
whisker-licking-good snack!”
He took a bottle of the tomato sauce
from his pocket. As quick as a comet he
poured some onto a mozzarella ball
—
and
accidentally
squirted
some onto the
king’s clothes!
“Aaaaah!” shrieked the king. “How
dare you dirty me with your messy sauce,
stranger?!”
May
I?
Aaaaah!
The king waved his scepter. “Guards,
grab him
! Take him to the Hypnotizer!”
Benjamin and Bugsy looked up at me,
worried.
“Uncle, what’s a Hypnotizer
?” Benjamin
asked.
Holey
craters
, I had no idea! But it
didn’t sound good at all!
the
fool’s
danCe
Before we could react,
King
Spherus
hopped off his throne and the aliens brought
Trap over to it. The throne definitely looked
like a strange
washing
machine
.
Apparently, it was the Hypnotizer! The
aliens slipped a
cap
on Trap’s head and
connected it to the machine with a tube.
Then the machine started to shoot out tiny
little
bubbles
.
“What are they doing?” asked Benjamin,
alarmed
.
“I have discovered information about the
Hypnotizer in my
data
banks
,” Robotix
reported.
“What do they say?” I asked.
“The Hypnotizer is a mostly
harmless
machine,” Robotix replied.
I looked at Trap, who was
smiling
. He
seemed to be okay.
Thea was suspicious. “Mostly
harmless?”
Before Robotix could answer, the machine
stopped
bubbling
. The aliens took the
strange cap off Trap’s head. He
blinked
.
“Hey, guys, I suddenly have a
strong
From the Encyclopedia Galactica
THE HYPNOTIZER
Description:
Alien technology used
by the cheesix of planet Mozzarellon.
It causes a temporary change in
personality, and the effects can wear
off in as quickly as a few hours or as
long as a week.
Effects:
Whoever is connected to the
Hypnotizer will be overcome by a
strong desire to wash and iron things.
It is a useful device for those who are
lazy and hate to do their chores.
I
love
to
iron!
urge
to do some housework,” he said. “Do
you have any spacesuits that need
washing
or
ironing
?”
Two aliens brought Trap a big tub of
dirty
laundry. We all looked at Robotix.
“As you see, the Hypnotizer makes you
want to
clean
things,” Robotix said.
“These cheesix really seem to like things
clean,” Thea remarked.
“It’s true,” Benjamin said.
“I don’t see a speck of dirt
on any of them.”
Trap was already
busy
at work, ironing
spacesuits. We couldn’t help
laughing
.
Normally, Trap hated doing chores!
Then King Spherus spoke up. “Since
the stranger has responded so well to the
Hypnotizer, let’s proceed with his friend
as well!
Four
paws
doing the wash are
better than two!”
Now, it was one thing to see Trap under
the Hypnotizer’s spell. But I couldn’t
bear to see Sally turn into a
clothes-
washing zombie
! I ran out of my
hiding place.
“
Hold it right there!
We are the
spacemice, and we come in peace!” I yelled.
“We’re here to
learn
about your planet,
not
clean
it!”
“What
are you doing?” Thea asked.
But Sally was all I could think about.
Thunk
Oooops!
Aargh!
I was halfway there when I
tripped
on
I
ran
toward the center of the square,
yelling,
I’ll
saaave
yooou!
"
"
Saaallyyy,
don’t
be
afraaaid!
Yiiikes!
Aaaah!
BONNNK!
a bump in the planet’s surface! I didn’t want
to fall and look like a
fool
in front of Sally.
Trying to keep my balance, I struck a series
of
ridiculous
poses and finally landed in
front of the king’s throne.
What a galactically terrible entrance!
A Strange
Resemblance
I closed my eyes, waiting for King Spher
us
to
yell
at me. Instead, I heard the aliens
all talking at once.
“
Incredible!
” one yelled.
“
Amazing!
” shouted another.
“
It’s really him!
” King Spherus
exclaimed.
Then the aliens broke into
thunderous
applause, and they all bowed to me
—
even
the king!
I was cosmically confused!
Why were they so excited?
King Spherus exclaimed, “Bring me the
Big Book of Space Legends!
”
Two aliens ran up with the book. The king
took it from them.
“An
ancient
legend says that one day
a
hero
will arrive on our planet,” he
explained. “This hero will be known as the
Cheesemaster
!”
“That’s a nice story,” I said. “But what
does this Cheesemaster guy have to do with
me?”
King Spherus opened the book and
showed me a picture. “The legend says that
Look here!
What do I
have to do
with it?
But . . . I
. . . actually
. . .
Hooray!
Hooray!
the Cheesemaster will
risk
his life to save
his companions. Then he will make himself
known by doing a
dance
.”
I looked at the picture in the book.
Jumping
Jupiter
, I really did have a
strange resemblance to the Cheesemaster!
And his
dance moves
in the picture looked
just like the silly moves I had made when I
tripped!
“
Sorry
,
but that wasn’t actually a
Hooray for the
Cheesemaster!
Hooray!
dance,” I tried to explain, but King Spherus
wasn’t listening.
“We must
celebrate
our hero from
the skies!” he announced, and the aliens all
cheered.
Then the cheesix raced around, organizing
a great
celebration
. They
invited all of my friends as
honored
guests
—
even Trap and Sally.
Trap, surprisingly, turned down the
I’d rather
do laundry!
invitation. “No, thank you,” he said, his
eyes weirdly
blank