her throat and stared
at me.
“What?” I asked. “I
don’t want any more
injuries
, do you?”
Thea rolled her
eyes
at me.
“Geronimo, you of all mice should know
what needs to be done,” she
continued. “After all, you’re
our captain! We have to follow
the rules of the MouseStar 1:
When someone finds a
foreign
object
on board,
the captain must start an
immediate
inquiry
.”
An inquiry? I was hoping I had
misunderstood, but Sally confirmed it.
“It’s true, Geronimo,” Sally said, a
serious
expression on her snout. “We have
to go back to the
control room
and find out
what this strange object is.”
I sighed. It looked like my
captain’s
duties had followed me to the beach. So
much for a
relaxing
day off!
conGratulations,
caPtain!
Hmm ...
let’s
take
a
look!
We all headed back to the control room,
where we met
Professor
Greenfur
.
He’s
MouseStar 1’s official scientist and an
expert
in alien life-forms.
He immediately began testing the strange
sphere
.
“Let’s start with a photonic scan,”
Professor Greenfur instructed Hologramix,
our onboard computer.
Stellar Swiss cheese
—
what did that mean? We
all watched as a
ray of light
Photonic
scan
Ultrasonic
drill
Magnetic
storm
illuminated
the
sphere.
Soon the test results
appeared
on the control
room screen.
Identity: Unknown!
“What?!” Professor
Greenfur gasped. “But
that’s
impossible
.
Hologramix has always
been able to identify a
foreign
object with
a photonic scan.”
“Maybe I can open
it with my
ultrasonic
drill
,
” Sally suggested.
She tried using her
powerful space tool on
the sphere, but
nothing
happened!
Finally, she gave up.
“I’m sorry,” she said apologetically. “It’s
made of a very
tough
material!”
“There’s one last option,” Professor
Greenfur said. “Unleash the
magnetic storm
!”
But even the magnetic storm didn’t work!
Professor Greenfur approached me with a
sad look on his snout.
“Captain, I’m sorry to report that we
can’t
figure out what it is!” he said gravely.
“Oh, don’t worry,” I said reassuringly.
“You tried your best.”
It was too bad that we hadn’t been able
to
identify
the object. But at least the
inquiry was closed and I could go back to
my
vacation day
at the beach!
“Well, I guess that settles it,” I began. I was
about to tell everyone they were dismissed
when I turned and the
floating
umbrella
that was sticking out of my bag bumped the
table the sphere was sitting on.
The sphere fell and hit the floor.
Crash!
Solar-smoked Gouda! That thing had
almost
crushed
my tail!
I went to pick it up and put it back in its
blue
smoke
. Then the object began to
rotate
.
My whiskers
trembled
with fear as the
sphere continued to spin. Suddenly,
blue
markings
appeared on its surface and
seemed to be forming words and drawings!
After a few seconds, the sphere slowed to
a stop. So I braced myself, picked it up, and
saw that the
inscription
was still on
its surface. The others were still
squeaking
about ways to open the sphere. They hadn’t
noticed a thing!
“Um, excuse me,” I said slowly, holding
out the
strange
blue sphere. “Look at this!”
But no one was paying attention to me.
“
HELLO?!
” I squeaked loudly. “The
sphere has been
activated
!”
Everyone turned and stared.
“That’s
incredible
!” Trap exclaimed.
“Unbelievable work, Captain!” Sally said.
“But how did you do it?”
Sally’s praise made me
blush
from
the tips of my ears to the end of my tail.
“Well done, Cuz!” Trap said, slapping
me on the back so hard I almost lost my
balance
. “You finally made yourself
useful
!”
Professor Greenfur took the sphere from
my paws and studied it
closely
.
“These lines ...two
Xs and some
numbers . . .
hmmm
. . .” he squeaked
to himself softly.
We waited to hear what he had to say.
“There is no doubt about it,” he announced
a moment later. “It’s a
map
!”
i’m NOT CUT OUT
for adventure!
Benjamin came closer,
looking
excited.
“It’s a
treasure map
, isn’t it, Uncle?!” he
exclaimed, his eyes bright. “We have to plan
an
expedition
!”
Oh, Benjamin has such an imagination!
“Benjamin, we don’t know what it is,”
I explained carefully. “And even if it is a
treasure map, we don’t know where it
would lead us. It could be very, very
dangerous
“But Professor Greenfur is a fabumouse
scientist!” Trap interjected. “I’m sure he can
interpret
the map for us.”
“Why, thank you,” the professor replied.
Aquarix
“And now that you mention
it, these numbers might
be
coordinates
from
space.”
“That’s an interesting
hypothesis
,” Thea
agreed. “Let’s enter these
numbers into the galaxy
planetarium map and see what happens.”
A second later, an image of the planet
Aquarix appeared on the control room
screen. There was a large
redX
in one spot.
“That’s where the sphere is from!”
Professor Greenfur cried. “
AQUARIX!”
“But how did it get onto
our
spaceship?”
I asked.
“Good question,” Professor Greenfur
replied. He pressed a few
buttons
on
MouseStar 1’s control panel computer.
“Ah, I see,” he said. “The sand on our
beach comes from
Aquarix
!”
“Then this sphere came on board along
with the sand!” Thea explained. “We have
to take it back to where it came from.”
TAKE IT BACK?
Martian mozzarella!
Something told me a
big
adventure was
looming
, and there’s nothing I dislike
more than adventures!
“B-but 99.99 percent of
the surface of Aquarix
is covered by
water
,
right?” I pointed out. “So
what even exists there?”
“Oh, nothing special,”
Trap replied. “Just
some underwater
volcanoes
,
deep-sea
monsters
,
and some FUR EATING
seaweed.”
W-what? My whiskers
trembled
with
fear. There was no way I was even getting
close to that planet! Luckily, I knew we
didn't have the right
equipment
for it.
“Well, that sounds like a really fabumouse
adventure,” I fibbed. “It’s just too bad that
we don’t have the right underwater
navigational
system to travel there.”
“Er, Captain?” Sally interrupted. “I actually
just finished building an
underwater
spaceship
! This would be the perfect
opportunity to test it out, don’t you agree?”
Stinky space cheese! What had I gotten
myself into? I couldn’t say
NO
to Sally: It
would be too
embarrassing
if she knew
what a scaredy-mouse I am!
“Y-yes, of course,” I agreed. “I’ll just stay
behind on the MouseStar 1 while you go on
From the Encyclopedia Galactica
uNderwater spaceship
Mechanical
forceps
Jet
engine
Escape pod
Infrared
super-telescope
Panoramic porthole
Headlights (for
seeing into any
dark, scary
abyss!)
the mission. I have a few
CHORES
to
do anyway.”
“
Stellar
Swiss
, Grandson!” Grandfather
William squeaked loudly. “How many times
do I have to tell you that the
captain
always has to be present on discovery
missions? You must leave with the others
immediately!”
Unfortunately, it’s impossible for me to
argue with Grandfather.
“Y-yes, of course,” I
stammered
.
“So . . . hm . . . Thea, Trap, and Sally: Let’s
get ready to leave.”
“What about me, Uncle?” Benjamin
asked. “Can Bugsy Wugsy and I come on
the
treasure hunt, too? Pretty please
with cheese on top?”
I couldn’t say
no
to his
sweet smile.
So I sighed and nodded.
a fabumouse
discovery!
And so that’s how I found myself
traveling
to Aquarix in an underwater spaceship
with Thea, Sally, Trap, Professor Greenfur,
Benjamin, and Bugsy Wugsy. I was trying
not to think about the fact that I would soon
be
underwater
. I only like to sit near
the ocean, not go
under
it!
When Aquarix became visible from our
porthole, Trap approached me, a bag of
crunchy
blue cheese crusts
in his paw.
“Want some?” he asked as he
crunched
on a mouthful of the snacks. “They’re really
good!”
“No, thank you,” I replied. “I’m not hungry.”
“What’s up, Cousin?” Trap asked. “You’re
awfully
quiet
. Don’t tell me you’re
scared?!”
“Wh-who me?” I asked, clearing my
throat. “
Of course not!
”
Trap put his arm around my shoulders.
“Look, I was just
kidding
before about
the volcanoes, the monsters, and the fur-
eating seaweed,” he explained. “Just relax!
This treasure hunt will be
fun
!”
“Buckle your seat belts!” Thea announced
a moment later. She was at the controls.
“
Prepare
to submerge!”
With a
whoosh
, the spaceship suddenly
sank into the
deep
waters of Aquarix.
We were all squeakless from the view. We
were surrounded by
blue
water, and the
alien fish swimming by had the most unique
COLORS
and
shapes
!
“How
wonderful
!” Sally gasped.
“How
bizarre
!” Benjamin exclaimed
as he pointed to a fish with six
eyes
.
Meanwhile, Bugsy Wugsy was snapping
photos.
“These will make a great impression at
school
when we study water planets!”
she explained.
Professor Greenfur checked the map and
we began to
navigate
toward the big
X
.
The trip was turning out better than I had
expected. Sally’s underwater spaceship was
so
comfortable
that I found myself
drifting off to sleep in my comfy captain’s
chair . . .
Suddenly, I awoke with a start.
“That’s it! That’s it!” Professor Greenfur
squeaked
. He was pointing to something
outside the spaceship.
“What is it?” I asked, still
dazed
from
my little ratnap.
“
Superboost seaweed!
” Professor
Greenfur explained enthusiastically. “It’s been
a few cosmic years since I saw a specimen.
It’s an
extremely rare
seaweed with exceptional
nutritional properties. We
absolutely
must
collect a sample for my
research!”
“Of course!” I agreed.
Professor Greenfur
was a true expert in
intergalactic
botany
, and I knew finding a rare species
in a hidden corner of our galaxy was very
important
to him!
Thea slowly maneuvered our vessel close
to the seabed. Then Sally used the ship’s
external mechanical forceps to pick two
tiny
sprigs of the precious seaweed. She
was very
careful
not to damage the
plant.
a squeaky-clean
Getaway
A moment later, the entire spaceship began
to
shake
.
“Wh-what was that?” I asked Thea.
“Something seems to have hit us,” my
sister explained
calmly
.
Then a second, stronger
tremor
struck.
I lost my balance and almost
crashed
to
the floor of the ship!
“Uncle, what’s going on?” Benjamin asked
with a
shaky
voice.
I looked out the porthole. Holey craters!
Enormouse
green
tendrils were wrapped
around the outside of our spaceship!
“Oh no!” Professor Greenfur said
desperately. “It’s fierce fur-eating seaweed,
the
deadliest
seaweed species in the
universe.”
Martian mozzarella! We were
doomed
!
The underwater spaceship continued to
shake as we
bounced
around inside it.
“I thought you told me you were
kidding
about the fur-eating seaweed!”
I yelled at Trap.
“Well, it was meant to be a
joke
,
but I guess I got it right!” Trap
shouted.
But my brave,
fearless
sister didn’t
back down. Thea tried to break free of the
tendrils with a few fancy
maneuvers
, but
the plant’s hold on our ship just got tighter
and tighter. So Sally used the mechanical