trouble
,”
she said with a sigh.
“And where are
Benjamin and
Bugsy Wugsy?”
Holey space cheese!
What were we
going to do?
“I’m sure Benjamin and Bugsy Wugsy are
okay,” Professor Greenfur said reassuringly.
“We just need to come up with an escape
plan
!”
The cell was silent as we all tried to think.
“It won’t be easy,” said a soft,
gentle
voice, breaking the silence.
“
Who’s that?
” I replied. “Is someone
there?”
“Who, me?” came the reply.
We all looked around the cell carefully.
There in the corner was a
tiny
creature with
light
green
skin and a nose shaped like
a
small trumpet. He was wearing a
cap, a long jacket, and a pair of light green
pants.
“
Martian
mozzarella!
” Professor
My
name
is
Rubix!
Greenfur exclaimed. “It’s an elfix!”
The creature smiled.
“That’s right,” it said in a sweet
and
musical voice. “I’m
Rubix
, and I’m a
toymaker.”
“My name is Thea Stiltonix,” my sister
said, holding out a
paw
. “It’s very nice to
meet you!”
“We are
spacemice
,” I explained
further. “We are good friends of the
elfix. Every year, we appreciate your
generous
gifts. We
received a message
that you were in
trouble, and we
came as quickly as
we could. Where
are the other
elfix
?”
Rubix sighed sadly. Then he told us the
whole story.
“The
nebulos
aliens invaded our planet
and forced us to make gifts just for them,”
he explained. “They haven’t received gifts
for years, and now they don’t want to share
with anyone! My friends are
working
hard
at the toy lab.”
“But why didn’t you
bring the nebulos any
gifts
?” Thea asked,
a puzzled look on her
snout. “That seems very
unlike the kind elfix.”
“We didn’t do it on purpose!” Rubix
explained. “The planet
Nebula
is always
enveloped by thick,
dark
fog. So we didn’t
even know it existed! I tried to explain that
to Negativix, but he didn’t believe me.”
“What a
sad
tale!” I replied as
Rubix wiped away a tear.
“Now my friends and
family are being forced
to work for the
nebulos aliens,” he
continued with a
sigh. “And
Twinklix
is
gray
and
dull
because the
nebulos have so many negative feelings.”
“Don’t worry!” Thea said encouragingly.
“
We’ll help you somehow!”
locked up
Trap still looked confused.
“But why are you
in this
cell with us instead of making toys with
your friends?” my cousin asked.
“It’s because I rebelled,” Rubix replied
proudly
. “I didn’t want to make gifts
NEBULA
SOLAR-SMOKED GOUDA!
I’m
a
rebel!
just for the nebulos. Every inhabitant of the
galaxy deserves something
special
!”
What a
brave little elfix!
My friends and I
looked
at one
another.
“It’s time to take action!” I ordered my
crew.
Thea smiled and nodded.
“
Spacemice
for
one,
spacemice
for
all!
” we cheered loudly.
rescued!
Rubix
looked at us gratefully.
“Thank you, friends!” he said warmly.
“But I have one
very small
question . . .”
“Yes?” Trap replied.
“Well, how do we
get out
of here?”
Rubix asked. “We’re in the elfix stockroom.
This is where we store the gifts before
we deliver them on the
Night of the
DaNciNg StarS
. The bars are
narrow
,
the walls are
solid
, and the ceiling is
high
. It will be very
difficult
to get
out of here without the key!”
Rubix was right! How were we going to
escape?
“One of my many
inventions
would
be helpful now, but they’re all on the
spaceship,” Professor Greenfur said with a
sigh.
“Wait a minute,” Thea said suddenly,
pricking
up
her ears. “I just heard
something!”
“Huh?” I replied. “I didn’t hear anything.”
Ba-bump. . . Ba-bump. . . Ba-
bump . . .
Holey craters!
It sounded like pawsteps,
and they were coming closer!
Who
could it
be? Negativix? A guard?
“Is someone there?” I asked, my voice
trembling
with fear.
“
Uncle G
, it’s us!” a little voice replied.
I would have
recognized
that squeak
anywhere.
“Benjamin! Bugsy Wugsy!” I squeaked.
“You’re safe! How did you get away from
the
nebulos
?”
It’s
us!
“It wasn’t hard
at all,” Bugsy Wugsy
explained
. “The
nebulos never even
saw
us! As soon
as they captured
you, we ran behind
a small house.
When they took
you away, we
went back
to the space
pod and hid in a
secret
compartment.”
“Then the nebulos took control of the
space pod,” Benjamin continued. “They
drove it to a gigantic garage and searched
through it. But we were so well hidden they
couldn’t find us! We waited for them to go
away. Then we got out and followed them
down here
, where we found you!”
“Now we’ll break you out of there!”
Shhh!
Grunt!
Grunt!
Grunt!
Bugsy Wugsy cried confidently.
“
But how?!
” Trap asked, unconvinced.
I looked at Benjamin and realized he was
holding a small bag. He opened it and took
out the
Tail Twister 2000!
“Professor Greenfur, did you bring the Tail
Twister 2000 on the space pod?!” I asked,
surprised
.
“Of course!” he replied. “You never know
when your tail might need a
new
look
!
Plus, I figured it might come in handy.”
Benjamin nodded in agreement.
“I thought I might be able to use the Tail
Twister 2000 to cut, curl, shave, or twist
these
bars
!”
Mousey
meteorites
, Benjamin was
right! The Tail Twister 2000 was a powerful
tool, and it just might work. In any case, it
was worth a try!
The blades were very
sharp
— no
wonder it had
hurt
my tail so much! In
no time at all, the Tail Twister 2000 had cut
through the
bars
of the cell.
“Thank you, my friends!” Rubix shouted
happily.
I
hugged
my nephew tightly.
“Excellent work, Benjamin!” I squeaked.
“But our
adventure
isn’t over yet: We
still have to rescue the other elfix!”
“Well said, Captain,” Thea agreed.
“Spacemice to the rescue!”
WheRe do You
Think You'Re GoinG?
We hurried down the hallway as
QUICKLY
as we could. Then we came to a large
wooden
door that was shut tightly.
“Everyone line up behind me,” I instructed
my friends, trying to keep my whiskers from
shaking
with fear. Then I opened the
door a crack, trying to be as
quiet
as
a mouse.
Suddenly, Professor Greenfur sneezed
loudly:
“Shhh!” Thea whispered. “Professor
Greenfur, please try to
restrain yourself
.”
Achoooooooo!
ACHOO!
FNRRRK!
Huh?!
Shhhhh!
Argh!
“I’m so sorry!”
the
professor
squeaked. “I just
caught such a bad
cold
on the ride
here.”
Then he blew his
nose loudly, making
even more
noise
!
Plutonian
Parmesan!
If he kept this up,
the nebulos aliens
would find us for
sure! I opened the
door wider and
saw a long,
dark
hallway. We moved
forward
slowly
,
our tails against the wall.
Suddenly, a loud
thud
made us all
jump
.
Rubix stepped forward.
“I’ll go first, Captain,” he volunteered. “I
know this place well. We’re in the hallways
that lead to the elfix
toy
laboratory
.
That’s where the nebulos aliens are keeping
my friends as prisoners!”
We followed
Rubix
through a maze of
hallways. We had to hurry. The nebulos
could arrive at any moment!
Rubix turned
right
, then
left
, then
right
one more time.
“Follow me, quickly!” he said.
“Doesn’t this hallway ever
end
?” Trap
complained, panting. “When are we going
to get there?”
“
Shhh!
” I hissed at my cousin. “Lower
your
squeak
! Do you want us to get
caught?”
He sighed. “Come on, G, lighten up,”
Trap said. “Can’t you see that this hallway is
deserted
?”
Trap began to
skip
down the hallway,
far ahead of us.
“See?” he said. “There’s no one else here!
Wheeee!”
“Trap, what are you doing?” I squeaked.
“
Be careful!
”
But he wasn’t listening to me.
“Let’s keep close to him,” Thea said,
worried. “I don’t want him to get into
trouble
!”
I ran ahead to
catch up
with Trap.
When I reached him, I turned around to
reassure my friends that everything was
Wheeee!
Stop!
fine. But instead of
smiling
back at me,
Thea, Professor Greenfur, Bugsy Wugsy,
Benjamin, and Rubix looked like they had
just seen a
pirate spacecat
!
What was the matter?
When I turned back around, I understood
immediately:
Trap
was facing an
enormouse creature with dark gray paws, a
humongous
head, and two small, dark,
enraged eyes.
It was Negativix, and his nebulos friends
were right
behind
him!
“Where do you think you’re going,
spacemice?” he growled menacingly.
We were in trouble . . . again!
It’s
Negativix!
Where
do
you
think
you’re
All
You
need
is
A
Good
lAuGh. . .
Nebulos aliens began
popping
out
from every doorway in the hallway.
“Catch them, guards!” Negativix ordered.
“Shake a tail, spacemice!” Thea shouted.
We all began to run in the
opposite
direction, sprinting through the
maze
of hallways. But the nebulos were right on
our tails.
“
You’ll never get away!
”
Negativix shouted.
But we had almost outrun the nebulos
when I suddenly slipped on a
toy
that
had been lying on the floor. Here’s what
happened:
Ouch!
2.
1.
Help!
I tripped and
SLIPPED. . .
I
bumped
into Trap and dragged
him— and everyone else—down with me . . .
OUCH!
HOW
PAINFUL!
THUMP
3.
We all
hit
the floor with a thud.
Professor Greenfur
scrambled
to get to his paws, rubbing his tail.
“Oh no!” he squeaked as he stood. “It’s all
over!”
The nebulos had just caught up with us.
We were
GONERS
for sure!
But then something unexpected happened.
The
expression
on Negativix’s fangy
face changed. Instead of looking
angry
,
he looked
amused
! His mouth seemed
to grow
larger
and
larger
and
larger
until he finally burst out laughing!
How funny!” he exclaimed. “You bunch are
really, really
funny
! Ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho,
ho! Hee, hee, hee!”
Then something really weird happened:
The small
dark
ball at the tip of his
“
H
A
H
A
H
A
H
A
H
A
H
A
H
A
H
A
H
A
!
tail began to
glow
!
How
strange!
Once Negativix
began to laugh, his tail glowed
with a
golden
light and his
fur became bright and
colorful
instead of
dull and
gray
.
Was it
possible
that the
dark
ball
at the tip of
each alien’s tail
was related to their
negative
thoughts?
The other nebulos aliens stared at
their leader, unsure of what to do. It seemed
as if they had
never
seen him laughing
like that!
Negativix was completely doubled over.
As he giggled, his fur kept changing
—
from
gray to
blue
to
purple
to
yellow
to
green
!