The Jelly People (2 page)
WorldCorp wanted Kip to leave immediately. Kip guessed a wormhole to Aquaron must have opened unexpectedly. Wormholes were shortcuts from one galaxy to another. Space Scouts could travel millions of light years in seconds. But wormholes never stayed open for long.
âI've got to leave early,' Kip apologised to the Teacherbot. A sad-face emoticon popped up on the Teacherbot's screen.
Once Kip and Duke got back down to ground level, Kip scratched Duke's scaly head. âGo home, boy,' he said.
Duke trotted off towards Kip's apartment. Kip couldn't believe it.
Maybe Dino-Training is working after all!
he thought, racing to the nearest Rocket Bus stop. A Rocket Bus heading for the Hoverport would be along any second.
All space flights left from the Intergalactic Hoverport. It hovered inside Earth's atmosphere, about 10 kilometres above the ground.
Rummaging in his backpack, Kip grabbed his spacesuit, boots and helmet. Luckily, he had them with him. He was supposed to drop them at WorldCorp's cleaning department after Dino-Training.
Kip's spacesuit was green, as were his matching boots. Made of soft, meteor-proof fabric, the suit was designed to fit Kip perfectly. He got a new one every couple of missions. Kip's helmet had sparkling red flames on the side.
Making sure no-one was looking, Kip stepped into his spacesuit. As a Space Scout, Kip prided himself on always being in control. Getting changed at a bus stop didn't
quite
fit that image.
Kip had just finished changing when a bus plummeted through the air towards him.
Space Scout #50: Kip Kirby
Rocket Buses looked like old-fashioned buses, except they were standing on their end. The driver stopped smoothly, hovering half a metre above the stop. Kip climbed a ladder to get inside.
Instead of seats, the Rocket Bus had harnesses on the walls. Kip locked his waist, neck and ankle straps into position.
The bus shot up into the air so fast that Kip's whole body was thrown against the wall.
Awesome g-force!
Kip thought. No matter how often he blasted into the atmosphere on a Rocket Bus, he never got sick of it.
Kip was enjoying himself so much that he didn't notice an extra passenger had sneaked on board. Until a scaly green shape shot past his noseâ¦
Kip blinked.
Was that a flying minisaur?
Then Kip realised. Instead of going home, Duke had followed him onto the bus.
WorldCorp Rocket Bus
Using every one of his carefully trained Space Scout muscles, Kip ripped his hands from the walls. He wriggled his arms free of the harness. Then Kip lunged for Duke as he flew past again.
I'll have to take him on the mission,
Kip thought as he slipped his safety strap around Duke. He couldn't miss the wormhole for one minisaur!
The Rocket Bus was so fast that Kip soon arrived at the Hoverport.
The Hoverport looked like a giant carpark floating in space. But instead of anything as low-tech as Rocket Buses, the Hoverport was filled with starships.
The smaller starships travelled to nearby planets like Venus. The bigger ones, like Kip's starship MoNa 4000, travelled far beyond the Milky Way.
MoNa was a black, multi-level starship with curved thrusters and glowing lights underneath. When he saw her, Kip spoke into his SpaceCuff.
âKip Kirby to MoNa 4000. Approaching Hoverport.'
âAt last,' grumbled MoNa.
Kip grinned. As usual, MoNa was in a terrible mood.
He pulled the cord and the Rocket Bus stopped right beside MoNa's landing bay. It was freezing cold and the air was thin up here, but Kip would be fine with his spacesuit on.
But what about Duke?
âSorry, boy,' he said, stuffing Duke into his backpack. It sealed perfectly. It would keep Duke warm enough to survive the short skywalk.
Kip left the Rocket Bus and quickly jumped into MoNa's landing bay.
âYour backpack!' said a friendly, deep voice. âI think it's alive.'
Finbar, Kip's second-in-command (or 2iC for short), had come to the landing bay to meet him.
Finbar was two metres tall, and was a cross between a human and an arctic wolf. Normally, he was the only animal on Space Scout missions.
Wonder if he'll mind having a naughty
minisaur along for the ride
, Kip grinned to himself.
Duke jumped out of Kip's backpack. Finbar bent down and tickled him under the chin.
What a softie!
Kip thought.
Finbar was an Animaul, bred to protect Earth from alien invaders. But Finbar was so gentle that he'd failed Animaul training. WorldCorp reassigned him to be Kip's 2iC. Finbar was calm and wise, not daring like Kip. His sharp wolf senses and loyalty made up for it, though.
âThat creature is distracting you both,' came MoNa's voice. She saw and heard everything Kip and Finbar did.
âThe wormhole to Aquaron is open,' MoNa continued. âIn case you haven't noticed, I used my auto-pilot to leave the Hoverport. But you're needed at the controls right away.'
Frowning, Kip left the landing bay. Space Scouting would be heaps more fun without a bossy starship!
Kip and Finbar strode along MoNa's glowing blue corridors.With Duke at their feet, they headed for the bridge, MoNa's control centre.
At the round door to the bridge, a security laser scanned Kip's eyeball. Only then were Kip and Finbar allowed inside.
The bridge had sloping walls and a big window that was now looking over Earth. Kip and Finbar sat down in the padded chairs in the middle.
Kip touched the air above his head. A blue holographic cylinder beamed down from above. Kip and Finbar were surrounded by it. MoNa's controls were projected onto the cylinder.
Expertly, Kip switched MoNa from auto-pilot mode. He took the controls himself. Flying a starship was tough, but Kip had studied intensively. In Space Scout training, Flying was his favourite subject.
Soon, a strange, swirling red cloud loomed into view. The wormhole!
They powered forward into the cloud. Colours exploded all around. Kip's head ached and his skin prickled. Finbar turned green with space-sickness.
But in 3.2 seconds, the trip through the wormhole was over. MoNa popped out into Aquaron's galaxy.
Wobbly legged, Finbar walked to the windows. A large, bright red planet filled one entire window. Aquaron!
Kip felt the nervous thrill he always got when he was about to land on a brand-new planet.
Space Scouts were trained to deal with the unknown. Tackling new challenges was one of the reasons Kip loved the job.
Kip took in every detail of Aquaron. As a Space Scout, it was important to notice as much as possible.
âEarth's got green patches of land,' Kip said. âBut this planet's completely red.'
âMy long-range telescopes say Aquaron's covered with water,' MoNa said.
Finbar yelped. âAn ocean planet? Wolves hate swimming!'
âGo to the landing bay,' MoNa said, ignoring him. âA WaterWalker is waiting.'
Kip had read about WaterWalkers in his Space Scout Vehicle Manual.They were clear, oxygen-filled capsules with motors.
Kip wouldn't be wearing his spacesuit on this mission. He took it off and slipped on a SeaStocking over his normal clothes â a thin, transparent suit that was better for swimming in than his spacesuit.
I didn't have to get changed at the bus-stop
after all!
he groaned to himself.
When they were ready, Kip and Finbar headed for the landing bay. Kip wondered how the WaterWalker would get down to Aquaron.
WorldCorp WaterWalker
Normally, MoNa beamed Kip and Finbar to new planets using her Scrambler Beams. Scramblers took your particles, scrambled them, and then rearranged them on the surface of the destination planet.
âI'll shoot the WaterWalker into the Aquaron ocean,' MoNa explained when they reached the landing bay.
Kip climbed into the cockpit. Duke dived in after him. He sat in Kip's lap, panting.
Kip decided that it would be better to bring Duke along in the WaterWalker than leave him behind. He didn't want to give MoNa another reason to complain. Duke could wait in the WaterWalker while Kip scouted Aquaron.
Kip fitted his safety harness over himself as well as Duke. Finbar strapped in behind them. The WaterWalker's watertight doors sealed shut.
The floor beneath the WaterWalker began to vibrate. Duke's bony tail flicked side-to-side, smacking Kip in the face.
âStop it, Du â' Kip started to say.
Thenâ¦
AAAAAAHHH!
The landing bay floor dropped away below them. The WaterWalker went hurtling at top speed through space!
The starry sky rushed past in a blur. The WaterWalker shot through Aquaron's atmosphere with a bump. Split-seconds later, they splashed into Aquaron's bright red sea.
Kip gasped. The sea was rough, but it wasn't like oceans on Earth. Instead, Aquaron's red water churned in a gigantic whirlpool. And Kip, Finbar and Duke had landed right in the middle!
The whirlpool spun them around and sucked them downwards.
Faster and faster they whirled around, until Kip wanted to throw up. Finbar actually did! Luckily Finbar used a stink-proof SpaceSick Bag that was stored in the WaterWalker.
As they spun around, Kip caught a glimpse of his SpaceCuff.
Uh-oh, there's no
reception underwater,
he realised.
There was no way to tell MoNa what was happening.
The entire world was red and murky. The whirlpool blew sand everywhere. In the gloom, Kip saw that the water teemed with thick, wriggling black slugs.
Giant leeches!
he thought. Kip had been trained to deal with creepy creatures. But leeches were especially yucky. They sucked your blood until they were bloated with it.
At least, that's what leeches do on Earth
, Kip thought.
Giant alien leeches might be even
worse!