The Kid Kingdom (3 page)

He turned to Finbar, who was looking more closely at the fountain. Kip guessed he was hoping to find water.

‘Either the water here is brown and sludgy,' said Finbar, ‘or that fountain's full of melted chocolate.'

Kip analysed the brown liquid with his SpaceCuff. Finbar was right! It was chocolate. And judging by the way kids were swarming all around, it was free to drink from any time. Kip took off his space glove and stuck his finger in the fountain.

A planet where chocolate's free any time
? he thought.
That's awes–

WHOOSH!

A three-eyed kid on a hoverboard whizzed past Kip's head. The edge of the board clipped Finbar's ear. But the kid didn't even stop to say sorry.

Finbar growled and rubbed his ear. Kip was sorry Finbar was hurt, but he also felt excited. He couldn't believe how many kids on hoverboards there were.

On Earth, hoverboarders were only allowed in special mid-air skate bowls. Grown-ups found them a nuisance on the streets. Kip broke the rules whenever he could, but it didn't even look like there were rules here.

‘The more I see of Yufe, the more I like it!' Kip said. This place was perfect for Earth 2.

Finbar pursed his lips. He was more cautious than Kip.

‘That must be where the water bomb came from,' Finbar said. He pointed at the top of a distant hill, where some kids were messing around with a silver machine.

‘It's an ultra-long-range cannon,' Finbar continued, eyeing the machine's powerful gun barrel.

‘Somehow I don't think it's meant for firing water bombs,' Kip said. The machine looked just like Earth's anti-comet cannons.

They watched as the kids launched a huge green water bomb into space. This one nearly took out a low-flying satellite! The kids clearly had no idea how to fire the cannon properly.

‘Our water bomb was way bigger than that,' said Kip. ‘Maybe it came from somewhere else.'

‘Irresponsible, anyway,' Finbar sniffed.

Kip gave him a friendly punch on the arm. ‘But fun!' he replied.

Finbar rolled his eyes towards the sky.

Then he stopped. ‘Kip, look at that comet! It's much bigger than all the others.'

Kip glanced up. Finbar was right, but so what? There were all kinds of comets flying around this planet. Kip wasn't going to let Finbar put him off Yufe.

‘My wolf senses tell me something's weird about that comet,' Finbar went on, his fur bristling.

Before Kip could tell Finbar he was overreacting, they were interrupted.

‘Welcome to Yufe,' said a voice. It sounded just like Kip's.

Kip and Finbar turned around to see an alien kid, exactly Kip's height. His three brown eyes were the same colour as Kip's. He wore a red T-shirt that was just like one Kip had at home. In fact, apart from his green skin and three eye stalks, he was a lot like Kip.

‘Er…hi,' Kip answered, stunned that this alien kid even spoke his language.

Towering over the kid was what looked like a cross between a wolf and an alien being. He was furry all over. He looked a lot like Finbar, except his fur was black, not white.

A creepy, excited shiver ran up Kip's spine.
I think we've just met our alien doubles!
he thought.

‘This is Fergus, and I'm Ker,' said the kid. His three eyes twitched first left, then right. Kip noticed his middle eye stalk was longer than the others.

‘Ker's the leader of Yufe,' Fergus added firmly.

A kid in charge of an entire planet? Kip couldn't believe it.

Kip noticed Fergus giving Finbar a yellow-eyed stare, as if daring him to disagree.

Kip had a bad feeling about Fergus. Something about that alien wolf seemed like trouble.

CHAPTER 5

Kip and Finbar smiled uncertainly at Ker and Fergus. It was pretty freaky meeting an alien version of yourself deep in an unexplored galaxy, but Kip still thought Yufe was fun.

‘Come on,' said Ker. ‘I'll show you around. My place is over there.'

Like Kip, Ker lived in an apartment building. Kip and his parents lived in a tiny apartment thousands of storeys up. But Ker seemed to have this apartment building all to himself. And it was awesome!

Ker's House

There was no lift between the floors. Instead, transparent chutes sucked you up the outside of the building, and slides ran from the top floor to the ground. At the bottom of the building was a swimming pool and garden.

Heaps of Ker's friends were relaxing on motorised lilos as Refresherbots brought them food and drinks.

Then Kip spotted something sailing through the air towards his head. It looked a bit like a chocolate éclair, except the icing was orange and the cream inside was frothing.

‘Food fight!' yelled one of Ker's friends.

Ker whipped a portable mini-laser from his pocket and blasted the alien éclair to pieces. He laughed as cream splattered everywhere.

‘There's nothing this cool on Earth!' Kip said to Finbar.

‘Or this messy,' Finbar muttered, picking blue baked beans out of his fur. ‘Shouldn't Ker be more responsible?' He's supposed to be running this planet!'

But Kip was too caught up in the food fight to listen. His SpaceCuff was buzzing, but he ignored that too.

He grabbed a hamburger-shaped melon from a passing Refresherbot and lobbed it at an alien kid.

SPLAT!

‘I'm going to get you, Alien Boy!' the kid shrieked at Kip.

Kip was swept into the game. Finbar hated getting his white fur dirty, so he ducked behind a tree.

Kip hurled a green ice-cream sundae into the air. It sailed into the street, smashing into a lone figure. The kid was wearing a long black cloak instead of bright colours like the rest of the kids.

‘Hey, sorry,' called Finbar, as Kip ran off. ‘Kip didn't mean to hit you.'

The kid didn't seem to have noticed the ice-cream, though. Instead, he was staring anxiously towards the large comet in the sky. But at the sound of Finbar's voice, the kid vanished down a narrow alley behind Ker's apartment building.

The food fight had turned into a bombing competition in the pool. Ker and Kip were relaxing on deckchairs, green drinks bubbling over the top of their glasses. Fergus sat by Ker's side.

‘Who was that kid wearing the black cloak?' Finbar asked, coming over.

‘Probably your stupid sist–' Fergus began, muttering under his breath.

‘Oh, who cares, Fergus,' said Ker, grinning at Kip. ‘Fergus worries about details, but I just like to have fun. That's what makes me a popular leader.'

‘And why Yufe is obviously the best planet EVER!' Kip said. ‘In fact...'

Kip decided that now was the perfect time to explain his mission to Ker. As leader of Yufe, Ker could surely authorise Earth's people to move in. To Kip, this planet looked perfect. Clean air. Water to spare. And non-stop fun all day!

After telling Ker about Earth's situation, Kip asked the big question.‘Could we bring some people here to live? Some more kids and their mums and dads?'

A puzzled expression crossed Ker's face. ‘Kids? Mumsandads? What are they?' he asked.

Now Kip was confused. ‘Kids are like us. Mums and dads are wrinkled old people. They make rules and talk about eating your vegies a lot. Oh, and they love telling corny jokes.'

Ker made a fake spewing noise. ‘Mumsandads sound awful!'

Obviously, Ker didn't know grown-ups even existed. It explained why the kids were running riot on Yufe. The planet was kids only!

But if all they do is have fun, how did kids
manage to invent the cool stuff they've got here?
Kip wondered.

Finbar had questions of his own. ‘How are new kids born without grown-ups?' he asked.

Ker explained that no-one on Yufe was older than 12. Just before kids turned 13, they started aging in reverse until they were toddlers. No-one died or was born – kids just got older and younger over and over again.

Kip was stunned. With no grown-ups, life would be paradise. No school, no bedtime and no-one telling you what to do!

‘Well, you're welcome to move here, Kip,' Ker said. ‘As long as you like to have fun!'

Fergus gave a low growl. ‘Ker's in charge, though – don't forget.'

Kip smiled. Even if Fergus was a bit unfriendly, Ker's offer was tempting.
Very
tempting.

‘There's just one condition,' Ker added. ‘You've got to leave all those horrible mumsandads behind!'

CHAPTER 6

Space Scouting was full of big decisions. But this was one of the toughest Kip had ever faced. If he could convince WorldCorp that Yufe was Earth 2, then Earth's kids would be guaranteed a life of never-ending fun.

Plus I'd get all the glory as the Scout who
discovered the next Earth!
Kip thought.

But with a twinge he remembered his dad's jokes. Although he might be silly sometimes, his dad was still loveable.

Could I really move to a new galaxy and
leave my parents behind?
he wondered.

Kip was so deep in thought, he hardly noticed his SpaceCuff buzzing furiously.

‘Where have you been?' squawked MoNa when Kip took the call. But strangely, she didn't sound furious.

She just sounds… panicked
, thought Kip. He felt a prickle of fear in his stomach.

‘My system detected a large comet near Yufe before you landed,' MoNa continued. ‘Now my sensors are telling me it's gone rogue!'

Oh no!
A rogue comet was one that'd broken its orbit. It would cause catastrophic damage if it crashed into a planet.

‘That big comet we saw,' Finbar said gravely. ‘I knew there was something wrong with it!'

Kip turned to Ker. He couldn't believe the look on Ker's face. He was
grinning
. It was as if Ker hadn't heard what Finbar said.

‘Want to go and muck around on the 360-degree waterslide?' Ker asked.

‘You're kidding, right?' Kip answered. ‘Your planet is facing a massive crisis, and–'