The Shrinking Race (5 page)

‘THAT!' Finbar yelled.

The sand jet finished spraying. Then another one shot up, millimetres from Kip's feet. Suddenly, sand jets were exploding all over the place.

‘Run!' said Kip. ‘Head for the rocks!'

They bolted. Sand jets sprayed up and then disappeared until the gloomy air was thick with stinging blue sand.

Kip weaved around the sand jets as best he could. It was impossible to tell where the next jet would shoot up!

‘Look out!' Kip yelled to Finbar. The sand behind Finbar had started to shift.

Too late! The sand jet shot into the air. It took Finbar with it, high into the sky. Finbar was in mid-air, surfing on sand!

That almost looks fun
, Kip thought, despite the danger Finbar was in.

Without warning, the sand jet dropped down again. Finbar smacked into the ground. He got up and kept running.

‘There are some rock formations to our left,' Finbar panted. His wolf eyes were reliable, even in the low light. ‘The Shifting Flat finishes there, I think.'

Relieved, Kip and Finbar raced to the rocks. They collapsed behind the nearest one. The ground underneath them was rocky and solid.

Some blue sand had got into Kip's helmet through the airlock. But he didn't want to take his helmet off to shake it out.

I'm not risking snotty sneezing in the Baltian air
, he thought.
That'd be way too gross.

His eyes were adjusting to the gloom. He looked around at the rock formations.

Lots of nooks and crannies
, Kip thought.
The perfect spot for Aerobots…

With Finbar leading, they picked their way between the rocks. They stayed absolutely quiet. The slightest sound could alert the Aerobots that they were there.

Suddenly, Finbar stopped walking. In the darkness, Kip almost ran into him.

With one paw to his helmet, Finbar reminded Kip to be quiet. He pointed.

Finbar had spotted an Aerobot! It was sheltering in the darkness of a rocky crevice. It stood there, perfectly still, and a row of lights blinked softly on its metal chest.

Kip scanned the rocks in front of him. Now he knew what he was looking for, he spotted Aerobots everywhere. There were hundreds of them. No, thousands!

Resting. Waiting.

Inside Kip's helmet, a grain of sand flicked up into his left nostril.

His nose began to tickle.

Ignore it,
he told himself sternly.

But the tickle built. And built. Soon, it was a ferocious itch.

Don't you dare sneeze, Kip Kirby
, he thought. But…

AAAAAAAA-CHO!

Too late!

A huge sneeze rattled Kip's helmet.

That was all it took to wake up the Aerobots.

Metal wings stirred and beat the air furiously. Terrible screeches filled the night. The Aerobots were about to attack!

CHAPTER
9

Hot with fear, Kip dialled MoNa on his SpaceCuff.

‘Engage MagnaSweep 169 kilometres north of Cobaltville, on the dark side of the planet,' he yelled.

Aerobot screeches filled his ears.

For once, MoNa didn't make any jokes. She knew the situation was deadly serious.

‘I've got a lock on your location,' she said. ‘Engaging MagnaSweep now.'

The Aerobots' wings sounded like swords clashing against their metal bodies.

Kip felt a steely claw scrape the back of his spacesuit.

The claw closed around his shoulder and Kip's feet lifted off the ground. An Aerobot had him in its clutches! It was trying to fly off with him.

‘Nooooooooooo!' howled Finbar.

Then suddenly, the Aerobots' screeching stopped. Their wings fell silent and still.

The Aerobot let go of Kip. He dropped to the ground, and commando-rolled to a stop.

The other Aerobots started dropping from the sky too. They landed with a loud clanging of metal, and then sat perfectly still on the ground. A gentle electronic hum filled the air. It was the sound of robots in stand-by mode.

HUMMMMMMM

‘It worked!' grinned Kip, getting up. ‘MoNa's MagnaSweep's magnetic field wiped their memories.'

MoNa 4000

‘Let's trek back to Cobaltville and share the good news,' Finbar said.

Kip's gaze settled on a nearby Aerobot. ‘Why walk?' he asked, a smile spreading across his face. ‘We've got winged robots at our service.'

Finbar looked doubtful.

‘Don't be boring,' said Kip, giving Finbar a friendly punch on the shoulder.

Kip cracked open a can of liquid teeth cleaner from his backpack. After all those sugarmelons, his teeth felt furry.

Kip sucked up the entire can of tooth cleaner through the airlock in his helmet. He swilled it around in his mouth and then spat it back through the airlock.

Then Kip and Finbar sat on the back of an Aerobot. Kip programmed Cobaltville's co-ordinates into the robot's computer.

The Aerobot flapped its powerful wings and lifted off. Twisting and turning, it weaved through the rock formations easily. It rose even higher, soaring on each gust of wind.

‘You were right,' said Finbar, holding Kip around the waist. ‘This
is
better than trekking!'

But Kip wasn't listening. He was thinking about sugarmelons. His teeth felt better after being cleaned, but his tummy ached from all the sugar.

Kip wouldn't have admitted it to his mum or even a Teacherbot, but he felt like he'd had enough lollies for a week!

‘The Baltians live on lollies. They don't eat vegies or anything healthy,' he suddenly called over his shoulder to Finbar, thinking aloud.

Far below them, Cobaltville was coming into view.

‘Their diet's not nutritious. Maybe that's why they're shrinking!' Kip went on.

He was sure his theory was right.

Blutor said the
shrinking began two
years ago. That's when
sugarmelons were
invented!

The Aerobot touched down in the field in the middle of Cobaltville. When the Baltians caught sight of the Aerobot, they ran for cover.

Just in time, Finbar spotted Blutor. ‘It's OK!' Finbar called. ‘We've deprogrammed the Aerobots!'

‘It's safe to come out!' Blutor yelled to the other blue people.

Blutor ran over to Kip and Finbar as quickly as his little legs could carry him.

‘I think I know why you're shrinking, too,' Kip said, when Blutor got closer.

Can't believe I'm about to give a lecture
about healthy eating!
Kip thought.

‘Maybe it's your diet,' he suggested. ‘You aren't getting any nutrients from fresh vegetables.'

‘Lollies growing on trees,' Blutor said slowly, shaking his head. ‘I knew there had to be a downside.'

The streets of Cobaltville were filling up with tiny blue people. Everyone wanted to clap and cheer for Kip and Finbar.

So this is how it feels to be a hero
, thought Kip. He desperately wanted to beat Candy to the shield and be a hero on Earth too.

But deep down, Kip knew Cobalt wasn't the new Earth he was looking for. The Baltians weren't ready for planet-mates just yet.

After all, it could take the Baltians years to grow back to their normal size. And they'd have to regrow their vegetable farms, and get back into hunting steak mice – whatever
those
were.

But what if Kip told WorldCorp exactly what Cobalt was like? He couldn't be sure that WorldCorp would agree that the people of Cobalt needed time.

But if I do tell WorldCorp about Cobalt, it
might mean winning the shield…

Help the Baltians? Or try to win the shield? Kip had never faced such a difficult choice.

CHAPTER
10

‘I'd better call for our Scrambler Beams,' Kip said to Finbar. He didn't want to leave the cheering crowd. But he couldn't put off his decision forever.

‘Send two Scramblers,' Kip said into his SpaceCuff.

‘Send two Scramblers,
please
,' replied MoNa.

She wouldn't boss me around if I'd discovered
Earth 2
, Kip thought. Then he realised that probably wasn't true.

Actually, no matter how important I become,
MoNa WOULD still boss me around.

The thought made Kip smile.

MoNa was waiting out of sight, in Cobalt's atmosphere. She shot down a pair of Scrambler Beams.

Finbar carefully picked up Blutor one final time.

‘It won't be easy for the blue people to grow back to normal size,' Finbar said to Blutor. ‘But I know you'll get there if you eat your vegies!'

Blutor shook Finbar's paw goodbye.

Kip didn't really know how to say goodbye.

‘My mum makes a really healthy cauliflower casserole,' he blurted out. ‘I'll send you the recipe.'

What am I talking about?
Kip wondered.
I HATE cauliflower casserole!

Blutor shook Kip's pointer finger. With a final wave, Kip and Finbar each stepped into a Scrambler Beam. Kip noticed that his 2iC had his eyes squeezed shut.

Finbar might have been a gigantic human-cross-arctic wolf, but he was totally soft when it came to space travel.

Moments later, Kip was sprawled on the floor of MoNa's landing bay. Finbar was already there, whiskers trembling.

‘Let's head straight to the bridge,' Kip said quietly to Finbar. ‘I've made my decision. We can't tell WorldCorp that Cobalt could be Earth 2. It's not fair to Blutor and his people.'

Finbar looked at Kip and nodded. He seemed relieved.

Kip and Finbar strode to the bridge. Kip was dreading news of Candy's victory. But his heart told him he'd made the right choice.

Kip engaged the holographic console.

The very first post on the Space Scout Intranet was about Candy!

Kip speed-read through it.

UPDATE

Candy Montenegro's Crimson Planet discovery
WorldCorp's scientists discovered that Candy Montenegro's plant and flower samples had a delicious chocolate smell. But the flowers contained deadly bacteria. Three days' exposure can cause madness and death. Therefore the quest for Earth 2 continues.

END MESSAGE

‘Yes!' he muttered under his breath.

Immediately, Kip felt guilty. He
did
want Earth 2 to be discovered. He just wanted to be the Space Scout to do it. And now there was still a chance that could happen. But Kip also needed to protect the people of Cobalt.

His fingers skipped over the holographic keyboard as he filed his mission report.

CLASSIFIED

CAPTAIN'S LOG
Cobalt

Locals:
Friendly blue people who are shrinking faster than my granny. Also a fleet of intelligent winged robots called Aerobots. Useful to humans, but only when they're doing what they're told.
Diet:
Baltians have the sweetest tooth of any known alien species. They hate vegetables even more than I do.
Recommendation:
Cobalt is not the next Earth. Half the planet is almost always in darkness.
Plus, there are no vegetables to eat. Normally I'd say that sounds like paradise. But this mission has changed my mind.