I felt myself quivering on the edge of kleptra. The Fatherly One has long taught me that the messenger who brings bad news is never welcome, and is usually blamed for the news itself, even if he or she has nothing to do with it. He has also told me that the Geembolians are very sensitive about their image. For him to take such an action would destroy his mission, and strike a terrible blow at the life he is trying to build for us. This was his first major outpost. How could I ask such a thing of him?
As if to show how petty my concerns really were, a sudden rumbling shook the walls of the building where we sat. I shouted in terror and my sphen-gnut-ksher emitted a burst of sparks.
From outside the chapel I could hear shouts, and a distant scream of pain.
“Is this it?” I cried, fighting desperately to keep myself from slipping into kleptra. “Is this—”
My words were cut off by Balteeri grabbing me. He dragged me under a stone table. I could see Serha Dombalt and Derrvan sheltering under another table on the far side of the room. Stones fell from the ceiling, one landing but inches from where I had sat while listening to the serha’s story.
I don’t know how long the rumbling and shaking continued. I think it was a very short time. It felt like several grinnugs. Even when it stopped I did not feel safe.
“Is the city collapsing now?” I asked, fighting to control the quaver in my voice.
Serha Dombalt crawled out from under her table. “This is not the end,” she said, as she reached down to help Derrvan to his feet. “It is merely what we live with these days—a small warning of the cataclysm to come.”
I tried to imagine experiencing such terror on a daily basis. But though the Fatherly One claims my imagination is out of control, I could not think what such a thing must be like.
“All right,” I whispered, knowing I was stepping into trouble I could not begin to understand. “I’ll help you.”
To be continued…
A GLOSSARY OF ALIEN TERMS
Following are definitions for the alien words and phrases that appear for the first time in this book. Definitions of alien words used in earlier Sixth-Grade Alien books can be found in the volume where they were first used.
The number after a definition indicates the chapter where the term first appears.
For most words we are only giving the spelling. In actual usage many would, of course, be accompanied by smells and/or body sounds.
DIMWAKKLE:
Turn, change, transform. (13)
EEGON:
A word used for addressing unanswerable questions to the universe. Though it means “why,” it is invariably used in the context of “why me?” (13)
GEEZBAT:
Hevi-Hevian curse word; not suitable for translating in a children’s book. (13)
GEEZBORKIM:
To move one’s hind end. (3)
GIBBLESPRATTEN:
An expression of disgust. Over several centuries this word has been condensed from the much longer phrase “Fangula eegon gibble tumputt spratten pumtutti” (literally, “Why must the world always bite me on the butt?”). This was the central life question of the philosophers known as the Northern Depressives. Though the movement has been discredited, the phrase, and the question it implies, linger on. (10)
GLIKKSA:
Ill-advised or, more vulgarly, idiotic; the word derives from an early ruler of the Hevi-Hevian empire popularly remembered as Glikksa the Fool (sometimes “Glikksa the Bonehead”), widely considered the worst ruler in the planet’s history, primarily because of his decision to build a city over what turned out to be a vast subterranean wampfield. (For more details see article “Sunken City of Luksanntia,” in volume 24,982 of the Encyclopedia Galactica.) (20)
GRINNUG:
A galactic measure of time, roughly equivalent to 427 Earth days. The unit, which was created by averaging the length of the years of the initial ten member planets of the Trading Federation, is considered annoying and out of date. Unfortunately, it is so entrenched in popular usage that no one has been able to come up with a suitable replacement for it. (serial episode)
KREPOT:
Quick, rapid, fast. (3)
KREPOTZIM!:
Literally: “In a flash!” (The exclamation point is always present.) This word is a favorite of stage magicians on Hevi-Hevi, who are fond of creating great flashes of light and sound as they work their illusions. The word is an ancient one, and most scholars trace it to Ellio Barcadium, the great poet magician of the First Empire. (7)
PLUMTO:
Plonkus droppings, a particularly vile-smelling animal waste product. (See glossary of Book 2 for a description of the plonkus.) (13)
SPRITZEN:
Touch, turn one’s hand to. (13)
YERTZTIKKIA:
A kind of stew made from klug root and skakka meat, usually seasoned with crushed waterbugs. Originally developed by workers in the northern wampfields, the dish was taken up by the famous chef Snorzel Ch-Forkis and became something of a fad among the rich for a few years. (3)
Note: It is not always easy to make a direct translation from Hevi-Hevian to the language of Earth, partly because of the many subtleties expressed by smell and body sounds, partly because their grammar is quite different from ours. However, by using the words above we can see that the phrase “Eegon spritzen plumto dimwakkle?” becomes, roughly, “Why must everything I touch turn to plonkus droppings?”—a cry of despair first made popular by young artists during Hevi-Hevi’s infamous “Dreary Period.”
More from this Series
Class Pet Catastrophe
Book 6
Sixth-Grade Alien
Book 1
I Shrank My Teacher
Book 2
Missing—One Brain!
Book 3
More from the Author
Goblins in the Castle
Goblins on the Prowl
ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR
Bruce Coville has published more than one hundred books, including My Teacher Is an Alien; Into the Land of the Unicorns; and Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher. He is a frequent speaker at schools and conferences, and has presented on five continents. He is also the founder and producing director of Full Cast Audio, an audiobook company that creates recordings of the best in children’s and young adult literature. He lives in Syracuse, New York, with his wife, author and illustrator Katherine Coville. Visit him online at BruceCoville.com.
Glen Mullaly is an award-winning illustrator whose work can be found in books, magazines, greeting cards, and posters. He has also created puzzles and paper crafts for McDonald’s, and his Star Wars comics for kids (illustrated by legendary artist Ken Steacy) have been released by Marvel Comics in graphic novel format. In addition to the Sixth-Grade Alien series, he also illustrated Bruce Coville’s My Teacher Is an Alien series. He lives on the West Coast with his wife and cat. Visit Glen at GlenMullaly.com and follow him on Facebook at glenmullalyillustration.
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DON’T MISS THE REST OF THE SIXTH-GRADE ALIEN SERIES!
Sixth-Grade Alien
I Shrank My Teacher
Missing—One Brain!
Lunch Swap Disaster
Zombies of the Science Fair
Class Pet Catastrophe
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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This Aladdin paperback edition October 2020
Text copyright © 2000, 2020 by Bruce Coville
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Designed by Tiara Iandiorio
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Library of Congress Control Number 2020938376
ISBN 9781534468054 (hc)
ISBN 9781534468047 (pbk)
ISBN 9781534468061 (eBook)
Zombies of the Science Fair Page 8