by Mark Crilley
It had been a very long day.
Chapter 19
The flight back to the palace took many hours—all night long, in fact—but it was mercifully uneventful. I woke to the sound of Mr. Beeba and Poog talking to one another in excited but hushed tones. They were evidently at the end of a very long and intense discussion.
“So that’s why Alia acted so strangely,” said Mr. Beeba, rubbing his forehead thoughtfully. “I can’t believe I never saw it before. It all seems so obvious now.”
Spuckler called back to us from the cockpit, announcing that we were a mere half hour away from the palace.
“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Mr. Beeba sneered, sounding as if even then he wouldn’t believe it. And who could blame him? We’d experienced so many setbacks during the past week that it hardly seemed possible our journey could end so smoothly.
But sure enough, about half an hour later King Froptoppit’s majestic palace came into view, glowing purplish pink in the early-morning sunlight. I couldn’t help thinking back to the night I’d first come here with Bip and Bop, how nervous I was, and how ignorant of what was to come. It seemed so long ago, almost as though I’d been a different person then.
Spuckler steered the ship right up to King Froptoppit’s quarters and parked it at a grand marble entrance nearby. Within seconds the area was swarming with excited guards and members of the King’s inner circle. A moment later King Froptoppit himself arrived, strutting forward so that he could be the very first to greet us.
As soon as the hatch was opened, Prince Froptoppit ran out and leaped into his father’s arms. I’d imagined this moment for a long time. It was hard to believe it was finally coming true.
“There’s my boy!” King Froptoppit said, a single tear running down his cheek, his arms firmly locked around the Prince. “I knew Akiko would bring you back to me! There was never a doubt in my—”
He stopped in midsentence, his eyes having fallen upon Alia Rellapor. She had just stepped out of the ship and was standing nervously between Spuckler and me. She looked very ill at ease, as if she wanted to hide under the nearest rock.
The King jumped to his feet, drawing the Prince protectively behind him.
“Arrest her, men!” he shouted, pointing a quivering finger at Alia. “This heinous crime will not go unpunished!”
A half dozen or so of King Froptoppit’s guards stepped forward. Spuckler and Gax moved quickly in front of Alia, stopping the guards in their tracks. Poog also floated over until he was positioned just a few inches from Alia’s shoulder. It looked as if there was going to be a standoff.
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty,” Mr. Beeba said, dashing over to King Froptoppit’s side, using a very practiced diplomatic tone. “I’m afraid there are a great many things you don’t know about Alia. I would strongly recommend a bit of debriefing before you take any action against her.”
King Froptoppit’s look of anger dissolved into an expression of mild confusion.
“Yes, yes, I see,” he whispered to Mr. Beeba, never taking his eyes off Alia. “Let’s hear it, then.”
Mr. Beeba stepped into an area between all the parties concerned and began a very calm and measured explanation of events as he understood them. He was like a lawyer making his case before a jury, raising first one hand and then the other, underlining the importance of certain words with the stroke of a finger, squinting his eyes nearly closed at times and throwing them open wide at others. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him so . . . well, so much in his element before. He was clearly enjoying himself.
He told King Froptoppit how Alia had been bewitched by Throck, who was the last surviving member of an evil society called the Mulgari. Obsessed with power and preaching a doctrine of rule by force, they were the worst sort of cowards and were absolutely terrified of the responsibilities of leadership. They used their spells and trances to manipulate others into doing their dirty work for them, while they stood safely in the shadows.
Mr. Beeba finished his presentation by leading King Froptoppit into the hull of the ship and showing him Throck’s frozen stone body, explaining how Poog and I had managed to save the Prince in the end. The King thanked both of us graciously and then turned at last to the woman he had long believed was his foe.
“Alia,” King Froptoppit said, walking slowly and somewhat sheepishly over to her. “It seems I owe you an apology. . . .”
Without a word Alia stepped forward and threw her arms around King Froptoppit’s neck. All at once they seemed a very happy couple, just as they must have been long ago.
“And here I was thinking you’d turned against me because of that little spat we’d had,” I heard King Froptoppit say.
“What spat?” I asked.
“Oh, it was just a silly little misunderstanding, Akiko,” Alia explained with a smile. “I’m sure we can hardly even remember what it was about now, can we, dear?”
“Indeed,” the King agreed, chuckling. “A laughably trivial matter, as I recall.”
“Now hang on a minute, here,” I said, planting my hands firmly on my hips. “We’ve gone through an awful lot of trouble to get the two of you back together. I want some details on this little spat of yours.”
“Yes, well . . . ,” King Froptoppit began, turning to Alia with a look of mild discomfort, “. . . correct me if I’m wrong, dear, but it was something about my last name not being quite good enough for you, wasn’t it?”
“Come now,” Alia answered very matter-of-factly, turning to address everyone present, “I’m sure you’d all agree that ’Alia Froptoppit’ doesn’t have nearly the same lilt as ’Alia Rellapor.’”
“I think ’Froptoppit’ has an abundance of lilt,” the King answered with an angry snort.
“Okay, okay, I get the general idea!” I said. “Look, you two have got to watch it with these little spats. That’s when guys like Throck step in and turn everything upside down!”
King Froptoppit walked toward me, dropped down on one knee, and placed his hands on my shoulders.
“You’re quite right, Akiko,” he said very solemnly. “Quite right. Alia and I owe you a debt of gratitude that can never be fully repaid. Indeed, you’ve done more than just reunite our family. You’ve saved the planet Smoo from tyranny!”
He stopped and took several big sniffs with his oversized nose.
SHNIFF SHNIFF SHNIFF.
“Ahem,” he coughed, rising to his feet. “Now don’t take this personally, but I’m ordering all of you to the royal bathhouses to be, er, freshened up a bit.”
Mr. Beeba, Spuckler, and I all stared at each other and blushed. Let’s face it: Five days without a bath doesn’t do much for a person’s body odor. We were all seriously stinky.
“When you’re done with that, we will reconvene in the royal gardens,” King Froptoppit announced, his voice now filled with gleeful anticipation. “Today there will be a celebration in this palace the likes of which you’ve never seen!”
Chapter 20
The rest of the day was a bit of a blur. I was escorted to the royal bathhouses by a team of heavyset women who led me from one scented, steamy pool to the next. One of them washed my hair, another scrubbed my feet, and yet another filed my nails. Finally they just let me soak for a while in a hot tub that swirled gently around me like a slow-motion whirlpool.
While I was in the baths, someone had washed and pressed my T-shirt and jeans and all my other clothes (they even replaced my shoelaces!), so when I got dressed I felt as clean and fresh as the night I’d left home. Even cleaner, really, if you want to know the truth.
I was then led out to the royal gardens, which were every bit as gorgeous as Prince Froptoppit had said. There were trees of every size and shape and flowers of every color. In the middle of the garden was an enormous yellow tent stretched over table after table of delicious-looking food. A large band of musicians was making beautiful but very unusual music, like a symphony slowly being played backward.
In the center of everything
stood a big round table for the guests of honor. Spuckler was there, having evidently just received a shave and a haircut. He looked very handsome but very embarrassed to be so clean! Mr. Beeba was dressed in some sort of official robe, with matching gloves and a very scholarly-looking hat. Gax had been polished up as clean as they could make him. (Actually I couldn’t see much of a difference, but at least they’d tried.) And of course Poog was there too. I don’t know if he’d been given a bath or not, but he certainly looked happy and very proud.
The gates of the gardens were thrown open so that all the people of Smoo could join in the festivities. The band played tune after tune, songs that flowed seamlessly from one melody to the next. Couples danced and children played games. Royal stewards brought tray after tray of hot food and sparkling juices in dozens of colors. I ate and ate until I couldn’t eat another bite.
King Froptoppit, Alia Rellapor, and the Prince came by our table to thank us again and again. The King invited me to stay a few more days on Smoo, but I told him I thought it was really time for me to go back home.
Home! I’d been so busy with everything I’d almost stopped thinking of home. Would I really be able to go there soon?
As the evening sun went down, the party continued, but I asked King Froptoppit if I could leave early.
“I’ve had so much fun today, King Froptoppit,” I told him, “but I need to sleep in my own bed tonight, if you know what I mean.”
“I understand, Akiko,” he answered with a sad- looking smile. “But you must promise to come back soon. We’re all going to miss you terribly, you know.”
All my friends from Smoo walked along with me as I headed toward the ship that would take me home. It was a little round blue-and-red-and-yellow ship, just like the one that had brought me here.
“Don’t forget to write,” Mr. Beeba said, not bothering to explain how I was supposed to send a letter all the way from another galaxy.
“An’ don’t work too hard at school,” Spuckler advised, drawing an angry glance from Mr. Beeba.
“YOU WILL COME BACK TO SEE US AGAIN, MA’AM, WON’T YOU?” Gax asked, his squeaky mechanical voice sounding unusually emotional.
“Definitely, Gax” I answered. “This isn’t the last you’ll see of me, I promise.”
Alia Rellapor and the Prince thanked me one last time for everything I’d done. So did Spuckler and Mr. Beeba and everyone else. By the end of it I was just about ready to cry. My throat felt all choked up and my hands were shaking. I gave everyone a hug, one at a time, and finally made my way to the back of the ship.
I climbed aboard and waved goodbye to everyone as Bip and Bop revved up the engines. The little ship rose from the platform, and soon I was presented with a dazzling view of the palace just as the sun sank behind the horizon. Everyone waved to me from below, and I kept my eyes on them for as long as I could before they disappeared from sight.
I sank into the backseat as we continued rising into the air, and I sighed deeply. Only then did I realize Poog was there beside me.
He smiled at me, saying goodbye in his own quiet way. I leaned over and gave him one last hug. I must have held him next to me for more than a minute. Then I let go and watched him float back from me a foot or two. He blinked once or twice, smiled again, and then zipped away into the cool evening air. I watched him go back toward the palace in a long slow arc. Soon the entire planet was visible from our little ship; then it grew smaller and smaller and finally became indistinguishable from the all the stars around it.
I was on my way home.
Chapter 21
There’s not a whole lot to say about what it was like to get home. I was expecting this really big—I don’t know—feeling when I got back to my bedroom. It wasn’t like that, though. It was just as if I’d never left. Everything was exactly the same.
The Akiko robot came over and opened the window and we traded places without anyone seeing us. Before she left, I asked her if people had become suspicious of her or if anyone had figured out that she wasn’t the real Akiko. She said she didn’t think so, but that Melissa was surprised at how good I’d become at building card houses all of a sudden. And my parents had commented on how I’d started eating more vegetables than I used to.
“Oh, great,” I replied. “Did you tell my parents you were going to stop watching TV while you were at it?”
“No,” she answered with a smile. “I thought I’d leave that up to you.”
A moment later she was gone, and Bip and Bop with her. All at once it was very, very quiet.
I took a peek out into the hallway. I could hear my father snoring. Or maybe it was my mother. (They both snore, can you believe it?) I went back to my room and spent a few minutes just looking at all my stuff: my schoolbooks, my Japanese dolls, the half-finished jigsaw puzzle I’d stopped working on months before.
It was good to be back home. But it was also kind of weird. It was as if I’d gotten used to being on Smoo. I half expected to turn around and find Spuckler and Mr. Beeba in my closet, arguing about what I ought to wear to school the next day.
It was hard to get to sleep that night. I kept wondering about things on Smoo, and what was going on there, and whether they’d be coming back to get me sometime in the future.
After a few days, though, things slowly went back to normal. Soon I could go hours without thinking about Smoo, even whole days. Sure, sometimes I’d be sitting in the middle of Mr. Moylan’s class at Middleton Elementary and suddenly get this uncontrollable urge to stand up and shout, “Hey, everybody! I’ve been to another planet!” But, thinking it through, I knew there was simply no point in making everyone think I was crazy.
In the end I guess I’ve gone back to being an ordinary kid again. But hey, there’s nothing wrong with being an ordinary kid, is there? I mean, I like it here on Earth, I really do. Take it from me: Nothing makes you appreciate this planet like being taken somewhere else for a few days.
But I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t like to get another letter someday, inviting me back to the planet Smoo. I would. And if I do, well, let me tell you: I’ll be right there at my window at eight o’clock, ready to go.
About the Author and Illustrator
Mark Crilley was raised in Detroit, where his parents sometimes wondered if he wasn’t in fact from another planet. After graduating from Kalamazoo College in 1988, he traveled to Taiwan and Japan, where he taught English to students of all ages for nearly five years. It was during his stay in Japan in 1992 that he created the story of Akiko and her journey to the planet Smoo. First published as a comic book in 1995, the bimonthly Akiko series has since earned Crilley numerous award nominations, as well as a spot on Entertainment Weekly’s “It List” in 1998. Crilley lives with his wife, Miki, and their son, Matthew, just a few miles from the streets where he was raised.
See where it all began in
on the Planet Smoo
Join Akiko and her crew on the Planet Smoo!
When fourth grader Akiko comes home from school one day, she finds an envelope waiting for her. It has no stamp or return address and contains a very strange message. . . .
At first Akiko thinks the message is a joke, but before she knows it, she’s heading a rescue mission to find the King of Smoo’s kidnapped son, Prince Froptoppit. Akiko, the head of a rescue mission? She’s too afraid to be on the school’s safety patrol!
Read the following excerpt from Akiko on the Planet Smoo and see how the adventure began.
Excerpt from Akiko on the Planet Smoo by Mark Crilley
Excerpt copyright © 2000 by Mark Crilley
Akiko on the Planet Smoo
Published by Delacorte Press
an imprint of Random House Children’s Books
a division of Random House, Inc.
1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036
Reprinted by arrangement with Delacorte Press
All rights reserved
Chapter 1
My name is Akiko. This is the story o
f the adventure I had a few months ago when I went to the planet Smoo. I know it’s kind of hard to believe, but it really did happen. I swear.
I’d better go back to the beginning: the day I got the letter.
It was a warm, sunny day. There were only about five weeks left before summer vacation, and kids at school were already itching to get out. Everybody was talking about how they’d be going to camp, or some really cool amusement park, or whatever. Me, I knew I’d be staying right here in Middleton all summer, which was just fine by me. My dad works at a company where they hardly ever get long vacations, so my mom and I have kind of gotten used to it.
Anyway, it was after school and my best friend, Melissa, and I had just walked home together as always. Most of the other kids get picked up by their parents or take the bus, but Melissa and I live close enough to walk to school every day. We both live just a few blocks away in this big apartment building that must have been built about a hundred years ago. Actually I think it used to be an office building or something, but then somebody cleaned it up and turned it into this fancy new apartment building. It’s all red bricks and tall windows, with a big black fire escape in the back. My parents say they’d rather live somewhere out in the suburbs, but my dad has to be near his office downtown.
Melissa lives on the sixth floor but she usually comes up with me to the seventeenth floor after school. She’s got three younger brothers and has to share her bedroom with one of them, so she doesn’t get a whole lot of privacy. I’m an only child and I’ve got a pretty big bedroom all to myself, so that’s where Melissa and I spend a lot of our time.
On that day we were in my room as usual, listening to the radio and trying our best to make some decent card houses. Melissa was telling me how cool it would be if I became the new captain of the fourth-grade safety patrol.