SWEAT
?”
“N-no, Grandfather,” I stammered.
Thea stepped up. “I’ll do the pedaling,”
she offered.
“No!” Grandfather barked. “
This
is
a
job
for
the
ship’s
captain!
”
“Maybe we could take turns?” I suggested,
but Grandfather wasn’t hearing it.
“Hop on that machine
right
now
,
Geronimo!” he yelled.
I tried one more plea. “But, Grandfather,
I haven’t trained, I’m not ready,
and I’m not good at it
!”
But Grandfather just
glared
at me, and I
climbed on the generator with a sigh. Then
I began to pedal.
“
FASTER, YOU MOLDY MANCHEGO!
”
Grandfather yelled. “We need more energy!”
Faster, you
moldy
Manchego!
Oof!
His
booming
voice spurred me
on, and I pedaled faster. In a few minutes,
the
lights
in the control room came
on. The machines began to hum.
“
Hooray!
” everyone cheered.
But I wasn’t cheering. I still had to
pedal
faster
. . .
and faster
. . .
and
faster
. . .
and I couldn’t stop until we
located the monsters!
Monster Molecules
Approaching!
Now that Hologramix had power, it
began searching for Slurp Monsters. After
a few
astroseconds
,
it
made an
announcement.
“All the similar
Slurp Monsters
of the
universe have been identified!”
“Good work! Show us images on the
screen,” Grandfather said.
Hologramix
obeyed. We saw that
every Slurp Monster was alike. No matter
what planet they were on, each monster
was angrily
stomping
around, destroying
stuff, and
slurping
it up.
“There’s no time to lose,” Thea said. “We
Heeelp!
Aaahhh!
Run!
need to
transport
all of them!”
But I was starting to think the plan was
a
bad idea
. “What if they all behave like
this on Mozzarellon? We’ll be causing even
more
trouble
for the cheesix!”
“Uncle,
trust
me
,” Benjamin
whispered. “I looked the Slurp Monster in
the eye and understood that he wasn’t bad,
just very
lonely
. I am sure that is the same
for the others.”
I looked into my nephew’s kind
eyes
and
knew I had to trust him.
“
Prepare
the
Teletransportix!
” I shouted,
still pedaling furiously. “We will relocate
each of the monsters to Mozzarellon.
Hologramix, send the
coordinates
to
Professor Greenfur!”
Sally turned on the Teletransportix, and
immediately, beams of
golden light
shot out in all directions. We watched the
screen
to see what would happen.
One by one, the monsters
disappeared
as their molecules dematerialized. The aliens
on the planets all
cheered
to see the
monsters go.
“I think you made the right decision, Ger,”
Thea said.
“I hope so,” I replied, and then Robotix
said exactly what I was thinking.
“We cannot
celebrate
just yet,” he
said. “Right now, millions of
MONSTER
MOLECULES
are approaching Mozzarellon.
We still do not know what will happen when
the monsters arrive.”
I was almost
afraid
to find out.
What if we were wrong? MOZZARELLON
might be destroyed!
It’s working!
All the
monsters
are
disap
pearing!
A Friend Is a
Treasure
We hopped back into the
space shuttle
and headed to Mozzarellon. We wanted to
be there when the
monsters
arrived.
When we landed, we saw a group of the
Slurp Monsters gathered near the city of the
cheesix. They all looked
surprised
at first.
But when they saw each other, they
smiled
and started
hugging
one another!
“See? They look
happy
,” Benjamin
remarked.
King Spherus marched toward us.
“Cheesemaster, what is going on? You were
supposed to
defeat
the Slurp Monster,
not bring us more!”
“But look,” Thea said. “They’re not
stomping or slurping anymore. They’re just
hugging
.”
“The Slurp Monster was just
LONELY
,”
Benjamin piped up. “Now that he has
friends
, he won’t bother you anymore.”
The Slurp Monsters all
nodded
to show
they agreed.
“No more stomping and slurping?” King
Spherus asked. “Why, that’s
wonderful
!
I knew you could do it, Cheesemaster!
Thank you!”
“You’re welcome,” I said. “And now, we
really should be
going
. . . ”
“
NONSENSE!” the king cried. “The cheesix
will honor our
heroes
with three days of
dancing and celebration!”
I tried to protest, but it was too late. The
party had already started!
And that’s how, once again, I was forced
to
dance
for three straight days! The
monsters joined the celebration as well, and
quickly became
friends
with the cheesix.
It felt great to see that our plan had worked
out so well!
I was
exhausted
when the
party finally ended, and I was glad that
Dancing? Celebration?
Three
Days?! Again?!
Heeeeeeelp!
Woo-hoo!
Hooray!
Hooray!
Long live the
Cheese
master!
Bam!
Bam!
Let’s
dance,
friends!
Hooray!
Don’t
forget me!
it was time to
depart
. A happy crowd
accompanied us to the shuttle that would
return us to the MouseStar 1.
As we climbed on board, we heard a cry.
“Hey, don’t leave
without me
!
”
It was my cousin
Trap
. Holey craters,
we had almost
forgotten
about him!
The effects of the
Hypnotizer
had finally
worn off, and Trap had returned to
normal
. He climbed on board the
shuttle, scratching his head.
“I really don’t remember how
I ended up in that enormouse
Laundromat
doing all
that cleaning,” he said. “Tell
me, did I miss anything
important
?”
We all laughed, and
Benjamin and Bugsy filled
Good-bye,
friends!
Bye!
Thanks!
Good-bye!
See you
soon!
him in on what had happened.
Then the shuttle docked with the ship,
and we headed to the
control room
, where
Grandfather William was waiting for us.
“It’s about time, you
chunks
of
cosmic
cheddar
!” he said. “We still
have so many corners of the
universe
to explore! And you, Grandson, tell me: Did
you
learn
anything from this adventure?”
I thought for a moment. “Yes,” I replied.
“I learned that
friendship
is the best tool in
the cosmos for solving
conflicts
.”
“Well done, Grandson!” Grandfather said,
patting me on the back. “You actually did a
pretty
good job
with this mission.
You are not a total cheesebrain!”
The words filled me with
joy
. Grandfather
almost never complimented me!
But his good mood didn’t last long.
“We’ve
wasted
enough time!” he
boomed. “Let’s get navigating.
Full speed
ahead!
”
The MouseStar 1 zipped away from
Mozzarellon, heading toward a new
astral
adventure. But that’s a story for another day.
See you next time!
Don’t miss any adventures
of the Spacemice!
Be sure to
read all my
fabumouse
adventures!
MEET
GERONIMO STILTONORD
He is a mouseking—the Geronimo Stilton
of the ancient far north! He lives with his
brawny and brave clan in the village of
Mouseborg. From sailing frozen waters
to facing fiery dragons, every day is an
adventure for the micekings!
Don’t miss
any of these
exciting
Thea Sisters
adventures!
Meet
GERONIMO STILTONOOT
He is a cavemouse
—
Geronimo Stilton’s
ancient ancestor! He runs the stone
newspaper in the prehistoric village
of Old Mouse City. From dealing with
dinosaurs to dodging meteorites,
his life in the Stone Age is full
of adventure!
Don’t miss
any of my
adventures in
the Kingdom of
Fantasy!
MouseStar 1
The spaceship, home, and refuge of the spacemice!
MouseStar 1
(exterior view)
1.
Control room
2.
Gigantic telescope
3.
Greenhouse to grow plants and flowers
4.
Library and reading room
5.
Astral Park, an amousement park
6.
Space Yum Café
7.
Kitchen
8.
Liftrix, the special elevator that moves between
all floors of the spaceship
9.
Computer room
10.
Crew cabins
11.
Theater for space shows
12.
Warp-speed engines
13.
Tennis court and swimming pool
14.
Multipurpose technogym
15.
Space pods for exploration
16.
Cargo hold for food supply
17.
Natural biosphere
Dear mouse friends,
thanks for reading,
and good-bye until the next book.
See you in outer space!
Meet
Geronimo Stiltonix
SCHOLASTIC
APPEALS TO
READING LEVEL
2
ND
-4
TH
GRADERS
GRADE 4
More leveling information for this book:
www.scholastic.com/readinglevel
www.scholastic.com/geronimostilton
www.geronimostilton.com
Geronimo Stiltonix and the spacemice are visiting
a planet where the most delicious wild mozzarella
grows. Yum! But the planet is plagued by
the Slurp Monster — a scary alien who wants
all the mozzarella for himself! Can the
spacemice restore harmony on this
cheesy planet without getting
slurped up themselves?
He is a spacemouse — the Geronimo
Stilton of a parallel universe! He is
captain of the spaceship MouseStar 1
.
While flying through the cosmos, he visits
distant planets and meets crazy aliens.
His adventures are out of this world!
SLURP MONSTER SHOWDOWN
Slurp Monster Showdown (Geronimo Stilton Spacemice #9) Page 5