The Trouble with Fun

by Marilyn Sadler

  I was going quasar with excitement!

  Then, all of a sudden, a big man appeared out of nowhere.

  Teena made a quick turn and just missed hitting him. But we spun out of control, rolling over and over, bouncing off the space station wall.

  Teena and I lay on the floor in a heap. When I looked up, my heart started pounding.

  Captain Plank was staring down at us.

  5

  STARRY, STARRY NIGHT

  I jumped up from the floor, full of apologies.

  “I am so sorry, Captain Plank!” I said, picking up my hoverboard. “It will never happen again! I promise!”

  Captain Plank frowned at us. He looked more flared-up than I had ever seen him.

  Teena did not seem to notice.

  “Captain Plank!” she shouted eagerly. “I have always wanted to meet you!”

  Teena explained who she was and why she was on the space station. She did not act like someone who had nearly hit the captain of Space Station 9 with a hoverboard.

  “You are the most stellar captain in the galaxy!” I heard her say as I quietly crept away.

  Neb, Tad, and Var were standing at a distance. I hurried over to join them.

  We watched as a big smile spread across Captain Plank’s face. Then he patted Teena’s head and disappeared down the hall of the space station.

  I was truly impressed.

  So were my friends.

  “I wish I could pull that off,” said Tad.

  “Me too,” said Var and Neb together.

  I nodded in agreement. We all wanted to be like Teena.

  After that, we went to the Mars Malt and ordered Whambama Shakes. Teena and my friends talked and laughed about how she’d gotten out of trouble today. First with Mr. Peres and then with Captain Plank.

  “What do you want to do now?” I asked, sipping up the last of my shake.

  Teena’s eyes lit up like the moons of Jupiter.

  “I have an idea!” she shouted, jumping up from her seat. “Come with me!”

  My friends and I followed Teena down the hall. When we reached the end of it, Teena turned left toward Sector 7.

  My friends and I stopped in our tracks. We looked at each other in surprise.

  “We’re not allowed to go down there, Teena!” I called after her.

  Sector 7 held the exit deck for spacewalking. I went quasar just thinking about it. I had always wanted to spacewalk. But the space station rules were very strict. My friends and I were not old enough.

  “Come on!” shouted Teena. “Don’t be such Blanchies!”

  I knew my friends wanted to spacewalk as much as I did. We all stood in silence as we watched Teena disappear down the hall.

  It seemed like we were all thinking the same thing: We wanted to be like Teena. And this was our chance.

  Without waiting another moment, we bolted down the hall after her!

  I knew what we were about to do was scorchy. But, Ceedus-Lupeedus, it was going to be fun!

  The door to the exit deck was locked. So Teena pulled a small black box out of her backpack.

  “What in the name of Neptune is that?” I asked.

  “It’s a special tool that unlocks any lock,” said Teena. “My dad invented it. You might say I borrowed it from his lab.”

  Teena placed the small black box up against the door. The box made a series of clicking sounds. Then the door swung open.

  We walked onto the exit deck, quickly shutting the door behind us.

  On the wall hung space suits in many different sizes. We took some down and put them on in a hurry. Then we slipped the helmets over our heads.

  Teena punched the controls on the door that led to outer space. I watched as the door slowly opened.

  I took a deep breath. I was shaking like a Freefron.

  My friends and I had tied ourselves together like a string of ornaments. One at a time, each of us stepped out of the door and fell into space.

  Slowly we drifted away from the space station and toward the stars.

  It was the most stellar-glorious moment of my life!

  6

  THE TANGLED TETHER

  I floated quietly.

  The stars sparkled all around me. I felt like I could reach out and touch them. But I knew they were light-years away.

  I could not tell whether I was up … or down. I spun around slowly in all directions.

  I wondered what my friends were thinking. They looked lunar, bobbing up and down against the stars. I wished I could talk to them. But then again, I liked the silence.

  As I drifted about, my mind fell into a Martian mist. I felt peaceful and happy.

  Then, all of a sudden, I snapped awake!

  My tether line had gotten tangled around my leg. It was pulling and tugging at my space suit.

  I tried to pull my leg out of the twisted line, but it was wrapped too tightly.

  What a scorch! I thought.

  I decided to unhook my line and try to untangle it myself.

  As I squeezed open the catch, I looked over at Tad. He had the strangest look on his face. He began waving his hands frantically.

  But it was too late.

  My hand slipped, and I lost hold of the line!

  It spun me around and around, untwisting my leg. When it let go, I was flung away from my friends!

  Slam! I thought as I drifted farther out into space.

  Space was a big place. I started to worry. What if I drifted so far out, no one could find me?

  I fixed my eyes on my friends. Teena was closest to the space station. I watched as she quickly released the tether hold. It shot more line out to Tad, sending him closer to me.

  Little by little, Tad inched toward me.

  Ceedus-Lupeedus! I just hope there’s enough tether line to reach me! I worried some more.

  I had to stay calm. This was no time to go into global meltdown.

  Finally, after what seemed like forever, Tad floated within a few feet of me.

  With his outstretched hand, he grabbed hold of my sleeve. He pulled me in carefully. Then he hooked me back to the tether line.

  I threw my arms around him. I was so happy to be saved. It was the most frightening thing that had ever happened to me.

  From that moment on, I promised myself, I would never do anything scorchy again.

  I did not feel much like spacewalking after that. My friends weren’t having fun any longer, either. So we decided to return to the space station.

  When we were back on board, my friends hugged me. I could tell they had been as scared as I had been.

  We took off our space suits and hung them back on the wall. Then we slipped out the door of the exit deck.

  “That was stellar!” said Teena, to my surprise, as she hopped onto my hoverboard.

  My friends and I watched as Teena sped away like a comet on fire. When she reached the end of the hall, she couldn’t make the turn.

  She crashed into the space station wall. Sparks flew everywhere.

  My friends and I looked at each other in disbelief.

  Then the lights on the space station went out.

  7

  HIT-AND-RUN

  My friends and I stood in the dark.

  “She must have cut off the power when she hit the wall,” said Tad.

  Tad switched on his laser lamp. A beam of light shot down the hall.

  Neb, Var, and I followed Tad to the crash site. When we reached it, Tad focused his light on the damaged wall. No one said anything while Tad’s laser beam traveled back and forth across the broken circuits.

  Finally, Tad spoke.

  “Teena’s really done it now,” he said. “She’s disrupted the kryzon connections and the flystroms are splitting!”

  I looked over at Neb and Var. None of us knew what that meant. But if Tad thought it was scorchy, then we did, too.

  “I wonder where Teena went, anyway?” asked Neb all of a sudden.

  We looked down. Broken pieces of my hoverboard wer
e scattered everywhere.

  “It looks like a hit-and-run to me,” said Var.

  There was not much Tad could do without a kryzonometer, so we decided to go look for Teena.

  My friends and I felt like we’d been swallowed up by a black hole. We did not understand how Teena could blast off and leave us in the dark.

  We made our way down the hallways of Sector 7. By the time we reached Sector 6, the lights of the space station had come back on.

  “That’s just the backup power system,” said Tad. “It will be a while before they repair the flystroms.”

  We looked everywhere for Teena. We went to the Mars Malt. We stopped at the Big Wheel Shopping Mall. We even took the Q-Train back to Quantum Elementary.

  “I haven’t seen her,” said Mr. Peres, looking up from a Fuddle-Frisson equation.

  Finally, my friends and I got tired of looking for Teena. So we decided to go home.

  “Data-pad me later!” I told them as I blasted off.

  When I got home, my parents and Mr. Wiggins were watching the news on 3D-TV. They didn’t look up when I came in. So I sat down on the sofa to watch with them.

  What I heard next fully shivered me out.

  “A broken hoverboard was found at the site of the crash that caused today’s power outage,” said the TV newscaster. “Captain Plank had this to say about the hit-and-run.…”

  The camera switched to a close-up of a flared-up Captain Plank.

  “I will not sleep until this criminal is found and punished!” he promised.

  My dad turned off the 3D-TV. He was pretty flared-up, too.

  “We have lost a whole day of work on our Fuddle-Frisson project because of that outlaw!” he told my mom.

  “It’s a shame,” agreed Mr. Wiggins.

  I slouched down on the sofa, trying to slide my way out of there. Then the door buzzer sounded.

  A few moments later, Woma came into the living room.

  “Captain Plank is here to see you, Zenon,” she said.

  I walked slowly across the room, my knees wobbly. My parents followed close behind me.

  Captain Plank was standing in the doorway. He was holding a jagged piece of metal.

  “Is this your hoverboard, Zenon Kar?” he asked me.

  8

  CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

  I looked down at the jagged piece of metal in Captain Plank’s hand.

  “Yes … that’s my hoverboard,” I said to him slowly.

  My parents and Mr. Wiggins gasped as they all turned and looked at me.

  I was going to tell them what my hoverboard was doing at the crash site. But suddenly Teena walked in.

  “Captain Plank!” she cried. “What a stellar surprise to see you!”

  Teena looked down and saw the piece of my hoverboard in Captain Plank’s hand. Then she turned and looked at me.

  “Isn’t that your hoverboard, Zenon?” she asked. “I know it split into a hundred pieces when you hit that wall!”

  Ceedus-Lupeedus! I was so shivered out by her lie, I almost went into global meltdown!

  “When I hit the wall?” I asked her.

  I looked at Captain Plank. Then I looked at my parents and Mr. Wiggins. They were looking at me like I had done something wrong.

  “I didn’t hit the wall!” I shouted at them. “Teena hit the wall! She was riding my hoverboard!”

  I could tell that no one believed me.

  They were probably thinking, How could a stellar girl like Teena Wiggins do a scorchy thing like that?

  “I am very disappointed in you, Zenon Kar,” said Captain Plank.

  “Your father and I will discuss your punishment later,” said my mother.

  I turned toward Teena and gave her the scorchiest look I could. Then I stormed out of the apartment and down the hall toward Nebula’s place. The halls of the space station looked blurry through my teary eyes.

  When I got to Nebula’s, she was watching the news on 3D-TV. She had just seen the story about the crash.

  “What a scorch!” she cried when she saw me. “Teena’s in big trouble now!”

  Then Nebula saw that I was crying.

  “Oh, Zee! What’s the matter?” she said, looking worried.

  “Twee … na wied!” I said, sobbing.

  Nebula threw her arms around me. And I explained everything that had happened. When I finished, Neb was so flared-up, her face looked like a Pandorian sunrise.

  “I knew she was an alien!” she cried.

  Nebula jumped up from her chair and started for the door.

  “I’m going to talk to Captain Plank myself!” she shouted. “I’m a witness, Zee! I saw everything!”

  Nebula wasn’t thinking clearly. Her mind was in a Martian mist. I pulled her back into the room and sat her down.

  “You’re my best friend, Neb,” I tried to explain. “They’ll never believe you, either.”

  Nebula and I sat quietly for a long time, thinking. It was not going to be easy to get out of this meltdown.

  Then the most stellar thing happened.

  “Where did you get that necklace?” asked Neb, pointing toward my neck. “I’ve never seen it before.”

  I looked down. It was the Alfred Geezle-designed Mini Motion-Picture Camera necklace that Teena had put around my neck! I had forgotten all about it!

  “Ceedus-Lupeedus!” I shouted. “My problems may be over, Neb!”

  9

  A PICTURE WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS

  I took off my necklace and showed it to Nebula. I told her Teena had given it to me. Then I explained what it really was and how it worked.

  “If this camera recorded everything that happened over the last two days,” I cried, “I will have the proof I need!”

  I hooked up Teena’s camera to Nebula’s maxi-phone screen. Then I pushed the play button.

  To my relief, the camera had been working!

  Neb and I watched as two days in my life unfolded: Mr. Peres lecturing on Fuddlenomics … Teena meeting my friends for the first time … Captain Plank nearly being hit by my hoverboard … my friends drinking Whambama Shakes at the Mars Malt … then walking in space … and, finally, Teena speeding down the long hall in Sector 7 and crashing into the wall!

  “Ceedus-Lupeedus! We’ve got her!” I cried, jumping out of my seat.

  We couldn’t wait to play the film for my parents, Mr. Wiggins, and Captain Plank. I grabbed the Mini Motion-Picture Camera necklace, and Neb and I dashed out the door.

  When we got home, Teena and Mr. Wiggins were gone. But to my delight, Captain Plank was still there.

  Discussing my punishment, no doubt, I thought.

  Everyone looked at Neb and me with angry faces. I didn’t give them a chance to say anything. I walked right over to our 3D-TV and hooked up Teena’s Alfred Geezle-designed Mini Motion-Picture Camera.

  “I have something to show you” was all I said.

  Everyone quietly watched my film. When the recording was over, no one said anything for a moment. Then they all began to apologize.

  “Zenon, I am very sorry,” said Captain Plank. “I misjudged you.”

  “Me too,” said my mom, giving me a hug. “It wasn’t fair of us not to believe you.”

  I must admit, I was feeling smug. But I was still flared-up over what happened. And I was ready not to forgive any of them—for at least the next few days.

  Then my dad spoke up.

  “I’d like to see that film one more time,” he said.

  Everyone looked at him in surprise.

  I didn’t know why he wanted me to replay the film. But I could tell from the look on his face that I wasn’t going to like it.

  We watched again as Mr. Peres lectured … as Teena met my friends … as Captain Plank was nearly hit … as we drank Whambama Shakes … as … Ceedus-Lupeedus! There it was! The spacewalk! I’d forgotten all about the spacewalk!

  “Now tell me about this part of your film,” my dad said as he paused the camera.

  All eyes t
urned toward me as I slumped forward in my seat like a Blotozoid Zombie.

  “It wasn’t my idea …,” I started to say.

  Then I stopped and looked around at everyone.

  I wanted to tell them that it had been Teena’s idea to go on a spacewalk. She was the one who had turned down the hall at Sector 7. She was the one who had picked the lock with her little black box. She was the one who had opened the door to outer space.

  But I just couldn’t do it.

  I didn’t want to be like Teena anymore, not if it meant blaming someone else for my own scorchy behavior.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “I went on a spacewalk even though I knew I wasn’t allowed. I have no one to blame but myself.”

  Mom and Dad looked at me for a long time without saying anything. Then they both gave me a hug.

  “We’re proud of you, honey, for telling the truth,” they said.

  I was feeling pretty thermo about myself. In fact, I was feeling pretty thermo about everything.

  Then Teena walked back into the room.

  10

  THE TROUBLE WITH TEENA

  Teena saw her Mini Motion-Picture Camera necklace hooked up to the 3D-TV. Then she turned and looked around the room at us. She knew right away what had happened.

  Teena did not say anything. She did not go lunar. She did not go into global meltdown.

  She was as cool as a Milky Way Float.

  Captain Plank had plenty to say, however.

  “I will be grounding you, Teena Wiggins,” he said, pointing to Earth outside the space station window. “You will be leaving on the first shuttle out in the morning.”

  On his way out the door, Captain Plank wished my dad and Mr. Wiggins good luck on their Fuddle-Frisson project.