My dear mouse friends,
Have I ever told you how much I love science
fiction? I’ve always wanted to write incredible
adventures set in another dimension, but I’ve never
believed that parallel universes exist . . . until now!
That’s because my good friend Professor Paws
von Volt, the brilliant, secretive scientist, has
just made an incredible discovery. Thanks to some
mousetropic calculations, he determined that there
are many different dimensions in time and space,
where anything could be possible.
The professor’s work inspired me to write this
science fiction adventure in which my
family and I travel through space
in search of new worlds.
We’re a fabumouse crew:
the spacemice!
I hope you enjoy this
intergalactic adventure!
Geronimo Stilton
PROFESSOR
PAWS VON VOLT
Grandfather
william stiltonix
robotix
benjamin
stiltonix
and buGsy
wuGsy
Geronimo
stiltonix
traP
stiltonix
thea
stiltonix
BEWARE!
SPACE JUNK!
Scholastic Inc.
Copyright © 2015 by Edizioni Piemme S.p.A., Palazzo Mondadori, Via
Mondadori 1, 20090 Segrate, Italy. International Rights © Atlantyca
S.p.A. English translation © 2016 by Atlantyca S.p.A.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any
responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
GERONIMO STILTON names, characters, and related indicia are copy-
right, trademark, and exclusive license of Atlantyca S.p.A. All rights
reserved. The moral right of the author has been asserted. Based on an
original idea by Elisabetta Dami. www.geronimostilton.com
Published by Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920, 557 Broadway, New
York, NY 10012. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks
and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
Stilton is the name of a famous English cheese. It is a registered trade-
mark of the Stilton Cheese Makers’ Association. For more information,
go to www.stiltoncheese.com.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmit-
ted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or
introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any
form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known
or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of
the publisher. For information regarding permission, please contact
Atlantyca S.p.A., Via Leopardi 8, 20123 Milan, Italy; e-mail
[email protected], www.atlantyca.com
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents
are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously,
and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business estab-
lishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
e-ISBN 978-0-545-87531-8
Text by Geronimo Stilton
Original title Pericolo spazzatura spaziale!
Cover by Flavio Ferron
Illustrations by Giuseppe Facciotto (design) and Daniele Verzini (color)
Graphics by Francesca Sirianni
Special thanks to AnnMarie Anderson
Translated by Julia Heim
Interior design by Kevin Callahan / BNGO Books
First printing 2016
In the darkness of the farthest galaxy in
time and space is a spaceship inhabited
exclusively by mice.
This fabumouse vessel is called the
MouseStar 1, and I am its captain!
I am Geronimo Stiltonix
, a somewhat
accident-prone mouse who (to tell you
the truth) would rather be writing novels
than steering a spaceship.
But for now, my adventurous
family and I are busy
traveling around the universe
on exciting intergalactic missions.
THIS IS THE
LATEST ADVENTURE
OF THE SPACEMICE!
AN ANNUAL
INSPECTION
It was a calm Monday on the spaceship
MouseStar 1. There were no
cosmic
disturbances, no
alien invasions
in the galaxy, and no
UNKNOWN
planets on the horizon.
Basically, it was a stress-free day, which
hadn’t happened in
weeks
,
months
, or
maybe even
years
!
I was about to sit back
in my command chair, kick up my paws, and
put the spaceship on autopilot.
Then suddenly . . .
What was that
annoying
noise?
I looked at the screen in front of me. My
BEEP!
BEEEEP!
BEEEEEEP!
Captain’s
calendar
URGENT
MEETING
DIGITAL CALENDAR
had an urgent
meeting on it. Galactic Gorgonzola, I had
completely
forgotten
!
Oh, excuse me, I haven’t introduced
myself: My name is Stiltonix,
Geronimo
Stiltonix
. I’m the captain of the MouseStar 1,
the most fabumouse spaceship in the
universe (though to
be honest, my
real dream
is to be a
writer!). Now,
where was I? Oh,
yes: According to my digital
calendar, today was the MouseStar 1’s
annual
mechanical
inspection.
I was scheduled to tour the ship with
our mechanic, Sally de Wrench. We would
closely
examine
the motor room, the
boiler room, the garbage storage room, and
a
zillion
other places.
Stellar Swiss!
I was so
nervous
about
the inspection that my fur was soaked with
sweat. You probably think I was
afraid
the ship wouldn’t pass the tests! But the
real reason for my anxiety was Sally de
Wrench. You see, she is the most
fascinating
mouse in the entire galaxy, and I have an
enormouse
crush on her!
Every time I see her, my legs go as soft as
cream cheese, my squeak gets stuck in my
throat, and
my brain turns to Brie
!
As I was thinkin
g about Sally, MouseStar
1’s onboard computer, Hologramix, spoke
up.
“
Sally
de
Wrench
is waiting for
you on the lower level!”
I began to
tremble
from the ends of
my whiskers to the
tip of my tail. I tried
to get out of my
command chair, but
my paws were heavier
than wheels of aged
Parmesan and my
knees
wobbled
like
sticks of string cheese.
Unfortunately, my
cousin Trap was
sitting next to me,
playing
space
checkers against his
computer.
“What’s up, Cuz?”
he asked. “You seem
stuck
!”
“N-no, it’s nothing,”
I stammered, my snout turning red with
embarrassment. “I was just getting up.”
Trap took one look at me and
figured
out
what was going on.
“Looks like someone is
afraid
to be
alone with Sally, hmm?” he teased me.
sweet as honey
on cheese!
Trap
pushed
me toward the door of
the command center.
“Cousin, you are as
sweet on Sally
as honey on cheese,” he said, shaking his
snout. “But
luckily
I’m here to help
you. Let’s go
—
you don’t want to keep her
waiting!”
Mousy
meteorites!
Trap wanted to
come with me for the inspection. I knew
he would only make me feel even more
embarrassed
! But before I could
protest, my cousin had grabbed me by the
paw and pushed me into the
liftrix
, the
special elevator that transports spacemice
from one floor of our spaceship to another.
As soon as I stepped into the liftrix, a jet
of air whisked me down to the lower levels
of the MouseStar 1.
“Ahhhh!” I squeaked, caught off guard.
In one galactic second, I
tumbled
out of the glass tube and onto the floor of
the lower level of the spaceship. I was about
to get up, when . . .
BAM!
Trap
crashed
into me like an out-of-
orbit meteorite!
“
Whoops
,” my cousin
squeaked. “Sorry, Geronimo!”
Before I could
get out
from
under him, I heard a sweet
female
voice.
“Are you okay, Captain
?”
the voice asked. “What
happened?”
Sally de Wrench
was
right in front of me.
Holey moon craters!
How embarrassing!
I got to my paws and tried to think of
something
intelligent
to say. But as I
stood there staring at Sally’s big
blue
eyes,
my thoughts vanished like
cheese
in a black
hole!
Luckily, Trap came to my rescue.
“A pressure problem inside the liftrix
made us lose our
balance
!” he
fibbed.
“Oh, my,” Sally replied. “I’ll be
sure to take a look at that later.
Now, are you ready to begin our
inspection
, Captain?”
“N-no,” I stuttered. “I mean,
y-yes!”
Trap
pinched
me on the tail.
YIKES!
I had to get my nerves under
control!
I cleared my throat and did my best to
sound
confident
.
“Yes, I’m ready!”
Trap patted me on the shoulder so
hard
I almost fell over again.
“Good,” he said with a wink. “I’ll head
back to the
command
center
, then.
See you later, Cuz!”
And so I
set
out
on my inspection of
the
MouseStar 1 with Sally as my guide. She
explained all the
technical
details to
me as we toured the spaceship. Even though
I’m the captain, I have to admit that I don’t
have a
CLUE
about how the ship works!
It’s a good thing Sally is such an
excellent
mechanic.
“Well, that’s
everything
, Captain!”
Sally announced after we had completed
our inspection of the craft’s
air filters
.
I tried to think of something witty to
squeak
so that I’d get just a little
more time with Sally, but my mind went
completely
blank
.
“Um, er, e-e-everything seems to be okay!”
I stuttered.
Sally
smiled
.
“If you need any further explanations, just
let me know,” she said kindly.
Then she shook my paw and
walked off.
The touch of her paw made
me turn
redder
than
the planet Mars. Oh, I’m such a
hopeless
romantic
!
DON’T BE LATE!
As soon as I returned to the
command
center
, Trap practically jumped on my
tail.
“So, how did it go?” he asked.
“Well, Sally did
shake
my paw,” I said
with a sigh. “But I couldn’t think of anything
intelligent to say!”
“When’s the next inspection?” Trap asked.
“Not for another six months,” I replied.
“But that’s such a
long
time from now!”
my cousin said with a
gasp
.
“That’s the protocol,” I said with a shrug.
“And I’ll have plenty of time to write my
novel in the meantime.”
Trap shook his head. Then he got a
mischievous
gleam
in his eye. That look
meant only one thing:
trouble!
“Wh-what is it?” I asked, suddenly very
worried
. My cousin always seems to come up
with the most
IMPOSSIBLE
schemes!
“Geronimo, what do you say we have a
nice dinner together tonight?” he asked
innocently.
“Thanks, bu
t I’m very busy —” I began.
“Come on!” he said, cutting me off. “We
can have a
fondue feast
! We never spend
any quality time together.”
Hmm. I considered his proposal. The
MouseStar 1’s chef, Squizzy,
does make
delicious
fondue.
“Oh, all right,” I said. “You convinced
me! After all, it’s easier to write on a
full
stomach
.”
“Meet me at eight at the Space Yum Café,”
Trap ordered. “And don’t be late!”
I headed back to my room to get ready.
As soon as I opened the door, my personal
assistant robot,
Assistatrix
,
grabbed me, lifted me up, and dropped me
in my
SparkleMousix
shower pod.
“
Help!
” I squeaked. “Let me go!”
But Assistatrix
ignored
me. A
moment later, my fur was being scrubbed,
rinsed, and dried.
Then it was time to get
dressed
.
“Captain, I suggest you wear a
dinner
jacket
and your
tie
with the galaxies on
it,” Assistatrix said.
“Dinner jacket?!”
I protested. “But
I’m not going to an
interstellar gala!”
“Your cousin
advised
me to dress you
elegantly
! ”
Assistatrix said.
“But you’re my
personal assistant
robot, not Trap’s,”
I replied. “You’re
supposed to do
what I —”
Before I could
finish my sentence,
though, Assistatrix
had slipped the suit
over my head
and sprayed
me in a cloud
of
Cosmic
Cheddar
cologne
!
Then it nudged me out of my room with
a firm
shove
.
“Hurry, Captain,” it yelled. “You’re already
late!”
I looked around, hoping to catch an
astrotaxi
to the Space Yum Café.
Then I heard a little voice behind me.
“
Uncle G!
You look so elegant!”
It was my sweet nephew
Benjamin
and his friend
Bugsy Wugsy
!
“Hi!” I greeted them. “I’m meeting Trap
Beware! Space Junk! (Geronimo Stilton Spacemice #7) Page 1