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Beware! Space Junk! (Geronimo Stilton Spacemice #7)

Page 4

by Geronimo Stilton


  Garbage Shooter!”

  “Galactic what?” I asked, perplexed.

  “If you go to the

  top floor

  —”

  But before the spy robot could finish

  his sentence, one of the garbage robots

  approached.

  “Class

  Z

  robot trash detected,”

  the garbage robot said in a

  metallic

  voice.

  “Vacuum immediately!”

  Then he vacuumed up the little robot

  before turning to

  face me.

  “Contamination

  detected!” the

  robot said. “Begin

  disinfecting

  !”

  I didn’t have

  time to move a

  paw before I was

  covered from ears

  to tail in white

  foam

  . A second

  later, a stream of

  HOT

  air dried me

  off.

  “Have a good day,

  sir!” the robot said

  when the cleaning

  was complete.

  Stinky space cheese

  , what was

  that about?

  First the dusty little

  spy robot

  , then

  the garbage robot with his

  vacuuming

  and

  disinfecting

  devices . . . something

  strange was going on!

  Suddenly, I remembered what the spy

  robot had told me before he was vacuumed

  up:

  “If you go to the top floor . . .”

  So I went to the top of the building,

  where I found a panoramic terrace with a

  beautiful

  view of the entire city.

  Initially, I didn’t notice anything

  strange

  at all. But then I looked through

  one of the telescopes mounted around the

  edge of the roof. What I saw made me jump

  back in shock. In the distance, an enormouse

  catapult was

  shooting

  mounds of objects

  into orbit. It was the

  Galactic Garbage

  Shooter

  the spy

  robot had been

  taking about!

  Black holey

  galaxies!

  It was

  true! The Cleanix aliens

  launched their garbage

  into space!

  I had to return immediately to the others

  to tell them what I had discovered!

  When I arrived back on the ground floor,

  the first one I found was Robotix.

  “Captain!” he greeted me. “Look at my

  new

  antenna! I had to negotiate for a

  while, but —”

  “Yes, yes, that’s very nice,” I interrupted.

  “Have you seen the others? It’s

  important!”

  H

  o

  w

  d

  o

  I

  l

  o

  o

  k

  ?

  At that moment, Thea

  popped

  out of the

  store she had been in.

  “I’m right here, G!” she called excitedly.

  “I just bought a supercomfortable

  space scooter. It’s parked right

  outside . . .”

  “Okay, okay,” I replied

  quickly. “But where are

  Benjamin and Bugsy?”

  “Uncle!” squeaked a

  small voice behind

  me. “Look what we

  won!”

  The two mouselets

  showed me a copy of the

  latest popular

  video game.

  “Great,” I said. “Now, where’s Trap?”

  “here

  i

  am

  , Cuz!” my cousin

  shouted. “So, how do I look?”

  I turned around and saw Trap dressed in a

  new

  sparkly gold

  spacesuit.

  “Terrific,” I replied. “Do you know where

  Shimmer

  is?”

  “Oh, she went to buy some new shoes,”

  Trap explained. “She was wearing a pair she

  got yesterday, but she thinks the STYLES

  have changed already.”

  I was

  RELIEVED

  to hear that the emperor’s

  daughter was busy somewhere else. I turned

  to my friends and lowered my voice. Then I

  told them about my

  encounter

  with

  the spy robot and about what I had

  seen

  from the top floor of the building.

  “This story

  stinks

  !” Thea exclaimed when

  I had finished. “And it’s not just because it’s

  about

  garbage

  ! The emperor didn’t tell us

  the

  truth

  when we asked. I wonder

  what else he’s hiding!”

  An Unauthorized

  Expedition

  Thea and I had just made a plan to do some

  investigating when Shimmer

  returned

  with four new pairs of shoes. Everyone

  showed her their purchases.

  “I knew you’d

  like

  it here!” she said,

  smiling brightly. “No one can resist the allure

  of the shopping mall! But now we need to

  return to the imperial palace. My father will

  be

  upset

  if we’re late.”

  Thea and I exchanged a glance. We had to

  slip

  away

  ! Suddenly, I had an idea.

  “Speaking of your dad, uh, I’m a little

  embarrassed

  about these clothes,”

  I told Shimmer, gesturing toward my

  crumpled

  spacesuit. “I’d love to buy

  a new outfit before we head back.”

  “Of course, Captain!” she quickly agreed.

  “I didn’t want to

  offend

  you, but that

  spacesuit you’re wearing belongs in the

  trash

  ! Come on, I know a great store —”

  “No, no,” Thea quickly intervened. “I’ll

  go with him because, uh, I know what he

  likes!”

  “And these two mouselings

  and I didn’t get a chance to

  stop at the

  CANDY

  shop,”

  Trap added. “Would you come

  with us, Shimmer?”

  “Definitely!” she said. “As

  long as we don’t take too long,

  we’ll get back to the palace

  on time. Let’s meet back here in a bit.

  Happy shopping!”

  As soon as Shimmer was out of sight,

  Thea and I

  headed

  toward the spaceport,

  where our space pod was parked.

  Before we could reach our ship, though,

  an alien from the

  imperial guard

  stepped in front of us.

  “Hold it right there, spacemice!” the guard

  ordered. “You cannot use your spaceship

  without the emperor’s authorization.”

  Holey space Swiss!

  Now what?

  But Thea was

  prepared
. She

  put on a friendly

  smile

  .

  “Won’t you

  please help us?”

  she asked sweetly.

  “We just need to

  run back up to the MouseStar 1 to get the rest

  of our crew. This mall is

  so wonderful

  ,

  we wanted to give our friends a chance to

  experience it for themselves.”

  “I’m sorry, but I cannot let you pass,” the

  guard responded

  severely

  . “Emperor’s

  orders.”

  “I don’t think the emperor would be

  happy if he knew that you

  refused

  friendly guests the right to go shopping,”

  Thea said slyly. “We had heard that the

  hospitality on Cleanix was the best in the

  entire

  universe

  . But it turns out that’s not

  true. How disappointing!”

  The guard looked flustered.

  “Oh, well . . . I . . . umm . . .” he mumbled.

  After a moment of

  hesitation

  , he finally

  stepped aside.

  “Go ahead,” he said quickly.

  We scooted past him immediately, thrilled

  at our

  good luck.

  “Way to go, Thea!” I said as we hopped

  into the space pod.

  Thea immediately pointed our spacecraft

  toward the part of the planet surrounded by

  green fog.

  We saw black mountains and

  dark gray clouds on the horizon.

  What an

  ugly

  landscape. We were

  flying over an enormouse garbage

  dump

  !

  Trash was piled up as far as the eye

  could see. There were scraps of

  metal, computers, clothes, furniture, robots,

  spaceships, and more.

  “It’s so sad,” Thea said, shaking her snout.

  “How could they do this to their planet?”

  Suddenly,

  I noticed

  some

  movement

  under one of the heaps of trash.

  “Thea, use the

  zoom

  scope on that

  patch of garbage!” I said, pointing to the

  spot below us.

  We were shocked by what appeared on the

  screen

  . Hundreds of discarded robots

  were emerging from the trash!

  “What’s going on?” Thea asked. “It looks

  like the trash is coming to

  life!”

  I remembered the spy robot’s words:

  “We’re preparing for an invasion . . .”

  Galactic Gorgonzola!

  This wasn’t good.

  “Thea, I’m afraid these rebel robots are

  about to invade Sparklina,” I said, worried.

  I quickly reminded her of what the

  spy

  robot had told me back at the shopping mall.

  “Oh no!” Thea cried. “The Cleanix aliens

  haven’t treated those discarded robots

  —

  or

  their planet

  —

  very well. But there has to

  be another solution

  . We need to warn

  the emperor about their plan to

  invade

  Sparklina!”

  Stop Right There,

  Spacemice!

  With our motors at

  full

  speed

  , we headed

  back to Sparklina. But as soon as we got out

  of our space pod, a member of the imperial

  guard intercepted us.

  “Spacemice, you are

  under arrest

  by order

  of the emperor,” he said harshly. “You flew

  your spacecraft over the

  prohibited

  area!”

  “U-under a-arrest?

  ” I stuttered. “But

  we have extremely important information

  to —”

  “Silence!” the guard ordered. “Now follow

  me to the imperial palace!”

  Stinky space cheese!

  This was

  just what we needed!

  As we followed the

  guard, I carefully

  activated my

  wrist

  communicator

  and

  called Trap.

  “Cousin, we’ve been

  arrested!” I whispered so

  the guard couldn’t hear. “Where are you?”

  He responded immediately.

  “We’re

  imprisoned

  in the emperor’s palace,”

  he explained quickly. “He found out that you

  took the space pod to

  SNOOP

  on the other

  side of the planet, and he came after us!”

  “We found a bunch of discarded rebellious

  robots,” I told Trap. “We think they’re about

  to

  invade

  Sparklina and —”

  I was interrupted by sudden

  shouts

  . I

  turned and saw some

  Cleanix

  aliens running

  at top speed.

  The rebel robots

  had already entered

  the city!

  In the distance,

  I saw a

  rusted

  robot squirting oil

  on buildings. A bit

  farther off, an old

  garbage

  truck

  was pouring its

  contents out onto the

  street and sidewalks.

  Another robot made

  out of

  household

  appliances

  was

  blaring music that

  was so loud and

  high-pitched

  ,

  it was breaking

  windows all around us!

  Suddenly, a shadow

  fell over me. I

  turned and saw an enormouse rebel robot

  made of

  machine parts moving toward me

  threateningly.

  Shooting stars!

  I was in trouble!

  A moment before I was crushed by the

  robot, Thea pulled me out of the way.

  I was

  trembling

  from the ends

  of my whiskers to the tip of my tail. I had

  almost

  lost my fur!

  “Thanks, Thea!” I gasped. “Just one

  astrosecond later and I would have been as

  flat as a fur-covered flying saucer!”

  “No problem, G!” she said with a

  wink.

  “Where did the guard go?”

  “He ran,” I explained. “He must have been

  scared!”

  “Well, that’s

  good news

  for us,” Thea

  replied. “Let’s get to the emperor’s palace

  immediately . . . The rebel robots are heading

  that way!”

  When we reached the palace, though,

  we realized we were

  too

  late

  . The

  rebel robots had already arrived! The

  palace entrance was covered in broken

  glass and metal.

  What a galactic mess!

  You’re Finally

  Here, Captain!

  Thea and I entered the imperial palace

  slowly

  , kee
ping an eye out for the

  rebel robots. The building was almost

  completely

  destroyed

  : There was broken

  glass everywhere, and statues were in pieces.

  “It’s completely

  empty

  ,” Thea observed.

  “Where are the Cleanix aliens? And where

  are our friends?”

  At that moment, we heard noises above

  us. We

  climbed

  some stairs and found

  an imperial guard tied up with electrical

  cords.

  “What happened?” Thea asked as we

  freed him.

  “Those recycled

  robots

  captured

  the emperor, his wife,

  and their daughter,” the guard

  explained. “They want to throw

  them into space

  !”

  Oh no!

  It sounded like the

  robots were planning to get their

  revenge

  on the Cleanix aliens

  for flinging them into space with their

  Galactic Garbage Shooter.

  “The leader of the rebel robots is one

  of the emperor’s old personal-computer

  robots,” the guard explained. “He said he

  wants to

  take back

  the city.”

  Things were starting to make more

  sense

  . The recycled robots wanted to

  live in Sparklina instead of being thrown

  away and tossed into space!

  “Maybe the

  spacemice

  can help

  settle the dispute,” I told the guard.

  “Great idea, Captain,” Thea agreed. “But

  first we need to free our friends.”

  The guard seemed to

  trust

  us.

  “The other spacemice are locked in the

  basement,” he said. “Follow me!”

  We hurried down to a large

  metal

  door.

  The guard punched a code on a keypad,

  and the door

  burst

  open. There were our

  friends!

  “It’s so good to see you, Uncle!” Benjamin

  said, giving me a little

  peck

  on the snout.

  “It’s about time!” Trap exclaimed. “I was

  starting to get a little

  hungry

  .”

  “Well, you may still have to wait,” I told

  him. “A lot has been happening!”

  “Of course, some of us already know

  that,” Robotix said in an

  annoyed

  tone. “Thanks to my new antenna, I’ve

  been

  listening

  in

  on the rebel robots’

  conversations.”

 

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