Monsters in Space!

by Ray O'Ryan

  “Have a . . .”

  “. . . fun trip . . .”

  “. . . and take lots of . . .”

  “. . . pictures,” said Charlotte and Cathy.

  “Be careful!” Zack’s mom said.

  “And send me a z-mail when you get there,” added Drake’s mom.

  Zack and the others stepped on board the space cruiser. A few minutes later, they were on their way to Plexus!

  Chapter 7

  A Whole New World

  The space cruiser sped through the galaxy. Zack settled back in his seat and stared out the window. Planets, stars, and swirling colorful clouds of space gas zipped past.

  “I can’t wait to show you all the zandy stuff we have on Plexus,” Al said. “I’m happy we became friends so fast. You’ll probably laugh at this, but I’ve been to some planets where they thought I was a monster! How silly is that?”

  Zack thought about when he had first met Al. Then he laughed. “Yeah,” he said. “Pretty silly.”

  A short time later the space cruiser began dropping down toward Plexus.

  “Hang on, everybody,” said Gur. “We’ll be landing in a minute.”

  The first thing Zack noticed as they lowered down through the atmosphere was that Plexus had a yellow sky.

  “That’s amazing!” said Zack. “I’ve never seen a yellow sky before!”

  The space cruiser gently touched down. Zack grabbed his bag and followed Al and Gur into the spaceport.

  Both Zack and Drake stared with their mouths wide open.

  People of every size, shape, and color filled the spaceport. Some were huge and covered with thick fur. Others walked on eight legs and made squeaking noises when they spoke. Some had three eyes that hung from their faces on long stalks.

  As Zack stared at the people on Plexus, many of them stared back at him. A few pointed and whispered to the person next to them.

  Zack thought about how Al’s mom had reacted when she first saw his mom. I have to remember that I look as different to them as they do to me.

  “Come on, guys!” Al said laughing after a couple of minutes. “Don’t just stand there staring. I have a lot to show you!”

  Zack and Drake followed Al and Gur to their car. It looked more like a sleek space capsule. Everyone climbed in, and the car took off at super-high blinding speed.

  “Wow!” said Zack. “Mr. Gur, you drive much faster on your planet than we do on ours.”

  “Ha-ha—‘Mr. Gur’ sounds so unusual. Again, it’s okay to just call me Gur. Don’t worry; all cars on Plexus are controlled by computer-guided traffi-beams. They keep cars from crashing into one another—even at high speeds.”

  “Very zandy,” said Zack.

  A few minutes later they stopped in front of a box that sat in a row of many other boxes. Each looked big enough to fit four or five people.

  “Why are we stopping here?” Drake asked. “I thought we were going to your house.”

  “This is my house,” said Al.

  It’s awfully small, thought Zack.

  Al laughed. “Come on. I’ll show you.”

  Chapter 8

  Home, Sweet . . . Cave?

  Zack, Drake, Al, and Gur all squeezed into the box. It began dropping down into the ground.

  “It’s an elevator!” said Zack.

  “Yup,” said Al. “My house is underground!”

  The elevator stopped. Its door whooshed open. Zack and the others stepped into what looked like a huge cave. The walls and ceiling were solid rock. But this was no ordinary cave.

  The entire house was filled with high-tech gadgets. Zack recognized most of them.

  A robotic arm chopped and mixed food in the kitchen.

  “I know that meal-o-matic,” said Zack. “That was made at Nebulonics!”

  “Most of this house has Nebulonics gadgets,” explained Gur. “I have worked with them for many years.”

  “Welcome home, Gur. Welcome home, Al,” said a voice that was very familiar to Zack.

  “Ira?” Zack asked.

  “Welcome, Zack Nelson. Welcome, Drake Taylor,” said Ira.

  “Yes,” said Gur. “Our house came with an Indoor Robotic Assistant. That was invented at Nebulonics too.”

  Drake looked around. “You have the coolest house, Al,” he said. “It is like living in a high-tech cave!”

  “You haven’t even seen my room yet!” exclaimed Al.

  Al’s mom walked into the room and gave Al a hug.

  “Hi, Zack. Hi, Drake. I’m so glad you could visit,” she said.

  Zack and Drake both said hello to Toka.

  “We’re going to see my room,” Al said.

  Zack, Drake, and Al hurried down a stone hallway. They walked through a door at the end of the hall and into Al’s room.

  Zack spotted a computer screen that took up the entire wall.

  “Pretty zandy, huh?” said Al. “I can watch movies, video chat with my friends from other planets, and look stuff up for school, all on this wall.”

  “Grape bed,” Drake said, pointing to a corner of the room. There, a bed hovered in midair.

  “An antigravity beam holds it up,” Al explained. “It lowers for me to get in and out. Then it floats while I sleep.”

  “Cool!” cried Zack.

  Just then a window showing Al’s mom appeared on the giant wall screen.

  “Boys, it’s time for lunch,” she said.

  Chapter 9

  Yummy Worms

  Everyone piled back into the car. Soon they were on their way to a diner called Slime Time.

  I wonder what the food will be like, Zack worried. I remember that gross worm sandwich Al brought for lunch.

  Once they were seated in the diner, a waiter with five arms walked past them. He carried a plate in each arm.

  Cool, thought Zack. I guess having that many arms would come in handy if you’re a waiter.

  The waiter dropped off the food, then came over to their table. He handed everyone a menu.

  Zack was nervous. Nothing he saw on the menu was the least bit familiar. The pictures all showed slimy, slithering food.

  Does everyone on this planet eat worms? he wondered.

  Then Al spoke up.

  “Can we have three orders of twisty noods, please?” he asked.

  “Twisty noods?” asked Drake. He was also worried about what to order. “What is that?”

  “Oh, you’ll see! They’re delicious. I eat them in a sandwich at school sometimes,” replied Al.

  Oh no, Zack thought to himself in a panic. They really ARE worms! What am I going to do? I can’t eat WORMS!

  The waiter brought three plates and set them in front of the boys.

  “These are twisty noods?” asked Zack. They looked like spaghetti.

  “Mmm . . .,” said Al as he shoved a forkful into his mouth. “These are my favorite! Go ahead, try some!”

  They smell pretty good, thought Zack. And I AM pretty hungry.

  He took a bite. “Wow—these are delicious! They taste like chocolate-covered noodles!” said Zack.

  “That’s because they are chocolate-covered noodles!” exclaimed Al.

  Not so strange after all, thought Zack. He gobbled down the rest of his twisty noods.

  After lunch everyone went for a short walk. They passed a park where a bunch of kids were playing a game. The kids were hitting a soft furry ball back and forth over an electronic net.

  Al spotted a couple of his friends in the crowd.

  “Hey, guys, these are my new friends, Zack and Drake!” Al called out.

  A short kid with arms that looked like snakes and one large eye in the middle of his stomach turned toward Al and his new friends.

  “Monsters!” he cried, pointing at Zack and Drake.

  “They’re not monsters,” replied Al. “They’re zandy guys.”

  “But they look so . . . so . . . different!” said Al’s friend.

  “Nice to meet you,” said Zack.

  “Yeah, nice
to meet you too,” said Al’s friend. “Sorry about calling you a monster. I just never saw anyone who looked like you.”

  “Same here,” said Zack, smiling.

  That evening Al’s parents took the three boys to a movie called Worm Blast!

  As the movie began, a robot arm popped from the seat and handed Zack a snack.

  “What’s this?” Zack whispered to Al.

  “It’s brick bark,” Al whispered back. “It’s chocolate and plexu-nuts.”

  “Thanks,” said Zack. He missed popcorn but enjoyed the tasty treat.

  Up on the screen, a giant worm exploded from the ground. Zack felt his seat shake. It felt like the action on the screen was really happening to him!

  This so grape! he thought. Going to the movies on Plexus is . . . zandy!

  Back at Al’s house, the boys looked at the pictures and videos Zack had taken that day with his camtram.

  “I can’t wait to show this to Bert,” said Zack.

  “Who’s Bert?” asked Al.

  “Bert is my friend from Earth,” Zack explained. “That’s where I was born.”

  Soon the boys grew sleepy. They were exhausted from their day.

  Chapter 10

  Good-Bye, Friend

  The next morning Zack, Drake, Al, and Gur piled into the space shooter and headed back to Nebulon. Zack arrived home and told his family all about his adventures on Plexus.

  “Sounds like . . .”

  “. . . you made . . .”

  “. . . a good new friend,” said Charlotte and Cathy.

  “I sure did,” said Zack. “And I learned some things too. It doesn’t matter what someone looks like. What matters is who they are inside.”

  Zack’s mom gave him a great big hug.

  After school the next day Al came to Zack’s house. As soon as he spotted Luna, he hid behind a counter.

  “What’s that?” asked Al, pointing at Luna.

  “Don’t be scared,” said Zack. “Luna’s my dog. She’s very friendly. Pet her. . . . You’ll see.”

  Al approached Luna slowly.

  “I’ve never seen anything like her,” he explained.

  Al bent down and petted Luna gently on her head. She wagged her tail happily.

  “See? She likes you!” said Zack.

  Al smiled. Then he remembered why he had come over.

  “My dad and I have to go home tomorrow,” Al said, “but I hope we’ll be back soon. . . .”

  Zack started to feel sad. He remembered how he felt when he had to leave Earth . . . when he had to say good-bye to Bert.

  “I had a really great time here on Nebulon,” said Al.

  “And I had a fun time on Plexus,” replied Zack. “Let’s video chat soon.”

  “Sounds zandy,” said Al. “Bye.”

  Once Al had left, Zack headed to his room. He flopped onto his bed. He was still feeling sad when the viewscreen in his bedroom began to blink.

  “You have an incoming vid-mez, Master Just Zack,” Ira announced.

  Zack bounced from his bed and touched the screen. A box opened showing a picture of Bert and a message.

  Zack listened to Bert’s voice: “Hi, Zack. Guess what! I’m coming to visit you on Nebulon!”

  “No WAAAAAY!” cried Zack. He couldn’t be more excited.

  I can’t wait to show him all the zandy . . . I mean grape . . . I mean cool stuff on Nebulon!

  Zack Nelson jumped up from his seat at the kitchen table. He had hardly taken a bite from the stack of nebu-cakes that sat on his plate.

  “I can’t believe he’s coming today!” Zack cried. He threw both his arms into the air. Then he spun around in a circle and shouted, “YIPPEE WAH-WAH!”

  “Honey, I know you’re excited that Bert is coming to visit,” said Shelly Nelson, Zack’s mom. “But you haven’t touched any of your breakfast. And it’s almost time to leave for school.”

  “But Bert is coming!” Zack shouted. “I haven’t seen him in so long!”

  Bert Jones was Zack’s best friend on Earth. Zack had not seen Bert since Zack and his family moved to Nebulon.

  Zack missed Bert. And now Bert was coming from Earth to visit him on Nebulon. Zack couldn’t wait to show Bert around his new home planet.

  “Come on, honey. You have to eat something!” Mom insisted.

  Zack leaned over his plate. He grabbed an entire nebu-cake and shoved it into his mouth.

  “Dmvrum barimden,” he mumbled through a mouthful of food.

  “Don’t talk with your mouth full,” said Mom.

  Zack swallowed and said, “Gotta go. Bye, Mom!”

  “Have a good day at school,” Mom said.

  Now all I have to do is make it through the school day! Zack thought.

  RAY O’RYAN has loved space stories ever since he watched the very first episode of Star Trek. He loves to imagine what traveling across the galaxy might be like, and is a bit jealous of Galaxy Zack in this regard. Ray lives in the beautiful Catskill Mountains of upstate New York with his wife and two lovable, zany cats named Stitch and The Way.

  COLIN JACK is originally from Vancouver, Canada, and has illustrated several children’s books. He currently works at DreamWorks Animation as a story artist and character designer and lives in the Bay Area with his wife and two sons.

  GalaxyZackBooks.com

  Meet the author and illustrator and get activities at

  KIDS.SimonandSchuster.com

  Little Simon

  Simon & Schuster

  New York

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  LITTLE SIMON

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  Copyright © 2013 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

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  Initial interior sketches by Andrew Murray

  Designed by Nicholas Sciacca

  Jacket design by Nicholas Sciacca

  Jacket illustration Copyright © 2013 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  O’Ryan, Ray.

  Monsters in space! / by Ray O’Ryan ; illustrated by Colin

  Jack. — 1st ed.

  p. cm. — (Galaxy Zack ; [4])

  Summary: Zack is shocked to find a large, purple, five-eyed creature sitting in his place at school one morning, but soon learns that he and the “monster” have a lot in common.

  ISBN 978-1-4424-6718-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) —

  ISBN 978-1-4424-6721-7 (hardcover : alk. paper) —

  ISBN 978-1-4424-6722-4 (ebook : alk. paper)

  [1. Science fiction. 2. Human-alien encounters—Fiction. 3. Monsters—Fiction. 4. Friendship—Fiction.]

  I. Jack, Colin. II. Title.

  PZ7.O7843Mo 2013

  [E]—dc23

  2012024864

 

 

 
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