by H. Badger
The walkway sped through the streets of Arboria. Everywhere, Kip saw robots whizzing past on moving walkways. None of the robots had spotted Kip and Finbar yet. Their heads hung low, as though they were all in bad moods.
Box-shaped concrete houses lined the moving walkways. Out the front, each robot house had a pole with a purple bolt of electricity shooting out of it.
‘That’s where the robots recharge,’ said Pappy proudly.
Kip also noticed moving 3D posters that advertised the same films and TV shows over and over.
Don't miss this!
GAME SHOWS
REPEATED ALL DAY EVERY DAY
CHANNEL 1087
See Tonight!
POLICE SQUAD
SCREENING FOR
THE 501,347th TIME!
Boring! Kip thought. Why aren’t there any NEW movies or shows?
A robot on a moving walkway lifted its head to look at a nearby poster. The face on its screen looked about Kip’s age. It had a sad, bored look on its face.
But then the robot kid saw Finbar and Kip. It swivelled its head in amazement.
‘Know any new jokes?’ yelled the kid robot.
Kip was surprised. It seems like no-one ever visits this place, he thought. And the first thing this kid robot wants to know is a joke?
The only joke Kip could think of was a lame one his dad told him. ‘What’s brown and sticky?’ he asked.
The kid robot said nothing, but he looked excited.
‘A stick,’ said Kip.
‘Haven’t heard that one!’ said the robot. It made a grinding sound, like gears in reverse. It was cracking up laughing!
‘Lucky robots can’t wet themselves,’ whispered Kip to Finbar. ‘That guy would short-circuit.’
But Finbar didn’t answer. His ears were pricking up. ‘My wolf senses tell me it’s about to rain,’ he said slowly.
‘If it rains here, there’s definitely water!’ Kip replied, excited. So far, Arboria didn’t look like a great place for humans to live. But if there was water, there might still be hope.
I might have discovered Earth 2! he thought. I could win the Shield of Honour.
Then everyone would know that the youngest Space Scout was also the best.
CHAPTER 5
Kip was glad it was about to rain. But he didn’t want to get soaking wet.
When he saw a fat raindrop heading right for him, he ducked out of the way.
The raindrop fell onto the moving walkway. But instead of making a splash, the raindrop sizzled when it fell.
‘Does it rain boiling water here?’ Kip asked Pappy.
‘Why do you say that?’ said Pappy, robotic eyes darting.
He’s hiding something, Kip thought.
Kip glanced back at the spot where the raindrop fell. There was smoke rising from it.
‘That was no ordinary raindrop,’ Kip whispered to Finbar.
‘Enough talking about rain,’ Pappy interrupted, hurrying along the moving walkway. ‘We’ve arrived at my house.’ Pappy sounded very relieved.
Kip, Finbar and Pappy stepped off the walkway outside a pair of fancy gates.
Pappy’s house was gigantic mansion.
Unlike the other houses, there was a lawn with leafy trees out the front.
When Kip got close, though, he saw they were all fake. Kip was pretty sure the word ‘Arboria’ had something to do with trees, but there weren’t any on this planet.
Weird, he thought.
Pappy’s front door swung open. Standing in the doorway was a robot with a distinguished old man’s face on its screen. The robot had a tray balanced on its hand like a butler.
‘Drink, your majesty?’ said the robot, bowing.
Pappy must be the king of this place! Kip thought. Odd that he’s also an air-traffic controller, then.
Pappy took a glass filled with thick black liquid. He pressed a button on his chest and a hatch slid open. ‘Nothing like a cup of oil to soothe the hinges, eh James?’ said Pappy to his butler.
The robot butler offered the tray to Kip and Finbar.
I’d rather drink a brussel sprout smoothie! Kip thought.
‘No, thanks,’ he said out loud. ‘I’d love a glass of water, though,’ he added.
This’ll be a quick way of finding out what the water on Arboria is like, he thought.
‘Water?’ James said. ‘I wouldn’t really recommend –’
Pappy cut in. ‘There’s none cold at the moment. Sorry.’
Pappy showed Kip and Finbar around his enormous house. Pappy explained that the house was a thank-you gift from the people of Arboria.
‘I’m the king because I invented Digitisation,’ Pappy said. ‘It’s a way to download a living creature’s mind and install it into a robot body. So life never has to change!’
Why would you want to do that? Kip wondered. He remembered the game show repeats. The way the kid robot laughed at his lame joke. Life as a robot in Arboria seemed pretty dull to Kip.
‘Arborians once looked like you, Kip,’ Pappy added. ‘But now that we’re robots, we’ll stay the age we were the day we got Digitised. We never have to get older!’
So that robot I met will stay a kid forever, Kip realised. If that were me, I’d always be the youngest Space Scout.And I’d never finish school.
‘Hope you like things the way they are then,’ Finbar said.
‘Luckily, things on Arboria are fantastic,’ Pappy agreed. Then he added, ‘Would you like to try eternal youth, Kip?’
As if I’d ever in a million years want that! ‘I’ve got to stay human,’ Kip said quickly.
‘Kip’s got his job as Space Scout to think about,’ Finbar explained.
‘I’m asking you nicely,’ Pappy smiled. For the first time, Kip noticed a cold, hard edge to his voice.
‘I really need to get on with my mission,’ Kip said, shaking his head. ‘You said we could explore Arboria.’
‘You can’t leave yet,’ Pappy said sweetly. ‘I need a favour.’ He turned to Finbar. ‘I’m building a museum of curious artifacts. I’d love a lock of your fur for my collection.’
Pappy sat Finbar down. He called James and they spent ages disinfecting a pair of robotic scissors.
Why is this taking so long? Kip wondered.
He noticed Pappy and James whispering to each other. Kip wanted to tell them to hurry up.
But then he remembered his WorldCorp Manual of Space Scouting.
SPACE SCOUT RULE 7.01
Unless in danger, a Space Scout
must NEVER offend aliens.
So Kip waited politely. Pappy carefully tugged a lock of fur from Finbar’s tail.When he finally snipped it off, James disappeared with the fur at once. Then Pappy spent ages putting Finbar’s helmet back into place.
‘Thank you so much,’ Pappy said finally, smiling gratefully at them.
All that over a meaningless bit of tail fluff, Kip thought.
CHAPTER 6
‘I’ll show you out,’ said Pappy. He took Kip and Finbar to the walkway outside his house.
But the walkway was moving at triple the speed it did before.
‘It’s in Emergency Mode,’ said Pappy, sounding surprised.
Kip saw green-and-white checked police robots with flashing lights on top of their plasma-screen heads. They raced past, heading towards the Docking Station.
‘What a fuss,’ said Pappy casually as he waved goodbye. ‘I hope this doesn’t interfere with your mission.’
Kip and Finbar stepped onto the walkway, waving goodbye to Pappy. It whisked them away from the front gates at top speed.
‘Let’s find out what’s going on!’ Kip yelled to Finbar over the roar of sirens and clanking robot feet.
They followed the crowd to the Docking Station. A crowd of armoured robots blocked the entrance. They were made of thick black plastic. Their screen heads were protected with metal cages.
‘Look at MoNa,’ Kip said in a low voice. She was still where Kip and Finbar h
ad left her. But her Scrambler Beam Generator was plastered with bright orange police tape. Kip tried to push past the armoured robots.
‘No-one goes in or out,’ grunted the tallest armoured robot. ‘There’s just been a death at the Docking Station!’
‘A death?’ said Kip. ‘Can you kill a machine?’
‘It’s very hard to destroy a robot,’ said the armoured robot.
‘But it is possible?’ said Kip.
The robot nodded grimly. ‘The death of the maintenance robot is shocking. It was just minding its own business, cleaning near the foreign starship.’
The foreign starship? Uh-oh, thought Kip. What if they think MoNa’s got something to do with it?
He decided that now was a good time to act confidently. ‘I’m the captain of the foreign starship,’ said Kip boldly.
‘I’m his second-in-command,’ said Finbar.
‘We need to see whoever’s in charge of the investigation,’ Kip said.
A plastic hand clamped down on Kip’s shoulder. Another clamped on Finbar’s.
Kip turned around and saw a police robot standing behind them.
‘I’m in charge,’ said the robot. ‘And I’m arresting your companion for murder.’
‘Why?’ said Kip, outraged.
‘The maintenance robot was found with a white furball in his circuitry,’ said the police robot. ‘The circuitry caught fire, destroying the robot’s memory.’
The police robot yanked Finbar’s arm and dragged him towards the moving walkway.
‘I’m innocent,’ said Finbar in a dignified voice.
‘Oh yeah?’ said the police robot. ‘Who else around here’s got thick, white fur?’
He grabbed Finbar’s gloved paws and cuffed them to his feet with a pair of buzzing electric shackles.
‘I’m not shedding at the moment,’ Finbar explained calmly. ‘It can’t be my fur.’
‘Whatever you say,’ snorted the police robot, dragging Finbar away.
‘Where are you taking him?’ Kip yelled, his panic rising. But the police robots didn’t answer. Within seconds, they were gone.
‘They’ll throw him into the Acid Lake. That’s what happens to murderers,’ laughed the guard robot.
Acid Lake? Kip shivered. That does not sound good. He raced to the walkway and jumped on. His first thought was to go to Pappy for help.
But although Pappy had seemed friendly, there was also something creepy about him.
I’ll follow those police robots instead and find Finbar without Pappy’s help, Kip decided. He knew it was important to follow his instincts on a mission.
But he had no idea which way the robots had gone. Moving walkways branched off in all directions, each crammed with robots.
There was only one way Kip could find out. He had to call MoNa on his SpaceCuff. She could track Finbar using her DNA Tracker. The DNA Tracker scanned the air for traces of Kip and Finbar’s DNA.
Of course, Kip would have to tell MoNa that Finbar was missing.
MoNa thought Kip was too young for the job of Space Scout. So he hated admitting to MoNa that the mission was going badly. But he hated the idea of losing Finbar even more.
‘Come in, MoNa,’ said Kip into his SpaceCuff.
‘What now?’ said MoNa wearily. ‘This mission has been horrible. First a robot sneaked into my landing bay. Then there was all that orange tape gumming up my Scrambler Beam. It’ll take ages to clean it.’
‘Listen, MoNa,’ Kip interrupted. He didn’t have time for her complaints. ‘Finbar is missing. I need to you to find him.’
‘What?’ MoNa screeched. ‘I’ll track him immediately. There’s no way I’m staying here longer than I have to. You’re lucky I haven’t left already.’
A moment later, MoNa came through. ‘I’ve got a trace of fur heading south-west.’
Using his SpaceCuff’s compass feature, Kip checked which way south-west was. Then he jumped onto the walkway heading in that direction.
‘Make sure you find him, Kip,’ said MoNa through the SpaceCuff.‘I don’t trust these robots.’
CHAPTER 7
The moving walkway sped away from the docking station. Kip found himself leaving the concrete buildings of Arboria behind.There were no other robots on the walkways. Wherever Kip was heading, it seemed to be deserted.
Flat, grey ground stretched out in every direction. There were twisted grey trees without leaves. Black rain clouds hung low in the sky. I hope those clouds aren’t full of burning rain, Kip thought. Then suddenly, his brain made a connection.
The robot guard said that Finbar would be thrown in the Acid Lake! And the rain Kip had seen was burning hot.
It’s acid rain! Kip thought. And that fills the Acid Lake! He checked his SpaceCuff for information on acid rain.
SPACE DICTIONARY
Acid Rain: Poisonous rain caused by pollution. Acid rain is burning hot, kills leaves and plants and can damage buildings.
WARNING: Can be fatal to humans and animals.
It all fits! Kip thought. Arboria may have once been covered in leafy trees. But now the leaves were all dead because of the acid rain.
Arboria’s terrible pollution must have caused the acid rain, figured Kip.
But right then, pollution wasn’t Kip’s main worry. Finding Finbar was. Kip couldn’t imagine a Space Scout mission without Finbar. But more importantly than that, they were friends.
Kip soon spotted the Acid Lake. It was huge with fluorescent waves lapping a dusty shore. Beside it, Kip saw a ramshackle old hut.
Kip jumped off the walkway. In the dust among some robot footprints, Kip spotted a trail of pawprints!
They’ve got to be Finbar’s, Kip thought.
A chill crept over Kip. The pawprints led straight towards the Acid Lake.
Heart pumping, Kip followed the pawprints. Soon, he was standing right on the edge of the toxic lake. The pawprints stopped.
Kip tried to yell Finbar’s name, but no words came out.
His mind flooded with memories of Finbar. His wise, gentle face. How he calmed MoNa down when she got angry.
The way he chased his tail to make Kip laugh.
Kip wanted to howl, but it didn’t feel right. Space Scouts were meant to be grown-ups. And grown-ups didn’t burst into tears whenever they felt like it.
Kip sat on the shore with his head in his hands. His eyes were close to the dusty ground.
Is that…another pawprint? Kip thought slowly. He leapt up, blinking his eyes to clear the dust away.
How could he have missed it before? A little way off, the trail of pawprints kept going. It led from the lake to the ramshackle hut.
With gritted teeth, Kip marched to the hut. He hammered on the door.
‘Finbar?’ Kip yelled.
Slowly, the door of the hut creaked open. Inside, it was totally dark.
‘I knew you’d come,’ said a familiar voice. Then a glowing white shape loomed out of the darkness. It was Pappy!
Kip gasped. What was Pappy doing way out here?
Pappy’s strong robotic arms gripped Kip’s wrists. He dragged Kip inside the hut and slammed the door.
‘Where’s Finbar?’ Kip demanded.
‘I’ll show you,’ Pappy said, crouching down. He pulled open a trapdoor in the floor. Through the trapdoor, Kip could see a staircase leading to a dark basement.
Pappy flicked a switch and white light flooded the basement. Then he pushed Kip down the stairs.
It was a lab, full of high-tech machinery! No-one would ever guess such a place could be hidden inside a wonky old hut.
The biggest machine had two chairs joined by a thick silver cable. Above each chair was a metal cap about the size of a human head. Sticking out of each cap was a strange globe-shaped object.
‘Where’s Finbar?’ asked Kip again.
‘This is where I invented Digitisation,’ said Pappy, ignoring him. ‘I thought I’d solved my people’s problems. I had such high hopes.’
Kip glan
ced around. The lab was creepy, and Pappy wasn’t making sense. Worst of all, there was no sign of Finbar.
BANG!
Pappy slammed the trapdoor shut and turned to Kip with a threatening smile on his face.
‘No-one leaves Arboria,’ Pappy said coldly.
CHAPTER 8
‘What?’ Kip exclaimed. ‘Is this to do with that robot dying?’
‘I know you had nothing to do with that,’ said Pappy softly.
For a moment, Kip stared at Pappy. Then a terrible thought occurred to him.
‘Finbar’s fur!’ Kip yelled. ‘It wasn’t a museum piece. You planted it on that maintenance robot so everyone would think the death was Finbar’s fault.’
Pappy pulled Kip over to one of the chairs with the metal cap and thick silver cables.
‘But why?’ said Kip.
Pappy pressed Kip’s shoulders so he sat down in the chair. Buzzing shackles closed over Kip’s wrists, trapping him.
‘I had to find a way to make you stay,’ said Pappy. ‘I could see you hated Arboria as much as I do. You wanted to get away.’ Pappy sat down in the chair next to Kip.
‘You hate Arboria?’ said Kip. ‘But you’re the king. You made Arboria this way.’
For a moment, Pappy looked sad. ‘Our planet was once covered in green leafy trees, but the pollution got so bad that everything died.’
Pappy pulled down the metal cap above his chair. He fitted the cap onto his own head. ‘I thought turning everyone into robots would save us from dying off too,’ he continued. ‘I didn’t realise how horrible it would be to never change or grow old.’
Kip remembered the kid robot’s desperation for new jokes. The repeated game shows. The sad robots he saw on the moving walkways.
‘I’ve waited so long for someone like you,’ said Pappy. ‘No-one has visited in such a long time. Everyone in our galaxy knows Arboria is too toxic.’
There was a whirring sound. The metal cap above Kip was being lowered automatically. It dropped onto Kip’s head with a clang.
‘Ow,’ Kip said crossly.
‘I’m going to download myself into your body,’ said Pappy. ‘And when my butler James finishes locking up my house, he will take over Finbar’s body. Then we’re taking your starship and leaving Arboria forever.’