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The Invisible Planet (Geronimo Stilton Spacemice #12)

Page 2

by Geronimo Stilton


  which let out a sequence of sounds.

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  Beep! Beeep! Beeeep!

  After a few moments, the professor proudly

  announced, “There, it’s done!”

  Lockix’s coordinates had appeared

  on the monitor!

  Grandfather William nodded, satisfied.

  “Thea, warm up the exploration

  shuttle’s motors. Get ready to leave in

  two shakes of a mouse’s tail!”

  21

  Mission Invisible

  Planet!

  “Uncle, you’re going to the invisible

  planet!” Benjamin exclaimed. “That’s

  rattastic! Can I come?”

  Bugsy Wugsy joined in. “I want to come,

  too — we could do a project about this

  mysterious planet! Maybe we could even help

  update the information in the Encyclopedia

  Galactica.”

  Both mouselets peered up at me

  hopefully.

  Leaping light-years!

  How could I say no?

  I threw my paws in the air. “Oh, all

  right — you can come! But promise me

  22

  you’ll be careful. Unexplored planets can be

  danger —”

  I didn’t finish my sentence because

  just then Sally de Wrench, our official

  onboard mechanic, appeared! (She was the

  most fascinating rodent on

  MouseStar 1,

  paws down.)

  “Fabumouse timing, Sally!” Trap cheered.

  “You’re just the expert rodent to help us

  on our mission!”

  Sally!

  Captain!

  Being around Sally made me turn red from

  the ends of my ears to the tip of my tail.

  Sally smiled at me. “Hello, Captain! Was

  there something you wanted to tell me?”

  I felt my knees wobble like sonic string

  cheese, but I tried to get a grip. “N-no,

  my m-mission — I mean, the in-invisible

  planet — I mean —”

  What can I say? I feel like I’m bouncing

  through an asteroid belt every time I

  see Sally . . . and I end up making a fool of

  myself!

  Finally, I took a deep breath and said,

  “The shuttle motors are up and running.

  It’s time for us to leave for the invisible

  planet!”

  We headed for the shuttle as fast as our

  paws would carry us! Everyone chatted

  enthusiastically, but I couldn’t

  24

  help moving a bit more slowly than the

  others.

  I don’t know why, but I had the terrible

  feeling that we were headed for a galaxy

  of trouble!

  We’re off!

  25

  Something’s

  Missing . . .

  After traveling for a galactic hour, we

  entered the orbit of the invisible planet.

  “Here we are — Lockix!” Thea squeaked.

  As my sister steered us toward the surface,

  we admired the landscape through the

  shuttle windows. There were ultramodern

  buildings, roads, squares, elevated

  walkways — and everything

  was shaped like a key, a

  lock, a keyhole, or a safe!

  Bugsy Wugsy’s eyes

  were wide. “Stellar Swiss

  balls — I’ve never seen

  any place like this!”

  Mousetastic!

  26

  “Uncle, I’m so happy we came!” Benjamin

  squeaked, tugging on my sleeve. “Look

  down there — an enormouse galactic

  space park shaped like a key!”

  Bugsy Wugsy added, “This planet looks

  like it has everything a rodent could want.”

  “Something’s missing,” Thea

  muttered quietly.

  Trap rolled his eyes. “What are you

  squeaking about, Cousin? This place has

  everything! I can’t wait to land!”

  I looked down at the surface of Lockix,

  then over at Thea. There didn’t seem

  to be anywhere to land. I peered at the

  planet again and asked, “

  WHERE’S THE

  SPACEPORT”

  My sister shook her snout. “Exactly,

  Geronimo! I’ve looked everywhere — there

  isn’t one!”

  27

  Where’s the spaceport?

  We circled the planet over and over. There

  didn’t seem to be anywhere to land!

  Swiss supernovas! How could

  there not be a single spaceport on Lockix?

  And how in the galaxy would we get down

  there?

  30

  An Acrobatic

  Landing!

  Thea continued flying over Lockix, looking

  for a safe place to land, but it was more

  difficult than tracking down rare Martian

  mozzarella! First, Thea steered us to

  the right to avoid a lit-up building. Then she

  pulled

  the shuttle upward and turned

  left to avoid a satellite dish.

  Holey craters,

  I think I would

  have preferred

  to ride on the

  ShatterMousix!

  I grabbed my seat

  belt with both paws

  Hold

  on!

  31

  and tried not to toss my cheese.

  Benjamin and Bugsy Wugsy, on the other

  paw, were having a blast. “Yahoo!

  Mouserific!”

  Finally, Thea squeaked, “I found just the

  place! Hang on — we’re going in

  for a bumpy landing!”

  We’re here!

  The ship DESCENDED QUICKLY

  toward a large square, and Thea maneuvered

  us expertly.

  I squeezed my eyes shut, and . . .

  Bam!

  I heard a bang, jumped in my seat, and

  then . . . silence.

  rat-munching robots!

  what had happened?

  I opened my eyes slowly, and . . . cosmic

  cheese chunks, we had landed safe and

  sound in the center of the big square!

  We climbed off the space shuttle and

  looked around in amazement. It

  definitely seemed like the first time in many

  cosmic eras that someone new

  had landed on Lockix.

  But where are the inhabitants?

  “This is so exciting!” Benjamin said. “No

  spacemice have ever visited this planet! I

  can’t wait to meet its inhabitants.”

  I scratched my snout. “Yes, but . . . where

  are its inhabitants?”

  Just then we heard a noise behind us. We

  spun on our paws and . . .

  “It looks like someone’s coming to

  Ho, ho, ho!

  Ha, ha, ha!

  Hee, hee, hee!

  welcome us!” Trap whispered loudly.

  Sure enough, a group was approaching

  us, but these aliens were not what we

  had imagined . . .

  The Encyclopedia Galactica had said

  that the Eh-Hems were tiny and reserved,

  but the creatures coming toward us were

  enormouse, noisy deceptiods. There must

  have been some kind of mistake!

  36

  Who Are You?

  One of the aliens stopped a few steps from

  me. He sneered and showed his teeth. Black />
  holey cheese, he smelled like one of the

  cosmic algae concoctions that Squizzy, our

  onboard cook, often whipped up!

  “Foreigners!” he said. “Who are you, and

  what brings you to our tiny planet?”

  At those words, the smell of galactic

  garlic and Martian mushrooms

  mixed with Trap’s dirty

  socks hit me. Cosmic

  cheese chunks, it took

  my breath away!

  I took a deep breath

  and gathered myself. “We

  are the spacemice, and

  Foreigners!

  37

  I am Geronimo Stiltonix, captain of the

  MouseStar 1. We noticed that your planet

  was appearing and disappearing from our

  radar, so we have come to help you!”

  The alien snickered. “Help us? I am

  Claw, the captain of the Uh-Huhs — no,

  wait — what is it we call ourselves?” Another

  alien whispered something in his ear.

  “Ah, yes, I meant to say the Eh-Hems! That’s

  us!”

  The group of aliens at Claw’s back began

  to giggle and jab one another with their

  elbows.

  Strange, very strange!

  We spacemice all looked at one another

  in confusion, but Claw went on. “We

  have been living on this planet for

  astrocenturies . . . for galactic

  eras . . . Well, since forever!”

  38

  The group of aliens held back more

  laughter.

  Claw concluded, “We are so sorry that

  you interfered — uh, I mean, worried about

  us and our planet.”

  Ho, ho, ho!

  Ha, ha, ha!

  Hee, hee, hee!

  But what . . .

  39

  Strange, very strange!

  My friends pulled me aside. Thea was

  very suspicious. “How is it possible that

  they don’t know the name of their own

  species?”

  Sally nodded her head in agreement.

  “The Encyclopedia Galactica said that they

  were timid and shy.”

  “They seem to be the opposite of

  timid and shy!” Trap scoffed.

  Was it possible that, for the first time ever,

  the Encyclopedia Galactica was wrong?

  40

  Weak and

  Defenseless!

  We were still unsure of what to do with the

  mysterious aliens. Suddenly,

  Thea squeaked, “I’ve got it! We can call

  Hologramix and ask it to double-check the

  Encyclopedia Galactica! There must be an

  explanation in there somewhere.”

  “That’s a great idea,” I said, nodding.

  “Activate wrist communic —”

  But before I could finish,

  Claw waved his paws in

  the air.

  “Stop!

  Halt!

  Freeze!”

  41

  Holey craters, what now?

  Claw went on with a smile. “You can’t

  call your spaceship. Communication

  with outside planets or vehicles is strictly

  prohibited on our planet!”

  Mousey meteorites!

  Thea narrowed her eyes. “Why, exactly, is

  it forbidden?”

  “Well, outer space is full of traps, dangers,

  and space pirates,” explained Claw. “They

  could find us by intercepting just one

  communication! We are so . . . um . . . weak

  and defenseless . . .”

  Galactic Gorgonzola, had he said

  defenseless?

  These aliens seemed anything but

  defenseless to me!

  Claw’s friends began to chuckle again,

  but he gave them a look. “It’s for our own

  42

  protection that we’ve kept our planet

  invisible all this time.”

  “How exactly did you do it?” Sally asked.

  The alien grinned. “Easy! We used a

  Planetary Invisibility System

  to keep ourselves hidden from galactic radar.

  It’s been flawless . . . until today!”

  Sally’s eyes sparkled with

  curiosity. “Holey craters,

  I would love to see it.

  What mouserific

  technology!”

  The alien sighed. “Yeah, it

  was a superrefined technology, but now the

  system is broken! That’s why the planet

  appeared on your radar. And without the

  Planetary Invisibility System, we’re doomed

  to be invaded by some evil passersby

  before long.”

  43

  Cosmic cheese rays, how terrible!

  But I couldn’t help wondering . . . Why

  were all the other deceptiods sneering even

  more now?

  Strange, very strange!

  Claw smiled sweetly. “By any chance,

  would you spacemice be able to help us?”

  “Yes, well, um — what would we have to

  do?” I asked.

  “We could use your

  help repairing our

  Planetary Invisibility

  System,” Claw said.

  “You seem to

  have a lot of

  resources, while

  we are just weak

  and defenseless

  aliens. If we

  Ha, ha, ha!

  44

  don’t fix the system soon, who knows what

  will attack us?”

  All the other deceptiods nodded in

  agreement, still giggling.

  Oh, for all the lunar cheese, what could I

  say?

  45

  A True Captain

  As I thought, I remembered the words that

  Grandfather William had repeated during

  my first days as captain:

  1

  A true captain never backs away from a

  space mystery!

  2

  A true captain always offers to help

  aliens in trouble!

  3

  A true captain always knows the right

  thing to do!

  So I took a deep breath and said, “Of

  course we’ll help! Sally, our supersmart

  mechanic, will surely be able to fix your

  Planetary Invisibility System.”

  Sally smiled at me. “Thanks, Captain!”

  I turned as red as spaghetti sauce from

  Saturn while Sally looked back at the aliens.

  46

  “Take me to your Planetary

  Invisibility System, and

  I’ll figure it out!”

  The deceptiods

  peered at one another

  for a moment. “We . . .

  umm . . . well . . . We don’t

  know where it is.”

  Cosmic cheese rays, did I hear

  that right? The inhabitants of Lockix

  didn’t know where their own Planetary

  Invisibility System was?

  “The Planetary Invisibility System is

  hidden,” Claw explained hastily. “It’s

  secret! Unreachable! For reasons of . . .

  I’ll fix it!

  interplanetary security.”

  This explanation smelled funnier than

  space cheese!

  “Only our technician knows where it is,”

  47

  Claw continued. “But he’s . . . absent at the

  moment.”

  Thea twirled her whiskers. “Absent?”
/>
  One deceptiod responded, “That’s right!

  He’s exploring a satellite biosphere!”

  Another yelled, “He’s studying the paths

  of MASSIVE METEORITES !”

  Absent?

  And another chimed in, “He has a lunar

  cold!”

  Oh, for all the planets out of orbit — they

  had each said something completely

  different!

  Strange! Enormousely strange!

  Claw said, “Our technician is absent, and

  . . . well, he’s studying meteorites . . .

  Ummm . . . he’s . . .

  . . . he has a cold!

  all we have is the instruction manual for the

  Planetary Invisibility System. There should

  be a map in the manual that shows how to

  reach the system, but we can’t figure it out.”

  “Bring me the manual,” Sally suggested.

  “Maybe I can decipher it!”

  Claw clapped her on the shoulder.

  “Thanks! You are truly a bunch of foo — um,

  supersweet heros!”

  He sent one of the deceptiods to get

  the manual, and Thea pulled me aside.

  “Geronimo, doesn’t this seem strange?

  These aliens don’t know the name of their

  own species, they’re completely different

  from the way they were described in the

  Encyclopedia Galactica, and they don’t

  have a cheesecrumb of a clue where their

  Planetary Invisibility System

  is. What in the galaxy is going on here?”

  50

  I couldn’t shake the feeling that we

  were missing some very important

  information. “You’re right, Thea, but

  these aliens really seem to be in trouble.

  Plus, I gave them my word as captain — I

  can’t take it back now!”

  My sister nodded. “All right, but let’s stay

  alert. This seems like a fur-brained scheme

  to me!”

  I had a feeling that galactic

  troubles were on the horizon . . .

  51

  The Planetary

  Invisibility System

  The deceptiods returned after a few minutes,

 

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