Planet Hell (3 page)

All the little kids would scream and giggle.

Except for Anna. She just screamed.

Now she was one of the big kids, and she was still scared.

I don't believe in trolls!
she told herself again and again.
Don't be such a cry baby!

But she couldn't stop being scared.

And then things got worse.

Jen, the biggest bully in the school, found out about Anna's fears.

Jen gave Anna's arm a hard pinch. “Did you throw the message in the bottle down the hole like I said? Don't you dare lie to me!”

Anna nodded. “Yes! Let go! I did it, just like you said.”

The other girls were laughing at how scared Anna was.

“What a cry baby!” they whispered.

“There was a metal grill over the hole but I pushed the bottle through,” cried Anna.

“Good,” said Jen. “Now the trolls will read what you wrote. And they'll come and snip off your leg and snap off your hand and sew on metal ones. And then they'll drag you under the ground. They won't let you go till you're an old, crazy woman!”

“Oh look, she's crying again,” the other girls giggled.

“Bye-bye, cry baby,” said Jen and walked away.

“I'm not! I'm not!” Anna sobbed. But she knew they were right. She
was
a cry baby.

She hated herself.

* * *

Anna's robot found her lying on her bed.

“Are you unhappy? What is the matter?” asked the robot.

“Nothing's the matter!” cried Anna. “Just leave me alone!”

“If that will make you happy,” said her robot.

Anna ran out of the house.

Every time a robot saw her, it stopped working and asked, “Are you unhappy? How can I help you?”

But Anna just ran on.

Anna didn't notice that Jen was following her. She didn't think about where she was going.

She just ran on and on until she realised that she'd come up the path to a cave. The same cave where she'd thrown the message in the bottle down the hole!

Sam was climbing in the dark now. His last electric candle had died. He wasn't sure where he was any more.

Don't panic, Sam,
he told himself.
You must be close now.

His arms and legs shook with tiredness. Hand over hand he climbed, and then suddenly Sam realised – he could
see
his hands!

There was light up above.

This must be it,
he thought.
This must be the Surface …

“OW!”

Sam had banged his head on a metal grill. He gripped it and pushed hard. For a moment the grill stuck, and then it fell back and Sam pulled himself up and over the edge.

He was in a cave, but even in the shadows the light was so bright it was like a knife in his eyes. Tears ran down his face, but he forced his eyes open. He crawled to the opening of the cave. What he saw made his head spin.

This can't be real!
he thought.
Where's the boiling rock? Where's the burned ground? And the poisoned air?

The Surface of Planet Hell was beautiful.

There were bright colours everywhere – green fields, buildings painted red and gold and purple, blue streams and white paths. Moving about were shiny silver figures, like human-shaped machines. Sam took off his breathing mask and sniffed. The air was clean and pure.

Then he looked up. There was no stone roof over his head, just empty space that went higher and higher. It made him feel dizzy and he looked down quickly with a gulp.

Where are the monsters?
he wondered.

And then he heard one – a monster coming up the path towards the cave. It was moving fast and making a lot of noise. It sounded huge and dangerous and angry!

Sam tried to hide but in his panic he couldn't find the opening to the air shaft. Too late! He heard the monster stop and gasp. It had seen him.

Slowly, Sam turned around. He squinted at the monster. It had a huge head and a tall body, like a giant mushroom. It wasn't very big for a monster – about the size of a person – but for a mushroom it was gigantic!

Sam shut his eyes tight and pulled the bottle out of his pocket. He held it out.

“Is this yours?” he asked.

The monster spoke. “I sent a message in a bottle to the trolls! Please, please don't cut off my hand!”

“What?” said Sam. “Cut off your hand? That's horrible! Why would I want to do that?”

He opened his eyes wide for a second but the light hurt horribly. He cried out with pain.

“Here,” said the monster. “Put my hat on.”

Sam opened his eyes a little and saw the monster was taking its head off! He nearly choked with fear. Then he looked again. The monster was just taking off a big round hat!

“It will stop the light hurting your eyes,” said the monster.

Sam took the hat and put it on. He felt silly, but at least he could see better.

But what he saw didn't make sense.

The monster wasn't a monster at all. It was a girl. Except she wasn't like any girl he'd ever seen before.

She didn't have a shaved head like all the Miners. Instead, she had long hair. She wasn't wearing the dark, heavy Miners' clothes that didn't show the dirt or rip easily. Her clothes were floaty and glittery and changed colour when she moved.