The Gas Giant (3 page)

‘Your Mousse Grenade!’ Kip said to Finbar desperately. ‘Can you reach it?’

Finbar always kept a Mousse Grenade in his spacesuit pocket in case of fire on board MoNa. Fires were always serious, but even more so on a spaceship.

Holding on to his CondorCraft with one paw, Finbar grabbed the grenade and pulled the pin. He hurled the grenade at Kip.

The grenade struck. Sticky white foam exploded over Kip’s wrist.

Kip’s smoking SpaceCuff was extinguished. Vapod was safe. Kip, on the other hand…

‘It won’t stop expanding!’ Kip yelled as the mousse raced up towards his helmet.

‘Steer towards the nearest platform!’ Finbar yelped.

Swiftly, Kip angled his CondorCraft down towards the platform where they’d seen the Vapod aliens. Then his entire world went white. The mousse was swallowing him like a giant man-eating marshmallow.

Kip was flying completely blind.

‘AAAAAAARGH!’ he screamed.

Kip braced himself.

He crashed into the platform like a giant sticky sponge.

Seconds later, Finbar touched down beside him. ‘Are you hurt?’

Kip shook his head, fighting to free himself from the giant ball of mousse. He finally managed to wipe it all off his helmet, so at least he could see. He checked himself for damage, but everything seemed OK.

The mission, on the other hand, was anything but OK. Without his SpaceCuff, Kip was in serious trouble. SpaceCuffs were vital — they automatically recorded all kinds of information about the planet you were on.

On top of the malfunctioning SpaceCuff, Kip didn’t know if Vapod’s aliens were friendly or hostile. And now his CondorCraft was wrecked, Kip didn’t even have his own transport!

‘Kip! Look over the there,’ Finbar whispered into his helmet intercom.

It was the pair of Vapod aliens they’d seen earlier! They were coming towards Kip and Finbar, and they did
not
look happy.

I wouldn’t be happy either if a stranger crash-landed on my doorstep
, Kip thought.

Nerves prickled Kip’s skin. He absolutely
had
to make friends with these aliens. How else would he find out how their city worked?

‘Hello,’ Kip began warmly. ‘We’re from the planet Earth.’

Kip wished he could use his SpaceCuff to translate into the Vapod language. He wasn’t sure if the aliens understood him. They were definitely shooting him angry looks.

‘We…er…mean you no harm,’ Kip continued. He started to tell the Vapods what had happened to him in the sky, acting out the story as best he could and using simple language.

Both Vapod aliens looked at Kip scornfully.

‘We understand your language,’ the first alien snapped. ‘We spent some time near Earth a few years ago.’

‘Oh,’ said Kip. ‘Great! That makes my job easier. You see, we need your help.’

‘What are you taking about?’ said the Vapod alien irritably. ‘We can’t help you. We have enough problems already.’

Kip was about to answer, but Finbar beat him to it. He smiled kindly. ‘What kind of problems?’

‘Constant headaches,’ the first Vapod alien snapped. ‘That’s what kind.’ Both the aliens rubbed their heads crossly.

Kip paused, thinking. The Vapod aliens didn’t seem hostile. Maybe their headaches had put them in a permanent bad mood.

Kip had an idea. ‘My spaceship has a DocBot on board,’ he said. ‘I’d be happy to ask it about remedies for your pain as soon as I’m back up there.’

The Vapod aliens looked hopeful and suspicious at the same time.

‘Why would you do that? What do you want in return?’ the first alien asked.

Kip explained his mission to find out about the floating city.

The aliens were willing to help, but there was a problem. They hadn’t built the city personally. About a year ago, a small group of adventurous aliens had discovered this abandoned space research station and moved into it. Before that, they’d been nomadic, which meant they roamed the galaxy with no particular home. That’s why they’d spent time in the Milky Way and learnt some Earth languages.

‘We don’t really know the mechanics of the platforms,’ the second Vapod alien said.

She sounded genuinely sorry. Now that the aliens knew Kip and Finbar wanted to help with their pain, they were way less snappy.

Kip thought about his next move.

‘Would it help to see the plans of the city?’ the first alien asked suddenly.

Kip grinned. Perfect! He could take copies of the plans in the hope that Earth’s scientists could follow them.

The aliens led the way over to their igloo-shaped home.

Once inside, Kip looked around. He loved seeing how different aliens lived.

A metal rod ran across the middle of the igloo. The Vapod aliens perched on it. They looked comfortable there, just like humans relaxing in armchairs.

‘When we found this place, the igloos were full of research stuff,’ the aliens said. ‘Our people made these perches from bits and pieces that we found.’

‘Do you know who the researchers were?’ asked Kip.

‘No. We think they left in a hurry, though,’ the first alien said. ‘All their things are still here.’

They both paused. Then the second alien added slowly, ‘We’re afraid there might have been an attack of some kind. We found sketches of huge creatures among their research papers, and there were signs of a struggle when we arrived. But we have no way of knowing for sure. We haven’t seen any signs of life since we arrived.’

‘I’m sure it’s nothing, then,’ said Kip reassuringly. He didn’t want the Vapod aliens to get distracted — they were unrolling the plans of the floating city.

Kip and Finbar bent over the city plans, looking for clues about how the platforms were kept afloat.

‘There don’t seem to be any turbines or engines making them float,’ Kip said thoughtfully. ‘It seems as though it’s just the balloons. But they’re so small! The gas inside them must be super, super light.’

‘That looks like a chemical symbol,’ said Finbar, pointing excitedly at a label on the balloon saying ‘CO
₂
’.

‘Maybe,’ Kip answered. ‘But what does it mean?’

Without my SpaceCuff, I can’t look it up!

Kip was feeling sick in the stomach.
Is it nerves?
he wondered. After all, this was the most important mission of his career. He had made good progress already. The locals were friendly (if slightly grumpy), and he had the city plans to study.

But now he’d hit a wall. How was he going to identify the mystery gas with a broken SpaceCuff?

Then Kip had a sudden brainwave. He couldn’t believe he’d forgotten — the holographic walkie-talkies!

Kip held the walkie-talkie in front of him and pressed the button. After a moment, Jett’s hologram appeared.

‘Hey Jett! I need a favour,’ Kip said. ‘Can you look up what CO
₂
stands for?’