which let out a sequence of sounds.
20
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!”
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,