System broke. We refused to
help fix it, so the deceptiods
locked us in here.”
Meteoric mozzarella, once the
Eh-Hems got over their shyness
they were really very courageous
little aliens!
Thea walked up next to me. “But why
didn’t you ask for help from neighboring
planets?” she asked Sam.
Sam sighed. “We Eh-Hems are very
reserved aliens, but we are also very
proud. We have always managed to do
everything on our own. We don’t know
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anyone we can trust because our planet has
been invisible for so long.”
“So that’s why there’s no spaceport on
Lockix,” Thea squeaked.
“And there’s information about you
missing from the Encyclopedia Galactica because you’ve been isolated for eons,” Sally added.
Trap squeaked up. “Yeah, there aren’t
even any recipe books from Lockix!”
Sam nodded shyly. “Yes, in fact, we Eh-
Hems have never really been interested in meeting other aliens. We invented the
Planetary Invisibility System
because we wanted to prevent anyone from
landing on our planet. We have always
been happy on our own — but now we
understand that there are situations we cannot handle alone!”
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My friends and I exchanged understanding
looks. Then Thea declared, “You aren’t
alone anymore — now we’re here, too!”
Sam’s face lit up with a smile, and all the
Eh-Hems behind him grinned at us, too.
But now we’re
here, too!
We isolated
ourselves . . .
My friends and I exclaimed as one,
“Spacemice for one,
spacemice for all!
We will help you!”
Sam was clearly moved. “Thank you,
spacemice! Maybe now, with your help, all is not lost . . .”
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We Need a Plan!
At that moment, we heard a strange
CREEEAAAK
and suddenly the stadium floor lit up! I nearly jumped out of my fur. Galactic globs of Gouda, what was going on?
I was about to
faint
in fright when
Benjamin and Bugsy Wugsy popped out of the megastadium’s athlete entrance!
Benjamin cried, “Uncle, we need to tell
you something!”
I hugged him tight. “It’s marvemouse
to see you, mouselets! But where were you hiding? Are you the ones who lit up the ground just now?”
“After we snuck off, we
followed
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We need to tell
you something!
Uncle!
Who are you?
Mouselets!
Where were
you hiding?
you from afar,” Benjamin explained. “When we saw that the Scaleers were bringing you into the megastadium, we looked for a service entrance. We hid down in the room reserved for the space referee.”
Benjamin pointed to a small
room shaped like a lock right above
the athletes’ entrance.
“Using the audio system, we could hear
everything!” he went on. “Once we heard that you had befriended the Eh-Hems, we turned on the lights — and here we are!”
Bugsy Wugsy tugged on my tail. “Uncle G,
we have some bad news, too. We overheard that the Scaleers are preparing for another
space raid!”
I turned as white as Martian mozzarella.
Green cheesy moons, we couldn’t catch a break!
88
Luckily, Sally squeaked up. “First, we need
to get out of here. We can use the service
door that the mouselets came through. It
sounds like it’s unguarded.”
Sam shook his head. “Once we’re outside,
the Scaleers will simply capture us again!”
Trap scratched his snout thoughtfully.
“We need to stick together and defeat the Scaleers using our wits.”
“I agree,” Thea said. “But HOW?”
89
An Irresistible
Challenge!
I sighed heavily. Rat-munching robots,
we didn’t have any idea how to
outsmart
the Scaleers!
Just then Sam Shyguy cried, “I’ve got it!
While we were trapped in here, we heard the Scaleer guards chatting . . . and we
discovered their weak spot.”
“Tell us!” Thea said with a smile. “What
is it?”
“We noticed that the Scaleers like to
snicker and sneer a lot,” Sam
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The Interspace Joke Challenge?
Cheesy comets, I had never even heard of it!
My friends were surprised, too. “What
is that?” they asked together.
From the Encyclopedia Galactica
THE INTERSPACE JOKE
CHALLENGE
The most famous team joke
competition in the cosmos.
Rules: Each team tells one joke per
turn. If the other teams laugh,
they pass the round; if not, they
are eliminated. (You are not allowed to tickle your
opponents!) The final team left after all other teams
have been eliminated wins.
Teams are eliminated if:
1. The opposing team does not laugh.
2. They run out of jokes.
3. They don’t respect the rules.
Reigning champions: The Scaleers!
Sam explained, “It’s the most famous team
joke competition in the cosmos! Whoever
tells the
funniest
jokes wins. A team is
eliminated when it runs out of jokes to tell or tells a joke that doesn’t make anyone
laugh. If we challenge the Scaleers, they
will surely accept — after all, they’re the
reigning champions!”
Squeeeak!
A
joke
competition?
Leaping light-years, I never would have thought of that!
Sam added, “I’ve been thinking about this
for a while, but I didn’t do anything about it
because we Eh-Hems are too shy. But with
the spacemice on our side, we can conquer
our shyness!”
Trap gave Sam a high five. “I’m in,
friends!”
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“It seems like our best chance to get out of
here,” Thea added thoughtfully.
“We’ll help you, too!” Benjamin exclaimed.
“Bugsy Wugsy and I know a ton of fabumouse
jokes from school!”
My friends’ enthusiasm gave me courage.
I shook Sam’s hand and said, “Of course
We will
challenge them!
Thanks!
93
we’ll help you — let’s challenge the
Scaleers!”
With that, we called the guards. The
Interspace Joke Challenge was about
to begin!
94
A Daring Deal
The guards led us to the main square of Lockix, where we found ourselves snout-
to-trunk with Claw again. Solar smoked
Gouda, he seemed even
more frightening,
more wicked, and more stinky than ever!
Next to our space shuttle was an
enormouse spacecraft. The
Scaleers were preparing for departure — we
needed to hurry!
I tried to stand tall as I squeaked,
“W-well . . . we spacemice, along with the Eh-Hems, invite you to take part in an Interspace Joke Challenge!”
The leader of the Scaleers snickered.
“You will never beat us. We are the reigning
galactic champions!”
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My whiskers wobbled — I could sense
some cosmic trouble approaching!
Seeing that my fur was standing on end, Sam gathered his courage and said, “We’ll
see about that! Here is our condition: If
we win, you Scaleers need to leave our
planet . . . for good.”
Claw looked thoughtful for a moment.
He turned and whispered something to
the other Scaleers, who all nodded their
approval back to him. “Interesting . . . All
right, but if we win, you will all work for us
forever!”
Cosmic cheese rays! He couldn’t be
serious — could he? I wanted to be a writer,
not a space pirate!
“So, do we have an agreement?” Claw
hissed.
I looked at Sam, who was trembling in
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his space cape. I knew that we were all
worried, but what choice did we have? This
was the only way to free Lockix!
Sam and I shook Claw’s hand and accepted
his conditions.
The deal was done — squeak!
You’ll never win!
We challenge you to
a joke competition!
Out-of-This-
World Jokes!
As we got ready to begin the competition, I
couldn’t keep my knees from wobbling like
cottage cheese all over again. On the other paw, the Scaleers were tremendmousely calm. They kept elbowing one another and
SNICKERING.
“Since you’re new at this, your team can
go first,” Claw proposed.
Trap began with a classic joke. “What
is a cooking robot’s preferred condiment?
Motor oil!”
The Eh-Hems burst out laughing . . . and
even the Scaleers couldn’t hold back their giggles!
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One of the deceptiods was up next. “What’s a space pirate’s favorite food?
Lunar barrrrrbecue!”
Stellar Swiss balls, those Scaleers were
really good!
Bugsy Wugsy and Benjamin took a turn.
“What did the spacemouse say the first time
he tasted Plutonian provolone?
That’s out
of this world!”
All of the aliens snickered. I was so
proud of our mouselets!
The competition continued
for hours. It turned out that
we all knew an enormouse
number of jokes!
Eventually, Sam
Shyguy was up against
Fang,
a huge Scaleer.
Sam timidly stepped
Haw, haw, haw!
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forward. “What’s . . . umm . . . the o-only thing a p-planet could a-ask for?”
Then he stopped. Mousey meteorites! We
had to do something, or this would be the
end of Lockix!
Come on!
Fabumouse!
You’ve got it,
Sam!
We all cheered, “You’re fabumouse, Sam!
You’ve got it!”
The supershy alien seemed to collect
himself. He looked at us gratefully and
repeated, “What is the only thing a PLANET
Ha, ha, ha!
Hee, hee, hee!
Ho, ho, ho!
could ask for? A little . . . space!”
The Scaleers tried to keep their composure,
but it was useless — they all burst out
laughing.
Swiss-munching spacemice, Sam had
done it!
But the competition wasn’t over yet. It
was
Fang’s
turn. The other competitors
had already told so many jokes, it was going
to be hard to think of another one.
We all stared silently at Fang as he cleared
his throat.
Then he
SCRATCHED
his head.
Then he blew his nose.
In the end, he took a deep breath and
began to stutter, “T-two c-cosmobandits
e-enter a r-room aaaand . . . aaaaand . . . aaaaand . . .”
We all exclaimed, “And?”
102
Fang stayed silent.
Claw stopped smiling,
the Eh-Hems all held
their breath. We spacemice
looked at one another
hopefully.
Fang began to sweat
and whispered in a tiny
And . . . and . . . and . . .
voice, “Uh . . . ummm,
boss? Um, I’ve RUN OUT
OF JOKES
. . . I can’t even make anything
up. Nothing is coming to mind!”
The Eh-Hems exploded in shouts of
joy as Claw glared at Fang.
“We did it!” Trap squeaked.
Bugsy Wugsy and Benjamin high-fived,
and Sally cried, “Hooray for the spacemice!
Hooray for the Eh-Hems!”
Starry space dust! We had managed to
103
defeat those fur-raising space pirates!
At that moment, Sam held up his hands
for silence. “The Scaleers have lost the
Interspace Joke Challenge. As promised,
they must leave Planet Lockix at once!”
104
We’re free!
Hooray!
We won!
Woo-hoo!
Great job!
True Friends!
Once the Scaleers finally left the planet, it
was time for us spacemice to head home,
too.
Sam shook my paw. “We can’t thank you
enough for your help, spacemice. Without
you, we would still be trapped back at the
stadium!”
Sally smiled. “Now don’t forget, always
maintain your Planetary Invisibility System,
otherwise you risk having it jam again
and —”
But Sam interrupted her. “Oh, there will
be no need!”
What in the galaxy was
he talking about?
“Why not?”
I asked.
106
Sam smiled as he explained. “Thanks to
you, we now understand that we shouldn’t
stay so closed off. We need to learn to
trust others — that’s the only way to
meet new aliens who are as nice as you!
So we no longer need the Planetary
Invisibility System. We’re going to
turn it off forever!”
It’s been
a real pleasure!
Thanks!
“That’s
MOUSERIFIC
news!” Thea cried.
Sam continued. “That’s not all. We also
decided to build a spaceport — that way, you
can come back and visit us whenever you
want!”
We all hugged one another happily, then
said good-bye to our new frie
nds and
boarded our exploration space
shuttle.
Leaping lunar cheese balls, it was clear to
me that the most important treasure in the
whole cosmos is true friendship!
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Friendship Is
Fortune
We returned to MouseStar 1, where
Grandfather William and Professor Greenfur
greeted us eagerly. They were curious to
hear the details of our mission.
When I’d finished telling them the story,
Grandfather exclaimed, “Fabumouse job,
Grandson!
See? When you try hard, even
you manage to do something
good!”
I felt my fur turn red,
from the ends of my ears
to the tip of my tail. I was
HAPPY that Grandfather
was pleased with me, but
Well done,
Grandson!
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even happier that everything had turned
out for the best on Planet Lockix.
Just then Benjamin ran up and gave me
an enormouse hug. “You’re a mouserific
captain, Uncle!”
Bugsy Wugsy, Trap, Thea, and Sally
all squeezed me in a big group hug and
squeaked,
“Hooray for Captain Stiltonix!”
Hooray!
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It was wonderful to be surrounded by
so
many friends!
“All’s well that ends well!” I said. “But
now I must go change my
spacesuit.
I want to get comfortable and —”
Trap interrupted me. “Just a whisker-loving
minute! Aren’t you forgetting something,
Cousin?”
I tried to remember my urgent
appointments. Oh, for all the planets out of
orbit, nothing was coming to mind!
My friends put their arms around me and
led me along. As we walked, I kept thinking
and thinking and thinking . . .
What had I forgotten?
Cosmic cheese rays, I was concentrating
so hard that I didn’t even pay attention to
where they were taking me!
So, when I lifted my snout up . . .