The Slime Volcano (2 page)

MoNa's external door slid open and the UniTaxi flew in. Kip leapt out into the landing bay.

‘Welcome back!' said a friendly, growly voice. It was Finbar, Kip's second-in-command (or 2iC for short).

Finbar was part-human, part-arctic wolf. He had fluffy white fur, ice-blue eyes and fangs peeping over his lips. He walked on two paws and towered over Kip.

You'd never know that Finbar is such a softie
, Kip grinned to himself.

Finbar was an Animaul, bred to protect Earth in case of alien invasion. But he'd failed Animaul Basic Training for being too gentle. Finbar's wolf senses, agility and intelligence made him an ideal 2iC. Plus, Kip was plucky enough for both of them.

When not on missions with Kip, Finbar looked after MoNa.

Finbar looked exhausted. ‘I've been cleaning MoNa all afternoon with my new Suckerbot,' he explained.

WorldCorp Suckerbot

The Suckerbot was a cleaning robot with a nozzle shaped like lips. It could suck dirt out of the smallest corners.

It circled around Finbar making soft buzzing sounds. Kip could tell it was one of those clingy robots.

‘Time for some real work now,' MoNa snorted. She saw and heard everything Kip and Finbar did.

Kip sighed. MoNa was impossible!

‘Download your mission brief,' MoNa continued. ‘I'll pilot us into space.'

‘I thought
I
was captain of this starship,' Kip joked.

Still, he knew it made sense to let MoNa's autopilot handle the easy flying tasks. For more complicated flying, Kip's skills would be needed. He'd spent months in Space Scout training learning to fly a starship.

Kip and Finbar strode through the glowing blue corridors toward the bridge.

The bridge was MoNa's command centre.

The Suckerbot rolled along at Finbar's paws, slurping at them as he walked.

Located inside MoNa's nosecone, the bridge had two giant windows looking out to space. The floor was a lit-up map of the Milky Way.

Kip and Finbar took their seats in the middle of the room.Touching the air above his head, Kip activated his holographic consol.

A cylinder of blue light shot down, surrounding Kip and Finbar. MoNa's controls were projected on the cylinder.

Kip touched the ‘Download Mission Brief' button in mid-air.

Grimor
, Kip echoed.
Doesn't exactly sound
like paradise…

Still, Grimor might be the answer to all of Earth's problems.

As well as my chance to win the Shield of
Honour!
thought Kip.

CHAPTER 3

When Kip looked out the window, he saw they'd left the Hoverport behind. A bright cloud mass swirled in the inky sky ahead. The wormhole to Grimor!

Wormholes were shortcuts between galaxies. Space Scouts used them to travel billions of light-years in seconds.

Kip took over MoNa's controls. He accelerated to warp speed and plunged the starship into the wormhole.

Instantly, Kip's guts felt like they were bursting through his skin. Travelling long distances that fast was tough.

They quickly popped out the other end of the wormhole. They were in a new galaxy, never visited by humans. Ahead lay a large, brown planet with patches of blue.

‘Looks filthy,' Finbar murmured, smoothing down his whiskers.

The Suckerbot nuzzled at him, and Kip saw Finbar sneak him a handful of space-dust. Kip rolled his eyes.

‘There's a lot of sulphur in the atmosphere,' said MoNa, who'd taken the controls again. ‘It's so dirty. I can't see a clear spot to aim the Scrambler Beams.'

Kip and Finbar travelled to the surface of each new planet via Scrambler Beam. The beams jumbled up Kip and Finbar's particles, shot them through space and put them back together on a planet's surface.

‘I'll have to guess,' MoNa continued. ‘Hope you don't land in anything yucky!'

Kip's training had prepared him for any situation. Gritting his teeth, he led the way back to the landing bay.

Kip stepped into a pair of footprints painted on the floor. Finbar stood on a pair of pawprints beside him. The Suckerbot watched Finbar anxiously.

Two Scramblers shot down, and a nanosecond later, Kip and Finbar's particles were whizzing through space!

Kip opened his eyes. Finbar was beside him. Their particles had reassembled on Grimor.

Then Kip heard a little whirring sound. He glanced down. Finbar's Suckerbot was there too! He must have sneaked into his scrambler beam at the last minute.

‘Er, Finbar,' Kip said, nudging him.

Finbar shrugged apologetically, but he also looked pleased. ‘A cleaning robot will come in handy on this planet.'

Kip looked around. The surface of Grimor was a dingy brown-grey colour, with soaring craggy mountains covered in vines. There were pools of a strange, electric-blue slime everywhere, and the sky was a dim green colour.

The first thing Kip noticed was how heavy his body felt. Just lifting up his hand was harder than on Earth.

The gravitational force here must be stronger
than on Earth
, he guessed.
It feels like I weigh
twice as much.

The slime pools crawled with wriggling creatures as long as Kip's fingers. They looked like ugly centipedes, with lots of legs and thick shells outside their bodies.

The Suckerbot circled the pool, dying to suck up the slimy liquid. But just as it reached down with its nozzle-lips, one of the creatures snapped at it with dagger-sharp fangs.

The Suckerbot jumped back, cowering. Finbar scooped it up hurriedly. He didn't want his new robot getting damaged by alien creatures!

Kip shuddered.
Those little worm things
are gross.

Suddenly, he felt a weird rumbling under his feet. The air began to stink of toilets, even through Kip's helmet. A nearby mountain began to blow steam.

Hang on,
thought Kip,
that's not a massive
mountain.That's a –

‘Volcano!' Finbar yelled, clutching the Suckerbot under his arm.

Heads down, Kip and Finbar tried to run. But each step was like running through liquid concrete!

The ground shook. Smoke filled the air. But the volcano didn't erupt molten lava. Instead, burning hot, electric-blue slime spewed all over the place!

Kip's spacesuit sizzled as slime shot through the air.

Lucky we've got our Cometchasers on,
Kip thought, as hot slime gushed at his feet.

WorldCorp Cometchasers

Kip's spacesuit was heat-proof, but he wasn't sure how long it would last in the boiling slime. They needed shelter – now!