The Jelly People Read online

  THE JELLY PEOPLE

  BY H. BADGER

  ILLUSTRATED BY C. BENNETT

  The Jelly People

  published in 2010 by

  Hardie Grant Egmont

  85 High Street

  Prahran, Victoria 3181, Australia

  www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means without the prior permission of the publishers and copyright owner.

  A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia

  Text copyright © 2010 H. Badger

  Series, illustration and design copyright © 2010 Hardie Grant Egmont

  Cover illustration by D. Mackie

  Illustrated by C. Bennett

  Design by S. Swingler

  Typeset by Ektavo

  Printed in Australia by McPherson’s Printing Group

  1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 1

  Kip Kirby hated not being good at things. And he especially hated being the very worst in the class!

  It was Saturday morning and Kip was at Dino-Training class. His pet minisaur Duke just wouldn’t roll over.

  Minisaurs were knee-high brontosauruses. They were bred as family pets from fossil DNA. A giant company called WorldCorp had invented them a while ago, back in the year 2328.

  Kip sometimes wondered what it was like in the olden days. Kip had read that back then, kids had dogs and cats as pets.

  Bet a dog wouldn’t chew two pairs of expensive spaceboots in one week, Kip thought.

  ‘Roll over, Duke!’ he said. ‘Come on!’

  But instead, Duke jumped into Kip’s arms. He licked Kip’s face with his slobbery dinosaur tongue.

  ‘I know your brain’s smaller than a freeze-dried pea,’ Kip laughed. ‘But this is ridiculous!’

  It was hard to stay mad at Duke, even if everyone in the AirPark was staring at them.

  The AirPark was a huge area covered in fake grass. It was high up in the sky, on top of a sky scraper.

  AirParks had replaced ground-level parks ages ago. With a population of over a trillion people, there just wasn’t room on Earth anymore.

  Over the excited roaring of the class of minisaurs, Kip heard the Teacherbot call out.

  ‘Time to practise using your sonic leashes,’ the Teacherbot chirped.

  The Teacherbot was a basic worker robot with special patience software installed. This one was as tall as Kip, and was made of soft, waterproof plastic to protect against minisaur bites and slobber.

  Kip grabbed his sonic leash from his pocket. He clipped the flashing collar around Duke’s neck. Then he flicked on the remote-control unit.

  Unlike old-fashioned leashes, there was nothing joining Duke’s collar to Kip’s hand.

  If Kip selected Turn Right on his remote control, the collar would make a high-frequency sound only Duke could hear. Then Duke would turn right. At least, that’s what was supposed to happen…

  ‘Tell your minisaur to walk straight ahead!’ called the Teacherbot.

  Kip selected Walk Straight Ahead.

  Duke started scratching the fake grass.

  Kip rolled his eyes. As much as he loved Duke, Kip just didn’t have time for this. Between school and his job as a Space Scout, he was super-busy all the time.

  At 12, Kip was the youngest ever Space Scout. Tests showed Kip’s bravery, intelligence and physical fitness were better than 99.9999% of those tested.That’s why he’d been hired by WorldCorp to explore the galaxies for a second Earth to live on.

  Kip wanted to discover Earth 2 more than anything. And so did the 49 other Space Scouts. Discovering Earth 2 would win a Space Scout the ultimate prize – the Shield of Honour.

  Kip often imagined how brilliant winning would feel. As well as the glory, Kip loved the sound of the other prizes that came with the Shield – like a mansion on Earth 2! And WorldCorp had just added another awesome prize – an extra day off school or work every week.

  The Teacherbot interrupted Kip’s daydream. ‘Tell your minisaur to walk faster!’

  Kip turned up the speed dial on his sonic leash’s remote control. Of course, Duke chose that exact moment to fall asleep.

  But Kip hardly noticed. His SpaceCuff was buzzing!

  A SpaceCuff was a thick silver band worn on the wrist. It had a built-in screen. Space Scouts used SpaceCuffs to communicate with their starships and WorldCorp.

  Kip pressed the Open Message button on his SpaceCuff.

  It was a mission brief. Excitement shot up Kip’s spine. He was off to space again!

  SPACE SCOUT

  KIP KIRBY

  MISSION BRIEF

  Message from: WorldCorp Mission Control

  WorldCorp has received coded messages about an unexplored planet called Aquaron. It seems Aquaron is trading something very valuable with other planets.

  Therefore, WorldCorp believes Aquaron has natural resources that may be useful to humans.

  The source of the messages is unknown.

  Your mission:

  Explore Aquaron, find out what is being traded and collect samples. Work out whether humans could live on Aquaron.

  Go to the Intergalactic Hoverport and prepare for immediate departure.

  CHAPTER 2

  WorldCorp wanted Kip to leave immediately. Kip guessed a wormhole to Aquaron must have opened unexpectedly. Wormholes were shortcuts from one galaxy to another. Space Scouts could travel millions of light years in seconds. But wormholes never stayed open for long.

  ‘I’ve got to leave early,’ Kip apologised to the Teacherbot. A sad-face emoticon popped up on the Teacherbot’s screen.

  Once Kip and Duke got back down to ground level, Kip scratched Duke’s scaly head. ‘Go home, boy,’ he said.

  Duke trotted off towards Kip’s apartment. Kip couldn’t believe it.

  Maybe Dino-Training is working after all! he thought, racing to the nearest Rocket Bus stop. A Rocket Bus heading for the Hoverport would be along any second.

  All space flights left from the Intergalactic Hoverport. It hovered inside Earth’s atmosphere, about 10 kilometres above the ground.

  Rummaging in his backpack, Kip grabbed his spacesuit, boots and helmet. Luckily, he had them with him. He was supposed to drop them at WorldCorp’s cleaning department after Dino-Training.

  Kip’s spacesuit was green, as were his matching boots. Made of soft, meteor-proof fabric, the suit was designed to fit Kip perfectly. He got a new one every couple of missions. Kip’s helmet had sparkling red flames on the side.

  Making sure no-one was looking, Kip stepped into his spacesuit. As a Space Scout, Kip prided himself on always being in control. Getting changed at a bus stop didn’t quite fit that image.

  Kip had just finished changing when a bus plummeted through the air towards him.

  Space Scout #50: Kip Kirby

  Rocket Buses looked like old-fashioned buses, except they were standing on their end. The driver stopped smoothly, hovering half a metre above the stop. Kip climbed a ladder to get inside.

  Instead of seats, the Rocket Bus had harnesses on the walls. Kip locked his waist, neck and ankle straps into position.

  The bus shot up into the air so fast that Kip’s whole body was thrown against the wall.

  Awesome g-force! Kip thought. No matter how often he blasted into the atmosphere on a Rocket Bus, he never got sick of it.

>   Kip was enjoying himself so much that he didn’t notice an extra passenger had sneaked on board. Until a scaly green shape shot past his nose…

  Kip blinked. Was that a flying minisaur?

  Then Kip realised. Instead of going home, Duke had followed him onto the bus.

  WorldCorp Rocket Bus

  Using every one of his carefully trained Space Scout muscles, Kip ripped his hands from the walls. He wriggled his arms free of the harness. Then Kip lunged for Duke as he flew past again.

  I’ll have to take him on the mission, Kip thought as he slipped his safety strap around Duke. He couldn’t miss the wormhole for one minisaur!

  The Rocket Bus was so fast that Kip soon arrived at the Hoverport.

  The Hoverport looked like a giant carpark floating in space. But instead of anything as low-tech as Rocket Buses, the Hoverport was filled with starships.

  The smaller starships travelled to nearby planets like Venus. The bigger ones, like Kip’s starship MoNa 4000, travelled far beyond the Milky Way.

  MoNa was a black, multi-level starship with curved thrusters and glowing lights underneath. When he saw her, Kip spoke into his SpaceCuff.

  ‘Kip Kirby to MoNa 4000. Approaching Hoverport.’

  ‘At last,’ grumbled MoNa.

  Kip grinned. As usual, MoNa was in a terrible mood.

  He pulled the cord and the Rocket Bus stopped right beside MoNa’s landing bay. It was freezing cold and the air was thin up here, but Kip would be fine with his spacesuit on.

  But what about Duke?

  ‘Sorry, boy,’ he said, stuffing Duke into his backpack. It sealed perfectly. It would keep Duke warm enough to survive the short skywalk.

  Kip left the Rocket Bus and quickly jumped into MoNa’s landing bay.

  ‘Your backpack!’ said a friendly, deep voice. ‘I think it’s alive.’

  Finbar, Kip’s second-in-command (or 2iC for short), had come to the landing bay to meet him.

  Finbar was two metres tall, and was a cross between a human and an arctic wolf. Normally, he was the only animal on Space Scout missions.

  Wonder if he’ll mind having a naughty minisaur along for the ride, Kip grinned to himself.

  CHAPTER 3

  Duke jumped out of Kip’s backpack. Finbar bent down and tickled him under the chin.

  What a softie! Kip thought.

  Finbar was an Animaul, bred to protect Earth from alien invaders. But Finbar was so gentle that he’d failed Animaul training. WorldCorp reassigned him to be Kip’s 2iC. Finbar was calm and wise, not daring like Kip. His sharp wolf senses and loyalty made up for it, though.

  ‘That creature is distracting you both,’ came MoNa’s voice. She saw and heard everything Kip and Finbar did.

  ‘The wormhole to Aquaron is open,’ MoNa continued. ‘In case you haven’t noticed, I used my auto-pilot to leave the Hoverport. But you’re needed at the controls right away.’

  Frowning, Kip left the landing bay. Space Scouting would be heaps more fun without a bossy starship!

  Kip and Finbar strode along MoNa’s glowing blue corridors.With Duke at their feet, they headed for the bridge, MoNa’s control centre.

  At the round door to the bridge, a security laser scanned Kip’s eyeball. Only then were Kip and Finbar allowed inside.

  The bridge had sloping walls and a big window that was now looking over Earth. Kip and Finbar sat down in the padded chairs in the middle.

  Kip touched the air above his head. A blue holographic cylinder beamed down from above. Kip and Finbar were surrounded by it. MoNa’s controls were projected onto the cylinder.

  Expertly, Kip switched MoNa from auto-pilot mode. He took the controls himself. Flying a starship was tough, but Kip had studied intensively. In Space Scout training, Flying was his favourite subject.

  Soon, a strange, swirling red cloud loomed into view. The wormhole!

  They powered forward into the cloud. Colours exploded all around. Kip’s head ached and his skin prickled. Finbar turned green with space-sickness.

  But in 3.2 seconds, the trip through the wormhole was over. MoNa popped out into Aquaron’s galaxy.

  Wobbly legged, Finbar walked to the windows. A large, bright red planet filled one entire window. Aquaron!

  Kip felt the nervous thrill he always got when he was about to land on a brand-new planet.

  Space Scouts were trained to deal with the unknown. Tackling new challenges was one of the reasons Kip loved the job.

  Kip took in every detail of Aquaron. As a Space Scout, it was important to notice as much as possible.

  ‘Earth’s got green patches of land,’ Kip said. ‘But this planet’s completely red.’

  ‘My long-range telescopes say Aquaron’s covered with water,’ MoNa said.

  Finbar yelped. ‘An ocean planet? Wolves hate swimming!’

  ‘Go to the landing bay,’ MoNa said, ignoring him. ‘A WaterWalker is waiting.’

  Kip had read about WaterWalkers in his Space Scout Vehicle Manual.They were clear, oxygen-filled capsules with motors.

  Kip wouldn’t be wearing his spacesuit on this mission. He took it off and slipped on a SeaStocking over his normal clothes – a thin, transparent suit that was better for swimming in than his spacesuit.

  I didn’t have to get changed at the bus-stop after all! he groaned to himself.

  When they were ready, Kip and Finbar headed for the landing bay. Kip wondered how the WaterWalker would get down to Aquaron.

  WorldCorp WaterWalker

  Normally, MoNa beamed Kip and Finbar to new planets using her Scrambler Beams. Scramblers took your particles, scrambled them, and then rearranged them on the surface of the destination planet.

  ‘I’ll shoot the WaterWalker into the Aquaron ocean,’ MoNa explained when they reached the landing bay.

  Kip climbed into the cockpit. Duke dived in after him. He sat in Kip’s lap, panting.

  Kip decided that it would be better to bring Duke along in the WaterWalker than leave him behind. He didn’t want to give MoNa another reason to complain. Duke could wait in the WaterWalker while Kip scouted Aquaron.

  Kip fitted his safety harness over himself as well as Duke. Finbar strapped in behind them. The WaterWalker’s watertight doors sealed shut.

  The floor beneath the WaterWalker began to vibrate. Duke’s bony tail flicked side-to-side, smacking Kip in the face.

  ‘Stop it, Du –’ Kip started to say.

  Then…

  AAAAAAHHH!

  The landing bay floor dropped away below them. The WaterWalker went hurtling at top speed through space!

  The starry sky rushed past in a blur. The WaterWalker shot through Aquaron’s atmosphere with a bump. Split-seconds later, they splashed into Aquaron’s bright red sea.

  Kip gasped. The sea was rough, but it wasn’t like oceans on Earth. Instead, Aquaron’s red water churned in a gigantic whirlpool. And Kip, Finbar and Duke had landed right in the middle!

  CHAPTER 4

  The whirlpool spun them around and sucked them downwards.

  Faster and faster they whirled around, until Kip wanted to throw up. Finbar actually did! Luckily Finbar used a stink-proof SpaceSick Bag that was stored in the WaterWalker.

  As they spun around, Kip caught a glimpse of his SpaceCuff. Uh-oh, there’s no reception underwater, he realised.

  There was no way to tell MoNa what was happening.

  The entire world was red and murky. The whirlpool blew sand everywhere. In the gloom, Kip saw that the water teemed with thick, wriggling black slugs.

  Giant leeches! he thought. Kip had been trained to deal with creepy creatures. But leeches were especially yucky. They sucked your blood until they were bloated with it.

  At least, that’s what leeches do on Earth, Kip thought. Giant alien leeches might be even worse!

  Without warning, the whirlpool suddenly stopped.The sandy water cleared.

  The whirlpool had sucked the WaterWalker down to the sea floor. Directly in front lay a massive tr
ansparent dome. Inside the dome, glittering black towers soared upwards from the sand.

  Something valuable is being traded on Aquaron, Kip remembered. It could come from this underwater city.

  But could humans ever live under the sea? With a fresh air supply, maybe. It was definitely worth looking around. For the first time since landing on Aquaron, Kip fired up the WaterWalker’s engine.

  Finbar spotted what looked like the main entrance to the city. On either side, there were two massive propellers. The blades were still, but the sand around the towers had been blown away.

  Those propellers must have been used recently, Kip thought.

  Then Kip noticed something else. There was a pair of eels guarding the city entrance. Like the leeches, they were thousands of times bigger than any eel on Earth. They were bigger than Rocket Buses!

  The eels had dagger-sharp teeth. Thick black liquid dripped from them, spreading inky clouds through the water.

  Kip gazed at the transparent dome and the glittering city inside. It would be tough, but he was determined to sneak past the monster eels and into the city.

  ALIEN EELS

  Size varies between planets - can be as big as a bus.

  Found on most planets with water due to the eels’ excellent adaptation skills.

  Easily trained, they are useful guards.

  FILE: EELS

  ‘Look!’ said Finbar suddenly.

  The eels had spotted the WaterWalker! Strangely, it looked like they were using their tails to wave Kip and Finbar inside.

  Space Scout training had taught Kip to trust his instincts. This time, though, his instincts had told him the eels weren’t friendly. Instincts can be wrong sometimes, he thought.

  Kip piloted the WaterWalker through the automatic doors in the side of the dome. Finbar rummaged for OxyGlobes and flippers in the WaterWalker’s supply cupboard.