by Cathy Hapka
“In your lab, for sure,” Wallace said. “Hey, Carlos, wait until you see this place. It’s awesome! Like something at NASA!”
I smiled. “I guess there’s enough time for a quick tour,” I told Carlos. “Follow me.”
We went down to the basement. I could see that Carlos was impressed as he looked around my lab. He stared up at my scale model of the solar system. Then he pointed at the workbench. “Is that a drone?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said. “Daddy and I made it earlier this summer. He’s an astrophysicist just like me. That’s what you call a scientist who works in outer space.”
I was about to tell Carlos more when he spotted Astro Cat sleeping on the 3D printer. “Your cat is cute!” Carlos gave Astro Cat a scratch under his chin. Astro Cat purred. “I think he likes me!”
“All animals love Carlos,” Wallace told me. “Hey, Carlos, remember Mrs. Fiddler’s dog who hated everyone except you?”
I scowled and shifted the Baby to my other side. Didn’t Wallace ever get tired of talking about his old hometown?
Carlos laughed. “Yeah, my poor mom had to make a gold pendant of that dog. Good thing I was there to help!”
Wallace looked at Zixtar. “I wish I was in your mom’s studio right now so I could fix this broken tentacle.”
“I wish you’d forget your old hometown for two seconds and focus on our script!” I exclaimed at the same time.
WHOOOSH!
Astro Cat squawked as the room began to spin . . .
Chapter 5
THE ASTEROID BELT
“That was wild!” Carlos cried. “I feel like I just rode the most awesome roller coaster ever!”
I looked around. It had happened again! We were on a spacecraft. It was about the size and shape of a school bus, but there was just one big window across the front. The side walls were covered with dials and computer screens. There was a table in front of the window with a couple of joysticks sticking out from the top. A long bench lined the back wall. That was where I was strapped in, along with Wallace, Carlos, Astro Cat, and the Baby.
“Where are we this time?” Wallace wondered.
A computerized voice came from a speaker in the ceiling. “We are currently traversing the main belt.”
Carlos looked down at his fancy belt buckle. “Main belt?” he said.
“The main asteroid belt,” I explained. “I told you about it at the fair. It’s the large group of asteroids located between Jupiter and Mars, just like in Asteroid Attack.”
“Speaking of asteroid attacks,” Wallace cried, pointing at the window. “Here comes one now!”
I gasped. A huge asteroid was hurtling straight toward us!
It took a second to figure out the release on my seat belt. By then Carlos was already on his feet, running toward the controls.
“I’ve got this!” he shouted.
“Wait, you don’t know what you’re doing!” I cried.
“Yes, he does,” Wallace said. “He has the top score on every video game at the arcade back home.”
“This isn’t a video game, this is serious!” I exclaimed.
But Carlos was already using the joysticks to steer. I grabbed the edge of the table to steady myself as the ship lurched to the left. The asteroid loomed bigger and bigger . . . but at the last second the ship skimmed past it safely.
“Whew!” Wallace said. “That was a close one.”
Carlos grinned. “Now that’s what I call an exciting ride!” he said. “Not like that little-kid ride at the fair.”
I glared at him. Before I could respond, Wallace’s eyes went wide. “I hope you’re ready for another exciting ride,” he exclaimed. “Because here comes another one!”
“What?” I cried as Carlos took the controls again. I grabbed The Universe and frantically searched through it for the section on asteroids. “Video games and movies make it look like driving through the asteroid belt is like driving a car through a snowstorm. But it’s not really like that!” I finally found the right page. “The distance between asteroids is in the range of 620,000 to 1.8 million miles. There’s no way we’d see two asteroids so close together unless the ship was targeting them!”
The boys weren’t listening. “Farther right, Carlos!” Wallace shouted.
“I’m trying!” Carlos cried.
I stared out the window and gripped my book so tightly my fingers hurt. The asteroid was so close that I could see every detail. It was a smooth, pitted rock like you’d find in the creek or at the beach, except it was the size of my house.
“Looks like an S-type asteroid,” I said. The boys weren’t listening, but I kept talking, since facts always calm me down. “There are lots of them in the inner part of the asteroid belt. They’re made mainly of iron.”
The boys didn’t answer. Carlos was leaning way to the right, pulling the joysticks as far as they would go.
“Too close!” Wallace yelled, clinging to the table. “We’re going to hit it!”
The Baby squealed with delight. Astro Cat covered his eyes with his paws.
“I’ve got it!” Carlos cried, yanking the joysticks even farther. The ship jerked to the right, and the asteroid passed out of sight. Whew! That was close. Astro Cat looked relieved, too.
“You did it, Carlos!” Wallace shouted. “We’re clear! That was awesome!”
Carlos let go of the controls. He and Wallace did their weird handshake.
“Just call me Captain Awesome,” Carlos said with a grin. “I’m glad I’m here for this instead of some boring moon landing.”
“Huh?” I was confused. Wallace and I had visited the moon on our first adventure together. “How do you know about that?”
Wallace shrugged. “I told him all about it. And our trip to the stars, too.”
I didn’t know what to say. I hadn’t told Ling and Abby about any of our adventures. It wouldn’t feel right to do that without checking with Wallace. But he hadn’t checked with me before telling Carlos.
“Urgent alert!” the computer suddenly barked out. “Large unmapped rubble pile detected ahead. Take evasive measures immediately!”
“No problem,” Carlos said, reaching for the controls. “Captain Awesome will steer us through it.”
“You can’t!” I pointed to the window, where a huge cloud of rubble filled our entire view. “A rubble pile is an asteroid that just got smashed to pieces. The chunks are all shapes and sizes, and they’re all spinning and going crazy. Even the best video game player in the world couldn’t steer through that without the ship getting destroyed!”
“Oh no!” Wallace cried. “What are we going to do?”
Chapter 6
RUBBLE PILE
There was a moment of silence. We stared into the looming rubble pile. Even though some of the chunks looked small, a direct hit from any of them would demolish our ship. What were we going to do?
Suddenly the ship erupted into chaos. The Baby wailed. Astro Cat meowed loudly. Carlos babbled about how if anyone could steer through a rubble pile, he could. Wallace kept waving Zixtar around and shouting, “Maybe there’s an ejector button!”
Only I stayed quiet. I was Astronaut Girl, and Astronaut Girl never gives up. But how was I going to think our way out of this one?
Even with all the commotion, I heard the computer speak: “Urgent! Manually activate protective force field.”
“That’s it!” I shouted. “Be quiet, everyone!”
They didn’t hear me, because an earsplitting alarm started up. I did my best to ignore the noise as I scanned the controls on each side wall. A computer screen flashed the words IMPACT 8.9 SECONDS.
I rushed over. Below the first screen was another that looked like a touch screen. There was a prompt to open the system. When I hit it, a bunch of options appeared. I spotted the words FORCE FIELD.
“Got
it!” I whispered. I touched the command, then followed the instructions. It wasn’t easy, since I was so scared.
The computer spoke again: “Impact in three . . . two . . .”
My hands were shaking when I hit the last command. The alarm stopped. Everyone else quit babbling.
“What’s happening?” Wallace wondered.
“Impact averted,” the computer said. “Force field activated.”
“Cool, thanks for saving us, Mr. Computer,” Carlos said.
“You should be thanking me,” I said. “I’m the one who turned on the force field. While you guys were panicking, I was thinking like a scientist.”
The computer spoke again. “Recalculating,” it said. “Steering toward the metallic-type asteroid known as Psyche.”
“Wait, what?” Wallace said. “Another asteroid?”
“Not just any asteroid!” I exclaimed. “Psyche is one of the biggest and best-known asteroids in the main belt! Remember? I told you about it during Asteroid Attack.”
The boys stared at me blankly. “You did?” Carlos said.
I sighed. “Yes,” I said. I took out The Universe and flipped to the page about Psyche. “It’s an M-type, which means it’s made mostly of metal. The last asteroid we passed was an S-type, which stands for silicate or stony. The third main type of asteroid is C-type, for carbon.” Suddenly I realized something. “This must be a mining ship!” I said. “It’s programmed to locate asteroids for mining minerals. That’s why we keep almost crashing into all these asteroids!”
Wallace looked interested. “Hey, computer,” he said. “Is Val right?”
There was no response.
“I guess this computer isn’t as chatty as the one we met on our trip to the stars,” I said. “But we’re definitely in the future again. For one thing, this kind of force field technology doesn’t exist yet in our time. Plus our scientists are just starting to explore the asteroid belt with robots. We’re still a long way from sending people to mine asteroids.”
The computer spoke, but it wasn’t to answer Wallace’s question. “Power usage up ten percent,” it said.
“The force field must use a lot of energy,” I guessed. “Maybe we should land so the ship can recharge.” I laughed, realizing what I’d just said. “Actually, you can’t really land on an asteroid. You have to join up with it the same way a supply ship does with the International Space Station.”
“Really?” Carlos said. “How come?”
I shrugged. “Even a big asteroid like Psyche has hardly any gravity. After all, it’s only about the size of Texas.” I grabbed The Universe again to double-check. “It says here that if you tried to pick up a car on Psyche, it would feel more like picking up a golden retriever.”
“Wow, so there’s even less gravity than on the moon?” Wallace said. “I bet I could jump like a real superhero on Psyche!”
“You could, but you might fly off into space, since the gravity there wouldn’t be enough to bring you back down,” I said. “Anyway, we should check it out. It’ll be cool to see an asteroid up close.”
“No way,” Carlos said. “I want to keep flying around. Steering this thing is a blast!”
Wallace laughed. “Yeah, like a real-life video game!”
I was annoyed. Why didn’t they ever listen to me? I’d just saved us all!
But Mom always says you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. That means you should act nice even when you want to yell at people.
I decided to give it a try. Scientists love experiments, after all.
“Hey,” I said cheerfully. “There might be gold on that asteroid!”
“Gold?” the boys chorused.
I nodded. “Metallic asteroids have all kinds of minerals on them,” I said. “It will be our own prospecting adventure.”
Mom’s advice worked! Now Wallace and Carlos wanted to explore Psyche and look for gold. The ship’s controls were computerized, so all we had to do was tell it to anchor on Psyche. We watched through the window as we approached the asteroid, which was irregularly shaped, like a big chunk of rock. Once the computer gave the all clear, I unbuckled Astro Cat and the Baby to let them roam around the ship.
“Now what?” Wallace asked.
“There must be space suits on board somewhere,” I said. “This looks like a closet.”
I opened a door. Hanging inside was a pair of space suits. I realized something. There were only two suits, but there were three of us.
“First dibs!” I shouted.
The boys rushed over. “Second dibs!” Carlos yelled.
“Oh man, you got me!” Wallace exclaimed.
I grinned. “Sorry, Wallace. I guess you’ll have to stay behind and watch Astro Cat and the Baby.”
Carlos frowned. “No way, he has to come find gold for Zixtar!”
“Fair is fair,” Wallace said. “She called it first.” He shrugged. “Anyway, Val knows more than anyone about space and asteroids and stuff.”
Carlos still looked annoyed. But he nodded. “You’re right, fair is fair,” he said. “Let’s suit up.”
Chapter 7
ASTEROID MINING
Carlos grabbed one of the suits. “Whoa, are we exploring an asteroid or going skiing?”
“What do you mean?” I pulled out my suit, too. There was a long pole attached to each sleeve. They did look sort of like ski poles.
“What are those for?” Wallace wondered. “Is it really that hard to walk in low gravity? It was easy on the moon.”
“The problem isn’t walking, it’s keeping yourself from floating off into space,” I said. “I bet these poles will help anchor us to the ground.”
I examined the poles more closely. There were several buttons on the handles. A couple of them controlled a retractable claw that came out of the bottom of each pole.
“I get it,” I said. “It’s like mountain climbers who have to anchor themselves with each step. We’ll have to do the same thing out there. Otherwise, even the slightest jump or misstep could send us flying off into space.”
Carlos and I put on the space suits, and I showed him how to work the claws.
“Got it,” Carlos said. He stepped out of the ship first.
“Don’t forget to anchor yourself!” I called.
“I know, I know,” he said. His voice was super loud through the radios in our helmets.
He poked one of his poles into the ground and released the claw. Then he took a step and poked in the second one.
“Which button releases the claw on the first pole?” he called. “Oh wait, it must be this one.”
Suddenly he floated up into the air, even though his poles were still in the ground!
“No, you can’t let go, or you’ll float away!” I yelled. “Hang on, Carlos, I’ll save you!”
I slammed my pole into the ground and leaped up as far as I could without letting go. But it wasn’t far enough. Carlos was floating above my head.
“Whee, I’m flying!” Carlos exclaimed. He laughed.
I wasn’t laughing. I felt more like crying. I was in charge of this mission. What kind of captain would I be if I let one of my crew float off into space? What would Wallace say?
“Don’t panic, Val,” I muttered to myself. I had to save Carlos before he became a satellite. Daddy would tell me to observe, plan, and react.
So I looked carefully at Carlos. That’s when I noticed something. He was still holding the handles of his poles. Bright orange cords ran down from the handles to the main parts of the poles, which were still anchored in the ground!
“Carlos!” I said, letting out a huge sigh of relief. “I think you hit the wrong button.”
I was right. We figured out that two of the buttons on our poles controlled retractable tethers, sort of like dog leashes. That meant we could move around without using th
e poles for every single step.
“This is so cool,” Carlos exclaimed. “Watch me dunk a basketball!”
He hit the button again and flew up, pretending to dunk. I sighed.
“Let’s get to work,” I said.
He didn’t answer. He was doing a bunch of cartwheels and laughing loudly. He disappeared behind a huge, jagged rock.
It was a good thing we were in low gravity because I had a lot to carry. Luckily, the space suit had a built-in backpack. My space pack was in there, plus some hand tools and other equipment from the ship. Once we found a good vein of minerals, we could activate the ship’s mining robots to dig it out.
I caught up to Carlos behind the giant rock. He was doing a handstand.
“Yowza!” he cried. “I bet I could beat the long jump world record up here!”
He started jumping as far as his tether would let him. I glanced around.
“This looks like a good spot to dig for minerals,” I said.
I anchored both my poles and grabbed a pickax out of my backpack. I also pulled out a large, sturdy sample bag that had its own pole to anchor it in the ground. The surface of the asteroid was reddish colored, and dust flew up and floated away when I hit it with the pickax.
“You can use the shovel if you want,” I told Carlos.
He didn’t answer. Now he was doing one-armed push-ups. It made me wish Wallace had called second dibs. At least then I’d have some help!
Digging was hard work. I used the pickax, a drill, and a shovel. Whenever I found something that looked like a mineral, I put it in the sample bag.
Finally I stopped to rest and see what I’d found so far. I pulled a chunk of rock out of the bag. It was pinkish orange and kind of soft.
“Hey, I think this is copper,” I told Carlos.
“Oh, I know all about copper.” Carlos stopped jumping around. “Mom told me it was one of the first metals that people ever used to make stuff. She gets tons of orders for copper bracelets and rings.”
