Silver and Gold

by Cathy Hapka

  “Copper isn’t only good for jewelry,” I told him. “It’s one of the minerals you need for a healthy diet.”

  “Sounds tastier than a pickle pop, too,” Carlos said with a laugh. He started hopping in place, going higher each time. “But forget copper, we’re here to find gold for Zixtar’s tentacle.”

  “Maybe his tentacle could be copper instead,” I said. “It’s easy to work into the right shape. Plus it’s even more conductive than gold.”

  “No way—Zixtar deserves the best,” Carlos said. “Copper isn’t a precious metal like gold or platinum. Even something like silver or cobalt would be better than copper.”

  I was glad to hear he was open to other ideas. Sure, gold is good for all kinds of stuff. It conducts heat and electricity. It also reflects better than most materials—that’s why the visors on astronauts’ helmets are coated with gold to reduce glare and heat.

  But other metals are conductive, too, and any of them could work with our script. I started telling Carlos about some of them as I went back to digging. I wasn’t sure if he was listening. He kept switching between handstands and cartwheels.

  I dug out a shiny, silvery chunk. Silver would work for Zixtar’s tentacle! But how could I identify it for sure?

  Silver is a soft metal, so I picked up a trowel and poked the silvery rock. It didn’t give at all. That meant it definitely wasn’t silver . . .

  “Carlos!” I exclaimed. “I think I just found rhodium! That’s the rarest mineral there is!”

  I grabbed The Universe out of my pack to look up more about rhodium. It was pretty interesting, so I read it out loud. Rhodium is used in microscope lenses, medical equipment, and all kinds of other important stuff.

  Carlos was still in a handstand. But he wasn’t moving. I realized he was listening!

  “Wow,” he said. “Now I see why you drag that book around. No wonder Wallace is always talking about how smart you are.”

  “Thanks,” I said, surprised. “Do you think Wallace might like to use rhodium for that tentacle?”

  “I’m not sure,” Carlos said. “But he should see this. I’ll go in and give him my space suit.”

  “Are you sure?” I was surprised again, since Carlos was having so much fun with the low gravity.

  “Sure. Stay here while I send him out.” He smiled at me through his helmet. “He’ll need Astronaut Girl to explain it to him.”

  Chapter 8

  A SOLID-GOLD IDEA

  I reminded Carlos to show Wallace how the tether poles worked. Then he bounced off and disappeared around the big rock. While I waited for Wallace, I looked for more rhodium. I dropped another small, silvery chunk into the bag just as my helmet radio crackled to life.

  “Val, where are you?”

  It was Wallace. I told him to come around the big rock. A second later he bounded over and saluted me with one of his poles. Luckily, the second one was anchored safely in the ground.

  “Carlos told me about the rhodium,” he said.

  That reminded me how surprised I was when Carlos offered to trade places with Wallace. Before that, I thought Carlos only cared about silly stuff like video games and haunted houses and doing handstands.

  “Carlos is nicer than I thought at first,” I said.

  “He is nice,” Wallace said. “I was afraid you guys didn’t like each other, which was weird, since you’re both my friends.” He smiled at me through his helmet. “That reminds me of a song Great-Grandma Ruby taught me. It goes, Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the other, gold.”

  I smiled back. “Speaking of silver and gold and other metals,” I said, “let me show you where I found the rhodium. Maybe we can dig out enough to make Zixtar’s tentacle.”

  Wallace grabbed a pickax in one hand and a chisel in the other. “Show me where to dig,” he said.

  We went to work side by side. While we dug, I told him all about rhodium. He listened carefully. When I finished, he looked uncertain.

  “Rhodium sounds cool,” he said. “But I still really like the idea of a gold tentacle. Did you find any gold?”

  “Not yet,” I said. “Why are you so stuck on gold?”

  Wallace grabbed his notebook out of his space-suit pocket and held it up. That was where he wrote all his story ideas.

  “While I was in the ship looking for snacks for the Baby, I was thinking about our script,” he said. “What if the ice aliens think Zixtar’s new tentacle is fool’s gold that isn’t strong enough to conduct the sun’s rays—but it’s actually real gold? So Zixtar tricks them and triumphs!”

  “That would be a great twist ending,” I agreed. “It’s scientifically accurate, too. We should use that in the script even if we don’t find any gold for the real tentacle.”

  “Okay, but let’s keep digging,” he said. “You never know.”

  We went back to work. I was still thinking about Wallace’s script idea. It would work great. But I could tell Wallace really wanted to make a tentacle to match the idea. How could we do that if we didn’t find any gold? Was there any other way to make it work?

  “Check it out!” Wallace cried suddenly. “I found something!”

  “Is it gold?” I moved closer to look.

  He grinned. “Only if gold comes in blue,” he joked. “No, I think it might be cobalt!”

  I was excited. Cobalt is a really interesting element. It’s naturally magnetic, and can be used to color blue paint, ink, and glass.

  “Hey, wait a minute,” I said. “How did you recognize cobalt?”

  “Carlos’s mom uses it to make jewelry,” Wallace said.

  “Maybe I should let Carlos take my space suit and come out here,” I suggested. “He could probably identify the cobalt more accurately than we can.”

  I couldn’t wait to hear what Carlos thought of our cobalt discovery. Maybe he wasn’t a scientist, but he knew his minerals. I could be friends with someone like that.

  When I rounded the big rock, I stopped in shock. The ship was gone!

  Chapter 9

  COLLISION COURSE

  “Wallace!” I shouted. “The ship is gone!”

  Wallace raced around the rock. He gasped. “Where did it go?”

  “Carlos better not have taken off without us,” I said. “This isn’t a video game!”

  Wallace looked worried. “He wouldn’t just take off and leave us here,” he said. “Are you sure it was right here?”

  He released his tether and rushed forward.

  CLUNK!

  “Ow!” Wallace cried, falling back. “There’s something here! And it’s hard!”

  I anchored my poles, then stepped forward carefully with my hands stretched out. After a second I felt something large and solid.

  “I think this is the ship,” I said, amazed. “It must have some kind of cloaking device.”

  Wallace gasped. “Just like in episode seventy-six of Comet Jumpers!” he exclaimed. “Commander Neutron used a cloaking device to sneak into enemy territory on the electric slug planet. It made his ship totally invisible! Carlos must have turned it on.”

  “Wow,” I said. “Future technology is amazing! I bet it’s done with light waves.” Then I gulped. “Wait! If we can touch the ship, the force field must be off. Any stray asteroid could crash into the ship and damage it!”

  We felt our way along the ship until we found the door. When we opened it, loud polka music poured out. Carlos and Astro Cat were dancing, while the Baby clapped along.

  “Hey, guys, you’re just in time for Captain Awesome’s dance party!” Carlos exclaimed.

  I rushed to the controls. Sure enough, the force field was off. I turned it back on.

  “What are you doing?” Carlos asked.

  “Did you turn off the force field?” Wallace asked him.

  “Not on purpose,” Carlos
said. “The Baby was getting fussy, so I flipped a few switches looking for some music. That always helps my little cousins settle down. No biggie.”

  I could tell he had no idea what he’d done—or the danger he’d put us in. Even a pebble-size asteroid could have punctured the shell of the ship! Then how would we get home?

  Before I could explain that, the computer beeped loudly. “Energy level dropping. Now at fifteen percent.”

  “Yikes,” I said. “The cloaking device that Captain Not-So-Awesome turned on must be using a ton of energy.” I studied the controls until I figured out how to turn it off.

  “Hey, Carlos,” Wallace said. “Val said you can use her suit to go back out.”

  “Not so fast,” I warned. “Fifteen percent isn’t much energy. Maybe we should head home before we run out completely.”

  “No way!” Wallace protested. “We didn’t find any gold! And I still need to show Carlos that cobalt!”

  A loud alarm suddenly blared, and red lights flashed everywhere.

  “What’s going on?” Carlos cried.

  The Baby gurgled and pointed happily at the window. I turned to look and froze in terror.

  “There’s a huge asteroid coming straight for us!” I cried. “Even the force field might not be able to handle something that big. We need to get out of here—now!”

  “Wait!” Wallace said. “The mineral bag is still out there! I’ll just run out real quick and grab it.”

  “There’s no time! It’s going to be a direct hit,” I said grimly. “Buckle in; I’m initiating takeoff protocol.”

  The boys stared at the oncoming asteroid. It looked bigger already. They didn’t argue anymore. Wallace grabbed the Baby, and Carlos grabbed Astro Cat. Soon all four of them were strapped in.

  I finished the launch sequence and joined them. “Hold on, everyone!” I cried. “I hope we still have enough energy to make it home.”

  “I’m sorry—it’s my fault we’re low on energy,” Carlos said. “I ruined our adventure.”

  “You didn’t ruin anything,” I told him. “Anyway, we could save a little energy by steering manually once we’re away from the asteroid. You should do it, since you’re such a good pilot.”

  He smiled. “You’re not so bad, Astronaut Girl.”

  “You’re not so bad yourself, Captain Awesome,” I said. “Or maybe we should call you Mineral Boy.”

  We all laughed. Wallace looked happy as he sat between us.

  “Who ever said three’s a crowd?” he joked.

  Chapter 10

  SILVER AND GOLD

  A few minutes later, Carlos was steering us through the asteroid belt. It was a beautiful ride, but the Baby didn’t seem impressed. He was still fussy. He loves to play peek-a-boo, so I played with him.

  “Peek-a-boo!” I cried.

  I covered my eyes. When I uncovered them, we were back in my lab in the basement.

  “Hey, we’re home!” Wallace said.

  “Aw, already?” Carlos sounded disappointed. “That was the best ride ever!”

  Wallace pulled out Zixtar. “Plus it gave us a great idea for a twist ending for the script.”

  We told Carlos about Wallace’s idea to trick the aliens into thinking the gold tentacle was made of fool’s gold. Carlos thought it was great, too.

  Then Wallace frowned. “I just wish we’d found the gold for Zixtar’s tentacle.”

  Carlos nodded. “Maybe I can send you some gold from my mom’s studio when I go home tonight.”

  Wallace smiled. But I could tell he wanted to fix Zixtar right now. How could he do it without gold?

  Then I had a great idea. “Fool’s Gold!” I blurted out.

  “Huh?” Carlos said. “The tentacle has to be real gold!”

  “No, I mean the game Fool’s Gold.” I grabbed the gold light sticks I’d won at the fair.

  Wallace didn’t look convinced.

  “Here, Wallace. This is the perfect size to be a tentacle,” I said. “He’ll look like he has a tentacle made of gold lightning!”

  Wallace’s eyes lit up. “You’re right!”

  “Awesome!” Carlos exclaimed.

  That gave me another idea. “Here, Carlos, you can have the other light stick.” I handed it to him. “Then you’ll always remember our asteroid adventure.”

  “Thanks, Astronaut Girl,” Carlos said with a grin. “I have an idea for something else to help us all remember this trip.”

  He showed us a cool three-way handshake he’d just invented. It included a whistle, a couple of karate moves, and hopping on one foot. It was much better than their old, two-way handshake. In fact, it was exactly 33.3 percent better!

  * * *

  Sunday after dinner, Wallace and I sat in the den at his house. Our Comet Jumpers script was on the computer. Carlos’s face was looking out at us from one corner of the screen. He was joining us from home on video chat.

  “Did you guys attach the script to the email yet?” he asked.

  “I’m doing it now.” I clicked on the attachment. Then I looked over at Wallace. “Ready to send it?”

  He took a deep breath. “Let’s press it together,” he said. “One, two, three . . .”

  We hit the key to send the email to the producers of the show. Carlos cheered and waved his light stick.

  “I’m sure you’ll win the contest,” he said. “I have to go pretty soon. Mom wants me to take a bath to get ready for the first day of school tomorrow.”

  “Don’t remind me,” Wallace said. “I’m the new kid this year.”

  “You’ll be fine,” Carlos told him. “You already have one great new friend.” He grinned at me. “And remember what your great-grandma says about old and new friends. One is silver—”

  Wallace smiled, too. “And the other’s gold,” he finished. He started singing the song Great-Grandma Ruby taught him. Carlos and I happily sang along.

  The boys kept singing it over and over again, but I started thinking more about the song’s words.

  “You know, the song is actually scientifically accurate,” I said. “Old and new friends are both valuable, and so are silver and gold. For instance, they’re both excellent conductors of electricity and malleable enough to form any size or shape you need . . .”

  By then, the boys were laughing instead of singing. “Spoken like a true Astronaut Girl,” Wallace said.

  Carlos nodded. “And a true friend.”

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR

  Cathy Hapka has written more than one hundred books for children and young adults. She lives in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Ellen Vandenberg is the author of numerous books for young readers. She lives in New York City.

  Gillian Reid is a British illustrator, character designer, and teacher. She lives in Ontario, Canada.

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