The Big Freeze

by H. Badger

  Kip knew exactly how the giant meteorite had killed Earth’s dinosaurs. When it fell, it caused so much dust that it blocked the sun. Earth was plunged into a massive, deadly ice age.

  Suddenly the pieces fell into place. That’s exactly what’s happening on Eden-7! Kip thought.

  It made perfect sense. Until the meteorite hit, Eden-7 had been warm, just as WorldCorp predicted. But now the planet was unbearably cold.

  If a massive ice age is coming here, the temperature will have dropped since the last time I checked, Kip decided.

  Sure enough, the temperature gauge on Kip’s SpaceCuff read 346 degrees below zero. 30 degrees lower than before! And heavy snow clouds were massing in the sky.

  Kip was sure he was right. The ice age was coming. Fast! If MoNa left Kip and Finbar stranded, it would kill them for sure.

  Kip knew they had to leave Eden-7 urgently. But there was no way his plan to rescue Finbar would work. MoNa would need extra energy to shine a Scrambler Beam through the roof of a cave. She might not even have enough energy for a normal Scrambler Beam.

  This is not how I thought my first Space Scout mission would turn out, Kip thought.

  He wanted the mission to be a glittering success. He’d discover a perfect planet, solve Earth’s problems and meet some cool, super-advanced aliens along the way.

  The aliens here are so primitive, Kip grouched. They don’t even know basic things, like keeping warm with fire!

  Fire.

  Kip turned the word over in his mind.

  An idea blossomed. It was so simple! Why hadn’t he thought of it before?

  Kip’s hand closed around WorldCorp’s Interplanetary Emergency Kit stashed in his backpack. He ran through the contents.

  WorldCorp Emergency Kit

  Water-purifying tablets. High-energy dinner pills. And, most important of all, a tiny laser fire-lighter.

  Kip could introduce the aliens to fire. Then they’d have an endless heat source. There’d be no need to keep Finbar prisoner!

  Crouching down, Kip ripped up a bunch of frozen weeds poking out of the rock. The weeds were leathery, blue and dry.

  Perfect, he thought.

  Kip raced into the tunnel leading to the hatchery. Clutching the weeds firmly in one hand, he crawled down through the tunnel. When he was almost at the hatchery, he stopped.

  He took the lighter from the kit. His hands trembling, Kip clicked the ignition button on the lighter. The laser fired, but nothing else happened.

  With a sickening feeling, Kip realised that the lighter wasn’t as heavy as it should have been.

  A shiver of fear ran up and down Kip’s spine. The lighter’s fuel was really low.

  He gave it a shake. Please let this work, he thought. Everything depends on this lighter!

  CHAPTER 9

  Kip took a deep breath. He clicked the ignition button again.

  There was a hissing sound, and a moment later the flame flared. Yes!

  Carefully, Kip cupped his free hand around the flame so it wouldn’t go out.

  Kip held the flame to the bunch of blue weeds. The edge of the weeds began to smoke and soon the entire bundle was a roaring ball of flames.

  But Kip knew he was only halfway there. His whole plan depended on the aliens not being dangerous after all. Kip hoped he was right that the aliens only wanted to protect their babies.

  Tossing the flaming ball from hand to hand, Kip raced into the hatchery. Lucky for flame-proof space gloves, he thought.

  ‘Hello,’ Kip said, as loudly and politely as he could. ‘I need to speak to you!’

  Finbar was still covered in hatchlings. Seeing Kip with the flame ball, his mouth dropped open.

  The aliens stared at Kip too. But no-one tried to grab or capture him. They were frozen to the spot.

  Pointing to the flaming weeds in Kip’s hand, the nearest alien stepped forward. Kip saw that it had a baby on its back.

  Looks like the alien we saw in the cave, thought Kip.

  Curious, the mother alien held a claw up to the flame. Her eyes boggled in amazement.

  ‘Don’t touch it!’ Kip warned.

  Too late! Yelping, the alien snatched her claw back. Blisters were already forming on her scaly skin. Kip remembered then that the aliens didn’t speak English.

  Luckily, being an Animaul meant that Finbar’s specialty was understanding other creatures’ languages.

  ‘I’ve picked up a few words of their language,’ Finbar said. ‘You talk, and I’ll translate.’

  Kip nodded, and took a deep breath. ‘OK. Aliens, I am showing you how to make fire,’ he began. He placed the weed ball down and held his hands up to it. ‘Warm yourselves like this and you will survive the ice age.’

  Finbar translated Kip’s speech as best he could. Kip wasn’t sure it was coming out very well, but the aliens were listening.

  The aliens gathered around the flame ball. Following Kip’s example, they held up their claws to the heat. A pleased whispering filled the cave. Kip showed them how to feed the fire with more weeds and cup their claws around the flame to make sure it didn’t go out.

  ‘So now you don’t need my friend to keep your hatchlings warm,’ Kip said.

  Gently, Kip scooped the tiny alien hatchlings from Finbar’s fur. Their scales were soft, smooth and freezing cold to touch. As Kip put them gently down on the ground, their wriggling legs tickled his hands. The aliens picked up their hatchlings and warmed them by the fire.

  ‘We are going to leave your planet now,’ Kip said.

  Kip felt something pressing on the leg of his spacesuit. He looked down. An alien hatchling was patting Kip’s leg – almost as though it was thanking him. Kip looked down and smiled at the scaly creature.

  He felt a lump in his throat. Then he shook his head. Snap out of it, Kip! he told himself. You’re becoming as soft as Finbar!

  Finbar was tickling one of the hatchlings under the chin.

  ‘Hurry, Finbar!’ said Kip. ‘MoNa’s energy reserves are dangerously low. If we don’t get out of here soon, she’ll leave us behind.’

  Finbar nodded. Kip could tell that even though Finbar liked the hatchlings, he didn’t want to be a living heater for the rest of his life.

  Finbar inched backwards out of the hatchery, with Kip close behind. The aliens were so pleased with the fire, they let Kip and Finbar go without a fuss.

  ‘The surface is this way,’ said Kip, pointing to the tunnel he came through earlier. Finbar’s ears flattened against his head.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ Kip said. ‘This one’s way bigger than the first one.’

  Kip and Finbar crawled through the tunnel as fast as they could. They didn’t want to stay on Eden-7 any longer than they had to.

  They sped out of the tunnel and onto the surface. Immediately, Kip called MoNa on his SpaceCuff.

  ‘Kirby to MoNa,’ he said urgently.

  ‘MoNa… receeeeeivvvvinnngggg…’ MoNa said sleepily.

  ‘Send two Scrambler Beams right away!’ Kip said.

  ‘Has she got enough power?’ asked Finbar in a worried voice.

  ‘I’m sure she does,’ said Kip, sounding more confident than he felt.

  They waited for a tense moment, staring into the sky. Then two pale, weak beams broke through the dust clouds.

  Kip and Finbar stepped into the beams. Kip had the familiar feeling that he was being poked by thousands of tiny pins. Only this time, the pins felt slower and weaker. Kip’s feet lifted off the ground, but his particles didn’t separate as quickly as usual. He was rising into the air, ever so slowly.

  Then, with a sickening lurch, Kip dropped almost to the ground again.

  Come on, MoNa, Kip silently begged.

  Again, Kip felt himself rising.There was the tingling feeling in his arms and legs, and…

  A second later, Kip opened his eyes. He was back in MoNa’s landing bay, dazed and blinking. Finbar lay curled into a ball beside him.

  They’d made it back – but only just. />
  CHAPTER 10

  With her last shred of energy, MoNa fired her thrusters and sped out of Eden-7’s orbit.

  Kip and Finbar picked themselves up, tore off their helmets and left the landing bay. On the way through the shining circular door, Kip caught sight of his reflection.

  His spacesuit was grey with dust. His sweaty hair lay flat against his head.

  ‘I hate helmet hair!’ Kip muttered. ‘I need a shower.’

  ‘Me too,’ said Finbar, whose fur was brown and matted. ‘I’ll show you where they are.’

  Kip followed Finbar to a gleaming silver door labelled ‘Bubble Showers’. He stepped into one cubicle and Finbar into another.

  Kip’s cubicle was a glowing blue chamber with a plughole in the floor. Jets were fixed to the roof. On one wall Kip saw a pair of taps.

  Kip stepped out of his clothes and turned the taps on hard.

  No need for soap!

  WorldCorp Bubble Shower

  Thick blue slime spurted from the jets on the roof.

  That’s better, Kip thought, standing underneath.The slime oozed onto his hair and skin. It formed bubbles that rolled down his arms and back, picking up dust as they fell. The dusty slime bubbles rolled off Kip’s feet and disappeared down the plughole.

  On Earth, water was scarce. Bubble showers had replaced water showers about 200 years ago.

  After a relaxing 10 minutes under the slime, Kip turned off the taps. He was just starting to feel normal again when a bossy voice interrupted him.

  ‘Don’t dawdle in the shower!’ MoNa snapped. ‘You’ve got a report to file.’

  She even tries to boss me around in the shower, Kip grumbled to himself.

  As soon as MoNa had left Eden-7’s freezing atmosphere, her fuel started thawing. She was full of energy again.

  After putting on a clean spacesuit, Kip walked to the bridge.

  When he got there, he found Finbar waiting for him. Finbar was as fluffy as a hybrid kitten-rabbit after his shower.

  Kip settled into his captain’s chair. He woke the holographic consol and touched the Captain’s Log button.

  The floating holographic keyboard appeared in front of Kip’s hands. He typed up his report and then clicked Send.

  Kip settled back on his captain’s chair. His first mission would earn him one Planetary Point. Not ideal, but not embarrassing either.

  CLASSIFIED

  CAPTAIN'S LOG Eden-7

  Climate: A rocky planet in the Mega Meteor Galaxy. I believe that Eden-7 was once warm, as WorldCorp predicted. But now Eden-7 is about to go into a killer ice age. Likely cause is a giant meteor strike.

  Population: Lizard-like scaly creatures, which seemed dangerous at first. Later we learnt the creatures were just struggling to survive.

  National pastimes: Sunbaking, rock climbing.

  Summary: The aliens aren’t dangerous, but I still don’t recommend Eden-7 as an alternative to Earth. It is too cold. WorldCorp would have to invent super heavy-duty thermal underwear first.

  KIP KIRBY, SPACE SCOUT #50

  Space Scouts earned one Planetary Point for a completed mission and two for a promising discovery. The points were tallied up on the intranet’s Leader Board.

  ‘Do you think the aliens will be OK?’ said Finbar.

  ‘Yes, because they’re small,’ Kip replied. ‘When Earth was hit by a meteorite, the big animals died out. The smaller ones lived.’

  Finbar looked relieved. ‘And now that they can keep warm, they should be fine.’

  Kip smiled. Finbar was so soft! He was definitely not your average Animaul.

  But that was fine, because Kip was not your average Space Scout.

  THE END