The Robot King

by H. Badger

  SPACE™

  SCOUT

  SCOUTING THE UNIVERSE FOR A NEW EARTH

  SPACE™

  SCOUT

  THE ROBOT KING

  BY H. BADGER

  ILLUSTRATED BY C. BENNETT

  The Robot King

  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

  TABLE OF 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 had been dreaming about this moment his whole life.

  It was the last quarter of the ParticleBall Grand Final! And Kip’s team, the Central City Cyborgs, had a shot at winning.

  Kip played Lead Vertical Striker. It was up to him to score the winning goal. He looked up at the scoreboard.

  ParticleBall was just a game to some kids. But to Kip, it was life. Well, a big part of life at least.

  Kip also had a very important job as a Space Scout.

  Earth was so crowded that soon it would be impossible to fit everyone in. A massive company called WorldCorp hired Space Scouts to search unknown galaxies for a new home planet.

  At 12, Kip was the youngest ever Space Scout. He was desperate to be the one to discover the next Earth. Every Space Scout was.

  After a successful mission, Space Scouts earned one Planetary Point. For a promising discovery on a planet, two points. The Space Scout who discovered Earth 2 won a heap of amazing prizes, including the ultimate one – the Shield of Honour.

  Then the points were added up and put on the Leader Board. Space Scouts always knew who was doing well and who wasn’t.

  ‘Coming your way, Kip!’ yelled his best friend Jett. Jett was the Cyborgs’ 34th Assistant Vertical Striker.

  Jett lobbed the ParticleBall. The metrewide ball sailed in Kip’s direction.

  Kip crouched, ready to spring up and head the ball through the vertical goal. The goal was four metres off the ground!

  ParticleBall was played on an indoor Field-O-Line. It looked like a round football pitch, except it was covered in fake grass as springy as a trampoline. That’s how the strikers could bounce up to the goal.

  The giant ParticleBall zoomed closer and closer. Eyes on the ball, Kip leapt into the air.

  But at that exact moment –

  Noooooooooooo!

  The ParticleBall shrank to the size of a golf ball! It zinged past Kip’s ear and into the foul zone.

  ‘No-one could have got that one, Kip,’ said Jett, running up behind him.

  ParticleBall

  ‘I guess,’ Kip mumbled, disappointed in himself.

  ‘You just can’t tell when the ball is going to change,’ Jett added, shaking his head.

  ParticleBalls were made of special shape-shifting particles, so they changed size without warning. That was what made ParticleBall so difficult to play.

  A whistle pierced the air.

  ‘Team huddle!’ blared the Cyborgs’ RoboCoach. RoboCoach was an energetic orange robot with a built-in whistle function and wheels for feet.

  Kids ran from all directions. There were two hundred players in every ParticleBall team. Wherever you went, whatever you did, Earth was too crowded.

  ‘Ten minutes left,’ said RoboCoach, his glowing orange eyes fixed on Kip. ‘Beating the NanoFreaks depends on our Lead Vertical Striker.’

  Ten minutes…Kip repeated silently.

  In 10 minutes, Kip was meant to be aboard his starship for a Space Scout mission! A wormhole was opening up.

  Wormholes were shortcuts between galaxies. They opened and closed very quickly. Kip might miss it if he was late.

  Kip’s starship was called MoNa, short for Modern Navigator 4000. She had all the latest technology. But she also had the personality of a grumpy old babysitter.

  Kip was her captain, but MoNa always thought she knew best.

  MoNa will kill me if I’m late, Kip thought. But if I leave now, we’ll lose the Grand Final!

  Another whistle sounded. The game was back on!

  I’ll deal with MoNa later, Kip decided.

  Jett stuck out his foot and stole the ball from a NanoFreaks player. The ball was now watermelon-sized.

  ‘Yours!’ Jett yelled, booting the ball to Kip.

  Kip’s eyes were welded to the ball. He raised his boot. The ball shrank to the size of a marble!

  But it didn’t matter. Kip’s toe was under the ball. With an almighty leap, he sprang high into the air.

  Kip sailed towards the vertical goal, his eyes narrowed. He smacked the ball toward the goal.

  The goalie was treading air in her anti-gravity boots, but she was too slow. The ball flew right past her, straight through the goal!

  score!

  Kip plummeted back down to the Field-O-Line, bouncing lightly. The crowd was going crazy!

  ‘Affirmative! The Cyborgs have won the Grand Final!’ shrieked RoboCoach.

  But Kip had no time for celebrating. He had to speed to the Intergalactic Hoverport where MoNa was docked.

  She’d be seriously grumpy by now!

  CHAPTER 2

  Cheering Cyborgs fans flooded the Field-O-Line. But Kip headed straight for the exit. His parents pushed through the crowd towards the exit too.

  Kip grabbed his SpaceCuff from his pocket, put it on his wrist and checked the time. He was supposed to be at the Hoverport now!

  Kip used his SpaceCuff to communicate with MoNa. It had everything from a compass to a thermometer, and even a music program so Kip could remix his favourite songs.

  Two minutes later, Kip met up with his parents outside the stadium.

  ‘I packed your scouting gear,’ said Kip’s mum. She handed Kip his backpack.

  His RocketBoard was lashed to the front. The RocketBoard was an aerodynamic skateboard made of carbon nanoparticles 600 times stronger than steel. It had mini rocket thrusters on the back.

  Kip grabbed his WorldCorp spacesuit from his backpack. He pulled it on over his ParticleBall uniform. Sleek and fitted, Kip’s spacesuit had green boots and a helmet with sparkling red flames. Kip clicked into the RocketBoard’s grip pads. Then he flicked the RocketBoard forward. The thrusters roared.

  ‘Remember, I don’t want you hitching a ride, Kip!’ called his dad. ‘It’s dangerous.’

  Sorry, Dad, he thought. But how else will I make it to the Hoverpor? He was already running late.

  ‘I’ll call you!’ Kip said, shooting into the air. He leant left and right to steer the RocketBoard.

  Just as Kip got airborne, a wriggling WorldCorp WasteWorm flashed by. Waste-Worms were vehicles that travelled from Earth’s lower atmosphere to the Hoverport and back, sucking up debris.

  Kip leant forward to speed up the RocketBoard. The WasteWorm’s tail was almost in reach
. Kip stretched out, but the tail slipped from his fingers.

  Kip sped up again and stretched until his arm nearly popped off. His fingers closed around the WasteWorm’s tail. He clung on tight, feet still on the RocketBoard.

  Awesome, Kip thought. A tow!

  He didn’t have to hang on too long. The WasteWorm moved very fast. And the Hoverport was close by, hovering 10 kilometres above the ground.

  The Hoverport looked like a giant floating carpark in the sky. Spacecraft of all kinds were docked there.

  Kip saw MoNa immediately. She was black with curved thrusters and glowing lights underneath. The WasteWorm shot through the Hoverport. MoNa was almost directly above Kip.

  Kip flicked on his SpaceCuff. He was only four minutes late for take-off.

  ‘Kip Kirby to MoNa 4000,’ he said into it. ‘Approaching now.’

  ‘About time!’ snapped MoNa. ‘I’ll open the landing bay.’

  A hatch below MoNa’s nose cone slid open. A moment later, Kip let go of the WasteWorm’s tail and reached up, grabbing hold of the hatch to pull himself inside. When he was steady, he flicked the RocketBoard into his hands and stood up.

  Enough death-defying stunts for today! Kip grinned, taking off his helmet.

  A circular door at the end of the landing bay slid open. Kip’s second-in-command Finbar walked through it.

  ‘How’s it going, you big ball of fluff?’ Kip called.

  Although Kip and Finbar were very different, they got along well. Finbar was part-arctic wolf, part-human. He was two metres tall and covered with white fur. It was extra thick at the moment because Finbar wasn’t shedding. Finbar’s animal instincts really came in handy on missions.

  ‘No time for chit-chat,’ snapped a voice overhead. ‘You’re late!’

  It was MoNa. She heard everything Kip and Finbar said.

  Kip pulled a face. ‘Only by four minutes! But I’ll head to the bridge and download the mission brief,’ he added quickly.

  ‘You’d better,’ said MoNa. ‘Or else I’ll tell WorldCorp about your little RocketBoard stunt.’

  Kip rolled his eyes. MoNa would be such a cool starship if she weren’t so bossy!

  CHAPTER 3

  Kip and Finbar left the landing bay together.Walking through MoNa’s glowing blue corridors, they passed the Sensory Cinema. Inside, you could not only watch films, but touch and taste the things in the films as well.

  They soon reached the bridge, MoNa’s control centre. It had sloping walls and wide windows for a windshield.

  In the centre of the bridge were two padded chairs. Kip and Finbar sat down. Kip waved his hand in the air above him.

  Instantly, their chairs were surrounded by a cylinder of blue light. The blue light had dials, screens and a keyboard projected onto it. It was Kip’s holographic consol.

  He downloaded the Mission Brief.

  CLASSIFIED

  SPACE SCOUT

  KIP KIRBY

  MISSION BRIEF

  WorldCorp’s super computers have detected a wormhole leading to a planet called Arboria.

  Arboria is thought to have water and aliens that are similar to humans. The planet could be an ideal Earth 2.

  Kip flipped to the writing pad projected on his consol. He scribbled a message to Finbar with his finger. That way MoNa wouldn’t know what he was saying.

  Will you be OK in the wormhole?

  Finbar nodded.

  Normally, Finbar was the wise, calm one. But he hated travelling through wormholes! Kip didn’t want MoNa to know in case Finbar was embarrassed about it. MoNa already thought she was better than Kip and Finbar combined.

  Kip programmed the wormhole’s co-ordinates into his consol. As soon as he hit the Enter button, MoNa shot out of her dock at the Hoverport.

  MoNa had a useful auto-pilot function. She often flew herself, but not when travelling through wormholes.

  Wormholes were unpredictable, so it was dangerous for a computer to fly through them. Kip’s training, intelligence and instincts were needed.

  MoNa rocketed upwards, trailing flame and smoke behind her. She quickly left Earth’s atmosphere behind. Soon, they were in the inky blackness of outer space.

  Up ahead, Kip spotted a swirling mass of clouds streaked with red light. The wormhole was exactly where the co-ordinates said it would be.

  ‘Engaging mega-drive,’ Kip said, his hands a blur across the holographic controls. He was about to pilot MoNa through the wormhole.

  At once, MoNa jumped forward. The stars became streaks outside the window. MoNa shot into the wormhole with a sucking sound. Kip’s skin prickled and his eyes throbbed. They were travelling billions of kilometres at the speed of light! It felt like riding six giant rollercoasters all at once.

  A second later, MoNa popped out the other end of the wormhole.

  ‘Are we there yet?’ Finbar whimpered.

  Before Kip could reply, a voice echoed through the starship. ‘Welcome to Arboria’s airspace, MoNa 4000,’ it said warmly.

  ‘Er, thanks,’ said Kip, tapping the Communicate button on the consol.

  ‘Please land your ship on our planet,’ the male voice continued. ‘We love visitors.’

  He must be the galaxy’s friendliest air-traffic controller, Kip thought. He even speaks our language!

  MoNa usually didn’t land on foreign planets. Instead, Kip and Finbar were teleported down by Scrambler Beams. These scrambled every particle in the body and beamed them through space. Then the particles were rearranged back into normal form on the surface of the new planet.

  Kip was torn. Most planets would never invite a strange starship to land. Kip was unsure what might be waiting for him on Arboria. But the voice sounded so friendly, and it was his mission to explore Arboria. Plus, travelling by Scrambler was pretty uncomfortable.

  ‘Commence landing,’ Kip said finally.

  ‘Relax! I’ll guide you in with our Leech Beam,’ the voice said easily.

  A Leech Beam? Kip thought. As in, the creature that sucks your blood and won’t let go?

  Suddenly, a powerful force yanked MoNa downwards. She dropped closer and closer to Arboria.

  Kip could see concrete buildings blanketed in an eerie haze. Everything was connected by walkways through the air. There were trees, but they had no leaves, and it looked like there was no grass anywhere.

  Kip commanded MoNa to engage her landing gear. Her wheels touched down and she taxied to a stop at Arboria’s Terrestrial Docking Station.

  ‘You’ll love it here,’ came the air-traffic controller’s voice. ‘I promise, you’ll never leave.’

  Finbar pulled supplies from a cupboard in the bridge. ‘Did you see the pollution when we landed?’ he said in a low voice. ‘I wonder how it got so bad.’

  He grabbed extra OxyGlobes, the compact air supply Kip and Finbar used in case a planet’s air wasn’t safe to breathe.

  With their spacesuits, helmets and OxyGlobes fitted, Kip and Finbar strode to the landing bay. Finbar hit the Exit button and MoNa’s hatch slid open. Then he and Kip stepped down a folding staircase onto the planet of Arboria.

  CHAPTER 4

  The first thing Kip saw was a glowing, silver robot. Twice as tall as Kip, the robot had a plasma screen for a head. The screen showed a picture of a smiling man.

  Looks like my grandpa trapped in a robot’s body, Kip thought.

  ‘I’m Pappy,’ the robot grinned, stepping forward on its two long legs. Kip recognised his voice. The air-traffic controller!

  ‘Kip Kirby from planet Earth.’ He shook Pappy’s plastic hand.

  Earth’s robots were small and energetic, like RoboCoach. Their job was to make life easier for Earth’s people. But this robot didn’t seem like a helper model – he was more like a person than a machine.

  ‘Finbar and I are scouting the galaxy for a new planet for our people,’ said Kip.

  ‘You must be fit and healthy for that job,’ said Pappy, looking Kip up and down. ‘That’s great news.’


  Kip shot Finbar a puzzled look.

  ‘Can we explore your planet?’ asked Finbar.

  ‘Please do! And stay as long as you like!’ Pappy said.

  ‘How would your people feel about humans moving in with you?’ Kip asked.

  ‘That would be wonderful!’ said Pappy, almost too brightly.‘We’d love to have you.’

  Kip was getting a weird vibe from the robot, but he tried to keep on track. ‘Is it true there’s water here?’ he asked.

  ‘We can talk about boring stuff later,’ said Pappy, waving his hand. ‘Come and see my house first.’

  Behind Pappy, Kip noticed the floors in the docking station were spotlessly clean. The chairs looked brand new.

  Normally, docking stations were really busy with intergalactic traffic. But this one seemed deserted.

  Why doesn’t anyone visit Arboria? Kip wondered. It seems OK so far.

  ‘This way!’ said Pappy firmly, putting one plastic arm around Kip’s shoulders.

  Outside the docking station, the heat hit Kip like a slap. Two hot, red suns were huge in the hazy sky.

  Kip flicked his SpaceCuff to Air-Analyser mode to check the pollution.

  A-Analyser Mode:

  45% Sulphur (Rotten Egg Gas)

  45% Methane (Fart Gas)

  5% Oxygen

  DANGER!! DO NOT BREATHE

  No wonder Kip couldn’t see or hear birds tweeting. In fact, he couldn’t see any animals at all. The entire population seemed to be robots.

  ‘Maybe Arboria is so polluted that only machines can live here,’ whispered Finbar as they followed Pappy into the street.

  Kip couldn’t say just yet. But he knew it was his mission to find out.

  As well as the clanking of robots’ feet, Kip heard a humming noise. Instead of roads and footpaths, Arboria had moving walkways everywhere.

  ‘Robots find it easier to get around this way,’ said Pappy.

  Kip noticed Arboria was dusty and completely flat, almost as if any hills had been bulldozed flat. He guessed that bumps would only trip up the robots.

  Kip and Finbar stepped onto the moving walkway outside the docking station.