by Greg Trine
But he wasn’t exactly safe, either.
A year before, he had been examining what he thought was a new form of orchid and getting rather excited. He was a scientist. Scientists are always getting excited over strange things.
Would you get excited over a flower? Didn’t think so.
But Mr. Maykit sure was. He was looking at the orchid when he noticed a set of eyes staring back at him. Make that many sets of eyes.
These were the foothunters. They’re so sneaky, no one’s ever heard of them.
They grabbed Willy’s father and dragged him back to their camp, which took three days. He’d been locked up ever since.
It was a very scary place. Everyone wore shrunken feet around their necks.
And they kept staring at Mr. Maykit’s feet.
Willy had no idea when he nodded off. He only knew that something caused him to wake up. Was it a sound? A twig snap? The low growl of a Planet Ed creature of the night?
Willy wasn’t sure. He rolled over and came face-to-face with a set of eyes staring down at him. The eyes belonged to what looked like a boy about Willy’s age, only not a human boy. Even in the moonlight, Willy could see that his skin was a greenish color and he had two antennae coming out of his head.
“Let me guess,” the alien boy said. “Left behind on a school field trip?”
Willy got to his feet. “Uh . . . what?” he asked, rubbing his eyes. Maybe he was dreaming. He was on a foreign planet. It made sense that he’d dream about aliens.
“Field trip?” the boy said. “Left behind?”
Willy kept blinking and rubbing his eyes.
Finally, Cindy, who was now standing, spoke up. “Yes, we were left behind on a school field trip.”
“Welcome to the club,” the boy said. “I’m Norp. I was left behind on my school field trip a week ago.”
“I’m Willy,” Willy said, finding his voice.
“Cindy,” Cindy said.
Norp nodded. Then he lowered his voice. “You can’t stay here.”
“Why not?” Cindy asked.
The boy gestured to the clearing. “You’re in the open, and it’s night. Nighttime is when the monsters come out.”
Willy and Cindy exchanged a glance. “Monsters?” they said together.
“Yes, monsters. Don’t you have monsters on your planet?”
“Of course,” Willy said. “I’m pretty sure one’s been living under my bed for years.”
“There’s one in my closet,” Cindy added.
“That’s where they live on my planet too,” Norp said. “Here they roam about in the forest. And they’re always hungry.” He looked nervously at the trees. “You two better follow me. We don’t have much time.”
Willy hesitated. All his life he’d been told not to talk to strangers. This guy was not only a stranger, he wasn’t even human. And he wanted them to follow him into a deep, dark forest in the middle of the night on a faraway planet?
“Uh . . .” Willy said, not knowing what to do. He glanced at Cindy, but all she could say was, “Uh . . .” Obviously, she’d received the same advice about talking to strangers.
“Monsters,” the alien boy said. “I’m not kidding. We have to get out of here.”
Willy didn’t know what to do. Don’t talk to strangers was the rule, and a nonhuman kid was definitely a stranger.
Before he could decide, something went bump in the night. Or smash and crunch, to be exact. Something huge was coming at them through the trees.
“Too late,” Norp said. “Here they come.”
Chapter 7
Mr. Jipthorn
The kids from Willy’s class were still pretty upset from getting caught in a storm with watermelon-size hailstones and seeing Mr. Jipthorn get clonked by a tree branch. Inside the Starlite 3000, many of the kids were crying and wringing their hands, looking at their unconscious teacher and saying things like, “Is he alive?”
“Is he breathing?”
“Is there money in his wallet?”
He was alive. He was breathing. He did have money in his wallet. But he didn’t regain consciousness for hours, not until they were almost back to Earth.
Mr. Jipthorn sat up, holding his head. “What happened?” he said.
“Huge storm on Planet Ed,” one kid said.
“Hail as big as watermelons,” said another. “By the way, how’s yours?”
“Pardon me?” Mr. Jipthorn asked.
“How’s your melon?”
Mr. Jipthorn kept holding his head and wincing from the pain. “I remember the storm, but what happened?”
“You were hit by a tree branch,” Randy said, speaking up. “Max is getting us home. He’s really strong. He carried you all by himself.”
Mr. Jipthorn nodded and began counting heads. Twenty-eight students, he said to himself. But wait a minute—didn’t thirty kids sign up for the field trip? “Who’s missing?” he said. “Randy, go check the bathrooms.”
Randy did and came back shaking his head.
It took them a while, but they finally figured it out: Willy Maykit and Cindy Das were not on board.
Mr. Jipthorn ran to the cockpit. “Turn this thing around,” he said to the pilot.
“No can do.” Max pointed to one of the gauges on the control panel. “We’re low on fuel.”
By now they were in orbit around the earth. Since they were so close and so low on fuel, there was nothing to do but drop the kids off and refuel.
The rescue would have to wait.
Max landed the Starlite 3000 in the school parking lot, and all the kids rushed out. Some of them burst into tears at the sight of their parents. It had been a difficult day, what with being pelted with oversize hail and seeing their teacher get clonked.
Mr. Jipthorn came out last, holding his head.
The parents packed up their kids and drove away, leaving only Mrs. Maykit and Mrs. Das in the parking lot.
While Max wandered around the ship, kicking the tires and doing other important safety checks, Mr. Jipthorn went over to the waiting moms.
“Where’s Willy?” said Mrs. Maykit.
“Where’s Cindy?” said Mrs. Das.
It wasn’t easy getting fuel for the Starlite 3000. It was dark before Max, the android pilot, was able to fire up the ship and head back to Planet Ed.
Mr. Jipthorn didn’t come along. He was too busy getting his head stitched back together. “You’re a lucky man,” one of the doctors told him. “That android may have saved your life.”
“Good ol’ Max,” Mr. Jipthorn muttered to himself.
Chapter 8
Something Big and Hairy
This Way Comes
Norp’s antennae twitched. His green skin turned white. “Should have run when we had the chance,” he said.
Whatever it was got closer. Twigs and branches snapped. Trees swayed as if they were being shoved aside by something enormous. Then came the roar—like a T. rex and a grizzly bear combined, with a hint of killer whale.
Should have followed the nonhuman into the deep, dark forest, Willy thought. He tried to turn and run, but his feet felt like they were nailed to the ground. Something rattled. “What’s that?”
“My knees,” Cindy said. She couldn’t move her feet either, but her knees were working double-time.
Another roar. Much closer this time.
Seconds later, the creature crashed through the trees into the clearing. It was like Bigfoot on steroids—hairy, with huge teeth and claws.
And it was . . . smiling? But it wasn’t a friendly smile at all. Maybe it was what Planet Ed creatures of the night did when they were about to have a midnight snack, even though it was probably way past midnight. The point is, this creature looked hungry, and Willy and Cindy were on the menu. And probably Norp, for that matter.
The creature took a step forward, then another, licking its lips.
Willy still couldn’t move his legs. Cindy’s knees knocked even louder.
And then—
> Something fell from the sky, something white and gooey, that went GLOP right in the monster’s eyes.
Wings flapped overhead. “Caw!” Phelps’s aim was perfect.
He came back for another pass.
GLOP!
“Nice shot, Phelps!” Willy yelled.
The monster put his paws to his face, crying out in pain. He was probably also pretty grossed out. After all, someone had just pooped in his face.
The monster was blinded, but only temporarily. Now was their chance.
“Run!” Norp yelled. “Follow me.”
Willy forced his legs to move, Cindy’s knees stopped knocking, and they followed Norp into the deep, dark forest on the faraway planet. It was much better than sticking around to become a monster’s midnight snack. They ran deeper into the forest. Deeper into who-knows-what, who-knows-where, with who-knows-who.
Willy fell down several times, over roots and fallen branches—sometimes over nothing. It’s hard to stay upright when a monster is hot on your heels. Was the monster hot on his heels? Willy wasn’t sure, but that didn’t keep him from falling.
“Where are you taking us?” Willy asked, gasping for breath and picking himself up off the ground for the hundredth time.
“A safe place. Trust me,” said the alien boy. His antennae were still twitching.
Willy wasn’t sure if he could trust a guy with twitching antennae. But twitching antennae had to be better than being munched on.
They kept running. After a while, they came to the edge of a deep canyon above a roaring river.
“Now what?” Cindy asked.
Norp grabbed a vine hanging from a tree. “We swing across, Thortock-style.”
“Thortock?” Willy made a face. “Don’t you mean Tarzan?”
“I mean Thortock.”
“Guy in a loincloth? Runs around in the jungle? Yells a lot?” Willy asked.
“That’s him.”
“Well, on our planet he’s called Tarzan.”
Norp placed a vine in Cindy’s hand. Then he handed one to Willy. “Okay, Tarzan-style, then. You have your jungle hero and I have mine.” Then he launched himself across the canyon. He even added a little alien Thortock yell.
Willy and Cindy followed, landing in a heap on the other side.
“We’re not there yet,” Norp said. He led Willy and Cindy through a circle of trees growing so close together that they had to turn sideways to slip between them. It was some kind of natural fort. At the center was an enormous tree, ten feet in diameter, maybe more.
“Up we go,” Norp said, starting to climb.
Willy and Cindy followed. Could the monsters of Planet Ed swing on vines, Tarzan-style? Or in the Thortock manner? Best to climb the tree and get out of sight, just in case.
The surface of the tree was bumpy, with lots of knots and knobs to cling to and stand on. About ten feet off the ground, they reached the first branches, which spread apart, creating a bowl big enough for two humans and an alien to stretch out in.
Far away in the distance, they could hear the creature roar.
“We’re safe,” Norp said. “The monsters on this planet can’t swing like Thortock. And they can’t climb trees.”
“Thank goodness,” Cindy said.
Willy wasn’t so sure. Norp had been there only a week. How did he know what the monsters were capable of? Willy looked out through the branches of the tree. From someplace off in the distance, he heard a roar. Then another.
“How many monsters are there?” Willy asked.
“Not sure,” Norp said. “Dozens, maybe.”
“Dozens?” Cindy gasped.
“Maybe,” Norp said. “But they’re out there and we’re here. You really can relax. I know what I’m talking about. We’re completely safe.”
Willy turned around and faced hm. “I’m trying to believe you,” he said. “It’s not easy.”
Norp nodded and gestured for Willy to sit. When he did, Norp leaned forward. “So you two were left behind, huh?”
Willy nodded. “Don’t get me started.”
“It’s a long story,” Cindy said.
Norp grinned. “My favorite kind.”
Chapter 9
Max to the Rescue
As you know, there’s not a whole lot to look at when you’re traveling along at many times the speed of light. It’s not as if you can say, “Now there’s an attractive planet,” or “Check out that interesting asteroid.” As you also know, there are probably plenty of attractive planets out there, and more than a few interesting asteroids. But since Max couldn’t see any of them, and since he had a three-hour journey ahead of him, he sat back and relaxed, thinking of the boy who had tried to make him laugh.
“Knock, knock,” he said out loud, trying to remember.
“Who’s there?” he answered himself.
“Boo.”
“Boo who?”
“Why are you crying?”
Max didn’t get it. Androids aren’t exactly wired for humor. He gazed out the window at the streaked universe shooting past. Nothing to see there. Again his thoughts turned to Willy Maykit.
“Knock, knock,” he said
“Who’s there?”
“Doris.”
“Doris who?”
“Door is locked. That’s why I’m knocking.”
Nothing. Not even a smirk.
The Starlite 3000 raced on through the blurriness of space. Max was determined to figure out what Willy had been getting at. Why did humans spend so much time laughing? He didn’t understand. And so, hours later, just as he began his orbit of Planet Ed, he tried again.
“Knock, knock.”
“Who’s there?”
“Oink-oink.”
“Oink-oink who?”
“Make up your mind. Are you a pig or an owl?”
A pig or an owl. Max scratched his chin. He still didn’t understand.
He grabbed the steering wheel and directed the ship closer to Planet Ed. A pig or an owl, he thought. A pig or an owl.
And right then, Max the android pilot smiled. Microchips flashed inside his head—kind of like blowing a fuse, only he didn’t have any fuses to blow. He was a microchip kind of android. But something was happening.
His smile got bigger. “A pig or an owl,” he said out loud. “A pig or an owl. That’s a real knee slapper.”
Max couldn’t hold it in any longer. He tilted his head back, opened his mouth, and—
“Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!” There was no stopping him. It was the funniest thing he’d ever heard. “Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!”
More microchips flashed. Sparks shot out of his ears. His eyes wobbled in their sockets. “Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!”
The more he laughed, the more he lost control. The microchips inside his body were so busy flashing and throwing off sparks that Max couldn’t make his hands and arms do what he wanted.
And Planet Ed was coming up fast!
“Oh, no!” Max said as he continued to laugh. “Ha, ha, ha. I can’t control the ship. Ha, ha, ha. Looks like I’m about to crash into that mountainside. Ha, ha, ha.
“Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!”
KABOOM!
It was the biggest fireball ever seen on Planet Ed.
“What was that?”
Willy was right in the middle of his story about getting caught in the rainstorm, about trees dropping their body parts, about hail the size of golf balls—and a few as big as watermelons—when an explosion ripped the night air.
Through the branches of the tree, the sky lit up like the Fourth of July.
Cindy shook her head. “If those monsters have dynamite, that is so unfair.”
They kept quiet, listening for more explosions. None came, and they couldn’t exactly go investigate. It was too dark, and there were hungry monsters lurking about.
After a while, sleep got the better of them, and they drifted off.
Willy wok
e up only once during the night, when Phelps landed lightly beside him. If it hadn’t been for his favorite bird companion, the Planet Ed creatures of the night might have gobbled him up. “Thanks, Phelps,” Willy whispered. “You’re the coolest seagull in the universe.”
“Caw,” Phelps replied. Then the two of them drifted off to sleep.
By the way, seagulls snore. Who knew?
Chapter 10
Three’s Company
The next morning, Willy woke up to a pair of alien eyes staring back at him. “Are you two hungry?” Norp said. “I mean, do Earthlings eat?”
“Of course we eat,” Willy said. “And yes, I’m hungry.”
“What’s for breakfast?” Cindy said, rubbing her eyes.
“I know of a place,” Norp said. “Follow me.”
Willy glanced at Cindy and shrugged. They didn’t know Norp at all, but if he was an evil alien, he wouldn’t have shown them his hideout. Hadn’t he saved their lives last night?
And so, once again, Willy found himself following a stranger into a deep, dark forest on a faraway planet. Or at least a deep forest—it was no longer dark.
Grrrrrrrrrrrr!
Norp stopped, antennae twitching. “What was that?”
“My stomach,” Willy said. “Don’t hungry stomachs growl on your planet?”
“Never,” Norp said.
They swung across the canyon like Thortock and a couple of Tarzans and headed through the trees.
“Are you sure the monsters aren’t out in the daytime?” Cindy asked.
“Positive,” Norp said. “As long as it’s light out, we’re safe. I think it’s too bright for them.” He thought for a second. “Of course, I haven’t explored the whole planet. The monsters in this area don’t like the light.”
