‘Look what happens.’ Shimlara pointed at the gold hutch in the centre of the table. She closed her eyes and then pressed a large red button. A tray instantly slid out from the hutch. It contained a note and one green apple.

The note said, Sorry. ShobbleChoc not available. How about a nice, healthy apple instead?

‘Sounds like Mum,’ said Sean gloomily, just as a shrieking noise came from another room.

‘What’s that?’ asked Nicola, alarmed.

‘It’s our new ring tone,’ said Georgio. ‘I’ll get it.’

‘Are the people on Shobble as tall as Globagaskarians?’ Katie asked Mully.

‘No, Shobble is a young planet like Earth,’ said Mully. ‘So Shobblings are about the same height as Earthlings.’

‘What about their technology?’ asked Tyler. ‘Do they have great gadgets like on Globagaskar?’

‘No way! Globagaskar is the most technologically advanced planet in the galaxy,’ said Shimlara proudly.

‘Well, technology isn’t everything,’ said Mully. ‘Shobble might be old-fashioned, but it’s an especially beautiful planet. Do you know, it has over a thousand permanent rainbows?’

When Georgio came back from the phone Nicola noticed he looked distracted.

‘Is everything okay, Dad?’ asked Shimlara.

‘What? Oh yes, perfectly fine. Well now, you’d better not keep the charming Enrico waiting, eh? Need to make a good impression by being punctual!’

Nicola watched as Georgio and Mully shot each other meaningful, worried looks. Something serious was going on, but obviously Shimlara’s parents weren’t going to tell them about it today.

Nicola stood up and said, ‘Let’s go to Shobble, Space Brigade!’

7

‘I think I can see the rainbows!’ shouted Katie.

They had taken off from the Gorgioskio swimming pool just a few minutes earlier. Now the spaceship was hovering in starlit darkness over what looked like a tiny, glowing golf ball. Nicola pressed her nose against the window and saw that the glow was caused by hundreds of rainbows shimmering above the planet.

‘Prepare for landing,’ said Tyler into the microphone. Nicola could see he was rigid with nerves. She reached over and gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder. ‘You’re doing great,’ she said quietly.

‘Thanks,’ said Tyler, and his shoulders relaxed slightly. The spaceship began to hurtle towards Shobble.

As they got closer the colour of the rainbows became as bright as sunshine. Suddenly the inside of the spaceship was flooded with flickering colour: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet. It was like they’d been plunged into a tropical fish tank.

‘It’s so beautiful!’ Shimlara held out her hands in front of her, as if she could catch the dancing prisms of colour.

‘Ha! You’ve got an orange nose!’ Sean pointed at Greta.

Tyler cleared his throat. ‘Welcome to Shobble.’

They’d been so distracted by the rainbows they hadn’t even noticed they’d landed.

‘Great landing, mate.’ Sean gave Tyler an enthusiastic slap on the back.

Tyler winced slightly and said, ‘Thanks.’