BooksBarbecue
Back The Shocking Trouble on the Planet of Shobble Save as PDF
Chapters (47)
  1. COVER
  2. ABOUT L. M. MORIARTY
  3. ALSO BY L. M. MORIARTY
  4. TITLE PAGE
  5. PROLOGUE
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
  36. 31
  37. 32
  38. 33
  39. 34
  40. 35
  41. 36
  42. 37
  43. 38
  44. 39
  45. 40
  46. 41
  47. 42

Joy’s eyes filled with tears. She took a trembling breath and explained, ‘Once my husband had a beautiful voice. He was the lead singer of The Fleas, a famous Shobble rock ’n’ roll band. When Enrico came into power he banned all music. He introduced the Quiet-please decree. Well, Fred thought he couldn’t be serious and went ahead and performed. Straight after the concert Enrico’s Security Thugs took Fred away. They gave him something to drink and told him it was lemonade. It wasn’t! It was a sort of chemical concoction that burns your tongue so badly you can never speak again. The last five words Silent Fred ever said were, “Gee, thanks! I love lemonade!”’

There was silence except for the sound of running water as everybody imagined their tongues being burned so badly they could never speak again.

Each time Nicola thought she couldn’t be more shocked by Enrico’s evil, she learned something new and disturbing about him.

‘I guess we could just say no thank you to lemonade,’ mused Sean, but everybody ignored him.

‘How did such a vile person become the Commander-in-Chief of such a lovely planet?’ asked Shimlara.

‘He wasn’t always evil,’ said Joy. ‘I’ve known him since he was a teenager. He was a charming, rather nervous sort of boy, although he did like to get his own way. Anyway, he rose up through the ranks until he became the Commander. People adored him! And that’s when he slowly began to change. All that power and popularity went to his head. It rotted him from the inside. Yes, rotted! That’s the word! He’s gone black and evil like rotten fruit!’

The bath was nearly full. Joy wiped a tear from her eye and leaned towards them, her sweet face serious.

‘You’re in a terrible predicament and I believe there is only one person on this planet who can help.’

‘Who is that?’ asked Tyler.

Joy paused, as if she wasn’t sure if she should say what she was about to say. Then she took a deep breath and said, ‘Topaz Silverbell. The girl you’ve been hired to kill!’

15

image

It was about three o’clock in the morning and Nicola lay in her four-poster bed staring into the darkness.

STOP THINKING AND GO TO SLEEP, she ordered herself.

She needed to be well rested for tomorrow morning’s journey. The Space Brigade had agreed that they needed to find Topaz to at least talk to her.

‘Why Topaz? How could she help us?’ Nicola had asked Joy.

Joy’s reply had been unexpected. ‘I think the Space Brigade should join forces with Topaz and help her overthrow Enrico!’