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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

Nicola’s heart was sinking fast. Had they come all this way for nothing?

‘But why are you giving up? What’s wrong? Is it just because you’ve got a cold? Everything always feel worse when you’re sick.’

‘No, it’s more than that. It’s –’

‘HEY! ARE YOU GIRLS JUST GOING TO SIT AROUND AND CHAT ALL DAY? MAYBE YOU COULD GET YOUR NEW FRIEND TO COME AND HELP US OUT TOO, NIC! GRETA NEEDS TO GO TO THE TOILET!’

It was Sean hollering from across the mountain. Nicola was mortified. Topaz was going to lose all respect for the Space Brigade! She could hear Greta yelling back at Sean, ‘Hey! That was private information!’

‘Is that the rest of the Space Brigade?’ Topaz looked amused in spite of herself.

‘Yes,’ said Nicola. ‘That was my brother. I guess I should go and let them out.’ Suddenly she remembered Shimlara. ‘Oh – and another friend of ours was with us in the hot-air balloon! I need to find out where she landed. I hope her bubble-jacket inflated okay.’

‘Don’t worry, I’ll get my friends to form a search party,’ said Topaz. From her pocket she took what looked to Nicola like a transistor radio and flicked a switch. ‘Topaz to Joshua. Topaz to Joshua. Come in, Joshua.’

Immediately, a young boy’s voice crackled forth from the radio. ‘Yeah, Joshua to Topaz, where have you been? Everyone has been worried about you. I just got a message from Mum saying if you weren’t resting, she was coming up the mountain to put you to bed herself. I didn’t mention that you were curing your cold by going for a walk in a hurricane!’

Topaz said, ‘Joshua, I’m fifteen years old.’

‘Why are you talking in your trying-to-sound-cool voice? Is someone there with you?’

Now it was Topaz’s turn to look embarrassed.

‘Brothers.’ Nicola rolled her eyes sympathetically.

Topaz said, ‘I’m here with Nicola Berry.’

Joshua’s voice changed. ‘The evil Earthling? Where are you? We’re on our way!’

‘It’s okay, Joshua.’ Topaz smiled at Nicola. ‘She’s not that bad. In fact, she’s actually pretty nice for an evil Earthling.’

31

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‘There she is! Over there!’

It was Topaz’s brother, Joshua, who finally spotted Shimlara. Joshua was a short, square-shaped boy who brimmed with so much energy Nicola couldn’t imagine him standing still. He and Sean had quickly figured out that they were kindred spirits. As they’d tramped through the snow calling out Shimlara’s name, Sean had been showing Joshua karate moves, while Joshua demonstrated a Shobble sport called Head Crunch. It seemed to involve running as fast as you could towards a particular spot in the snow and then diving at it headfirst while yelling HEAD CRUNCH! Sean thought Head Crunch was hilarious and Joshua thought karate was hilarious, and they had both become sweaty and elated.