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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
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  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

‘Well, we broke into one of the marshmallow mines and exploded a Fizz-Bang Bomb. They’re perfectly safe. It’s just a lot of noise and red smoke.’

‘I think we saw that,’ said Nicola, remembering the explosion at the marshmallow mine when they’d first arrived on Shobble.

‘We just wanted to hold up production a bit. We left behind a big sign saying, MARSHMALLOW MINERS SHOULD BE PAID FOR THEIR WORK. It all went really well except that two miners who were blinded by the smoke collided and broke their noses. Topaz’s mother said it was irresponsible of us and someone is always going to get hurt if we keep doing that sort of thing, but how else do we get noticed? And we already knew that Enrico had arranged for some Earthlings to try and kill us – well that’s when Topaz started saying we might as well give it all up.’

‘But Enrico shouldn’t be allowed to get away with it!’ said Nicola.

‘I know,’ said Serena. ‘But what can we do? My father drilled for chocolate for over forty years. He worked on the most dangerous chocolate rigs where they drill for the rarest, sweetest chocolate at the bottom of the sea. His teeth have rotted from breathing in pure chocolate fumes every day of his life. And he has never been paid a single gold coin. Do you know how much they charge for ShobbleChoc in far-off galaxies? The profits are huge. And my dad just says, Oh, well, the hairities know best. I say, Dad, having long brown hair does not mean you’ve got a brain, it just means you’ve got long brown hair, and he says, Yes, Serena darling, whatever you say, and that’s the end of that.’

As Nicola watched, Topaz popped Shimlara’s bubble-jacket. Shimlara staggered and Topaz caught her. They talked for a few seconds and Nicola saw Shimlara’s face light up with joy.

‘Nic, it’s Topaz!’ called out Shimlara, as if Nicola hadn’t figured this out already. ‘We’ve found Topaz!’

‘I know!’ called back Nicola.

But it seemed finding Topaz wasn’t the answer to their problems at all.

32

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‘Welcome to headquarters,’ sniffed Topaz. ‘Not that it’s going to be headquarters for much longer.’

The Space Brigade, Topaz, Joshua and Serena were standing in front of a large boulder on the side of the mountain. Topaz kicked at something in the snow beneath her feet and the boulder slid back to reveal an enormous cave divided into two sections by a rocky wall. The left-hand side was a small stable where three ShobGobbles were snoozing contentedly. ‘We did some flying this morning,’ explained Joshua. ‘They’re exhausted.’