COVER

ABOUT L. M. MORIARTY

L. M. Moriarty is the author of two best-selling books for adults. The Space Brigade and the Shocking Trouble on the Planet of Shobble is the second book in the Space Brigade series.

ALSO BY L. M. MORIARTY

Also by L. M. Moriarty:

The Space Brigade and the Petrifying Problem with Princess Petronella

TITLE PAGE

For George

PROLOGUE

Two girls and a boy stood knee-deep in snow on the side of a mountain. A thousand dazzling rainbows soared above them. Beneath them a frozen sea shimmered like a giant sapphire.

The shorter of the girls had curly red-gold hair that blew in a halo around her head and dimples that dented her cheeks even when she wasn’t smiling.

She was in a bad mood.

‘Are you sure it’s true?’ she snapped.

‘No. I made the whole thing up just to ruin your day,’ sighed the boy. He was her younger brother, which explains a lot.

The other girl, who had dark brown frizzy hair and a pale, serious face didn’t say anything. She was thinking, pressing her finger hard against her bottom lip.

The girl with the red-gold hair blew her nose noisily. She said, ‘I just never thought things would go this far. It’s frightening.’

‘Yes,’ admitted the boy. ‘But we’ll fight!’

‘Of course we’ll fight! What is this evil Earthling’s name?’

The boy pulled a sheet of paper from his back pocket and examined it.

‘Nicola,’ he answered. ‘Nicola Berry.’

1

Nicola Berry had a problem.

She needed to make a long-distance phone call.

An extremely long-distance phone call.

She needed to ring someone who lived on another planet.

Unfortunately, whenever Nicola’s mother opened the phone bill lately, she made a sound like she had a fishbone stuck in her throat. If an intergalactic phone call appeared on the bill she might stop breathing altogether.

Nicola pondered her problem while she sliced a banana to put on top of her breakfast cereal. The house was still and silent. A shaft of summer sunlight was creeping its way across the kitchen floor. It was early Saturday morning and her brother and parents were still sound asleep. They wouldn’t be up for hours, when they would appear rubbing their eyes and saying things like, ‘You’re up already? Why?’

Eating her cereal at the kitchen table, Nicola studied the newspaper clipping her dad had pinned to the noticeboard. The headline read:

NICOLA AND HER FRIENDS SAVE THE WORLD!

She frowned. She still got the strangest feeling from seeing her name in a newspaper. Nicola read the first paragraph of the article again.

Last week, Nicola Berry and a group of young friends she refers to as ‘The Space Brigade’ undertook a daring intergalactic mission to kill an unspeakably evil alien princess – Princess Petronella – who had been left in charge of the planet of Globagaskar while her parents were on holiday. The spoiled young princess had come up with a despicable plan to destroy Earth. Fortunately, Nicola and her young friends found out about the Princess’s intentions. They travelled to Globagaskar by spaceship and kidnapped the Princess from her palace bedroom . . . Now the Princess is dead and Earth has been saved, thanks to the heroic efforts of ‘The Space Brigade’.

The newspaper reporter had got it wrong. Nicola and the Space Brigade had kidnapped the Princess and convinced her not to destroy Earth but they certainly hadn’t killed her! The Princess was very much alive and kicking on the planet of Globagaskar.

Actually, she was kicking all day long, according to her latest i-mail (intergalactic email – sent from the super-advanced computer in the Globagaskar Palace all the way through outer space and cyberspace to the Berry family’s battered old computer in their living room). The Princess had i-mailed to say that her new hobby was kickboxing and she was spending hours practising on her poor guards.

Without a doubt, travelling to Globagaskar and kidnapping the Princess had been the scariest thing Nicola had ever done. Not surprisingly, most people assumed Nicola was in no hurry to head off into outer space again. ‘You probably want to put your feet up, eat popcorn and watch TV for the next twenty years or so, hey, Nic?’ her dad had said hopefully.

Little did he know that Nicola was actually hoping for the Space Brigade to embark on its second intergalactic mission very soon.

She put down her spoon and pulled a crumpled white card from her pocket to read it for about the twelve-hundredth time. It said:

Dear Nicola,

I understand you’re the leader of a brigade of highly trained intergalactic freedom fighters and that you recently saved a planet by the name of EARTH.

Our small but exquisite planet is currently facing grave danger of a rather unusual kind and we would like to engage your services. Payment would be both generous and delicious.

If you are available and interested in taking on a new mission, please don’t hesitate to call this number: 902856082484509342508905180891230943809421.

We look forward with much anticipation to hearing from you,
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF,
PLANET OF SHOBBLE

Nicola looked longingly at the phone. If she didn’t hurry up and ring him, the Commander might find another brigade of ‘highly trained intergalactic freedom fighters’.

Of course, the truth was that the members of the Space Brigade weren’t exactly ‘highly trained’. Nicola felt a flutter of fear as she considered the words ‘grave danger’. Imagine if something happened to one of them and it was Nicola’s fault. Everybody would hate her. She’d never be invited to another party for the rest of her life. Why was she even considering it? She put her hand over the card ready to tear it up but then her eye was caught by the promise that ‘Payment would be both generous and delicious’. That sounded so tempting.

Nicola’s great-grandmother was turning one hundred years old in a few days’ time and Nicola wanted to find her the perfect present. After all, not many people had been alive for a whole century. If they were paid with something delicious, Nicola could give it to Grammy. ‘This is just a little something I picked up in outer space,’ she could say casually.

She looked down at her cereal.

What should she do?

She slapped her hand to her forehead.

‘It’s pretty obvious,’ she said out loud.

‘What’s obvious?’ said a voice, and Nicola got such a fright that she jumped up and sent her cereal bowl flying with her elbow.

2

‘What are you two doing here?’ asked Nicola.

It was as though her best friends Katie Hobbs and Tyler Brown had materialised out of thin air. They were standing right in front of her wearing sunglasses and caps, with beach towels draped over their shoulders. Katie had leapt forward and caught Nicola’s cereal bowl just before it landed on the floor.

‘We thought you might want to come to the pool with us,’ Katie said. She took Nicola’s cereal bowl to the sink, rinsed it out and put it in the dishwasher.

‘What’s that you’re reading?’ asked Tyler.

Nicola pushed the letter over to him. ‘Read it for yourself. You too, Katie.’

Katie stood next to Tyler and read over his shoulder.

Tyler finished first and looked up. His eyes shone through his glasses and the tips of his ears glowed pink.

‘When are we going? Have you rung the Commander yet? Oh, this is just . . . this is just – I can’t think of a word that’s good enough!’

‘Stupendous?’ suggested Nicola.

‘Yes, stupendous! What do you think, Katie?’

‘Ummm.’ Katie pulled her long brown ponytail over her shoulder and chewed on the end. ‘I guess.’

‘Great!’ said Tyler. ‘So, Nic, we’ve got to act fast.’

‘Wait a second.’ Nicola studied Katie. ‘I want to know what Katie really thinks.’

Katie threw back her ponytail and chewed on her lip. She grabbed a cloth from the sink and began scrubbing furiously at the kitchen table. ‘It’s just that . . .’

‘What?’ said Tyler.

‘It’s just that it says “grave danger”,’ said Katie.

‘We don’t have to do it,’ said Nicola.

‘I want to do it but I don’t want to do it,’ said Katie. ‘Our first mission was the best time I’ve had in my whole life, but it was also the worst time. Does that make sense?’

‘Yes,’ said Nicola.

‘No,’ said Tyler.

‘Anyway,’ continued Katie. ‘We don’t have a choice – we’ve got to do it. They need us! All the poor people on their “small but exquisite” planet are depending on us!’

Nicola felt guilty. All she’d thought about was how fun or scary the mission would be. She nodded seriously and frowned as if she’d been worried to death about the people of Shobble. ‘Yes, I know,’ she said. ‘It’s a big responsibility.’

‘So what did you mean before when you said that it was pretty obvious?’ asked Tyler.

‘I realised I should just put it to the vote,’ said Nicola. ‘It has to be unanimous. Everyone in the Space Brigade has to want to go.’

‘Well, Sean will want to go,’ said Tyler confidently.

‘That’s true,’ agreed Nicola. Her older brother had found it difficult to cope with normal life on Earth after their last mission. He was itching for another adventure. ‘He’ll probably complain that it doesn’t sound dangerous enough.’

‘What about Greta?’ asked Katie.

‘Oh, is she still in the Brigade?’ asked Tyler. ‘I mean, she sort of tricked us into letting her join in the first place.’

‘She did help with some things,’ admitted Nicola. Greta had once been Nicola’s Worst Enemy and she still wasn’t her favourite person, but it didn’t seem fair to leave her out after all they’d been through together.

‘She wasn’t that bad,’ said Katie. ‘She doesn’t mean to be so bossy and competitive. I kind of liked her at the end.’

‘Ye-es.’ Nicola and Tyler gave each other doubtful looks. Sometimes Katie took being nice just a little too far.

‘And then there’s Shimlara,’ said Katie.

Shimlara was their friend from the planet of Globagaskar. Her dad was Georgio Gorgioskio, the President of the Save the Little Earthlings Committee. It was thanks to Georgio that Nicola had discovered Princess Petronella’s plan to destroy Earth. Shimlara had become a member of the Space Brigade when she offered to help the Brigade kidnap the Princess. Apart from the fact that she was six foot tall (the people of Globagaskar were nearly twice as tall as Earthlings) and knew how to read minds (a handy Globagaskarian skill!), she was pretty much like an ordinary Earthling girl.

‘She’ll want to go.’ Nicola, Tyler and Katie agreed.

‘It looks like we already know what the vote will be,’ said Tyler.

Nicola picked up the letter again. ‘I still need to call the Commander. How much do you think it would cost to phone another planet?’

At that moment Sean walked into the kitchen yawning and rubbing his eyes. ‘Why are you three up so early?’ he said predictably. He opened the fridge door and stood there for a few seconds, before turning around slowly. ‘Did you just say something about ringing up another planet?’

‘Yep.’ Nicola waved the letter at him. ‘The Space Brigade might be going on another mission.’

‘What?’ Sean slammed the fridge door shut and grabbed the letter from Nicola’s hand. He read it quickly. ‘YES! So have you called yet? Why not? Too scared, eh?’

‘How do you think Mum and Dad would like it if I called another planet?’

‘Oh. Good point.’

They were all silent as they tried to think of a solution. Suddenly, the phone rang.

Katie, who was the nearest, picked it up. Speaking in a bubbly, professional voice, entirely unlike her normal voice, she said, ‘Good morning! This is the Berry residence. How may I help you today?’ Katie had learned how to answer phones from her mother, who was a receptionist at a doctor’s office. If Sean had answered it, he would have said, ‘Yo,’ which always caused the person on the other end to say, ‘Ummm, pardon?’

After a pause, Katie said, ‘Nicola Berry? I’ll just check if she’s available. May I ask who is calling?’

Sean snorted.

‘Shhh.’ Tyler pointed a finger at Katie. Her eyes had become very wide.

‘What?’ said Nicola. ‘Who is it?’

Katie handed the phone to Nicola and said, ‘It’s the Commander-in-Chief of the planet of Shobble, calling for Miss Nicola Berry.’

3

‘Hello?’ said Nicola nervously into the phone. ‘This is Nicola speaking.’

Tyler was dancing silently around the kitchen, punching the air like he’d just won a boxing match, while Katie was beaming and giving her two thumbs up. Sean was busy writing on a piece of paper: DON’T MESS UP!

Nicola tried to ignore them all and listen to the person on the end of the phone. His voice was warm, deep and sweet, like honey drizzled on toast.

‘I do hope you don’t mind me calling you. Is this, perhaps, an inconvenient time for a chat?’

‘Oh yes, I mean no, um, this is a very convenient time,’ said Nicola. Pull yourself together, she told herself sternly. You’ve got to sound like the leader of a Space Brigade, not a bumbling idiot wearing an old summer nightie with pictures of koala bears all over it.

‘My name is Enrico Aloisio. Did you receive my letter, Nicola? May I call you “Nicola”?’ asked the Commander. ‘Please do call me Enrico.’

‘Yes, of course, ah, Enrico, you may call me Nicola,’ said Nicola grandly, in her poshest voice. ‘I did receive your letter. In fact I was just discussing it with some of the, ah, senior members of the Space Brigade.’

She glanced up to see Katie, Tyler and Sean all stifling their laughter over her posh voice.

‘My timing was fortuitous then,’ said Enrico.

‘Indeed,’ agreed Nicola, although she had no idea what ‘fortuitous’ meant.

‘And tell me, have you decided whether you would be willing to help us?’

Nicola didn’t hesitate. ‘Absolutely!’ Then she added quickly, ‘Depending, of course, on what the mission actually involves.’

Enrico said, ‘Of course, of course! May I suggest you drop by for dinner and a briefing? I assume you have your own transport?’

‘Yes, we do,’ said Nicola proudly, thinking of the Mini Easy-Ride Spaceship that Shimlara had left behind with Tyler after their last mission.

‘Excellent! Shall we say 6 pm?’

Nicola’s mouth dropped open. Did he mean 6 pm today?

‘Well, it’s been a pleasure speaking with you,’ said Enrico, without waiting for an answer. ‘I do look forward to meeting you. Oh, I’ll have someone pick you up at the SpacePort, of course. Cheerio!’

The line went dead. Slowly Nicola hung up the phone. My goodness, she thought. What have I done?

‘Well?’ said Sean.

‘We need to be on the planet of Shobble today at 6 pm,’ said Nicola. ‘For a mission briefing and dinner.’

‘EXCELLENT!’ said Sean.

‘Did you mention we weren’t exactly “highly trained”?’ asked Katie worriedly.

‘What are you talking about?’ said Sean. ‘We’re the best! We kick butt!’ He kicked over a chair to demonstrate.

‘So when should we leave?’ asked Tyler.

Everybody looked at Nicola expectantly and suddenly she remembered the huge weight of responsibility that came with being in charge. It was like lugging a heavy backpack when everybody else was walking around empty-handed.

‘Okay,’ she said. ‘We’ll have to pick up Shimlara from Globagaskar on the way. I don’t know how long it takes to get to Shobble and there are probably time differences, so, um, I think we should leave Earth by no later than, um, ten o’clock.’

‘Right! Meeting at ten hundred hours.’ Tyler stood to attention.

Nicola said, ‘I don’t know if it’s cold or hot on Shobble so you’d better bring summer and winter clothes just in case – oh, and pack anything else that you think might be useful.’

‘Like what?’ asked Katie, who had actually taken out a notepad and was writing down what Nicola said. Sometimes Nicola didn’t know which was worse: when the members of the Space Brigade didn’t respect her, or when they did.

‘I don’t know,’ she admitted. ‘Just think creatively.’

‘Right,’ said Katie uncertainly.

‘I guess I’d better call Greta,’ said Nicola. ‘And Sean, can you send Shimlara an i-mail?’

Everybody scattered. Nicola dialled Greta’s number, gritting her teeth in preparation. Normally it took only about thirty seconds of conversation with Greta before Nicola found herself wanting to bang her head against the nearest wall.

‘Hello?’

‘Hi, Greta, it’s Nicola.’

‘My mother says it’s bad manners to call anyone this early.’

Nicola turned and gently bumped her forehead against the kitchen wall.

‘Sorry. It’s just that the Space Brigade has another mission –’

‘What? When did you hear about this? Why didn’t you tell me earlier?’

‘Well, I –’

‘I suppose Katie and Tyler and Sean already know about it?’

‘Well, yes, sort of.’

‘Typical. Favouritism. A good leader shouldn’t favour anyone. Anyway, I’m very busy today.’

‘Oh! Well, that’s okay. I just thought I should ask –’

‘But I suppose you need me. It’s not like you could have managed the last mission without me. So when and where do we meet?’

‘Ten o’clock at my place,’ said Nicola weakly. ‘Pack clothes for all seasons and anything that you think might be useful.’

‘You’re not very organised – you really should have given more notice and sent out memos and a schedule. That’s what I would have done. But all right, I’ll see you then.’

Nicola hung up the phone. Sean called down from the top of the stairs, ‘Shimlara just i-mailed back! She hopes it’s even more dangerous than last time!’

‘Well I don’t!’ called back Nicola, but suddenly she was in an excellent mood. She ran up to her bedroom to start packing.

4

As Nicola was going through her drawers looking for warm clothes to pack, her mum poked her head into the bedroom. She was still wearing her dressing gown, and her hair was sticking out around her head as if she’d just been electrocuted.

‘Good morning! Caught any worms?’

‘Huh?’

‘The early bird catches the worm.’

‘Oh. Um, no. Ha ha.’

Her mother yawned hugely and walked into the room. Nicola kicked the bag she was packing out of sight.

‘What does “fortuitous” mean?’ asked Nicola.

‘It means something happening by accident that turns out to be good luck. For example, let’s say that one day, on a whim, I decide to take up pottery, and as it happens there is a special promotion where Brad Pitt is giving a kiss to every lady who signs up for pottery that day. Well, that would be fortuitous. Extremely fortuitous.’

Her mother looked dreamy for a second before pulling herself together and saying, ‘Your dad and I are going shopping for Grammy’s present today. Do you want to come? Or are you too busy? I thought I heard Tyler and Katie this morning.’

‘Sorry,’ said Nicola. ‘I can’t. We’re . . . doing something.’

‘Oh, okay.’ Her mother stretched her arms above her head for another gigantic yawn.

Don’t ask what we’re doing. Don’t ask what we’re doing.

‘So what are you doing?’

Nicola sighed. She was in no way perfect but she’d never lie to her parents. She knew it would hurt their feelings too much.

‘We’re taking the spaceship to the planet of Shobble. The Commander-in-Chief has asked the Space Brigade to go on a mission for him.’

Her mother blinked rapidly. Then she burst out laughing. ‘You had me for a second there. Oh, you’ve got a wonderful imagination, Nic! I think you must get it from me. Your father has no imagination whatsoever. Well, have fun.’ She left the room, calling back merrily, ‘Don’t get into trouble on Shobble! Wear plenty of sunscreen!’

Nicola was slightly offended. Was it really so unlikely that they’d be going on another mission? Oh well, it was fortuitous that her mum didn’t believe her, because now she could leave for the planet of Shobble with a clear conscience.

5

At 10 am on the dot the Earthling members of the Space Brigade were standing next to the rusty old swing set in Nicola and Sean’s backyard.

‘Right,’ said Nicola to Tyler. ‘Let’s set up the spaceship. Do you know what to do?’

‘I think so,’ said Tyler. He squatted down next to the small silver briefcase he’d brought along with him. Printed on the side were the words MINI EASY-RIDE SPACESHIP. Tyler pressed a tiny square button that said ACTIVATE and moved away. ‘Give it some room,’ he said tersely, and they all took a few steps back.

The suitcase didn’t do anything.

‘You’ve done something wrong,’ said Greta.

‘He has not,’ said Katie.

‘Shall I give it a good thump?’ asked Sean.

‘Patience,’ said Nicola grandly, ‘is a virtue.’ Everyone stared at her, impressed. Sometimes things like that just came into her head.

The suitcase began to twitch and wobble as though there was a puppy inside trying to escape. It lifted off the ground and spun in circles, slowly at first, and then faster and faster, until it was just a streaky whirl of colour.

Everyone stepped back again. There were clunks and clangs and a high eeeeeeee sound. Sparks flew.

Crash. Thud. Crash.

And there it was, glowing silver and gold in the sunlight – their spaceship.

‘Ha! Ha ha!’ cried Tyler. He ran around the spaceship giving it loving little pats. Nicola thought that if he was on his own he’d probably have thrown his arms around it.

After a moment he realised they were all watching him. He stopped and coughed loudly to cover his embarrassment. ‘Okay, everybody, no need to get too excited. It’s just a spaceship.’ He saw their broad grins, shrugged and said, ‘Well, it’s pretty amazing, isn’t it!’

‘It is,’ said Nicola. She clapped her hands and said, ‘Okay, let’s go!’, then felt a bit stupid for accidentally clapping her hands like a teacher.

Tyler beamed and held up a big silver key. He inserted it in the lock on the back of the spaceship. The glass bubble on top rolled back smoothly and a ladder slid down to the ground. One by one they climbed up and settled themselves into the passenger-pods around the pilot’s seat.

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