Earthling Ambassador (Space Brigade 1)

"Just be yourself," Mully had advised. "Speak from the heart."

Nicola still had no idea exactly what she was going to say to the Princess. She'd stayed up late jotting down notes, but all she'd finished up with was a long list of words, phrases, and crossed-out ideas, like:

PREPOSTEROUS!

How would you feel?

Not fair.

Beautiful planet--oceans, mountains, beaches

What about the animals?Recycling garbage isn't that hard.

Earthling deaths on your conscience.

Eventually, she'd given up and gone to bed. Anyway, Mully had said it was better not to read from a script because otherwise she'd sound too stiff and formal. Nicola hoped she was right.

Then she and Shimlara stayed up for hours talking. Soon they were in fits of giggles. Shimlara told her all about the time she'd gotten lost while cloud-surfing and had floated off to the other side of Globagaskar where she'd finally crashed into the side of a mountain in the middle of a thunderstorm. "They had to send a rescue party to find me. It was pretty embarrassing."

Nicola told Shimlara about the time she and Sean had been jumping on the trampoline and bumped their heads together so hard, they both had to go to the hospital with blood streaming down their faces. "My dad fainted when he saw us and hit his own head," said Nicola. "So Mom had to take all three of us to the hospital." By the time they'd finally drifted off to sleep, it felt like she and Shimlara had been friends forever.

Now Shimlara was bouncing excitedly up and down on her bed so that the little balls flew in all directions. "No way would you rather be taking a test! I'd swap places in a second. I'm so jealous of you I could die. I'd love to see what it's like inside the palace. And your whole planet is depending on you! You'll be a hero!"

"But what if I can't convince the princess to change her mind?"

Shimlara's face changed and became very serious."Well, that could be pretty bad. Once everyone on your planet finds out, they'll be really, really mad at you. Some of them might even want to kill you! You'll have to go into hiding, I expect. But that might be fun! I could come with you!"

"Shimlara!" Mully stood at the door with her arms folded. "How do you think that makes Nicola feel?"

"Sorry," said Shimlara guiltily. "I'm sure no one will mind if you fail and all the Earthlings have to go and live on the Planet of Bore. It won't be t

hat boring."

"Oh, for heaven's sake," said Mully. "Now you're just making it worse. Nicola, don't listen to a word she says. Sometimes she's far too much like her father. Now, come with me, Nicola, I've got your parents on the phone calling long-distance from Earth!"

Nicola followed Mully down the hallway, wondering what her parents were going to say. She could imagine her mother saying, "You get off that planet right now, young lady, and come back home and get ready for school." Her father would probably make a bad joke.

"You'll have to stand on this chair like Squid does," said Mully. "Otherwise you won't be able to see the screen."

Nicola climbed onto the chair and there on a flat screen on the wall were her parents, sitting at the kitchen table back home. It was strange seeing the familiar old kitchen table. It gave Nicola a funny nostalgic feeling to see the old china bowl filled with elastic bands, bits of paper, coins, paper clips, and one wrinkly old apple.

"NICOLA! NICOLA! CAN YOU SEE US?"

Her dad bounded to his feet and waved his arms back and forth as if he was on a mountaintop.

"Hi, Dad," said Nicola. "I can see you."

"Oh, okay." He sat back down and drummed his fingers on the kitchen table. "Hi there, Nic. How are you? Bit of an adventure for you, eh?"

"Are you warm enough, darling?" asked her mother anxiously.

"Now don't be nervous, Nic." Her dad looked terrified. "The prime minister explained to us that you've been specially chosen for a top secret mission to save the world. We're very proud of you.Well done!"

"But don't worry if you can't do it," said her mother quickly. "Remember, it's not about winning, it's just about trying your best. It really doesn't matter if you don't succeed."

Nicola's dad scratched the side of his face and spoke through the side of his mouth. "Ah, it sort of does matter, darling. Apparently the whole world is depending on her."

"Well," said her mother vaguely. "But more importantly, Nicola, what are you doing about clean underwear? I mean, we didn't have a chance to pack a bag for you!"