Earthling Ambassador (Space Brigade 1)

"Quick!" she shouted to the others as they followed her down the steps. "We need to be close enough to throw our grenades, but not so close they can come after us. Luckily it doesn't look like they move very fast."

"What if I don't throw it straight?" Katie held her grenade cupped in both hands as if it might explode at any second. "You know how hopeless I am at softball."

"You'll be fine." Nicola tried not to think about Katie's habit of letting the softball slip straight through her fingers. The nasty girls called her Butterfingers.

"Just concentrate on what you're doing for once, Butterfingers," said Greta.

"Ignore her," said Nicola to Katie. "You can do it. Come on! Split up, everybody!"

Mud flew, splattering everybody's clothes and faces as they tried to run, slipping and sliding and clutching their grenades.

"Stick to the sides. It's drier!" advised Tyler.

With their longer legs, Shimlara and the princess led the way. Greta and Tyler followed Shimlara to the left, while Katie and Nicola followed the princess, who had shot off like a bullet from a gun, to the right.

Was the princess trying to escape? Everything was happening so quickly, Nicola didn't even know where to direct her attention first.

"Take that!" she heard Shimlara shout.

Without stopping, Nicola looked back over her shoulder to see Shimlara throw her freeze-grenade from the far-lefthand side of the crater. It soared high in the yellow sky, hit the mud, and exploded with a billowing cloud of purple smoke.

The smoke cleared to reveal a group of Arth-Creatures blinking and turning their massive heads this way and that. Their lip-smacking sounds became a low, spine-chilling growl. No longer were they out to dine on a leisurely lunch. Now they were really, really mad. The freeze-grenades didn't seem to be working.

Shimlara slowly, cautiously tried to back away up the side of the crater. Her sling was muddy. She held her good hand out, like a policeman saying "stop." Nicola skidded to a halt. Now what? Were the freeze-grenades broken? Had she misunderstood Mully's instructions? We're all going to die, she thought.

Suddenly she remembered Mully saying, "I've set them aside especially for use against the palace guards."

With trembling hands, Nicola turned over the grenade and noticed a small control panel on the back with instructions in small red letters. It said:

THIS FREEZE-GRENADE CURRENTLY SET

FOR ONE (1) USE AGAINST:

Bossy, bad-tempered types, e.g. palace guards, large policemen, etc.

Furious family members, e.g. brothers, sisters, fathers--WARNING:WILL NOT FREEZE MOTHERS

Dangerous Earth animals, e.g. tigers, lions, hippos, spiders, etc.

Hungry Arth-Creatures

Miscellaneous

There was a movable arrow on the side pointing at "Bossy bad-tempered types." Quickly, Nicola slid it down to "Hungry Arth-Creatures." She looked up to see who was the closest person to help Shimlara. It was Tyler, lurching gamely along, his arms flailing. His glasses were caked with mud. He was probably half blind.

"Tyler!" she yelled. "You need to change your grenade setting to Arth-Creatures! There's a control panel on the back!"

Luckily Tyler was good with anything mechanical.

The Arth-Creatures Shimlara had tried to freeze were pawing the ground like angry bulls. Suddenly they charged straight for her. Shimlara screamed.

"Now!" shouted Nicola.

Like a good soldier,Tyler obeyed instantly. He threw his grenade at the front of the pack charging at Shimlara. It hit one of the Arth-Creatures in the back of the head and exploded.

The smoke cleared and Nicola watched with a pounding heart.

YES! This time it had worked. About ten Arth-Creatures were frozen, their claws up, their huge mouths agape, as if someone had pressed a pause button.