Earthling Ambassador (Space Brigade 1)

It was like the sky had been ripped in two by giant hands and then set on fire.

Through the gap in the flaming sky, a huge spaceship, the size of a mountain, zoomed straight toward the beach.

Nicola gulped for air like a drowning person.

Was it the end of the world already? Was she too late?

CHAPTER 36

"It's going to land on us! It's going to land on us!" shrieked Greta with her hands over her head, as if that would be enough to protect her from a crashing spaceship.

"It's not! It's going to land in the water," yelled Tyler, his head tipped back to look up at the blaze.

He was right.

The spaceship crashed straight into the ocean.

WHOOMPA!

It hit the water with such a splash, an enormous wave of cold water crashed on to the beach, drenching them all and putting out their fire.

For a second or two, nobody moved.They stood still, catching their breath and dripping, while their campfire hissed sadly.

"My mershmullow!"The princess threw down her stick with its soggy marshmallow and stamped her foot. "Why do my mom and dad have to ruin everything?!"

"Your mom and dad?" said Nicola. "You mean the king and queen of Globagaskar? Is that their spaceship?"

"Yes, that's the stupid Royal Spaceship."The princess stuck her lower lip out and kicked at the sand.

Nobody spoke.They all stared at the huge, glittering Royal Spaceship. It was like an entire shopping center had materialized.

"Look," said Tyler.

A long door slid open along one side of the spaceship and a metal walkway sprang out across the water to the beach.

Immediately, about fifty palace guards came jogging briskly across the walkway, each cradling a different scary-looking weapon. As they got to the beach they fell to the ground and began wriggling across the sand on their stomachs.

"Oh, for crying out loud," said the princess. She walked toward the spaceship waving her hands above her head. "MOM AND DAD! I'M OVER HERE! I'M FINE!"

A man and woman came running down the walkway, both of them clutching their jewel

-encrusted crowns, purple velvet capes billowing behind them.

"Our darling NELLY!" they cried.

"Nelly?" smirked Sean.

The king and queen stumbled up the beach and threw their arms around the princess.

"Are you all right? Are you hungry? Are you warm enough? Where is your tiara? Oh, no, you're all WET! Did those dastardly kidnappers do that to you?"

"YOU got me all wet when you landed the spaceship in the water." The princess pulled away from them. "And they're not dastardly kidnappers! They're my ... friends."

The queen gasped. "Oh, no! They've brainwashed you!"

"They have not!"

"But Nelly, darling."The king lifted his crown and scratched at his balding head. "We hear you gave an order to turn their planet into a garbage can. I don't think these Earthlings would really appreciate that."