A cool breeze blew against Nicola's hot, sweaty face as she slid smoothly down the side of the ash mountain, her legs stuck out in front of her.
Suddenly all her childhood memories of sliding came back to her in a rush. She could feel that familiar mix of exhilaration and fear. She could see her dad's face at the bottom of the slide, his arms out wide, ready to catch her.
Except this was the ultimate slide experience. It was faster, longer. She could hear the other members of the Space Brigade crying out silly things like "Whooeeee!"
Greta would probably be highly disapproving.
Oh, who cares what Greta thinks?
Nicola lifted her arms up straight in the air and shouted, "Whoo hoo! "
CHAPTER 11
The Space Brigade landed at the bottom of the mountain of ash in a shrieking, breathless tangle of arms and legs. They were all laughing hysterically, almost delirious from the excitement of the slide. Even Greta was giggling.
"Ahem," said a serious, deep voice.
Nicola was still chortling as she sat up. Then she abruptly stopped laughing as she looked up at a very tall, very bald man standing in front of them, his hands on his hips, an extremely disapproving, raised-eyebrow, pursed-lip expression on his long, pale face.
"Lovely day for a stroll," he snapped.
What an odd thing to say,thought Nicola.
"Nicola!" hissed Sean. "That's the code phrase!"
Of course! She'd quite forgotten they were being met by a Globagaskarian secret agent. And now Nicola was supposed to say something back to identify herself. What was it? Finally, it came to her.
"I do enjoy a piece of pie."
The man stared at her blankly.
"Oh, erm, I mean, I do enjoy a piece of rhubarb pie," said Nicola hurriedly. Really! Who came up with these ridiculous code phrases? They didn't even make sense.
The man dropped his hands from his hips. There was an expression of pure disbelief on his face.
"I'm Agent JJ-11. So you're the highly trained Space Brigade?" he said.
"That's us." Nicola felt fraudulent, as if she and her friends were all just pretending to be the Space Brigade.
JJ-11 looked around him, as if for an audience who could share his consternation. Finally, he gave a resigned shrug. "Well, if you'd like to follow me, I've arranged accommodation for the evening, transport, and fake identities for you."
The Space Brigade stood up, trying to brush away the ash from their clothes and the leftover smiles from their faces.
JJ-11 went striding off and they all had to run to keep up with him.
"Imagine living here," said Katie, as they followed JJ-11 up a steep, winding track around the bottom of the volcano. She gestured at the fiery explosions from the volcanoes and the dark, brooding city in the distance. "It would be like living in a nightmare."
"In regard to your secret identities," said JJ-11, "I decided the safest thing would be for you to pretend to be a news crew from Earth reporting on the progress of the war. I've set you up with various props--press passes, microphones, notepads, cameras, et cetera. You'll need to appear as authentic as possible. You'll be pleased to hear that I've arranged for some genuine Earthling transportation for you. A wealthy Globagaskarian once picked up this motorized conveyance as a souvenir while vacationing on Earth. It fits perfectly with your identities." He couldn't hide the note of pride in his voice.
"Must be some sort of jeep," said Tyler quietly.
They rounded a corner and JJ-11 gestured in front of him at a very, very familiar sight. "Your transportation."
"Well, how ridiculous!" said Greta.
Sean snorted.
"What is it?" said Shimlara uncomprehendingly.