Earthling Ambassador (Space Brigade 1)

"NO!" Squid's face crumbled. "I PLAYING WITH TOYS!"

"Well, okay then." Katie let him go. "You win. Off you go."

Squid ran for his life.

"You're a genius," said Shimlara, locking her bedroom door behind them. "Have you got a little brother, too?"

"I've got three of them," said Katie. "Reverse psychology works every time."

"Right," said Nicola as everybody settled down, sitting on the floor or on Shimlara's funny ball bed. "I'd like to call this meeting to order."

"Don't take yourself too seriously there, Nic," said Sean. "You might be the boss, but you're not the Queen of England."

"Are you going to start by calling the roll?" asked Greta. "That's what I'd do. Have you even got a list of our names? I mean, you've got to be organized, Nicola, no offense or anything, but I've seen your locker at school, and you're not a very organized person."

"QUIET," said Nicola. Keeping these people in line was going to be an even tougher job than meeting the princess. "The reason I decided I needed more than one person to complete this mission is because I have an idea. It could be dangerous and it's definitely against the law."

"Now you're talking." Sean grinned.

"But I think it's the only way we're going to save Earth from becoming an intergalactic garbage can."

Everybody looked at her expectantly.

"My idea . . ." began Nicola hesitantly. Tyler gave her a little nod of encouragement. "My idea is to kidnap the princess."

CHAPTER 19

For a moment there was silence, then everybody burst out talking at once.

"AWESOME!" said Sean.

"Oh, but that seems so mean," said Katie.

"But how would we ever get past the guards?" asked Shimlara.

"Is that really your best idea?" asked Greta.

"How would kidnapping the princess help accomplish the mission?" asked Tyler. "She could just pretend to agree to do what we want and then change her mind again when we let her go free. I mean, we can't kidnap her forever."

Everybody stopped talking when they heard Tyler's question and looked to Nicola for an answer.

"I think Princess Petronella is bored," explained Nicola. "She's coming up with these stupid laws just for something to do. If we take her to Earth, we can show her how fun it is! She can swim in the oceans and we could take her to the zoo and show her giraffes and kangaroos and koala bears and, and . . . stuff! And then maybe she'll realize what a terrible thing it would be to destroy such an amazing place."

"Mmmm," said Tyler doubtfully. "I guess that might work."

"The princess is probably upset that her parents didn't take her with them on their vacation," said Katie thoughtfully. "Georgio told us she didn't have any brothers or sisters, so she must be pretty lonely."

"You might be right," said Nicola. "She probably just needs some friends to help make her nicer."

"What if the princess is just a nasty person?" asked Shimlara. "Some people are nasty all the way through."

"In that case we could torture her!" said Sean enthusiastically.

Everybody stared at him until he mumbled, "Just a little bit--not so it really hurts her. Can't anybody take a joke around here?"

"I don't want to question your idea or anything, Nicola," said Greta. "But how are we going to kidnap the princess? Have you got a plan? I mean, I don't think kidnapping is that easy, you know.We could all end up in jail. I don't want a criminal record! It might affect my chances of being school captain next year."

"Yes, I am aware that kidnapping a princess isn't going to be easy," said Nicola. "That's why I formed the Brigade. I knew I couldn't do it on my own, but I thought together we could come up with some ideas." She put on a honey-sweet voice. "If you think it's too hard, Greta, then you don't need to be in the Space Brigade.You can just go and wait outside with Mully and Georgio and Squid."