Earthling Ambassador (Space Brigade 1)

CHAPTER 32

The sun was warm on their clammy, muddy skin. They could hear waves gently thumping on the sand and the shrieks of seagulls.The sea was a giant glittery curve stretching out to the horizon. It was perfect. Nobody could resist Buddy Beach.

The princess walked slowly down the stairs of the spaceship and onto the rippled gold sand.

"I bet she loves it!" whispered Katie behind Nicola. "This was such a good--"

"AAAAAAAUUUGGH!"

The princess jumped madly from foot to foot. "Hot, burning, hot, hot, hot! What is this horrible yellow dirt?"

Oh great, the sand was boiling hot, and of course, the princess was the only one of them with bare feet. Couldn't things go right for just a second?

"Stand on this!" Greta, who was still half frozen but had thawed enough to walk, stiffly pulled a raincoat from her schoolbag and threw it down onto the sand in front of the princess, who jumped on it, her face screwed up in pain.

"That hurt! Did you do that on purpose? After I saved all your pathetic little lives? I'm going to get the palace torturers to add special foot-torture to your treatments!"

This was not going well at all.

"We didn't do it on purpose," said Nicola as the rest of the Space Brigade joined her on the beach. "I'm sorry. I just forgot the sand would be hot. See, it happens to everybody!"

She pointed to a surfer in the distance who was dashing along the beach on his tiptoes.

"Well, even if you didn't do it on purpose, what sort of planet has a ground so hot you can't walk on it?"

"It's only the sand," said Nicola. "Grass is fine to walk on."

"Unless there are bindi-eyes," said Greta.

"What are bindi-eyes?" asked the princess.

"They're sharp things that stick in your feet. Like glass."

"Thanks very much, Greta," said Nicola.

"I'm just being truthful. Gosh, I'm so itchy!"

A little boy's voice piped up in the distance.

"Mommy, Mommy, I just saw a spaceship land on the beach over there! Come and see!"

A woman's voice answered, "Very imaginative, darling."

"No, no, I saw it!"

"Oh dear," said Nicola. "I don't want us a

ttracting huge crowds of people."

"That's okay," said Shimlara. "The mini spaceships are great because they're portable. Look."

She went to the side of the spaceship and pressed a row of buttons.The spaceship began whirling slowly around in circles. It spun faster and faster until it was just a blur of color, like a cake mixer on full blast.Then suddenly it stopped and seemed to disappear completely. Sitting on the sand was an unassuming silver briefcase with the words MINI EASY-RIDE SPACESHIP written discreetly on the side. Shimlara picked up the briefcase in one hand. "See?"

"Fabulous!" said Tyler.

"Yes, fabulous, a run-of-the-mill cheap-brand mini spaceship," said the princess. "So am I stuck on this raincoat forever?"

"You can borrow my shoes," offered Shimlara. "I think we're about the same size."