'Nic, it's Topaz!' called out Shimlara, as if Nicola hadn't figured this out already. 'We've found Topaz!'

'I know!' called back Nicola.

But it seemed finding Topaz wasn't the answer to their problems at all.

32

'Welcome to headquarters,' sniffed Topaz. 'Not that it's going to be headquarters for much longer.'

The Space Brigade, Topaz, Joshua and Serena were standing in front of a large boulder on the side of the mountain. Topaz kicked at something in the snow beneath her feet and the boulder slid back to reveal an enormous cave divided into two sections by a rocky wall. The left-hand side was a small stable where three ShobGobbles were snoozing contentedly. 'We did some flying this morning,' explained Joshua. 'They're exhausted.'

The right-hand side had a long table in the centre, scattered with pens, newspaper clippings and pieces of strange-looking equipment. Old placards were lined up against the walls of the cave with slogans like: THE TROUBLE WITH SHOBBLE IS ENRICO! and A HAIRITY WHO CARES IS A RARITY! and SHARE SHOBBLE'S PROFITS WITH THE PEOPLE!

There were three cots lined up against the walls where Topaz, Joshua and Serena obviously slept. There was also a small stove and a basket full of food supplies. It was clearly a place where people worked hard.

Topaz made her way straight to one of the beds. Her face was flushed and her teeth were chattering. 'Sorry, but I'm going to bed,' she said. 'I think I've got a temperature.' She got in, pulled the blankets over her shoulders and turned to face the wall.

Joshua and Serena raised their eyebrows at each other.

'She'll bounce back to her old self as soon as her cold goes away,' said Joshua. 'She's not serious about giving up the cause.'

'I am so serious,' said Topaz, without turning her head from the wall.

'Of course you are,' said Joshua, while silently shaking his head.

'I am,' said Topaz. Her voice began to drift off. 'I've - had - just - about - enough.' Seconds later, she was snoring.

'A nice long sleep will do her a world of good,' said Nicola. Oh, why did her mother's voice keep coming out of her mouth like that!

Luckily, before Sean could tease her mercilessly, Joshua mentioned food and distracted him.

'I've made some hizza,' he said. 'Who wants some?'

'What's hizza?' asked Sean suspiciously.

It turned out that 'hizza' on Shobble was exactly the same as pizza on Earth - and it was fantastic, with a thin crispy crust, a thick, tasty topping and lots of melted cheese.

'This is pizza, dude,' said Sean, taking his fifth piece. 'And it's very good.'

'It's hizza,' said Joshua. 'And I know it's good. I'm going to be a chef one day - once we've overthrown Enrico.'

'Well I don't mean to be negative,' said Greta. (Here we go, thought Nicola.) 'But how are you ever going to overthrow Enrico when your leader has given up and gone to bed? We've come all this way to find you so we could work together to fight Enrico, and so far it's been a big waste of time.'

'Greta,' said Tyler, 'if it wasn't for Topaz we'd still be stuck in our bubble-jackets.'

'Well, if it wasn't for Topaz we wouldn't have been here in the first place. And meanwhile Katie is stuck in Enrico's clutches and we're all just sitting here on the other side of the planet eating hizza!'

Nicola had to admit she had a point.

'Hey, we didn't ask you to come here,' said Joshua, starting to look angry. 'We did our best to stop you when we arranged for your ShobGobbles to be put to sleep.'

'Speaking of which, I hope that didn't hurt our lovely ShobGobbles,' said Shimlara. 'That was a pretty mean thing to do to poor defenceless animals!'

'It's perfectly safe, and anyway, we thought you were coming to kill my sister!' Joshua slammed his fist on the table. 'We thought you were scary creatures from another planet!'

'Oh, we can be scary,' said Sean, looking fierce, although the blob of tomato sauce on his nose spoiled the effect.

'Who is Katie?' interrupted Serena.

Tags: Liane Moriarty Space Brigade Science Fiction
Source: readsnovelonline.net