The rest of the Space Brigade emerged from the water around her.
She smiled as she saw the expressions of amazement and delight on their faces as they gazed around them.
"Welcome to the Planet of Whimsy," she said.
CHAPTER 19
The Space Brigade pulled off their helmets and took a look at their surroundings. All of them were struggling to find the right words to describe Whimsy.
"Oh, it's just . . . !" said Katie.
"This is . . . this is . . . this is . . ." repeated Sean over and over.
"I have never seen anything so . . . so . . . I don't know," said Shimlara.
"Beautiful," said Greta. "Except beautiful seems too ordinary a word. It's . . ."
"Ineffable," said Nicola.
They all stared at her as if she were speaking another language.
"It's a word!" Nicola said defiantly. "I saw it in the dictionary one day when I was looking up how to spell inertia. Ineffable means something that you can't describe. I didn't think I'd ever get to use that word, but that's what this is--ineffable."
She gestured at their surroundings. They were in the very center of a brilliant turquoise lake. Waterfalls tumbled over mossy rocks. Birds soared above them, singing like church bells. In the distance, they could see velvet green mountains. The sky was the color of a ripe plum. There was only one sun, just like on Earth, except this sun was four times the size of Earth's sun, and it shone beams of intense scarlet-gold light. Curving over the sky like a rainbow, and hiding Volcomania's suns and volcanos from view, was the halo of pink atmospheric dust. From here, you would never know that Whimsy was attached to a planet like Volcomania.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
A shocking sound ripped through the peaceful landscape.
One of the velvet green mountains exploded inward as if a giant fist had punched it. Clouds of smoke billowed black against the plum-colored sky. There was a hammering noise that sounded like machine guns.
The Space Brigade swam closer together and formed a tight little circle of fear. The joy on their faces vanished. They'd forgotten they were in a war zone.
"Let's get to the shore," said Nicola.
As they swam, more explosions rocked the lake like an earthquake. Suddenly Nicola was furious with Volcomania. What right did it have to declare war on this beautiful planet? It was like a big bully picking on an adorable child.
"Leave them alone!" she cried at the sky.
Fortunately, it didn't take them long to make it to the sandy shore. They unsnapped their scuba diving suits and stepped out, their clothes completely dry.
"Maybe we should hide our suits here instead of carrying them around everywhere we go," said Katie.
"Good idea," said Nicola.
They found a cave behind a waterfall and hid their suits under a pile of rocks.
"I hope we get to use these," said Shimlara, her voice filled with emotion, as she hid the three extra suits they'd brought along for Georgio, Mully, and Squid.
"Of course we'll use them," said Nicola.
"Mmmm--" began Greta with a pessimistic look on her face but Nicola glared at her, making a sign with her finger and thumb like a zipper pulling her mouth shut. For once Greta stopped talking.
"We have to remember we're still undercover as a news crew," said Nicola. "So don't forget your press passes."
"No problem," said Tyler. "As long as no one looks too closely at our equipment." He lifted his battered and soggy camera gear onto his shoulder.
"What will I be now that I'm not the bus driver?" said Shimlara.