S.O.S. From Outer Space Read online

  Chapter 1 A Familiar Message

  “He fakes left, he passes right! Rodriguez is in position. He shoots and—GOOOOOAL!” Cesar cried out the winning score for his favorite soccer team.

  Gabe, Laura, and Olive grinned as Cesar did a victory lap around the tree house. The four second-grade whiz kids—otherwise known as the DATA Set—were together listening to the Global Soccer Cup finals on Laura’s super-powered radio. Cesar was a huge soccer fan, and thanks to his photographic memory, he knew each player’s statistics by heart. The game was being broadcast live all the way from Argentina.

  “Congrats, Cesar!” Gabe said. “Your team won!”

  “Huzzah!” Cesar spun around, showing off his autographed Rodriguez soccer jersey. “I wore my lucky jersey. They had good Cesar vibes coming at them from halfway around the world!”

  “You know, speaking of ‘around the world,’ ” Olive said, glancing over at Laura, “your international radio is really cool. I feel like I’m at the game in Argentina!”

  “Thanks!” Laura said, grinning. “I’ve been tinkering with it lately. The signals are coming in stronger than ever.”

  Laura turned the dial to the right, and suddenly a woman was singing a lovely French ballad. With another twist, the radio tuned into an Australian comedy festival.

  “Can you try tuning in to the International Space Station?” Gabe asked eagerly.

  Olive giggled. “I think that might be a little too far, don’t you?” she asked.

  But to Olive’s surprise, her friends shook their heads.

  “No, Laura’s radio does reach outer space,” Cesar said matter-of-factly.

  “Actually, come to think of it, it’s been to outer space too,” Gabe added.

  Olive’s eyes grew wide with surprise. “Really?”

  Laura nodded. “It’s a long story.” She turned the knobs as she tried to find the radio frequency of the International Space Station. “I don’t know if I can tap into NASA’s signals,” she said. “But this… might… just… do it.”

  Laura adjusted a control. Static sizzled and popped over the speakers. Then suddenly, a familiar sound came through.

  Boop-boop. Beep-boop-beep.

  “I don’t believe it,” Laura said softly.

  “Why? What is it?” Olive asked.

  “It’s a message… from someone we know!”

  Chapter 2 Best Alien Friends

  “We have to get to Dr. Bunsen’s lab!” Laura exclaimed.

  She grabbed her radio, and the DATA Set sped down the tree house elevator.

  “We got a surprise message,” Laura cried, getting on her bike. “From Fave!”

  “Who’s Fave?” Olive called after her.

  “Laura’s alien best friend,” Cesar said.

  Olive blinked, unsure she had heard correctly. “Laura has an alien best friend?”

  “She sure does,” said Cesar, wiggling his arms to imitate the tiny alien. “Four arms? Big eyes? We must have told you about him.”

  “Uh… no.” Olive shook her head.

  “Oh, I’ll explain when we get there,” Cesar said. The kids sped over to Bunsen’s front lawn, and then Cesar gave Olive a quick debrief.

  “So, hold on a minute. Let me get this straight,” Olive recapped. “Dr. B invented a machine called the Bunsimmunicator 3000 that could send messages to outer space?”

  “Right,” said Cesar.

  “And an alien named Fave came down to our planet?”

  “That is correct.” Cesar nodded.

  “And when Fave used Laura’s radio to call home, his parents came and beamed you up into their spaceship?”

  “You’re three for three,” Cesar confirmed.

  “How come you never told me you were abducted by aliens?” Olive asked.

  “I thought we had,” Cesar admitted. “But time travel, alien abduction, and robots—when you’re a part of the DATA Set, it all starts to blend together.”

  “Dr. B!” Laura shouted as they ran into the lab. Bunsen was nowhere to be found, but they could hear clanging coming down the hallway.

  “This way,” Gabe declared, leading the team to the back door. They found Dr. Bunsen in his backyard in a giant metal cylinder… that was four stories high! The doctor was up on a platform, tightening a bolt to the side of a huge spaceship.

  “Dr. B, what is going on here?” Gabe asked in disbelief.

  But Dr. Bunsen couldn’t hear him.

  “Earth to Dr. B!” Olive shouted.

  The doctor was wearing headphones and singing along to a rock song. “I guess there is just me to blame. We’re leaving ground on the Bunsen Countdown!”

  “Oh no, how in the world are we going to get his attention?” Laura asked.

  That’s when Cesar spotted a long, hollow pipe that was attached to Dr. B’s platform. “I have an idea!” Cesar ran over to it, put his mouth up against the opening, and bellowed, “GOOOOOOOAAAAALLLLL!”

  The vibrations shook all the way up and made Dr. Bunsen jump.

  “Why, if it isn’t the DATA Set!” he said, finally removing his headphones.

  “We need your help!” Laura exclaimed. “We got a message from outer space. Our old friend, Fave, is trying to reach us!”

  “Oh, what excellent timing!” The doctor slid down the pole. “Because with my USS Bunsen Blaster, you will be able to reach him!”

  Chapter 3 S.O.S. from Outer Space

  “This rocket is incredible!” Gabe said as Dr. Bunsen gave them a tour inside the USS Bunsen Blaster.

  The doctor smiled proudly. “As you can see, it has autopilot settings.” He tapped a few buttons on a control panel and a digital map of the universe popped up.

  “Welcome aboard the USS Bunsen Blaster,” a friendly automated voice announced. “Which galaxy would you like to visit today?”

  The kids didn’t have time to answer because Bunsen had so much to show them.

  “This new spaceship also has four passenger pods,” the doctor chatted on, “with gravity comfort selections, hydrosonic showers, and space food machines!”

  “That. Is. So. Cool!” Cesar shouted as he picked a cosmic sundae from the menu. Instantly, a bowl of crystalized blue ice cream came out of the food machine.

  “Who knew blue space ice cream was so good?” Cesar shoveled ice cream into his mouth. “Ack! I’ve got space brain freeze!” Cesar sat down to take a break, but the rest of the DATA Set had so many questions.

  “Hang on,” Olive said, studying the digital map. “There are galaxies way beyond the Milky Way showing up here. It would take us thousands of years to reach that far!”

  “Ah, yes, I did come across that problem before.” The doctor nodded. “Luckily, I solved the equation for warp speed velocity. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been due to return until”—he checked his watch—“thirty-three thousand four hundred and twenty-two years from now.”

  “What? You never told us you’d been to space!” Cesar cried.

  “Well, after I invented the Bunsimmunicator 3000, I figured—why not go into space myself?” Dr. B explained. “My missions were during school hours. That’s the beauty of warp speed velocity. You can travel anywhere in the universe and still be home in time for dinner.”

  “And you never invited us?” Cesar gasped. “That would have been the best field trip ever!”

  “What happened to your other rockets?” Laura asked.

  “Decommissioned,” the doctor said, adjusting his goggles. “Or, most recently, put on display in the Museum of Human Artifacts just outside the Kuiper Belt.”

  Gabe’s eyes lit up. “So you’ve visited other planets? Jupiter? Saturn? Uranus?”

  “Yes, yes, and Uran-yes!” replied the doctor.

  “How about o
ther galaxies?” asked Cesar. “I memorized all the ones listed in my space encyclopedia. The farthest one we know of is GN-z11.”

  “I’m afraid I’m not allowed there anymore,” Dr. Bunsen whispered. “Turns out beatboxing is quite frowned upon in some parts of the universe.”

  “But can we really use your rocket to reach Fave?” Laura asked.

  “Oh yes, right! The mysterious message!” Dr. Bunsen clapped his hands. “Let’s plug in your radio to my Bunsimmunicator 3000 and see what Fave says!”

  The DATA Set followed the doctor to the main part of his lab. Laura hooked up her radio so Dr. B’s machine could translate the message.

  Boop-boop. Beep-boop-beep.

  The Bunsimmunicator whirred.

  “S.O.S. FROM OUTER SPACE,” it translated.

  “Oh no, S.O.S!” Laura gasped. “That stands for trouble. Fave needs our help!”

  Chapter 4 Space Training

  “Then it’s time to suit up!” Dr. Bunsen exclaimed. He led them to a display case containing several futuristic space suits. Soon, the DATA Set looked like real astronauts.

  “Now you’re dressed for the mission,” Dr. B declared. “But you must also train for the job. For that, we will need to use my new anti-gravity chamber.”

  Dr. Bunsen ushered the kids into a glass chamber with several large, circular discs on the floor.

  “Please select an anti-grav pad and we’ll begin,” the doctor instructed.

  “I hope this doesn’t make me sick,” Olive said as she stepped onto her circle.

  “Nah, it’s just like floating,” Cesar said with a wave. “How bad could it beeeeeeeeeee?”

  With a whoosh, the children were lifted up and suspended in midair.

  “Whoa!” exclaimed Gabe. “It’s like we’re flying!”

  “This is awesome!” Laura pretended to swim through the air. “Olive, you should try some of your gymnastics moves.”

  Olive nodded then flipped over five times. “That’s a quintuple twist!”

  “Oh man, I can’t look,” Cesar said with his hand over his mouth. “Zero gravity… is worse than I thought. That blue ice cream might come back up.”

  “Do not fear! Bunsen is here!” Dr. Bunsen restored the gravity in the chamber and the DATA Set floated back down.

  Cesar let out a large burp. “Whoa, that was a close call,” he panted. “I’m not looking forward to take off. At. All.”

  That’s when Gabe looked around at the team. “Where’s your suit, Dr. B? Aren’t you going to come with us?” he asked.

  “I would love to, my dear boy,” the doctor said. “But the weight limit of the USS Bunsen Blaster is quite specific. I’m afraid there’s no room for me on this mission.”

  “You mean we’ll be in outer space by ourselves?” Laura asked.

  “Yes indeed, but weirder things have happened, wouldn’t you say? And you’ll have me on standby if anything comes up,” said Dr. B.

  “Okay, but I just need to know one thing before we go: How does warp speed velocity exactly work?” Gabe asked curiously as he looked at Dr. Bunsen’s notes. “I’ve read Einstein’s theory of special relativity. As we approach the speed of light, wouldn’t time slow down for us but move forward for everyone else?”

  “Ah, yes, well…” The doctor rubbed the back of his head. “To be honest, I’ve been sworn to secrecy by the Universal Coalition of Galaxies not to share warp speed velocity with Earth scientists yet. To honor the natural progression of technology and all.”

  “Okay, but our parents think we’re having a sleepover in our tree house,” Laura pointed out. “How long will we have?”

  “You have exactly twenty-four hours.” Dr. Bunsen spread his arms wide. “As long as you can complete your mission and be back by then, all will be fine in the universe.

  Chapter 5 Blastoff!

  The DATA Set watched in awe as Dr. Bunsen removed the ceiling of the rocket ship to uncover the central launch pad.

  “Dr. B, this is seriously SO cool!” Gabe whistled. “I know you’ve built a lot of incredible inventions, but this rocket is… out of this world!”

  “Wait, but can we actually blast off from here?” Cesar asked. “And not, you know, set the neighbors on fire?”

  “Most definitely!” exclaimed the doctor. “Heat-proofing, vibration-cancellation, and sound-buffering, have all been accounted for. But the one tricky bit has always been the bright lights from the blaster. If things are not timed perfectly, the flash from the blastoff will be visible due to the high warp speed.…”

  The doctor’s voice trailed off as he stared into space. But then, just as quickly, he snapped out of it. “No matter! It’s never been an issue before.”

  The DATA Set all froze for a moment, smiling at one another nervously.

  “Umm, I guess flashing lights aren’t that big of a deal… right?” Olive said first.

  “Yeah, we’ll be fine!” cried Gabe. “I’ve been waiting to go to outer space since I was five!”

  “And I’ve wanted another blue cosmic sundae since I learned it existed five minutes ago!” added Cesar.

  “Great! Roger that. But remember, we need to help Fave,” Laura reminded them. “That’s our real mission.” Gabe and the rest of the DATA Set nodded.

  With that, Dr. Bunsen strapped the kids into their space pods. Then he connected Laura’s radio to the control panel so it could detect Fave’s space signal.

  Instantly, a flight path popped up on the screen. Fave’s signal had come from a galaxy far beyond the Milky Way, on an uncharted planet.

  “All set, my fearless travelers?” Dr. Bunsen asked.

  “Yes, sir! Ready for blastoff!” Gabe and the gang gave a big thumbs-up.

  Dr. B sealed the rocket door with a big THUNK. Then the countdown began.

  “Ten, nine, eight,” his voice echoed over the intercom. “Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one… BLASTOFF!”

  With a massive shudder, the USS Bunsen Blaster thundered off the launchpad, hurtling through the atmosphere.

  “I-I-I-I C-C-CAN’T F-F-F-EEL M-M-MY F-F-F-ACE!” Cesar’s teeth clattered together.

  “This was a bad idea!” Olive shouted above the deafening noise.

  “Just hang on!” Laura cried. “I’M SURE… WE’RE ALMOST… THERE!”

  The kids held onto their chairs for what felt like an eternity until everything went quiet. The rocket boosters shut off. The shaking stopped. And the DATA Set slowly opened their eyes to find the USS Bunsen Blaster floating through space, surrounded by countless stars.

  Chapter 6 Across the Cosmos

  “Come in, DATA Set! Do you read me?” Dr. Bunsen’s voice crackled over the intercom.

  “Yes, we’re fine, Dr. B,” Gabe answered back.

  “We’re better than fine—we’re great!” exclaimed Laura. “Outer space is amazing!”

  The kids gazed out the window in absolute wonder. The Earth was so far away that it looked like a tiny, swirled marble. Ahead of them stretched millions of stars, twinkling against the deep blackness of space.

  “Huzzah!” cheered the doctor.

  “Could anyone see the flash of the big blastoff?” Olive asked.

  “Oh yes, it was quite the spectacular light show,” Dr. B said. “But hopefully, not too many people saw. Now, when you’re ready, press the big blue button. That will put the ship into auto warp speed mode, so you can reach Fave’s planet faster.”

  Gabe did as Dr. B said, and the rocket lurched forward. The distant stars began streaking by like long beams of light.

  “We’re on our way!” Gabe confirmed.

  Just then, a doorbell chimed in the background by Dr. Bunsen.

  “The doorbell?” the doctor asked curiously. “But I never get visitors.”

  “Is everything okay, Dr. B?” asked Gabe.

  “Yes, yes, but it looks like I’ve got to go. You know how to reach me, but for now, good luck, my young DATA Set!”

  When the call ended, Olive touched the screen to
look at the map.

  “How long will take to reach Fave’s planet?” Olive asked.

  The rocket computer hummed to life. “You will reach your destination in five hours and thirty-seven minutes,” announced the friendly voice.

  “Thank goodness. It sounds like we’ve got a little time,” Cesar said. He unbuckled himself and floated out of his chair. “I say, let’s get this rocket party started!”

  The kids high-fived each other. For the next few hours, they would be able to enjoy the special features of the USS Bunsen Blaster. They used the food machine to make yummy space s’mores. They played zero-gravity ping-pong and even had a flipping contest. They also caught a few space z’s in the sleep pods so they would be fresh and alert when they finally reached Fave’s home.

  BRRRT! BRRRT! BRRRT!

  The DATA Set jolted awake. The USS Bunsen Blaster’s alarm was going off!

  “Red alert!” cried Cesar. “All hands to battle stations!”

  “We’re not under attack,” Laura said, rubbing her eyes. “That’s the landing sequence alarm. Look! We’re here!”

  The friends huddled around the window. Out in the distance they could see a rainbow-colored planet with spirals of orbiting rings.