the controls. Wormholes were unpredictable, and needed a skilled human pilot like Kip to fly safely through them.
Kip held MoNa steady until she popped through the wormhole into Vapod’s galaxy. The bright orange planet lay directly ahead. Kip knew that what looked like a surface was really just cloud. Beyond the cloud was a vast, gassy nothingness.
Kip took a deep breath as he looked out the window towards Vapod.
Time to get out there, he thought. Time to save Earth!
So, thought Kip, how do we get down there?
‘There are two CondorCrafts waiting in the landing bay,’ MoNa piped up, as if she’d read his mind.
Kip had been dying to try a CondorCraft. He’d seen pictures in the Space Scout digital magazine, iScout , which was only available as a download to SpaceCuffs.
The CondorCrafts were hypersonic space gliders designed to look like condors, giant birds that lived on Earth. Unlike old-fashioned hang-gliders, CondorCraft wings actually flapped. There was a harness and a crossbar for steering underneath the wings. The CondorCrafts would be perfect for getting around on a gas planet.
Kip and Finbar headed down to the landing bay.
‘How do we control these wings?’ Finbar muttered as he and Kip clipped on their harnesses.
Beneath his fangs and claws, Finbar was teddy-bear soft. The idea of plunging through space in a CondorCraft was his worst nightmare.
‘Get into your CondorCraft and my SlingShot Cannon will fire you towards Vapod,’ MoNa explained in her know-it-all voice. ‘When the CondorCraft detects that you’ve entered the atmosphere, its engines will fire and the wings will automatically start flapping.’
‘Isn’t that a bit dangerous?’ Finbar whimpered, but Kip was already climbing into the SlingShot Cannon.
‘You’ll be fine, Fin!’ Kip called over his shoulder. He settled into the cannon, bracing himself for the ride.
Kip hurtled through space toward the giant orange planet, impossibly fast. This…is…AWESOME! he thought. It was about a million times better than the BulletCoaster, the fastest and longest rollercoaster on Mars, which Kip had ridden six times in one day last year.
Then…
Kip hit the cloud layer of Vapod. The CondorCraft’s wings caught the wind and flapped powerfully.
Kip looked around and spotted Finbar, who had just entered the cloud layer a little way away. Kip waved, grinning, but Finbar looked a bit sick.
They steered down through Vapod’s orange cloud layer. By shifting their body-weight, Kip and Finbar could steer up and down, left and right.
They didn’t pop out the other side of the cloud layer quickly, as they would have on Earth. Vapod’s clouds went on for hundreds of kilometres.
Eventually the cloud layer thinned. When they finally burst through the other side, Kip gasped.
Below them lay a breathtaking, gravity-defying floating city. It was built on several metal platforms with long arms. The platforms were suspended below small balloons.
Those balloons don’t look big enough to hold up huge platforms , Kip thought.
Kip and Finbar dipped and dived closer. They noticed clear domed buildings on some of the platforms. As Kip watched, a pair of aliens flew out from a nearby dome.
The aliens were shaped liked stingrays, but instead of the flat bodies that Earth’s stingrays had, these aliens were inflated like balloons. Underneath their billowing tummies were two fat legs.
Kip noticed something else — the aliens were clutching their heads with their wings.
Maybe that’s a kind of dance or something in their culture, he thought.
Before he attempted to make contact with the Vapod aliens, Kip wanted to test the planet’s atmosphere to find out which gases were in it.
Kip flicked his SpaceCuff on. But just as he was about to open the Air Analyser mode, a plume of smoke belched out of the SpaceCuff.
‘Uh-oh,’ Kip said to Finbar through the intercom system inside their helmets. ‘I forgot to fix my SpaceCuff on the way here! Jett’s
Kip held MoNa steady until she popped through the wormhole into Vapod’s galaxy. The bright orange planet lay directly ahead. Kip knew that what looked like a surface was really just cloud. Beyond the cloud was a vast, gassy nothingness.
Kip took a deep breath as he looked out the window towards Vapod.
Time to get out there, he thought. Time to save Earth!
So, thought Kip, how do we get down there?
‘There are two CondorCrafts waiting in the landing bay,’ MoNa piped up, as if she’d read his mind.
Kip had been dying to try a CondorCraft. He’d seen pictures in the Space Scout digital magazine, iScout , which was only available as a download to SpaceCuffs.
The CondorCrafts were hypersonic space gliders designed to look like condors, giant birds that lived on Earth. Unlike old-fashioned hang-gliders, CondorCraft wings actually flapped. There was a harness and a crossbar for steering underneath the wings. The CondorCrafts would be perfect for getting around on a gas planet.
Kip and Finbar headed down to the landing bay.
‘How do we control these wings?’ Finbar muttered as he and Kip clipped on their harnesses.
Beneath his fangs and claws, Finbar was teddy-bear soft. The idea of plunging through space in a CondorCraft was his worst nightmare.
‘Get into your CondorCraft and my SlingShot Cannon will fire you towards Vapod,’ MoNa explained in her know-it-all voice. ‘When the CondorCraft detects that you’ve entered the atmosphere, its engines will fire and the wings will automatically start flapping.’
‘Isn’t that a bit dangerous?’ Finbar whimpered, but Kip was already climbing into the SlingShot Cannon.
‘You’ll be fine, Fin!’ Kip called over his shoulder. He settled into the cannon, bracing himself for the ride.
Kip hurtled through space toward the giant orange planet, impossibly fast. This…is…AWESOME! he thought. It was about a million times better than the BulletCoaster, the fastest and longest rollercoaster on Mars, which Kip had ridden six times in one day last year.
Then…
Kip hit the cloud layer of Vapod. The CondorCraft’s wings caught the wind and flapped powerfully.
Kip looked around and spotted Finbar, who had just entered the cloud layer a little way away. Kip waved, grinning, but Finbar looked a bit sick.
They steered down through Vapod’s orange cloud layer. By shifting their body-weight, Kip and Finbar could steer up and down, left and right.
They didn’t pop out the other side of the cloud layer quickly, as they would have on Earth. Vapod’s clouds went on for hundreds of kilometres.
Eventually the cloud layer thinned. When they finally burst through the other side, Kip gasped.
Below them lay a breathtaking, gravity-defying floating city. It was built on several metal platforms with long arms. The platforms were suspended below small balloons.
Those balloons don’t look big enough to hold up huge platforms , Kip thought.
Kip and Finbar dipped and dived closer. They noticed clear domed buildings on some of the platforms. As Kip watched, a pair of aliens flew out from a nearby dome.
The aliens were shaped liked stingrays, but instead of the flat bodies that Earth’s stingrays had, these aliens were inflated like balloons. Underneath their billowing tummies were two fat legs.
Kip noticed something else — the aliens were clutching their heads with their wings.
Maybe that’s a kind of dance or something in their culture, he thought.
Before he attempted to make contact with the Vapod aliens, Kip wanted to test the planet’s atmosphere to find out which gases were in it.
Kip flicked his SpaceCuff on. But just as he was about to open the Air Analyser mode, a plume of smoke belched out of the SpaceCuff.
‘Uh-oh,’ Kip said to Finbar through the intercom system inside their helmets. ‘I forgot to fix my SpaceCuff on the way here! Jett’s
Similar Books
