Nicola looked out the window and saw that the cars parked on their street already looked no bigger than toys.
As they climbed higher into Earth's outer atmosphere, the bright summer day vanished like a dream. Now they were surrounded by silent, velvety blackness. All around them were glittering stars. Earth floated beneath them like a beautiful marble.
'Should have brought a pack of cards for the journey,' yawned Sean. Nicola poked him in the side. Sean was playing it cool but Nicola knew there was no way he could not have been amazed to be in outer space again.
'I think that's Globagaskar down to our left,' said Tyler, his face flushed with excitement.
They all craned their heads to see. If Earth was the size of a marble, Globagaskar was a soccer ball. There were no blue patches, like on Earth, because there were no oceans, but Nicola knew the patches of white were the tops of colossal snow-capped mountain ranges.
'Prepare for landing,' said Tyler into his microphone.
'Oh, gosh.' Nicola had forgotten how incredibly fast spaceship travel was with Globagaskarian technology.
The spaceship began to plummet towards the planet below. This part always made Nicola feel dizzy, as if they were going over the top of a waterfall on a raft. As they drew closer, she could see the mountain peaks draped in snow like the icing on a wedding cake. Then the mountains disappeared and they were over the top of a city.
'We're coming up to the Gorgioskios' house!' said Tyler, his hands tight on the controls.
'Don't land on Georgio's aero-car again,' said Greta.
'That wasn't me. That was Shimlara.' Tyler looked away from the controls at Greta.
'Watch where you're going!' warned Nicola as the spaceship dropped rapidly towards the house.
Tyler manoeuvred the spaceship over the Gorgioskios' backyard.
'There's Georgio in the pool!' said Katie.
And there he was, floating flat on his back in the pink water, his legs crossed at the ankles, a big straw hat shielding his face.
'Not in the pool,' she said to Tyler. 'Oh, please don't land in the pool.'
'I'm trying not to,' said Tyler desperately, a trickle of sweat running down his forehead. 'I'm trying . . .'
But the spaceship seemed attracted to the pool like a magnet.
Nicola watched as Georgio lazily lifted his hat from his face and looked straight up at them. They were close enough now to see his mouth form a circle of horror.
'We're going to land straight on top of him!' cried Nicola.
With an explosion of frothy pink water, the spaceship crashed straight into the swimming pool.
6
There was silence except for the sound of water lapping gently against the sides of their spaceship.
Tyler bent forward with his hands pressed against his face. 'Sorry,' he said.
'It's not your fault,' said Katie.
'Of course it's his fault!' said Greta. 'He was the one flying!'
'I'd like to see you do any better,' said Sean.
'Enough!' said Nicola. 'We need to see if Georgio is okay.'
Tyler pressed a button and the spaceship hatch opened. As they looked around, all they could see were the walls of the pool. The force of their landing had created such a huge splash, most of the pink fizzy pool water had disappeared.
'Oh frizzle!' said Nicola. ('Frizzle' was a private Berry Family swear word which they were allowed to use in times of extreme stress.)