Light was pouring through the windows of the stone hut. There wasn't much inside except for a row of stretcher beds, where the Space Brigade had collapsed last night. N
icola couldn't even remember putting her head on the pillow.
She hopped out of bed and walked to one of the windows. As usual, she was the first one up. The rest of the Space Brigade was still sound asleep.
Nicola opened the window and leaned out, eager to see what Volcomania looked like in the daylight.
The first thing she noticed was the sky.
So far, in her space travels, Nicola had experienced four planets.
The Planet of Earth had one sun.
The Planet of Globagaskar had two cherry-colored suns.
The Planet of Shobble had one sun.
The Planet of Arth had--she couldn't remember, she'd been too busy trying to avoid being eaten by Arth-Creatures.
And now, here she was on a planet with not one, not two, but dozens of tiny, fiercely glowing, orange suns.The sky looked busy, like it had been decorated with balloons for a party.
The suns lit up the landscape with a harsh orange glow. The volcanoes were still erupting regularly, but the lava didn't seem as molten red as it had during the night. Or perhaps she was just getting used to it. The sound of the eruptions was starting to seem as ordinary as the sound of waves crashing on a beach.
Nicola yawned and turned away from the window.
"Good morning," whispered Tyler. He was sitting up in bed peering short-sightedly at Nicola. "I can't see who you are but I would bet a million dollars you're Nicola." He reached for his glasses sitting next to his bed, put them on, and smiled when he saw he was right. "Knew it.You owe me a million dollars."
"Ha," said Nicola. "Let's find breakfast!"
Tyler hopped out of bed and together they explored the hut until they found a small kitchen. There was a pile of boxes on the table.
Tyler picked up one and read out the label: "Bapples: imported from the Planet of Plenty."
He opened it up to reveal an unfamiliar fruit that looked like banana-shaped apples.
"All the food is imported from other planets," said Nicola, as she looked through the boxes.
"That's because they can't grow any food here," said Tyler. "Remember? Oh, look--this box is imported from Earth! It says oggs. Have you ever eaten oggs?"
They tore open the box.
"Eggs," said Nicola. "They got the name wrong."
"Excellent," said Tyler. "I can make scrambled eggs."
Suddenly another box caught Nicola's eye.
"Is that what I think it is?" said Nicola. "Yes, yes, it is! It's hot ShobbleChoc from the Planet of Shobble!" She opened the box and saw rows of steaming mugs.
"I wonder how they keep it hot during transportation," said Tyler, as he helped himself to a mug, but then he stopped talking and drank. Hot chocolate from Shobble did that to you. It was so blissfully delicious, you couldn't think of anything except hot chocolate.
Half an hour later, the rest of the Space Brigade woke up to find a table set with a white tablecloth, and a strange and wonderful breakfast. There were Tyler's scrambled eggs, together with an array of unrecognizable, imported food from other planets. And of course, next to each plate was a mug of hot ShobbleChoc.
"Well done, you guys," said Sean, who was always generous with praise when it came to his stomach.
As they all sat around the table eating their breakfast and listening to the sounds of volcano eruptions, they talked about the day ahead.
"I guess you'll have to drive the bus, Tyler," said Nicola. Tyler was definitely their most qualified person when it came to flying, driving, or even piloting hot-air balloons.