"Maybe we could get the Telepathy Chef to make us some pizza," said Sean.
"It might not be polite," said Katie regretfully.
"Shimlara won't mind," said Sean.
He closed his eyes. They all watched him lick his lips as he presumably thought hard about pizza. He opened his eyes and pressed the button on the Telepathy Hutch. Seconds later, a tray slid out.
"That doesn't even look edible," said Greta.
It was a dish of what appeared to be snowballs sprinkled with grass clippings.
"Were you thinking about snow?" asked Nicola.
"No! I was thinking about how the best pizza we'd ever had was on the planet of Shobble, on that snowy mountain--" Sean stopped. "Okay, maybe I thought briefly about snow!"
"Were you thinking about grass clippings, too?" said Tyler.
"No! I was thinking about a pizza I had one day after I mowed--"
"The lawn," finished Katie.
Sean banged his forehead against the table. "That machine is faulty."
Shimlara walked back in lugging an enormous file brimming with newspaper clippings.
"Oh, sorry, are you guys hungry?" she said. "What's that supposed to be?"
"Pizza," answered Nicola.
Shimlara blinked once and pressed the button on the Telepathy Chef. Three trays slid out in quick succession, each containing a delicious-looking pizza.
"How did you do that?" asked Sean.
"You've just got to focus," said Shimlara. "Now speaking of focusing, do you think we could focus on finding my family?"
"Sorry," said everyone guiltily, as they all avoided one another's eyes and helped themselves to slices of pizza.
>
"Hey!" said Sean suddenly, with his mouth full of pizza. "You know how you can read minds on Globagaskar?"
"Yes," said Shimlara.
The people of Globagaskar were able to read minds and project their voices into other people's brains. Fortunately, it was considered bad manners to read someone else's mind except in dire circumstances.
"Well, why don't you just read your mom or dad's mind and find out where they are!" said Sean, obviously thrilled with his own genius.
Shimlara rolled her eyes. "Do you think I wouldn't have done that already if it was possible? You need to be able to see someone's face before you can read their mind."
"Just a thought," said Sean, deflated.
Shimlara put the file she was holding on the table. "Everyone take a few clippings and see what you can find."
Nicola grabbed a handful and spread them out in front of her. She read: PLANET OF GROON BANS ALL FORMS OF SMILING
King of Groon speaks his mind: "What can I say? Smiles bug me."
FLOODS ON PLANET OF ARTH