Space Hostages by Sophia McDougall Read Free Book Online Page A

ominously. “. . . Which is okay for Noel and Carl to hear,” she added.
    â€œOkay, kids!” said the Goldfish brightly. “See ya later!”
    It bobbed away to the doors.
    â€œSo?” Carl asked.
    â€œWell, my dad was never that thrilled about this trip,” I began.
    â€œSay, kids!” squawked the Goldfish, coming back. “It looks like Th saaa ’s heading this way again. Shall I tell them you need some private human girl time?”
    â€œUm . . . no, that’s okay!” I called.
    â€œOh,” said the Goldfish, sagging a bit in the air, and hovered away.
    I winced.
    â€œWhat is going on?” said Th saaa , coming to join us at the no-longer-humiliated table.
    â€œI’m kind of . . . not allowed to be here,” I said. And I explained what had happened.
    â€œOhhhh, mais c’est mal,” moaned Th saaa, going black and amber and tossing their tentacles. “What if you have caused a diplomatic incident?”
    â€œNo one will be in any trouble except me,” I said.
    â€œBut what will the Council of Lonthaa-Ra-Mo raaa say when they find out?”
    â€œWell, don’t tell them,” I said. “Or the Goldfish,” I added, lowering my voice.
    â€œYou ran away to space?” asked Carl. “That’s awesome.”
    â€œIt isn’t! Her dad will be worried, and he’s already sick!” Noel exclaimed.
    â€œNo, that is pretty cool,” said Josephine decidedly.
    I grinned. “I’ve missed you,” I said.
    Something passed across her face that made me uneasy, and I opened my mouth to ask if everything was okay. But before I could, she said, “I’ve missed you too.”
    â€œWe are about to reenter normal space for a while,” said the Helen of Troy . “The science team has some tests they need to run. Passengers may want to watch the windows.”
    We couldn’t exactly feel the Helen of Troy slowing down, but there was a faint quiver and a buzz that fizzed uncomfortably in our bones, and the strange light faded, and the stars reappeared. But that wasn’t all.
    â€œOh,” we all said, and dashed to the starboard window.
    Jupiter filled the sky. It seemed close enough to touch, marbled with red and brown, feathered with curls of turquoise. The red spot large enough to swallow worlds.
    Trommler’s voice spoke over the speakers: “Want to see something else cool?”
    There was another deep whirring noise, one I recognized this time—the sound of an artificial gravity system being turned off.
    â€œEeeee!” squeaked Th saaa as we all floated up into the air. And then we were gliding and somersaulting from wall to wall, the way I do in dreams. The pool balls, through some clever use of magnetism, stayed put, until we scooped them off the tabletop and started throwing them around and inventing Space Pool, which, I can tell you, is much better than normal pool. Though it doesn’t have many rules beyond “See if you can hit a floating pool ball with another pool ball, then float around and laugh.”
    Dad, of course, does like pool, I remembered, and had another nasty pang of guilt. But no one who is floating in the air with an enormous planet hanging outside while colored balls and friendly tentacles float around them can be expected to think about that sort of thing for very long.

4
    I woke early the next morning (although “early” and “morning” become confusing concepts when you’re in space) and lay watching the thready glow of the universe through my window before getting up and showering in every available variety of perfumed water from rose to tea tree.
    Feeling extremely clean and smelling confusing, I wondered how far from Earth we were.
    â€œUm . . . Helen?” I asked, wondering if I was again talking stupidly to walls. “Are you there?”
    â€œYes, Miss Dare. Good morning,” said the ship. “Do you need any