Theme Planet by Andy Remic Read Free Book Online

vertical rain. There was a kick and they
accelerated, the nose of the Shuttle lifting now as real power surged through motors
and Molly and Toffee giggled, blissfully unaware of the billion micro-gallons
of piped Shuttle-fuel bubbling beneath their sweet little backsides.
     
    Dex shivered.
     
    “Some Greebo Champagne, sir?”
asked the stewardess.
     
    Dex glanced up. Licked dry lips. “Go
on then.”
     
    Kat giggled and slapped his arm. “At
least look excited. “
     
    “Oh, I’m excited all right,” he
said. Then added: I’m not bloody excited about paying for it all. But then,
Dexter Colls, you always were a stingy, tight-fisted old bastard.
     
    They clinked flutes and sipped
Greebo Champagne, and watched London disappear amidst the clouds, then the
clouds disappear amidst the swirl of the planet. And gradually, sequentially,
the grey and blue turned to black filled with a billion billion pin-pricks of stars.
     
    They left Earth behind.
     
    They were on their way to Theme
Planet.
     
    ~ * ~
     
    “Daddy, can I
sit on your knee?”
     
    “Mmm?” Dex opened his eyes to see
Molly staring at him earnestly. He yawned, and gave a nod. Outside the
porthole, stars scrolled past and the thrum of the Shuttle’s engines was
a rhythmic, relaxing constant.
     
    “You okay, Pudding?”
     
    “Don’t call me a pudding.”
     
    She settled down like a bird
trampling its nest. Dex grunted.
     
    “Okay, then. Peanut?”
     
    “I am not,” she pouted, close to
him, “a peanut.”
     
    “What can I do for you, Molly?”
He smiled.
     
    “I’d like to discuss our family
holiday on the Theme Planet.”
     
    Dex nodded, thinking, gods,
but she’s growing up fast. It seems like only yesterday I was changing her
nappies and using the ultra-modern Suck-o-Suck Poo Sucker & Scraper
and Infant Cleansing Apparatus to perform the terrible deed. Now, here she is,
eyes all serious, wishing to “discuss” things. Hot damn.
     
    Dex grinned. “Of course, Miss
Molly. I am here to discuss every single element of our wonderful family
vacation. Where’s your mother?”
     
    “Up ordering our lunch at the
bar.”
     
    “Hmm. Sure she is.”
     
    “Listen Daddy, I’ve been
thinking. I think we should visit every single area of the Theme Planet
where we’re staying, and then, if we’ve exhausted that area, we should move on
to the Red Zone.”
     
    “You know we can’t go to the Red
Zone, sweetie. They won’t allow Toffee on any of the rides. She’s too young.”
     
    “But Daddy!”
     
    “Wait, wait, back-up a minute,
Molls. The Blue Zone is designed especially for a family like us. We’re staying
in the Kool Kid Zone so that you and Toffee can have a real fun time.
Then there’s Adventure Central a short zip tube ride away if I fancy indulging
in some adventurous mountain climbing, or something.”
     
    “Ooh, yes, I was reading about
Adventure Central,” said Molly, and Dex caught that gleam in his daughter’s eye
that so reminded him of Katrina. A wicked streak. A sense of danger and
wild adventure that had no place belonging to an eight-year-old little lady...
     
    “Now wait a minute,” said Dex. “Adventure
Central is for adults only. That’s the whole point. It’s dangerous. It’s
full of adrenaline sport experiences, up in the Skycloud Mountains or on the
Death Rapids, or out in the Lost Dunes. It’s not a place for children.”
     
    “That’s cyber-rubbish,” said
Molly, frowning. “At school, my cousin Vincent’s little cousin’s brother’s
friend’s dad has been there, and he took his little boy who was seven
years old and he went on the Kid Rapids, and if you think about it,
Daddy, they wouldn’t even have something called the Kid Rapids if it
wasn’t designed for kids would they? And my cousin Vincent’s little cousin’s
brother’s friend’s dad said there was a place called the Forest of Iron
and it had bandits and everything and it led to the Caves of Hades and there
was a