Rockets & Robots: Out of This World Adventures by Maxey James

Author:Maxey, James [Maxey, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Word Balloon Books
Published: 2022-12-22T00:00:00+00:00

Woomie Saves the Day Holly Schofield

K ayla Ng ran along the spaceship’s corridor , her bare feet stomping on the metal decking. Her little brother, Travis, staggered behind, a fourteen-month-old miniature monster wearing nothing but a huge diaper. Kayla sped up, even though outpacing him was pointless. There was nowhere to go on Deck One of the research ship that he couldn’t follow.

She entered the bridge and skidded to a stop. Her mother sat in the captain’s seat as usual. Her hands, clad in data-gloves, waved madly like she was conducting a symphony. On the big screen at the front, a chart of mining data scrolled alongside the image of a gray asteroid hanging in the blackness of space. Her mother glanced over her shoulder and gave a quick, distracted smile. “How’s Travis?”

“What’s that element?” Kayla pointed at the chart. “I know ‘Fe’ is iron, but what’s ‘Ce?’” If she was reading the numbers right, this asteroid had an awful lot more of that than most of them in the Belt.

“Did you wake up Travis and give him his milk for–” Her mom broke off as Travis waddled past Kayla, wailing. She stopped signaling instructions to the console and stripped off her gloves before scooping him up. “Kayla, why is his diaper so big?”

“Um, I changed the dimensions on the template. I might have made them... a little thick.” Kayla shrugged. She’d 3D-printed a whole bunch of them before she’d realized her mistake.

“Kayla...” Her mom’s eyebrows lowered.

“Mommm, I didn’t want to have to change him so often.” She knew her voice was whiny, but toddlers could have such giant poops.

“I just asked you to watch him for a minute.”

“It’s been four hours! I had to change him twice! And there weren’t any more diapers on the shelf!”

Her mom frowned. “It’s really been that long?”

“Mommm!”

Travis hiccupped, his lower lip trembled, and he hid his face in Mom’s shirt.

“Quit shouting, you’re scaring Travvie.”

Kayla crossed her arms. Travis always got the snuggles. She’d never asked for a little brother. No one had consulted her. Since turning eleven, she’d expected she could finally do more things with Mom, like analyzing data. Or hanging out with the cute alien animals on Deck Three, tending to the whole bunch of woomarrins. Or other grownup things at the big research station with Dad. But no, she was stuck here on this deck with crabby, overworked Mom and the brat. “It’s not fair!”

Mom’s eyebrows gathered even tighter, but then all of a sudden her mouth drooped. “I’m sorry,” she said, “Without your dad here to help, I’ve been so–” The console beep-booped and Mom’s eyes flicked up to the big screen as more results appeared. “Just carry on, Trav’ll be fine,” she said and nuzzled Travis’ snub nose before setting him back on the floor.

He clung to her leg, his lower lip still jutting out.

Mom caught Kayla’s eye. “Remember, hon, we’ll be at the station with Dad in just two weeks. Just get zen, and you’ll be fine.”

The phrase “get zen” was Mom’s favorite.

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