Holly Farb and the Princess of the Galaxy by Gareth Wronski

Author:Gareth Wronski
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

10

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSE

The F.O.U.P.S.P.O. home world, whose unpronounceable name consisted of a series of corporate logos mushed together, was a gigantic ringed planet that, at a distance, appeared to be made of glittering metal. But as the Gadabout approached, Holly realized why it looked like that—the entire surface of the planet was covered in a massive sprawling city. The glittering was just lights, and the metal was just . . . well, metal. The ring was composed of millions of satellites so dense that they appeared solid until you got up close.

The Gadabout passed through towering skyscrapers and touched down on a landing strip. Holly wondered how they managed to power a city that size. Or feed it. Or provide water for it. Basically, her mind reeled with questions about how such an absurdly large city was possible. Probably space science, she thought sagely.

Holly found a spare pair of shoes in a bin of clothes Toshiro had marked CLEVER DISGUISES. She, Mr. Mendez, Jalya, and AsTRO departed the ship, followed by Toshiro taking up the rear, escorting the furry white alien, who was in shackles and scowling. They walked up the hundreds of red-carpeted steps to F.O.U.P.S.P.O.’s main building, which housed the Intergalactic Governing Council of Galactic Government, commonly called the I.G.C.G.G, otherwise known as the Galactic Hub. It was a solid gold hexagon and sparkled in the sun. Walls of golden bricks stretched up high and far into the distance. It was like someone had taken a huge city, dipped it in gold, and then dipped it in gold one more time to make sure it was as gold as possible.

Huge gold columns lined the way like unmoving sentries. Holly walked along the gold ground, feeling jittery. She was surrounded by important people from all over the universe, making her seem awfully insignificant. She wondered what they must make of some girl from Earth—probably not much. She couldn’t even win a student election.

Jalya stopped walking when she reached the shadow of one of the gold columns. She glanced back at the Gadabout. “I’m . . . I’m having second thoughts about this. . . .”

“What’s wrong?” said Holly. As she looked at Jalya nervously fidgeting, she actually felt bad for the Princess. It reminded her of having to sit onstage in the auditorium waiting for the election results to be read, the whole school watching, each second crawling by. . . . At the time, she had desperately wanted someone to run onstage to save her, or at least distract the audience, get them to laugh at someone else, anything. . . . Of course, no one had. She had been alone. The only person to get laughed at had been her.

“It’s okay,” said Holly, trying to convince herself as much as Jalya. “You’ll do fine. I know you can do it.”

Jalya tried to smile. “I . . . really don’t know. . . .”

Just then, a thin beige alien with a large head ran up to them.

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