Journey to the Moon Read online

  “It’s like canning food, except in a pouch instead of a can,” I explained. “Luckily, I always keep space food in my pack.”

  I passed out pouches of astronaut food. Wallace made a face when he saw his.

  “Yuck, I don’t like broccoli,” he complained. He swapped with the Baby, who had macaroni and cheese.

  Astro Cat gobbled his tuna casserole before I could even add water to it. I tasted the lasagna. It was kind of gross, but I didn’t say so. I wished I hadn’t already eaten all the ice-cream packets.

  While everyone was eating, I said, “It’s time to discuss what happens next.”

  “What do you mean?” Wallace asked with his mouth full.

  “We have to be ready to land on the moon,” I said. “That means we have to be in Eagle. I already told you, that’s the lunar module.”

  “Wait, is that why people say ‘The Eagle has landed’?” Wallace exclaimed. “Cool! But what happens to the other two modules?”

  I sighed, trying to stay patient. Daddy always says that not everyone knows as much about space as we do.

  Then I explained how it worked again.

  “Columbia and the service module will stay in orbit while we’re on the moon,” I said. “I’ll write a computer code so it can do that without a person at the controls. Then we’ll fly Eagle back up to join with the other two modules again.”

  “Wow, so we’re really going to walk on the moon?” Wallace said.

  I picked up my helmet. Astro Cat and the Baby still had theirs, too. But Wallace was only wearing his shorts and T-shirt.

  “You can’t walk on the moon without a helmet and space suit,” I told him. “You need the helmet to breathe because there’s no oxygen on the moon. And the suit protects you from the extreme cold of space and the sun’s radiation.”

  The Baby was still floating around chasing one last juice droplet. He bounced off a cabinet door and giggled. The door opened.

  “Hey, look!” Wallace said. “There are helmets and space suits in here.”

  We found one that fit him. There was even a tiny helmet for Zixtar!

  “Okay, we’re almost ready,” I said. It took a few seconds to figure out how to work the computer—it was really old-fashioned. But writing the code was easy. After all, I won Best Junior Coder at tech camp.

  When I was finished, we climbed into Eagle.

  “Strap in for lunar landing!” I ordered. “Monitor speed and altitude, Astro Cat. I’ll fire up the steering rockets. Moon, here we come!”

  Chapter 5

  ON THE MOON

  “The Eagle has landed!” I cried as the lunar module touched down. “Time to explore!”

  We climbed down the ladder out of Eagle and stepped onto the moon. The sky was black, and the stars were really bright.

  Wallace’s eyes were huge inside his helmet. “Wow,” he said. His voice sounded weird over the radio in my helmet. “It looks like a desert at night.”

  “That’s because there’s no atmosphere on the moon,” I told him. “There are no clouds, no weather, and no air. So when you look up, you’re staring straight into outer space. No air also means plants and animals can’t survive here.”

  Astro Cat seemed worried. I gave him a pat. He would be fine in his helmet!

  Wallace took a step. He bounced up in the air.

  “Whoa, walking is different on the moon!” he exclaimed. “It feels like I could jump over a house!”

  I tried it, too. “Look, Astro Cat!” I said. “I can finally do a backflip!”

  The Baby looked excited. He flapped his arms—and bounced right over Astro Cat!

  “I guess there’s no gravity here, either,” Wallace said.

  “Actually, there is,” I explained. “It’s just less than on Earth, because the moon is much smaller. So its gravitational force isn’t as strong.”

  Wallace nodded. He was having too much fun to ask any more questions.

  I looked around. “We landed in the right place,” I told the others. “This is the Sea of Tranquility.”

  “Too bad we didn’t bring surfboards,” Wallace said with a grin.

  “It’s not that kind of sea,” I told him. “The craters on the moon are called seas because early astronomers thought the dark patches they saw through their telescopes were filled with water. But there’s no water on the moon’s surface, only underground.”

  “I was just kidding,” Wallace said. “But wouldn’t it be cool to surf on the moon? Maybe we should add that to our script!”

  I decided to ignore that. “Anyway, this is where the Apollo 11 astronauts landed,” I said. “Let’s look for the stuff they left behind.”

  “What kind of stuff?” Wallace asked.

  I spotted something white in the distance. It only took a few big leaps to reach it. “This must be the American flag,” I said.

  “What?” Wallace exclaimed. “That’s not the American flag! It’s white!”

  “That’s because it faded. The sun’s rays are really strong here because there’s no atmosphere. Plus it gets really hot and really cold, so stuff wears out faster.”

  “Wow,” Wallace said. “In school, we learned not to let the American flag touch the ground. We should stand it up.”

  “Okay,” I said.

  Together, we picked up the flag. We stuck it in the ground.

  “Much better,” Wallace said. He pointed. “What’s that?”

  Something shiny was gleaming in the distance. We bounced over to take a look.

  “I know what this is!” I said. “The Apollo 11 astronauts left it here on purpose. It’s called the Lunar Laser Ranging Retroreflector. It’s their only science experiment that’s still running. It reflects lasers from Earth to measure the distance between Earth and the moon. That helps scientists learn about stuff like gravity and the moon’s orbit.”

  I explained more about how it all worked. After a moment, Wallace started making notes. I was glad to see that he was finally taking science seriously!

  New idea!

  Add laser mirror to Zixtar’s armor for combating laser-eyed aliens!

  There were lots of boot prints nearby. It was cool to think that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had left them.

  And now my footprints would be here, too!

  “One small step for a girl, one giant leap for girlkind,” I declared.

  “Girlkind?” Wallace said. “What about boykind? And alienkind—Zixtar can leave a tentacle print!”

  “Don’t forget catkind,” I said, pointing to Astro Cat. I grabbed the Baby before he could bounce off again. “And babykind, too.”

  Wallace looked distracted. “Hey, I want to see the Julius Caesar crater. Do you know where it is?”

  “How do you know about the Julius Caesar crater?” I asked in surprise. “I thought you didn’t know anything about the moon.”

  “Everyone knows about the Julius Caesar crater,” he said. “That’s where Thunder Rocks come from!”

  “I told you! There’s no such thing as Thunder Rocks!” I exclaimed. “There is a real Julius Caesar crater, though.”

  “Cool! Let’s go there,” Wallace said.

  “There are no Thunder Rocks,” I told him. “But we can go there if you want. I’d like to collect some moon rock samples from different spots.” I strapped the Baby to my back and grabbed my space pack. “Let’s go!”

  Chapter 6

  SEARCHING FOR THUNDER MOON ROCKS!

  I pulled The Universe out of my pack to check the location. “The Julius Caesar crater is due west of the Sea of Tranquility,” I said.

  “Okay,” Wallace said. “Which way is west?”

  I reached into my pack for a compass. Then I remembered something.

  “The magnetic field on the moon is a lot weaker than Earth’s,” I said. “That means compasses
don’t work here.”

  “Oh, okay,” Wallace said. “Well, all we need to know is which way west is, right?”

  “Yes,” I said. “Now be quiet, I’m thinking.”

  “Don’t tell me to be quiet,” he said, sounding annoyed. “You sound like my cousins.”

  “Are your cousins scientists like me?” I asked, suddenly interested.

  “No, they’re just older and think they know everything.” He stared up at the sky and pointed. “Anyway, there’s Orion’s Belt.”

  “That’s what regular people call it,” I said. “Those three stars are really called Alnitak, Alnilam, and Mintaka.”

  “It doesn’t matter what name you use,” he said. “It means that way is west.”

  I realized what he was saying. “You’re right and wrong,” I said. “On Earth, that would be west. But here on the moon we’re seeing the constellation from a slightly different angle, which means . . .” I did some quick calculations in my head. “That way is west!”

  “Lead the way due west, Zixtar!” Wallace sang out, wiggling his action figure.

  Astro Cat and I followed them. “How did you know that stuff about finding your way with the stars?” I asked Wallace.

  “My gramps was in the Coast Guard,” he said. “He taught me all the constellations and how to use them to find my way.”

  “Interesting,” I said. “Did you ever get lost and have to use it?”

  He didn’t answer for a second. He was a little ahead of me.

  “Are you listening?” I said. “Is your radio working?”

  “Yeah, yeah,” he replied. “But I think I just spotted a Thunder Rock up there! What do you think, Zixtar?”

  I rolled my eyes. “We’re not even to the Julius Caesar crater yet,” I said. “Besides, I keep telling you there’s no such thing as Thunder Rocks!”

  “I don’t know, there are tons of rocks around here.” Wallace waved his arm. “Who says none of them are Thunder Rocks?”

  “I do,” I said. “That one right there is volcanic. That other one is called a mare basalt, and it’s similar to some rocks on Earth . . .”

  I kept telling him about moon rocks until we reached the edge of the Julius Caesar crater. It was a lot deeper and rockier than the Sea of Tranquility.

  “Wow, this crater is huge!” Wallace exclaimed. “There definitely could be Thunder Rocks here somewhere.”

  I didn’t bother to respond. Instead, I pulled my shovel, sample bags, and tongs out of my pack.

  “What are those for?” Wallace asked.

  “I need to collect as many samples of moon rocks and dirt as I can,” I said. “Three new minerals have been discovered on the moon so far. Maybe I’ll discover a fourth one! Maybe they’ll even name it after me, like they named one after the Apollo 11 astronauts!”

  “They did?” Wallace said.

  I nodded. “It’s called armalcolite,” I said. “The arm is for Armstrong, the al is for Aldrin, and the col is for Collins.”

  “Cool,” Wallace said. “We can call our mineral walvalite.”

  “Don’t you mean valwalite?” I corrected him.

  “No, I mean walvalite,” he said. “That sounds way better.”

  “Who cares how it sounds,” I said. “My name should come first.”

  Wallace put his hands on his hips. “Says who?”

  “Me—and I’m the commander, remember?” I said. “Good thing, too, or this whole mission would be about finding Thunder Rocks that don’t even exist.”

  “You may think you know everything about everything, but you don’t!” Wallace said. “Come on, Zixtar. Let’s go explore by ourselves for a while.”

  He stomped off. Astro Cat wandered after him.

  “I never said I know everything about everything,” I answered. “Wallace? Can you hear me?”

  There was no reply over the radio. I wasn’t sure what to do. Why was Wallace acting so weird all of a sudden? My friends Molly and Ling sometimes laughed and called me Professor Val when I talked too much about space. But they never got mad about it.

  “Let’s get back to work,” I told the Baby. “That always makes me feel better.”

  Just then an interesting moon rock caught my eye. I bounced over to it.

  “I think this is a lunar breccia!” I exclaimed. “Those are rocks created by the impact of a meteor.”

  There were lots of interesting samples here. I was careful to seal them all in my sterile sample bags. I didn’t want to bring the moon flu back to Earth!

  Finally my bags were all full. “Okay, let’s move on,” I said.

  Nobody answered. I looked around.

  “Wallace?” I said. “Astro Cat? Where did they go?”

  The Baby gurgled.

  “Wallace?” I said again, louder. “Do you copy? Answer me!”

  “I’m still looking for Thunder Rocks,” Wallace finally answered. His voice sounded staticky. “I walked pretty far. I’m not sure where I am.”

  “I can’t see you!” I said. “Which direction did you walk?”

  “I think it was—”

  The static covered his voice. Then there was a click, and the radio went dead!

  I gulped. “Houston, we have a problem . . .”

  Chapter 7

  LOST ON THE MOON!

  “Wallace!” I shouted. “Astro Cat!”

  I bounded toward the last place I’d seen them. They had to be around here somewhere!

  I yelled their names over and over. But the radios still weren’t working.

  The Baby squirmed. “It’s okay,” I told him. “We’ll find them.”

  But when I looked around, it was hard to tell which direction to go. Everything was gray and dusty and looked the same.

  “Maybe they went back to Eagle,” I said. “We’ll meet them there.”

  That’s when it hit me. I wasn’t sure how to find my way back!

  If only my compass worked here, there would be no problem. But it didn’t. If only I’d invented a special moon-tracker app at tech camp. But I hadn’t.

  What was I going to do?

  DAY 1, HOUR 1: Zixtar and I are lost, with only a cat for companionship. The cat is calm, but I am worried. How will I find the others? Will I be stuck here forever, living in a crater and eating moon rocks?

  Maybe it’s better this way. Maybe I won’t miss Carlos and the others from back home as much up here. And I’ll never have to be the new kid at school. Or have to sit by myself at lunch.

  But if I stay here, it means I’ll never see the blue skies of Earth again. Or kick the winning goal for my soccer team. Or help Mom make mashed potatoes for Sunday dinner at Aunt Celia’s.

  No, I definitely have to go back! Gramps keeps telling me I’m going to love my new hometown. And maybe he’s right. I already have one new friend. Now all I have to do is find her . . .

  I wish more than ever that Comet Jumpers was real. That way I could just hop into the Beamatron and go home. Or at least call a Snargle beast, like the one in episode 30 that guided Commander Neutron back to his ship . . .

  “No need to worry, Baby,” I said. “I’m Astronaut Girl, and Astronaut Girl never gives up.”

  I sat down on a large mare basalt to think. There had to be a way to find Eagle.

  But even if I did find it, what about Wallace and Astro Cat? Wallace wasn’t very good at thinking like a scientist. He would probably just try to pretend the Beamatron was real.

  Or would he? I remembered how his gramps taught him to use the stars to navigate.

  “That gives me an idea,” I said to the Baby. “On some of the Apollo missions, the astronauts had to use an old sailor’s tool called a sextant to guide them. I think there’s a chapter in The Universe that could show me how to build one . . .”

  DAY 1, HOUR 1.5: I’m still
dreaming about the Beamatron being real. Val would say that’s goofy. She would tell me to think like a scientist. But I’m not a scientist, I’m a writer! I create whole worlds, and new characters like Zixtar!

  That reminds me—Zixtar isn’t just an interstellar pirate, he’s an awesome navigator, too! I wonder what he would do? I know! He would remind me to look up at the stars, just like Gramps taught me. Actually, I bet Val would say that, too.

  We came west to get here. Now all I have to do is use the stars to figure out which way is due east . . .

  Chapter 8

  NEW IDEAS

  Just as I’d thought, The Universe had instructions for making a sextant. I had all the materials in my pack—ruler, protractor, tape, string, and paper clips. It pays to be prepared!

  Back on Earth, making the sextant would have been super easy. It was a little harder on the moon, since I was wearing bulky space gloves. But I did it! Then I used my homemade sextant to figure out which way I needed to go to find Eagle.

  “It’s this way, Baby,” I said. “Watch for anything familiar.”

  I’d been walking for a while when there was a loud squawk from the radio. A second later, I heard Wallace’s voice. He was singing the theme song from Comet Jumpers.

  “Hey, Command Module Pilot!” I said. “I think the radios are working again!”

  “Ahoy there, Commander!” Wallace exclaimed. “Where are you? I think I just spotted Eagle up ahead.”

  “I can’t see it yet, but the Baby and I are on our way,” I said. “Is Astro Cat with you?”

  “Yes, and Zixtar, too,” he replied.

  “How did you get back so fast?” I asked.

  “I used the stars to navigate,” Wallace said. He told me all about it while I kept walking. A few minutes later, I finally saw Eagle sticking up from the Sea of Tranquility. Wallace and Astro Cat came rushing to greet me.