Triple Trouble Read online

  ‘You thought you might be going with

  her?’ the teacher asked, observing Addie carefully. ‘This time it will just be Supernova 1, Shooting Star and yourself.’

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  Great, thought Addie looking annoyed.

  Just what I need right now!

  ‘Goodness me, Star Girl,’ the professor exclaimed, giving Addie a steady look. ‘You’re a bit out of sorts today, I think. Perhaps you shouldn’t go on this mission? I could call another agent if I really must. We don’t have much time though.’

  ‘No!’ Addie said more loudly than she

  intended.

  Samantha opened her mouth to speak

  but Valentina spoke up before she got the chance. ‘So what’s the problem and where are we going to, Professor?’

  ‘Ah yes, thank you Supernova 1,’ the

  professor said gently. ‘Planet Petalbeet has 3O

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  some sort of plague on it. It’s destroying the plant life.’

  ‘Those poor alien big bug things!’

  Samantha cried. ‘They must be losing all their food supply and ground cover.’

  ‘Quite right,’ the professor said. ‘The, er, big bug things, beetbugs to be precise, Shooting Star, are having a hard time. Your suits and equipment have already been placed on RJ1. It’s our new and fastest rocket jet yet. You will be the first to fly it. We’re very interested to see how you’ll go.’

  ‘Thanks, Professor Le Strange,’ Valentina said, taking charge. ‘I’ll fly us there. We’ll get going now and we’ll see you when we get back.’ Addie and Samantha exchanged a look.

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  The professor didn’t seem to notice. ‘Bye for now, agents,’ she said. ‘Be sure to look out for each other, won’t you?’

  The RJ1 was small and only had one change room. Valentina was using it. ‘Which one of you wants to co-pilot with me?’ she called out.

  ‘You can if you like, Sam,’ Addie offered.

  ‘Cool,’ Samantha said. ‘I’ll go in next then.’

  ‘I’m loving these suits but the gear is pretty hopeless!’ Valentina said as she strode out of the change rooms. ‘Take a look.’

  ‘We have forty-five minutes max to

  complete this mission!’ Samantha said, staring at the image of Valentina. ‘And is that really a bubble wand you’re holding?’

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  ‘Sort of,’ Valentina answered, giggling.

  ‘But we do have two CC3s,’ Addie

  pointed out. ‘Those camera cubes are very handy.’

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  ‘True,’ Valentina said. ‘Come on, we have to leave. I’ll store all the gear while you two change. Be quick.’

  ‘We’re not too far out from Planet Petalbeet’s orbit,’ Samantha said from the co-pilot’s seat.

  ‘It’s been an easy ride.’

  ‘Not anymore,’ Addie said pointing at

  RJ1’s dash screen. ‘There’s an asteroid belt coming up ahead.’

  ‘I can’t see anything yet,’ Valentina said, taking RJ1 off autopilot. ‘I hate flying through asteroid belts!’

  ‘I know,’ Addie said, slightly smug. We do need to fly through this safely though, she thought. ‘But you’ll be right this time. You’re 34

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  an experienced pilot now,’ she added trying to be a bit more helpful.

  ‘Here they come!’ Valentina cried.

  Out the front window, enormous rocks

  appeared not too far off. Samantha noticed that Valentina was gripping the controls so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. ‘Dodge and swerve,’ she told Valentina calmly. ‘And don’t take your eyes off the screen in front of you.’

  ‘I can’t stop staring out the window!’

  Valentina said anxiously.

  ‘Don’t,’ Addie said forcefully. ‘The

  asteroids are orbiting Planet Petalbeet. The screen will guide you through. Just follow the red dots and you can’t go wrong.’

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  Valentina steered through the first row of asteroids smoothly but many more came.

  Some of them are kilometres wide, Addie thought, holding the edge of her seat.

  The jet dodged its way through hundreds of big and small asteroids, rocking and swerving as it went. Then finally they were through.

  ‘Not a single hit!’ Samantha said

  clapping. ‘Way to go, Valentina!’

  ‘Thanks,’ Valentina said, relaxing back into the seat and stretching out her fingers. ‘I did a lot better than the last time I was with Star Girl in an asteroid belt. And now we’re in Planet Petalbeet’s orbit.’ She set the jet to hover then took a deep breath. ‘Guess we’d 36

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  better gear up and teleport down.’

  The agents put on their helmets.

  ‘I have one CC3,’ said Samantha. ‘Who

  wants the other one?’

  ‘I’ll take it,’ Addie said and it was then that she noticed the camera cube had new additions. ‘Hey, look,’ she said to her mission buddies. ‘CC3 has a teleporting app now. It can go onto the planet by itself.’

  ‘Let’s send it first to see what’s going on,’ Samantha suggested. She tapped the teleporting app on the camera cube she was holding and within seconds it vanished from her hands. ‘Switch your camera on, Addie.’

  Addie did and the three agents huddled

  together to look at the image.

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  ‘Why can’t we see anything?’ Valentina asked. ‘Where’re the beetbugs and bamboo?’

  ‘Maybe CC3 isn’t flying,’ Samantha

  suggested. ‘Maybe it’s just hovering.’

  ‘No,’ said Addie, ‘look at the GPS tracker on the side of my cube. It’s flying at about thirty kilometres per hour. It’s just that it’s moving through thick poisonous smoke.’

  ‘Well, we may as well join it then,’

  Valentina said, taking hold of Samantha and Addie’s free hands.

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  The agents landed on flat ground in a sea of thick green smoke.

  ‘I’m holding my hand up in front of my

  face and I can’t see it,’ Valentina said more to herself than anyone else.

  ‘Switch your helmet visor setting to

  HAZE,’ Addie said, adjusting her own.

  Samantha shuddered as she pressed the

  haze setting on her helmet. ‘I’m scared this air is super-bad and that our suits won’t even last the forty-five minutes in it.’

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  ‘They’d better last,’ Valentina said glancing quickly from Samantha to Addie.

  ‘What do you think, Star Girl?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Addie said biting her lip.

  ‘Our timers have started though. Forty-two minutes remaining. Well, at least we can see a little bit better. There’s CC3. Grab it, Shooting Star.’

  Samantha grabbed CC3 and tucked it

  under her arm. ‘We can’t see too far in front of us even with the visors set to dust screen,’ she said, sounding a bit nervous. ‘I don’t like not being able to see what’s around us.’

  ‘Hey! We can follow your CC3,’ Addie

  said, pleased with herself. ‘Let
your camera cube go and we’ll watch with my one.’

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  ‘Good idea,’ Samantha said, relaxing slightly. Samantha let her CC3 go and it flew off in front of the agents. ‘I just hope it finds something or takes us somewhere useful. We don’t have time to waste.’

  Addie opened her camera’s screen and

  the agents watched on as Samantha’s camera cube made its way through the smoke. ‘Still nothing but haze,’ Addie said as they walked along the dusty trail. ‘Oh wait, the cube’s heading into some petal bamboo and the air looks clearer in there. Come on.’

  ‘Wait!’ Valentina said. ‘What’s that

  noise? Do you hear it?’

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  ‘I do,’ Samantha said as she grabbed Addie’s arm. ‘It’s buzzing. Like . . . a swarm of wasps! I’m ALLERGIC to wasps! Why would wasps be here?’ Samantha danced around as though she’d already been stung.

  ‘Keep cool,’ Addie said, trying to look calmer than she felt. ‘Maybe it’s not wasps.

  Maybe it’s a just swarm of beetbugs.’

  ‘Just?’ Valentina snapped. ‘Those bugs

  have suckers that could suck our helmets from our heads!’

  ‘That’s not exactly helping, is it?’ Addie asked, glaring at Valentina and then glancing at Samantha.

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  ‘Look,’ Samantha said pointing at a dark red cloud moving rapidly towards them.

  ‘Head for the petal bamboo,’ Valentina

  shouted, breaking into a sprint. ‘Move!’

  The agents started to run but as they did the ground beneath them erupted. Dust and earth flew into the air and the girls stumbled and staggered as the ground shuddered.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Samantha cried. ‘Why is the ground moving?’

  ‘I don’t know but that swarm in the sky is gaining on us,’ Addie shouted back. Suddenly her foot landed on a big magenta and lime green oval shape that emerged from the earth.

  It rose rapidly and with one quick flick sent her flying backwards through the air.

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  ‘There are beetbugs underneath us!’

  Valentina cried. ‘Watch out for their suckers!’

  Samantha and Valentina tried to run

  but too much sand and earth was tossed and thrown into the air as magenta and lime spotted creatures with ant-shaped bodies and huge beetle wings erupted from the earth and charged towards the petal bamboo.

  ‘Hurry. Here comes the swarm,’ Valentina cried. ‘Where’s Star Girl?’

  ‘She’s fallen behind,’ Samantha said,

  reaching a clump of petal bamboo. ‘She was thrown backwards by one of the beetbugs.’

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  ‘And speaking of bugs,’ Samantha added.

  ‘They all went in here. I don’t think we should go too far in, do you?’

  ‘Get down!’ Addie shouted, running up

  behind the other girls and pulling them to the ground. ‘That swarm is some other sort of bug and they’re coming.’

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  ‘Aaagh! The noise is nearly deafening,’

  Valentina cried.

  The agents lay face down, huddled

  together in the dirt, and waited. When the noise finally subsided they stood up and brushed themselves off.

  ‘Is everyone alright?’ Addie asked. She was still trembling.

  ‘Yes, but what were those second lot

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  of flying bugs?’ Samantha asked, her voice shaking. ‘I think they’ll give me nightmares.’

  ‘I didn’t recognise them,’ Valentina said as she checked her suit for tears. ‘They were robotic insects. Were they bees or locusts?’

  ‘I’m not sure but look at what they’ve

  done!’ Addie said straightening up. ‘They’ve chewed a path right through the petal

  bamboo. There are just stumps left here!’

  ‘Guys!’ Samantha said uneasily. ‘Hate to tell you this but we’re not alone!’

  Addie and Valentina looked across the

  bamboo stumps to the other side. Lined up in the shadows of undamaged bamboo stood hundreds of beetbugs. And they were facing the agents.

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  Addie stiffened. ‘Their suckers are up and they don’t look happy. I think they think we did this damage. I don’t suppose we have a translator app for these aliens?’

  ‘No,’ Samantha answered quietly. ‘And

  they always put their suckers up when they’re about to attack.’

  ‘And when they’re about to suck the juice from petal bamboo,’ Valentina said hopefully.

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  ‘Maybe they just need food.’

  ‘Oh no!’ Addie cried, pulling Samantha

  close. ‘The robots are coming back.’

  ‘There’s nowhere to go!’ Valentina said.

  ‘We’re trapped between beetbugs and robotic insects!’

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  Addie looked at the line of alien bugs then at the dark red swarm of robotic insects flying towards them. Those pests are destroying everything here, she thought. We have to stop them. But how?

  ‘The beetbugs are marching towards us!’

  Valentina cried.

  Addie made a split-second decision and

  pulled her bubble wand from her belt. She looked quickly at the controls on its handle.

  This is nuts, she thought, aware of the sweat 5O

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  trickling down her neck. I’m on an alien planet with a bubble wand. What do I seriously think I can do with this?

  Samantha saw her and did the same.

  ‘I’m going to do it too,’ she said in a bit of a panic and began randomly hitting buttons on her handle. In an instant a massive bubble whooshed from the wand and floated into the smoky green air.

  ‘Aim the wand at the robots!’ Addie said, releasing her own bubbles. ‘Look, the bubbles are joining up.’

  ‘They’ve floated up and are making a wall between us and the robots!’ Samantha said.

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  She fired more bubbles at a mad rate.

  The swarm flew straight into the wall of bubbles.

  I hope it holds them, Addie thought.

  Valentina watched on in horror, her top teeth sinking into her lower lip. Then she breathed freely again. ‘They’re trapped now!

  They’ve flown into the bubbles but they can’t seem to get out.’

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  ‘Whoever invented this bubble wand did know what they were doing after all,’ Addie said.

  Her shoulders relaxed as she lowered her wand.

  ‘Phew!’ Valentina said looking at the

  swarm of robotic pests floating suspended in the sky. ‘They’ll run out of power before too long with any luck and the rest of the petal bamboo will be safe.’

  ‘No thanks to you, Supernova 1,’ Addie

  muttered under her breath.

  ‘What did you say?’ Valentina said.

  Addie was about to respond when her

  attention was jerked away by the s
ound of beetbugs flapping their wings. Oh gosh, she thought turning towards the alien creatures.

  I forgot about the other threat.

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  ‘Um . . . Hello,’ she said nervously to the bugs.

  Then her face suddenly relaxed into a smile.

  ‘I think they’re clapping us! They aren’t in attack mode. Their suckers are down.’

  ‘Now they know that we’re here to help,’

  Samantha said. ‘Do you think they’ll be friendly towards us?’

  ‘I don’t think we’re in danger for now,’

  Valentina commented. ‘They’re just sitting watching us but we’re rapidly running out of time.’ She looked down at the digi-clock on the hourglass gadget attached to her suit. ‘We have twenty-two minutes left, to be exact.’

  Addie folded her arms. ‘So, do you have a plan for the next twenty-two minutes?’

  Valentina raised her eyebrows at Addie

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  then turned to Samantha. ‘We need to find where these robotic pests are coming from and fast. I bet they’re GDC mini-bots programmed to clear the planet of its plant life.’

  ‘I think so, too,’ Samantha agreed.

  ‘Mr Rook was telling us in Space Threats class the other day that the GDC are very skilled at robotics. This swarm wouldn’t be the only batch here, either.’

  ‘They clear paths through the bamboo,’

  Valentina continued, thinking aloud. ‘Firstly they take the petals and tops off, then they come back to destroy the stumps.’

  ‘And when they’ve done that all this dust and dirt is exposed,’ Samantha added. ‘It gets whipped up into the air by the wind.

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  Then the environment becomes a thick green smog that the beetbugs can’t survive in. Not to mention losing their food source, petal bamboo juice.’

  Addie’s face flushed with shame as she

  watched her two mission buddies working so well together. What kind of an agent have I turned into? she thought. One that kicks her partner at any chance she can get just because she has hurt feelings over a secret being told? Get yourself together, Adelaide Banks.