CHAPTER ELEVEN

Three Stages of Matter Really Matter

“This is the coolest place ever!” Luno said as they all walked into the giant glittering construction.

“It’s so pretty!” said Chooch.

“It is the most exquisite star tetrahedron I’ve ever seen,” said Clive, who knew a good polygon when he saw one.

Floe hung an ice disco ball, Snowy Joey passed out snow cones, and Sheldon cranked up the groovy tunes. The Freezorgs twitched, jumped, and waved their arms and Luno was pretty sure they were dancing. They weren’t very good, but it didn’t seem to bother them. In fact, they were all having such a good time, Chooch joined in and did The Robot. Sheldon did The Swim, but got seasick.

“It is getting late, Mr. Zorgoochi,” Clive shouted over the music. “We should leave.”

Luno couldn’t hear him; he was too busy twitching, jumping, and waving his arms around with the rest of them. He wasn’t a very good dancer, either.

“Who wants pizza?” someone shouted and they all thought it was the best idea ever. The Freezorgs gave one another high-fives. Unfortunately, most of them missed and smacked one another on the head, but they didn’t seem to care.

Sheldon walked up carrying the frozen pizza and some sort of gadget, made of snow, just like everything else on Freezorg. He put the pizza inside it and pressed a button.

“What is this?” Luno asked, peering into the little window and watching the pizza turn round and round.

“It’s a macrowave,” Frosto explained. “Microwaves excite molecules and make stuff hot, well, this slows them down and makes stuff ice cold!”

Ping!

Frosto pulled out the pizza and cracked off a slice for everyone. Luno bit into a piece, almost breaking a tooth.

“This place is incredible,” said Luno through a mouthful of frozen pizza, looking up at the glistening crystal structure overhead.

Then he noticed what time it was and all the frosty fun he just had seemed to melt away. Luno had made his deliveries and it was time to head back to the pizzeria.

They reluctantly made their way to the delivery pod.

Then Luno climbed up onto the wing.

“Well,” Luno said awkwardly. “I guess I’ll see you guys around.”

The Freezorgs shouted good-bye and invited them to come back real soon. Luno smiled and thanked them for paying for the pizza.

He climbed into the pod, but then popped his head back out.

“And thanks for a great time.”

Luno closed the hatch, slid into the driver’s seat, and switched on the engine. As he ground the pod into gear and lifted off, Luno looked at the rearview screen and watched the Freezorgs frantically waving.

As they got smaller and smaller, Luno thought about how mad his father was going to be when he told him he only got paid for one pizza. If it was possible, Luno’s brow knitted even more when he thought of Vlactron.

Should I tell Dad? Should I do nothing? Should I—

“Fifteen minutes until impact,” Clive muttered to himself as he pecked away at his device.

“Huh?” Luno asked. “What impact?”

“Why, the impact of the meteors with Planet Freezorg when they pass through its orbital path,” said Clive distractedly.

Luno’s head spun, but not because another Quantum Pizza delivery ship crossed their path.

“Meteors?” Chooch shrieked. “Let’s get out of here before we’re all destroyed!”

“Matter cannot be destroyed, only transformed,” corrected Clive. “And in the case of H2O, there is liquid, solid, and gas, however—”

“Not a good time for a science lesson, Clive,” said Luno, looking at Planet Freezorg, now the size of a snowball in the rearview screen.

A wave of fear washed over Luno as he squeezed the gearshift. Every muscle was aching for him to slam into high gear and floor it out of there.

Luno turned to see Clive pointing to the screen on his device and his mouth moving and Chooch rolling around on the floor, clutching his head and shouting something, but he couldn’t hear what they were saying. In fact, he couldn’t hear anything at all, except his own heart beating.

Luno had no idea why his thoughts suddenly turned to cheese making, but when he saw curds separating from whey in his mind’s eye, he understood and became calm.

You already know what to do, Geo’s voice echoed in his head. Now do it.

Luno pulled back on the steering stick, pecked a few buttons, and shifted the pod into reverse.

“What are you doing, Luno?” Chooch whimpered. “The meteors are coming!”

“I’m going back,” said Luno. “To save the Freezorgs.”

“I do not understand, Mr. Zorgoochi,” said Clive. “This does not make sense.”

Luno ignored him.

Moments later, the pod touched down in the snow and Luno emerged from the hatch. The Freezorgs curiously surrounded him, asking if he forgot to use the bathroom before he left.

“I got some bad news,” Luno announced. “A bunch of meteors are heading straight for Freezorg!”

“We have bad news, too,” said Snowy Joey. “Sheldon lost his retainer.”

 “Didn’t you hear me?” Luno smacked his forehead. “You’re all going to be DESTROYED!”

“As I previously stated, Mr. Zorgoochi,” sniffed Clive, “matter cannot be destroyed, only transformed.”

The Freezorgs looked at one another, then twitched, jumped, and waved their arms, but this time they weren’t dancing. Sheldon immediately got a case of nervous hiccups.

Luno knew he had to save them, but there was just a small problem.

He had no idea how.

Whenever Chooch was scared, he ate pizza. He also ate pizza when he was happy, sad, sleepy, or hungry.

Chooch opened the door of the pizza oven in his chest and pulled out a slice and when Luno saw the blast of heat melt Snowy Joey’s fingers, he got an idea.

“Matter cannot be destroyed, only transformed, right?” Luno asked Clive.

“Yes, Mr. Zorgoochi,” said Clive. “That is correct.”

Luno turned up the temperature on Chooch’s oven and yanked the door wide-open, blasting the Freezorgs with heat.

“Hey, man!” Frosto shouted. “That is totally uncool!”

“Exactly!” said Luno. “In fact, it’s gonna get downright hot in a minute!”

“But you’ll melt us!” said Floe, pointing a dripping finger.

“Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing!” smiled Luno. “I got a C- in science!”

Puzzled, Chooch and Clive watched the Freezorgs turn into soupy puddles, and then the rest of the surface of the planet quickly turn from ice to slush.

Keeping his oven door wide-open, Luno sat Chooch on the top of the delivery pod. As the melting slush grew deeper, he and Clive boarded the pod before there was nothing left to stand on.

With the delivery pod now hovering over an ocean of melted ice and snow, the water then began to transform into a giant planet-size bank of fog.

“Quite ingenious, Mr. Zorgoochi,” observed Clive. “Now that the planet has transformed from solid to liquid to gas, the meteors cannot collide with it, but merely pass through.”

“And once the meteors pass, the Freezorgs and the rest of the planet can be refrozen,” said Luno. “At least I think so.”

CLUNK! CLUNK! CLUNK!

Chooch pounded on the hatch and shouted that the meteors were on their way and to please let him in now! Luno opened the hatch and Chooch fell to the floor.

CLANK!

Freezorg was now just a collection of microscopic water molecules huddled together in space. Somewhere in there was Frosto, Snowy Joey, Floe, and Sheldon.

That’s what Luno was counting on anyway.

Through the mist, Luno saw giant fiery boulders hurtling toward them and slammed the pod into gear.

“Hang on!” Luno shouted, as he stomped his foot down on the gas pedal and zoomed them out of the meteors’ path.

Once at a safe distance, Luno, Clive, and Chooch watched the blazing meteors moving closer and closer until …

VROOOOOM!

Luno suddenly found himself plastered against the wall, helplessly watching everything in the cabin spin out of control!

“To fasten your seat belt,” said Chooch, “insert the metal fittings one into the other, and…”

The pod’s piercing emergency siren filled Luno’s ears as he crawled his way back to the pilot’s seat. He yanked the seat belt hard and snapped it closed. The blinking buttons on the control panel made him queasy, but he found the right button and the spinning stopped.

“Is everybody okay?” Luno asked, peeling a slice of pepperoni off his forehead.

“As compared to what?” asked Clive.

Clive was okay.

“All that spinning made me hungry,” said Chooch.

Chooch was okay, too.

“Hey, look!” Chooch shouted, pointing out the windshield.

In the distance, the swirl of mist that was once Freezorg was now settling. Then something amazing started to happen. The fog pulled together and transformed into a mass of water, which then crystallized into a swirling vortex of snow, then into a massive sphere of glistening ice.

Luno brought the pod to rest on the reformed planet and hopped down onto its snowy surface.

“Frosto?” Luno shouted, looking around. “Guys?”

Suddenly, the snow began to rumble and in moments, all four Freezorgs were surrounding Luno.

“What happened?” Frosto asked, scratching his frozen head.

The Freezorgs looked around and once they realized everything was okay, cheered! They picked up Luno, chanting “Lun-o! Lun-o! Lun-o!”

Luno was so happy, he didn’t even mind when they accidentally dropped him.

“Well,” Luno said to the Freezorgs awhile later as he stood on the wing of the delivery pod. “I guess this is good-bye—again.”

Sheldon started to cry and hug Luno, which caused them to stick together again.

Once they pulled them apart, Luno climbed into the hatch after Clive and Chooch.

Frosto high-fived Luno, but missed and smacked him on the forehead. He then poured a handful of frozen coins into Luno’s hands. It was enough for five pizzas! Luno couldn’t believe his eyes.

He gratefully thanked them, waved good-bye, and slammed the hatch shut.

“Gee, Luno, that was real nice of you to help those guys,” said Chooch, as Luno shifted the pod into gear.

“There is something I do not understand, Mr. Zorgoochi,” said Clive, as they cruised along. “Why did you turn back to help them? You could have brought harm to yourself. It was not the logical thing to do.”

“Sometimes the right thing isn’t always the logical thing,” said Luno, smiling, “but you do it anyway.”