‘Fluttering vomit!’ cried Scrummage in the darkness.
RED ALERT! RED ALERT!
… screamed the warning alarm.
It was chaos on the command bridge of the Toxic Spew. But hey, what’s new?
At the engineering desk Gizmo feverishly jabbed buttons as if there was no tomorrow. Which there might not be of course, well, not for the crew anyway. There might not even be an afternoon … and the chance of lunch was looking very slim.
WHOOP! WHOOP! WHOOP!
Harvey gripped the arms of the captain’s chair and tried to keep a cool head.
‘Save us, Captain!’ yelled Yargal, flinging herself at him.
Oh, yuck! he thought as green Yargillian goo smeared all over his school uniform. But he didn’t push her off – partly because he was too nice, but mostly because he didn’t want to touch her with his bare hands.
WHOOP! WHOOP! WHOOP!
‘Do something!’ yelled Scrummage.
‘I am!’ bawled Gizmo, pounding at the controls.
‘I mean something useful!’ snapped Scrummage.
RED ALERT! RED ALERT!
‘What’s happening?’ cried Harvey.
‘No idea!’ yelled Gizmo.
Maxie calmly piloted the ship while alarms screamed all around. ‘Why don’t you ask the computer?’ she shouted at Harvey over the noise. ‘You’re supposed to be the captain!’
Harvey cringed and asked the computer for a status report.
‘I’m so glad you asked me!’ said the computer cheerfully. ‘Well, there’s good news and there’s bad news … ’
Everyone froze – this didn’t sound good.
‘The good news is that:
a) I can get the lights back on, and
b) the ship isn’t going to explode before lunch.
But the bad news is that it probably will explode before bedtime. And I’m not sure that rubbish in the cargo hold is exactly tickety-boo. In fact,’ it added carelessly, ‘some of it just exploded.’
‘Quick! To the cargo hold!’ yelled Scrummage.
‘You’re not the captain – you can’t give orders!’ snapped Gizmo, and everyone looked at Harvey.
‘Er … to the cargo hold!’ he yelled.
‘Oh, well done! Did you think of that all by yourself?’ said Maxie, setting the flight controls to ‘auto-astronaut’.
Everyone pelted off the command bridge. Well, except for Yargal, who slithered … slowly.
‘Wait … ’ she cried. ‘Don’t leave me … ’