BRACE FOR SPACE
“Hello?” Sasha asserted. “If you’re not campers, who are you guys?”
Joe blinked hard at the question. Then, in his best space alien voice, he said, “Greetings. We are visitors from Planet Zagon, and we come in peace!”
“Space aliens?” Sasha asked. Then, rolling her eyes, she sighed, “Yeah, right.”
Frank and Joe were glad to be interrupted by a voice calling out, “Good morning, space campers!”
All eyes turned toward a tall guy standing at the front of the line. He also wore a space suit and smiled when the campers replied in perfect unison, “Good morning, Captain Trent!”
“Captain Trent?” Joe whispered to Frank.
“I’ll bet he’s the camp counselor,” Frank whispered. “But what is a Rotator Simulator?”
“Something tells me we’re about to find out!” Joe said.
“Shhh!” Sasha hissed.
“Okay, crew!” Captain Trent went on. “Are you ready to feel what it’s like to be a real astronaut?”
Excited voices answered at once:
“Yeah!”
“For sure!”
“Bring it!”
Joe craned his neck to see Phil at the front of the line. Wherever they were going, would he and Frank be able to check out his secret formula?
“Okay, then, what are we waiting for, space campers?” Captain Trent boomed. “Follow me as we proceed to astronaut training.”
Frank, Joe, and the campers trailed Captain Trent down a long hall. At the end stood double doors. Dramatically, Captain Trent opened the doors, and the kids gasped. In the middle of the room was a giant round cage with a chair inside!
“I guess that’s the Rotator Simulator,” Frank murmured.
“Or the biggest hamster ball I’ve ever seen!” Joe said.
The campers gathered around the Rotator Simulator to hear Captain Trent talk. Phil was still several feet away from Frank and Joe.
“That chair you see inside the Rotator Simulator spins upside down, sideways, even front to back!” Captain Trent explained. “It’s used by astronauts-in-training to experience tumbling-type movements in space.”
Captain Trent further explained the Rotator Simulator while the brothers inched their way over to Phil. Joe pointed to an orange paper sticking out of Phil’s back pocket.
“There’s the secret formula, Frank,” Joe whispered. He tilted his head to get a better look. “It’s stuffed too deep in his pocket to read anything!”
The brothers realized they’d been noticed when Phil turned around.
“I thought that was you guys behind me!” Phil said, surprised. “What are you doing here at space camp?”
“Show us your science formula,” Joe said with a small smile, “and we’ll tell you.”
“I will never show you my formula,” Phil whispered as he shoved the orange paper deeper into his pocket. “Top secret is top secret!”
Phil stepped away from the brothers, turning his attention back to Captain Trent.
“We’d better forget it,” Frank whispered to Joe. “No way is Phil going to spill.”
Joe had a sinking feeling that Frank was right. Until the word “spill” gave him an idea. He motioned to Frank to follow him, then tapped Phil’s shoulder.
Phil glanced over his shoulder and hissed, “Now what?”
“Are you going to do it?” Joe whispered.
“Do what?” Phil asked.
“Go on the Rotator Simulator!” Joe said.
“No,” Phil answered. “I don’t want to be an astronaut. I want to be an astrophysicist.”
“You want to invent things for the space program, right?” Joe asked.
“Right,” Phil replied.
“What if you invented a simulator chair that didn’t just flip upside down, sideways, and back and forth—but bounced?”
“Joe, what are you talking about?” Frank asked.
“Some planets might have the same kind of gravity Earth has,” Joe explained. “So a bouncing spaceship might come in handy.”
“Astronauts would need to practice on a bouncing chair!” Phil said excitedly. “And if I’m going to invent one—I’d have to try out the old one first!”
“Exactly!” Joe said.
“All right, campers!” Captain Trent announced. “Now that you all know how the Rotator Simulator works, who wants to take a spin?”
“Ooh, ooh, I do!” Phil shouted as his hand shot up. “Me, Captain Trent. Pleeeease?”
Joe smiled and whispered to Frank, “All systems go.”
Phil hurried to the Rotator Simulator as campers chanted, “Phil-lip, Phil-lip, Phil-lip!”
“I don’t get it, Joe,” Frank admitted. “Why did you talk Phil into flipping in that chair?”
“If the chair flips upside down,” Joe answered, “so will Phil.”
“And?” Frank asked.
“And you’ll see!” Joe said with a smile.
The brothers and campers watched while two other counselors harnessed Phil into the chair. After shutting the cage with Phil inside, Captain Trent explained to the other campers, “Because the chair doesn’t spin in one direction long enough and Phil’s stomach will stay in the center of gravity, he will not get dizzy.”
Captain Trent then turned to Phil and asked, “Are you ready?”
“Ready, Captain Trent!” Phil replied.
The counselor grabbed a lever and pulled it all the way. The chair—and Phil—began to spin around and around, then upside down. That was when the secret formula dropped from Phil’s pocket.
“It worked!” Joe whispered.
A powerful breeze caused by the spinning chair blew the paper away. It drifted between the campers before dropping a few feet away from Frank and Joe.
In a flash Joe darted over to the secret formula and snatched it up. Carrying it over to Frank, he declared, “One small step for me—one giant step for our case!”