getting away from me now.â
Meanwhile, the wreckage down below moved. A few pieces of concrete slid to the side. A door banged open. A cloud of dust puffed into the air.
Jasper Dash, Boy Technonaut, poked his head out and surveyed the wreckage. He was wearing a pith helmet.
From below him came a voice.
âJasper?â said Katie. âJasper? Am I alive?â
âI believe so,â he replied. âOr if we are in Heaven, there are more mules than I imagined.â
There were about four mules standing and looking at the pile of concrete and metal, wondering if there was anything there worth eating.
âJasper?â said Katieâs tinny, echoing voice. âJasper, can we make an agreement to never, ever, ever use the Gyroscopic Sky Suite again?â
âI donât think we have to worry,â said Lily, sticking her head out next to Jasperâs. âItâs crushed.â
âWell, at least something good came out of this,â said Katie, pulling herself out of the capsule, covered with brown dust. She slappedat her shirt and pants to get the grime out.
âDash it all,â said Jasper. âI guess weâll have to check into the hotel in the normal way.â
âAh,â said Katie sarcastically. âYou mean, instead of being fired from a rocket-launcher into the side of the hotel and having explosive clamps blow up and make a new doorway, we might just, I donât know, walk in and say, âIâd like a room, please?ââ
âExactly,â agreed Jasper.
âWell, thatâs a novel idea,â said Katie.
âSometimes, Katie,â he replied, ânew situations call for new solutions.â He was already hopping down the chunks of concrete. Jasper wasnât very good at noticing sarcasm. And he was at his happiest after explosions.
Lily reached down and grabbed another pith helmet and scrambled after him, tottering on rubble. Katie shook her head and followed.
A secret policeman dressed in a suit too short for him and an old Tyrolean hat watched them go. He flipped open a little notepad and began writing.
Katie, Lily, and Jasper walked into the lobby of the hotel. There were some plastic chairs to sit in, most of them turned toward the wall, and a fountain that hadnât worked for years.
âHello,â said the proprietor, a paunchy man in a soccer shirt and flip-flops. He then spoke rapidly in a language Lily had never heard before that sounded like it might have roots in Eastern Europe, the planet Krypton, and a rock tumbler.
The three kids didnât know what to say.
In English the proprietor said, âYou are not speak Doverian? You speak English?â *
The kids nodded.
âOkay, okay,â said the man. âWelcome to Dupontville Fine Excellent View Stay Hotel. I can get you a room?â
âYes, please, sir,â said Jasper. âOne room with three beds.â
The proprietor nodded. âCome, follow. Follow, follow.â He took some keys off the desk and led the three kids up a flight of stairs. The hallway above was dark. There were rooms with numbers on the doors and a sound of rushing water. Lily was a bit worried about the sound of rushing water. She wondered when the ceiling was going to collapse.
The man rattled the keys in the lock of one room and threw the door open. âVery nice room,â he said. âVery nice.â
They looked in.
âThree beds,â he said. âTelevision, chair, five coat hangers. Yes?â
âItâs missing a wall,â said Katie.
âVery nice view. Very nice view.â
âMaybe we werenât specific enough,â said Katie. âWeâd like a room with three beds and at least four walls.â
The man nodded and led them up anotherflight of stairs. Here there was a light, but it flickered off whenever the wind in the broken window blew the dangling electrical cord back and forth through the puddle. He let them