Free Lab Rats in Space by Bruno Bouchet Page B

knocking him to the ground.
    â€˜I’m not being a girl!’ he shouted and hit Zed with his fists. His face was red with anger.
    â€˜I’m not!’
    He continued hitting his friend.
    Zed tried to grab KT’s hands to stop him. He couldn’t believe KT was so upset over a silly comment.
    â€˜KT!’ shouted Emm. ‘Stop!’
    Zed punched his friend.
    â€˜Perhaps he needs a beating,’ said Dee, still annoyed at Zed’s comment about girls.
    â€˜Dee, they’re friends, stop them!’ Emm looked horrified.
    â€˜I don’t care, let them go at each other.’
    Soon Dee and Emm were arguing about whether to stop the boys fighting, while the two boys rolled over thefloor. KT tried to press Zed on his back to keep his third arm out of the way, Zed was trying to roll him off.
    â€˜Guys!’ shouted Jay. ‘C’mon, we’re supposed to be friends!’
    â€˜Oh shut up nosy!’ all the others shouted at him at the same time.
    Jay tried to pull the two boys apart but just ended up with a fist on either side of his nose.
    â€˜Ouch!’ He retreated holding his nose.
    The virtual combat trainer hadn’t been programmed for this scenario.
    â€˜Troops stand to order!’ he repeated and seemed to stick on a loop, saying the same thing over and over.
    â€˜Troops stan… troops stan… troops stan…’
    Suddenly the trainer stood to attention while a red light flashed throughout the ship and an alarm sounded.
    â€˜All crew to report to the control deck immediately. All crew report to the control deck immediately.’
    The children stopped fighting and looked at the combat trainer. It was like someone else was talking through him.
    â€˜This is an emergency announcement. All crew report to the control deck.’

Chapter 14
Triumph of the Snotbuster
    T he alarm continued as they ran to the control deck. Everything was drowned in a red light, making the ship look completely different.
    â€˜What’s going on?’ shouted Dee over the noise as they entered the control deck.
    â€˜Computer, turn down the alarm!’ said Zed. The volume of the noise was reduced.
    â€˜We are being attacked,’ XL announced through the ship’s computer.
    â€˜Xanax?’ Jay managed to look even more scared than he had been before.
    An image flashed up on the wraparound screen. It was the outside of their ship—covered in big flying creatures. Their bodies were a flat diamond shape—brown with green speckled lumps on them and long thin tails withlittle flaps on the end. The creatures flew onto the ship and seemed to lie on the surface.
    â€˜What are they?’ KT asked.
    â€˜Zorbats,’ replied XL. ‘They live on asteroids with no atmosphere, attack ships and destroy everything and everyone on them. Then they feed on the remains.’
    â€˜If we don’t open anything they can’t get in,’ said Emm. ‘We could just fly faster and they might fall off.’
    â€˜Each of them is secreting a fluid that burns through the side of the ship. Once one gets through, the others pour in,’ explained XL.
    â€˜How do we stop them? Can’t we shake them off?’ Dee asked.
    â€˜There is no information on how to stop zorbats once they land on a ship,’ he continued.
    â€˜Can we send out a pulse?’ asked Zed. ‘There must be something we can do!’
    â€˜The only option is to seal off the section of the ship and head for the nearest planet. They cannot survive in a planetary atmosphere.’
    XL had scanned all available knowledge. His plan was the only option he could come up with.
    â€˜Let’s do that!’ Zed suggested.
    The computer revealed that the nearest planet with an atmosphere was more than a day away.
    â€˜How long will it take them to burn through the side of the ship?’ Zed asked.
    The answer came as the computer’s alarm announced, ‘Intruder alert, intruder