The Brainiacs (6 page)

‘I feel our people must make it up to the galaxy's children. Would you and the other competitors join us for an after-party in our adventure playground?'

Kip grinned. A futuristic playground designed by super-intelligent life forms. That
had
to be awesome. ‘Of course,' said Kip.

Kip and Finbar followed the Clevor alien to a huge dome. Gorb stayed back to show the rest of the competitors the way. By now they were all totally back to normal.

The adventure playground was inside the dome.The floor was polymer turf with a real grass aroma. There was a vacuum slide, which used powerful suction so you slid
up
instead of down. It was awesome, but the best thing in the entire playground was the vertical flying fox. It had a springy platform that you stood on, grabbing hold of the handle in the middle. The platform threw you upwards at top speed, slamming you into the dome's wobbly ceiling, which stretched like rubber. Then you bounced back down to the platform.

The cyborg alien Kip remembered from earlier stepped up to have a shot.

‘That'll loosen your hinges,' Kip said, as the cyborg took the flying fox's handle.

The cyborg bleeped happily then shot up into the air. Lights flashed all over its metallic body.

Then it was Kip's turn.

‘Want a go?' Kip said to his 2iC. Finbar shook his head furiously. For an intergalactic space-travelling wolf-human hybrid, Finbar wasn't terribly brave.

‘It's all yours,' Finbar said faintly.

‘Wooooooohoooo!' Kip screamed as he took off through the air. Cold air rushed into the neck of his spacesuit. After all the hard brainwork he'd done for this mission, it felt awesome to just have some fun.

At the start of his mission, Kip hadn't had high expectations for Clevor. Hanging out with the smartest aliens in the universe could have been a bit nerdy for a top Space Scout.

Who knew?
Kip thought, as he hurtled upwards.
It turns out a geekfest can be seriously
good fun!

www.spacescoutportal.com