"Leave him alone," said Shimlara. "He's never done this before."
"Esteemed passengers, please fasten your seat belts and prepare for blastoff," said Tyler into the microphone.
Nicola glanced out the spaceship window and saw Georgio leaping about like a furious orangutan and mouthing the words, "GO, GO!"
"Tyler," said Nicola. "This is a direct order. I'm ordering you to blast off NOW."
"Yes, sir!" said Tyler, and he banged one fist hard on a large red button.
There was a roaring sound and the spaceship filled with orange light. Outside, Mully and Georgio shielded their faces from the heat of the flames.
The spaceship quivered, as if it wasn't certain what to do next.
"Mmmm."Tyler scratched his head.
Suddenly they blasted straight into the night air through the garage roof, which was now flipped up and open. (Luckily Shimlara had remembered to press the button marked SPACESHIP roof EXIT.)
"WHOOOEEEE!" yelled Sean.
All around them was silent velvety blackness and the silver glow of starlight.
"Look! There's Globagaskar!" Shimlara pointed down at what looked like a golf ball disappearing in the distance.
The princess made a squeaking sound through her taped mouth.
"Maybe we should take her tape off so she can talk now," suggested Katie.
Nicola began to speak, but Tyler interrupted her. "Esteemed passengers, please prepare for--"
It was like the spaceship had just slid over the very highest point of a roller coaster.They plunged down so fast that the air rushed out of Nicola's lungs.
I don't even like roller coasters, thought Nicola. She closed her eyes and waited for the huge crash that was sure to follow and would probably hurt.
"... landing," said Tyler calmly.
Nicola opened her eyes. "What happened?"
"We're here," said Tyler.
"But there wasn't even a bang," said Katie.
"Yep, I got it under control at the last second," said Tyler modestly. "Sorry about the nosedive.Won't happen again."
"Tyler, you're a natural!" said Shimlara.
Tyler blushed pink. "I don't know about that."
"It was very quick," said Nicola. "It seemed faster than five minutes."
Sean unbuckled his belt and clapped Tyler on the shoulder. "Good one,Tyler. So, whereabouts on Earth have we landed?"
He pulled the lever on the spaceship door and looked out.
"What's that awful smell?" Greta wrinkled her nose.
A strange, horrible smell filled the spaceship. It was a mixture of dried out seaweed, Nicola's dad's tennis shoes, and old cat-food tins.
Nicola unbuckled her seat belt and went to peer over Sean's shoulder.