"We're all staying the night here," said their mother. "Grammy wants the party to continue on till breakfast time. You kids are all going to sleep in sleeping bags in the living room. That will be fun, won't it?"
Oh, yes, great fun, sharing a room with a dozen wriggling cousins. However, it would certainly be convenient for a discreet trip into space.
"Did you win?" Their dad came down the hallway, rubbing his eyes.
"Sure did!" said their mother. Nicola and Sean winced as their parents gave each other high fives.
"See you kids in the morning!" said their mother.
"If we're not around for breakfast it's because we've gone to the pool," said Nicola, trying to buy more time.
"As long as you're back by ten--"
"Of course," said Nicola, crossing her fingers that they'd be back by then. Luckily Tyler always flew their spaceship on Time-Squeeze speed, which meant that they could spend days on another planet, but only a few hours would pass on Earth.
"We can text Greta," she said to Sean, as they closed the door on their embarrassing parents, who were bouncing around on the four-poster bed. "But what about the others?"
Greta was the only one in the Space Brigade who owned a cell phone. (She was also the least popular member of the Brigade, but now that they'd been on two missions with her, it was impossible to imagine leaving her behind.)
"Greta can go and knock on Tyler's window," said Sean. Tyler lived across the street from Greta. "I don't know what to do about Katie."
"Wait a sec," said Nicola. "Katie's mom is away at the moment!" Katie's mom didn't miss a thing, but her dad was an eccentric scientist who wrote textbooks about frogs. "I bet Mr. Hobbs won't even notice we're calling so late!"
Nicola was right. Katie's father was delighted to hear from her. "Nicola! How are you? Still tap dancing?" Nicola and Katie had last done a tap-dancing class when they were five years old.
"You bet, Mr. Hobbs! Is Katie there?"
"I think she might be asleep, but I guess I should wake her. Shouldn't she be getting ready for school?"
"Absolutely!" No need to mention it was past midnight on a Friday.
A minute later she was talking to a sleepy Katie. In the meantime, Sean was busy using a cousin's cell phone to text Greta.
After Nicola hung up with Katie, Sean read out loud a text message reply from Greta: Very disorganized as usual, but okay, I'll collect Tyler and see you asap.
"How could we be organized for something unexpected like this?" said Nicola.
Sean shrugged. He never let Greta's snarky comments bother him.
"How was Katie?"
"As soon as she heard Shimlara needed us, she didn't ask questions," said Nicola.
Twenty minutes later, the Space Brigade gathered quietly in the front yard of Nicola and Sean's great-grandmother's house. They were whispering because most of the party guests and Grammy had finally gone to bed.
"You didn't forget the spaceship, did you, Tyler?" said Nicola.
"You're dealing with a professional here." The lenses of Tyler's glasses glinted in the moonlight. He pointed to the familiar silver briefcase with the words MINI EASY-RIDE SPACESHIP stamped discreetly on the side. He'd strapped it to the back of his bike.
"I was nervous riding my bike over in the dark," said Katie, trying to smooth down her glossy brown hair where it was sticking up in the back. Nicola had to laugh when she thought of what Katie had been through on their last mission. Maybe it was easier to be brave on a planet other than your own.
"If this turns out to be a wild goose chase, I won't be impressed," said Greta. You wouldn't have thought she'd been in bed when they called. She looked as neat as a pin. "Sometimes Shimlara can be a bit of a drama queen."
This was true, but Nicola immediately jumped to her defense.
"She wouldn't be dragging us all the way to the other side of the galaxy if it wasn't an emergency."
"Okay, guys, stand back." Tyler picked up the briefcase.