Stowaway Boys by Gary Whitmore - HTML preview

Chapter 28

Way off in outer space, the asteroid continued to fly off into space toward Stardonia, one hundred and twenty-five thousand miles away.

The tow ship flew alongside the asteroid with the Apollo descent stage.

The engines of the asteroid shut down, and it orbited around Stardonia.

The tow ship moved into position over the hatch of the Lunar Module.

Twenty minutes later, the hatch of the Lunar Module opened up, and Scoota, in his spacesuit and helmet, floated up from the Module with his personal belongings. Then he closed the hatch.

A side door opened up from the tow ship, and a ladder from the tow ship dropped out. Scoota climbed up the ladder and entered the tow ship.

The ladder went back up inside the tow ship, and the door closed.

The tow ship went down to Stardonia.

The asteroid stayed in orbit around Stardonia.

Later that day on Stardonia, the tow ship landed at the military base where Senior Space Knight Tockka and other senior officers waited by the hangar.

The door to the tow ship opened, and Biggka, Redka, and Scoota exited in their flight suits.

Tockka walked up to Scoota, who removed his helmet along with Biggka and Redka.

"I heard about your adventure, Scoota," Tockka said.

Scoota looked nervous that he was going to be yelled at.

"And I'm proud of you. Saving Earth warrants a promotion to Middle-Grade Space Knight," Tockka said, then patted him on his shoulder.

Tockka walked off, and his officers followed.

Scoota was elated that he finally got the promotion he wanted.

Later the day, on Stardonia, Scoota, and Litta had a romantic dinner at his home.

They slow danced to some music.

They cuddled on the couch for some romantic encounters.

There was a knock on his door.

“Ah, man," Scoota said while he was in mid-stream kissing Litta.

"Just ignore it," Litta said then they kissed.

The knocks got louder and were too loud to ignore.

"Let me shoo this person away," Scoot said while he got up.

He walked over to his door and opened it.

Outside was Scrappy, and he was bald with a huge potbelly.

“Scoota, my friend. I heard that you have this asteroid orbiting above us," Scrappy said.

"That's true," Scoota replied.

"Well, I'm prepared to make you a handsome offer to purchase it from you. After all, you have ownership since you brought it from Earth."

"But you can't bring the junk here to Stardonia," Scoota said.

"I know. I want to build a hotel up there. Give people an outer space vacation," Scrappy replied with a gleam in his eyes.

Litta walked up to Scoota as she heard the offer.

"I would say that piece of prime property is worth at least half a million bucks," Litta added.

Scrappy thought for a few seconds, then smiled. "It's a deal," he said, then stuck out his hand.

They shook to seal the deal.

Two weeks later, Scoota and Litta sailed on the Royal Galaxy Space Cruise Ship to Beonlian, and they had a blast.

Two months later, upon the asteroid in orbit around Stardonia, Scrappy's hotel was completed and looked impressive on top of the asteroid.

Four taxi spacecrafts flew customers up to the hotel, and Scrappy's hotel would be his gold mind.

Back down on Earth during the month after his return from space, Todd spent every day with Lucy while Ricky spent time with Betty.

They went to Disney. They went to Universal.

They went to Sea World.

They went on a tour of the Kennedy Space Center, where Todd and Ricky were the celebrity guests on their tour bus.

But Todd and Ricky were not the only ones that had a great summer, as Tater got a huge surprise. It appeared that the other item that Todd whispered into President Barnaby's ear was for his father to get a job at the Kennedy Space Center. The President pulled through and talked with Richard, who spoke with the major contractor that had the ground operations contract for the Magellan rocket, Spacely's Rocket Company.

Tater was offered a technician's job at the launch pad, which he excitedly accepted. He then went out and bought himself a new Ford F-150 pickup truck.

Summer was over, and Todd and Lucy spent many days together and strengthened their relationship. But it was time to head back to school.

On the first day of school at Magellan Elementary, Todd held hands with Lucy while they walked down the hallway. Ricky and Betty held hands and walked behind them.

The kids in the hallway clapped and cheered while they passed by them.

Todd stopped when he saw Rocky and Buster with clinched fists down the hallway.

"You burned down our tree house!" Buster yelled while he marched toward Todd.

"Yeah, you burnt down our tree house!" Rocky joined in.

Buster and Rocky strutted to Todd and Lucy. He pushed Lucy out of the way, and she fell and landed on her butt.

Rocky and Buster circled Todd just like they did during the last day of school.

"You're going to get the beating you deserve," Buster threatened.

"Yeah! A beating that you deserve!" Rocky added.

All the kids in the hallway watched intently for a fight to begin.

Rocky and Buster stopped and faced Todd.

Ricky and Betty snuck around behind Rocky and Buster, and Todd noticed and got a smirk.

"Now," Ricky said to Betty. They quickly pulled on Rocky and Buster's underwear and gave them wedgies.

They quickly got on their hands and knees behind Rocky and Buster.

Rocky and Buster got mad and started to come after Todd. Todd quickly pushed on Rocky and Buster's chest, and they flew backward both over Ricky and Betty.

They landed hard on their backs.

The kids in the hallway roared with laughter.

Rocky and Buster saw Todd with his fists ready to fight. They got scared.

"Ah, we're late for class, and besides, we'll let you slide this time, you know, since you saved the world," Rocky said, and he suddenly became afraid of Todd as he didn't expect him to fight back.

"Yeah, we'll let you slide since you saved the world," Buster added.

Rocky and Buster quickly got up and bolted down the hallway. This would be the last time Todd and Ricky had any confrontation with those bullies.

All the kids cheered and congratulated Todd and Ricky.

Todd helped Lucy back on her feet.

She planted a kiss on his lips.

His eyes widened with joy.

They walked down the hallway and held hands.

Later that night, far away on the planet Stardonia, Scoota stood out in the backyard of his home.

He stared up at the nighttime sky and gazed at the stars. I wonder what Todd and Ricky are doing right now. He thought to himself while removing his Remember Life hologram camera from his pocket.

He pressed a button, and that hologram picture he snapped during the mission showed Todd and Ricky on the Space Buggy above the asteroid. He smiled.

Scoota played back all the pictures he captured with his hologram camera.

Later that night, back on Earth, Todd and Ricky stood in Todd's backyard. They stared up at the nighttime sky and gazed at the stars.

"I wonder what Scoota is doing at this exact moment," Todd said.

"I miss him," Ricky added.

Todd nodded in agreement.

In outer space above Earth, the orbits all around Earth looked so clear since the asteroid being formed cleaned up the vast majority of the space junk. Let's hope we earthlings can keep the junk to a minimum in the future.