It was the next morning. Todd and Ricky had three hours of sleep. They stayed up half the night memorizing information about the Moon landings.
They bushed their teeth and went to the kitchen for breakfast.
After woofing down a bowl of Cocoa Krispies and orange juice, they rushed back into Todd's bedroom.
It was 8:58 a.m.
They sat on Todd's bed listening to the Happy Together song, by the Turtles, on the radio.
The song ended, and Todd and Ricky inched closer to the radio.
"Okay future space cadets; are you ready to win a free astronaut training for two at space camp?" the Disc Jockey said from the radio.
"Yeah,"! Todd and Ricky yelled in unison. They jumped off the bed.
"Okay, question number one - How many Apollo missions landed on the Moon? Besides the total number, I want all the mission numbers," the Disc Jockey said from the radio.
Todd and Ricky thought for a second. Their eyes lit up!
"Question number two - What was the name of the Moon landing site for the April 1972 mission?" the Disc Jockey added.
Todd and Ricky thought for a second. Their eyes lit up brighter!
Todd grabbed the phone from his bedside table.
“Yes, misses Snyder, I can have Touché clipped and cut in a couple of days," Lilly said from the phone.
"That's great. Oh, I forgot to tell you this the other day, but you wouldn't believe what Roscoe did," Sally told Lilly over the phone.
"Tell me about it, Sally," Lilly replied.
Todd looked frustrated while he hung up his phone. He thought for a second about a backup plan.
"I got it," he cried out. He raced out of his bedroom.
Ricky raced out of the bedroom after Todd.
Todd raced down the hallway. Ricky ran after Todd.
Todd raced into Christina's room, where she lay on her back, gabbing into her cell phone. "And then Bobby asked Sandy out," Christina told a friend on her cell phone.
Todd raced up to her bed and snatched the cell phone out of her hand before she could finish her sentence.
He ran out of her bedroom. Ricky followed.
"For a date," Christina finished her sentence. She realized Todd had snatched her cell phone away.
"Creep!" Christina screamed and jumped off her bed.
The back screen door of Todd's house slammed open. Todd and Ricky raced outside. Todd stopped and punched in the phone number for the contest. The phone at the radio station rang, and Todd placed the cell phone to his ear.
"And we have caller number ten on the phone. Go ahead," the Disc Jockey answered.
"The answer to question number one is six missions. Apollo's 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17," Todd said excitedly into the cell phone.
"I hate you, Todd! Christina screamed out slamming the back screen door open.
Todd saw Christina running after him from the back door.
He took off and zigged zagged around the backyard with Christina hot on his tail.
Ricky watched and prayed she would miss him.
"And the Moon landing site in April 1972 was Descartes," Todd yelled into the cell phone. He maneuvered around the yard, avoiding Christina's capture.
"We have a winner! What's your name, young man?" the Disc Jockey asked from the cell phone.
Christina almost caught Todd, but he was too quick zigged zagging around the yard.
"Todd Peabody. I live at twenty-three fourteen Abby Street in Atlantis," Todd blurted out in a hurry.
"Well then, Mister Todd Peabody, come down to the station and get your space camp tickets," the Disc Jockey said.
Todd jumped up and down for joy. "We won!" he cried out, tossing Christina's cell phone in the air.
Ricky jumped up and down with joy.
Christina saw her cell phone dropping to the ground.
She dove for her cell phone. While she was in mid– air, her eyes lit up with fear. She realized she was headed straight for a massive pile of fire ants.
"Ahhhh!" Christina screamed out in anticipation of landing on those thousands of ants.
Todd and Ricky raced back into the house. They were too excited about winning the contest to notice Christina's screams.
Back at the Space Spy Agency's Peek A Boo We See You Room. Johnson got bored from watching the green blob. He fell asleep with his feet propped up on his console. He snored and drooled on his shirt.
Twenty minutes had passed. Johnson woke up and wiped the drool off his chin. He yawned.
He glanced at the radar screen. He yawned and stretched.
He did a double-take, and his eyes popped out in fear!
"Wilbur! Hurry!" he screamed, shooting straight up out of his chair.
All the other console operators jumped up from their consoles and ran over to Johnson.
Wilbur ran over to Johnson with his Maalox bottle in hand. He looked at the radar screen and got scared. His hand shook, grabbing the receiver from the red phone on top of Johnson's console.
"Richard, Wilbur here. We have something on our Top Secret Peek A Boo We See You satellite. Something very alarming and threatening," Wilbur blurted into the phone. He looked at the radar screen, noticing the green blob quadrupled in size. He opened up his Maalox bottle and took another gulp.
"What is it?" one of the console operators asked.
"Looks like a huge spaceship full of aliens. Aliens that will wipe out humanity!” another console operator cried out, his body trembling.
“They could be aliens that want to use us for food. You know, stock their alien refrigerators," another console operator added and looked scared.
Wilbur polished off the rest of his Maalox. Johnson and the console operators were afraid aliens would come down to Earth.
In outer space above Earth, the asteroid of space junk was ten miles long and one hundred feet thick. But now, the space above Earth was void of all the pieces of floating space junk.
The massive asteroid of space junk caught the attention of governments worldwide. They had meetings around the planet to discuss this large object. Many of them also had suspicions that it was an alien mother ship.
World observatories positioned their telescopes. They got a closer examination of this asteroid of space junk. Scientists worldwide had hours of discussions if this asteroid posed a threat to Earth.
Dr. Jennifer Roberts rushed down a hallway at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). She had a folder in hand.
Richard Burrows, the fifty-five-year-old NASA Administrator, greeted her in the hallway.
"What did you find?" he asked her.
"The Palomar observatory took this a couple of hours ago," she said and handed Richard the folder.
He opened up the folder and glanced at the picture of the enormous asteroid of space junk.
"We need answers on this asteroid so that I can call the President," he ordered.
"The nerds have some," she said, then walked Richard down the hallway.
They turned down another hallway. They walked to the "National Engineering Research Department (NERD)" room.
Richard opened up the door for Jennifer, and they went inside.
The NERD room was full of nerdy JPL scientists. They conducted research projects with high-tech devices and other cool toys.
"Quinton, do we know how did this happen?" Richard said, holding up the photo.
Quinton Leonard was a forty-five-year-old skinny scientist. His thick glasses magnified his eyes to twice their size. Quinton grabbed another folder, got up from his computer, and walked over to Richard.
"Well, Richard, we can't figure this out. An old Apollo lunar module flew back to Earth. It collided with our space junk, discarded satellites, and adhered to each other. This continued and grew into this massive asteroid," Quinton said. He handed Richard his folder.
Richard opened up the folder. He saw a photo of the front of the asteroid. IT also had a perfect shot of the front of that Apollo 17 Lunar Module.
"An Apollo Lunar Module? I thought they impacted on the Moon's surface?" Richard said, scratching his head a little baffled.
"We all believed that occurred, but one of them didn't, as you can see by the photo," Quinton responded.
"What's your assessment of this asteroid?" Richard asked.
"We ran data many times through our computers. We performed many risk assessments. These concluded that it doesn't pose a threat. But, we should play it safe and get rid of it," Quinton replied and looked dead serious.
"How do we do that?"
"We have the best scientist working around all the NASA centers on our plan. We've had some new inventions that have been in work for years, and they would be a perfect fit for our plan," Quinton said.
"I want a briefing on your proposed plan completed in one hour so I can brief the President."
Quinton nodded in agreement.
Richard and Jennifer left the NERD room.
Two hours had passed. In the Oval Office of the White House was sixty years old President Peter Barnaby. President Barnaby relaxed with his feet on his desk. The "I'm President Barnaby, And You're Not" nameplate was near his feet. He read his "Dummies Method To Being President" book in his other hand and his desk phone in the other. This call interrupted his educational read. He answered it and listened to the caller for a few seconds.
"Are you sure this asteroid will not threaten Earth?" President Barnaby said into his phone.
"Yes, sir. The nerds at JPL ran it through their computer ten times and performed many risk assessments. And all came up with the same results," Richard replied from the President's phone.
"But you still feel we should get rid of it now?" President Barnaby asked.
"Yes, sir. Better be safe than sorry, or we'll end up like the dinosaurs."
"And your nerds have a plan to get rid of this asteroid?" President Barnaby asked.
“Yes, sir, we need your permission to move forward, and then I'll brief the news media later tonight," Richard said.
"You can proceed and tell me about this plan," President Barnaby replied. President Barnaby listened to the plan while he continued to read his book.
Later that night, at the James S. Brady Press Room in the West Wing of the White house. Press Secretary Carrie Winston stood at the podium. She addressed news media personnel shocked over the news of the space junk asteroid.
Richard, Jennifer, and Quinton stood behind Carrie. A news reporter stood up. "I'm Biff Barley from Channel Nine News in Orlando, Florida. What are NASA's plans on getting rid of this nuisance?" Biff asked, having his notepad and pen ready.
"I would like our JPL scientist to answer that question," Carrie said, then stepped aside.
Quinton walked over and stood behind the podium. "Astronauts will install a robot called R1D1 with a control box inside the lunar module. They'll hover across the top of the asteroid using a Space Buggy designed and built at JPL. After hiking across the top of the asteroid, they'll install a control wire to the rear of the asteroid. They'll install three ion propulsion engines at the rear of the asteroid. Then they’ll connect the control wires to three engines," said Quinton.
The media folks jotted down that information on their notepads.
"Which rocket will complete this plan?" a reporter called out.
Richard walked up to the podium and stood next to Quinton.
"We plan on using our Magellan five rocket. The next Magellan mission is being assembled right now down at Kennedy," Richard said.
The media personnel stood up. The room erupted with cheers.
Richard and Quinton looked proud. It was rare for the media to show this kind of appreciation towards NASA.
It was later that night in the Oval Office of the White House. President Barnaby finished his "Dummies Method To Being President," book.
He set it on the top of his desk.
He glanced at his watch.
He opened up a desk drawer and removed a remote control. He aimed it at the wall across the room and pressed the yellow button on the remote.
The wall across the room had two hidden panels. They opened up and opened by activation of the remote. Behind those panels were eleven 36-inch high-definition televisions.
President Barnaby pressed a blue button on the remote, and all the TVs turned on.
On the TVs appeared; England's Prime Minister, the German Chancellor, the Spanish President, the Prime Minister of Japan, the French President, the South Korean President, the Italian President, the Australian President, the Canadian President, the Chinese President, and the Russian President.
"Can we stop this asteroid?" the French President asked from his TV.
President Barnaby propped his feet up on his desk and looked cocky. "The US of A has a plan to send it off into deep space," President Barnaby replied with a grin.
"The US of A...AH! You always have to be a cowboy. We are capable of a plan. I say blow it up!" the Chinese President bellowed out from his TV.
"No! Let Barnaby install his plan!" England's Prime Minister replied from his TV.
On the TVs, Germany, France, Russia, Spain, Australia, Japan, Canada, South Korea, and Italy nodded in agreement with England's Prime Minister.
"Ya. You can use one of my Cosmonauts," the Russian President added from his TV.
"Thank you all," President Barnaby said. He pressed a white button on the remote. The TVs were turned off. He pressed the yellow button again, and the two panels closed.
President Barnaby puffed out his chest of his plan to get rid of that asteroid.
It was the next day down at the Space Coast of Florida. Tater allowed Todd to attend space camp. But he had one condition; Todd would help with his lawn service for the summer. Todd's chores involved picking up pine cones and then using the blower on the driveways and sidewalk.
Louie agreed to allow Ricky to attend a space camp. But he had one condition. Ricky would have to work at the dentist's office for the summer. His chores would be taking out the trash and sweeping the floor.
Lilly drove the boys to The Beach radio station, where they picked up their space camp tickets. Todd and Ricky were on cloud nine while holding onto their prized paperwork.
After dinner, Lilly drove Todd and Ricky down US 1 to the Space Camp in her 2008 Toyota Camry. On her radio played the Bought My Bride A Double Wide country song.
In the backseat, Todd and Ricky grinned from ear to ear.
"We interrupt this song for an important message.
NASA has released the news that an asteroid comprised of space junk is now orbiting Earth. Our Scientists concluded there's no immediate threat. But NASA's still going to send up the next Magellan rocket to eliminate it. Now back to our hit song Bought My Bride a Double Wide by Bubba and the Pot Belly Boys,” the DJ said.
Todd and Ricky's eyes lit up from the backseat. They stuck their heads outside their windows, scanning the sky in hopes of seeing the asteroid.
Lilly turned her Camry into the entrance to Space Camp.
Lilly parked her Camry by the entrance.
Todd and Ricky jumped out while Lilly got out and opened the trunk. She removed their backpacks and handed them to the boys.
They snatched their backpacks out of her hands and raced off to the front doors of the building.
Lilly looked disappointed she didn't give Todd a goodbye kiss, but she knew he was too excited about Space Camp.
She closed the trunk, got back inside her Camry, and drove off.
It was later that night at Space Camp in Florida.
Ricky and Todd got assigned their bunks in the boy's dorm. Eighteen kids were in their class, and one was Cassandra Bartholomew. She was a rich twelve-year-old spoiled brat. She was the daughter of Senator Mickey Bartholomew from Massachusetts. He was a Democrat that controlled the amount of budget NASA would receive. Her father's influence would help Cassandra become an astronaut.
The kids attended indoctrination meetings that night.
They met their camp instructors, Cindy Deon and Jack McCain. Todd and Ricky couldn't sleep, knowing their training would start first thing in the morning.