Chapter 14
It was now nighttime back on the planet Neila.
Down below in the cave, Luna sat around the campfire and continued to read the "Neila Law" book. Timmy, Frankie, Monica, Sona, Lon, Lorge, Saul, and Bingo all slept on the beach.
Luna's eyes lit up when he read something interesting on a page of that law book.
"I got it. I got it!" he cried and jumped up.
That woke everybody up and they all curiously rushed over to Luna's side.
"Okay, here's what the law states. If the first heir to the crown, meaning me, was illegally detained from being present at the initial ceremony, then the second heir, meaning Meena, is not entitled to take possession of the crown. But the first heir must physically present the crown along with evidence that he was illegally detained, to the Governing Council before the final ceremony. Then the first heir will be crowned King," Luna read from the book.
All the Space Dreamers and the Surfers looked confused.
"Ah, I don't know what that means," Timmy said.
"Yeah, I'm also clueless," said Lon.
"Me too," Bingo added.
"It means if we get the crown away from Meena and tell the Governing Council that he had me shot down on earth before the final ceremony, then I can become King," Luna told the Space Dreamers and Surfers.
"Oh," they all replied as it finally made sense to them.
"But, they may not believe you," Monica said.
"That's exactly why I wanted you, earthling, to come along. The Governing Council will believe me the second they see you," he told the Space Dreamers.
The Space Dreamers all looked at each other and felt important. Space heroes important!
"But I wonder where Meena hid the crown?" Luna said while he paced around the campfire.
Sona's eyes widened. "Wait. While I was locked in that room, I overheard one of the guards poking fun to another guard about Meena hiding something in his underwear drawer," Sona told Luna.
Luna thought about the information she provided. His eyes lit up. "That sounds like his style!" he said and snapped his fingers. "We have no choice but to sneak back into the base and get that crown," Luna told everybody.
The Surfers and the Space Dreamers thought about Luna's comment.
"But, how do we get out of here without being noticed?" Timmy asked while he looked around the cave.
Frankie looked up at the hole at the top of the cave. "They might still be up there looking for us," he said while he pointed up at the top of the cave where the hole was visible.
"This river leads back into the city," Lon told him.
"Can we all fit on your sky boards?" Timmy questioned.
"No problem. We can sneak back into town and borrow some more from the surf shop," Saul responded.
Luna looked around the cave and got an idea. "I think I know how we can get the crown. But I need something sharp," Luna told everybody.
The Surfer's reached in their pockets and pulled out pocket knives. "Good, now here's my plan," said Luna while he motioned everybody over into a huddle.
With his finger, he drew a house in the dirt.
"We fly up to the roof then we," Luna said while he started his briefing.
A little while later, the Space Dreamers watched while Bingo, Sona, and Luna got on the sky boards and hovered up in the air at the top of the cave. They all cut down numerous vines with the pocket knives.
After the vines dropped into the sand, Timmy, Frankie, Monica, Saul, and Lon coiled up the vines.
Back on earth in Florida, a nasty thunderstorm came from the western part of the state and halted the search effort in the southern area of the space center.
Back on Neila down in that cave, Luna, Sona, and Bingo were done cutting down vines, so they air surfed down to the sandy beach.
After they landed, Luna, Sona, and Bingo hopped off their sky boards and headed over to where everybody had eight vines coiled up.
"Okay, is everybody ready?" Luna asked while he placed a coiled up vine around his shoulder.
"I'm ready," said Timmy.
"Me too," added Frankie.
Monica nodded in agreement along with the Surfers.
"Okay, let's move out," Luna said, then walked into the river.
"We'll meet you where the river comes out of the cave at the base of the mountain," Lon told Luna.
Bingo, Saul, and Lorge all placed coiled vines around their shoulders. They ran over and jumped on their sky boards. They ascended in the air and sky surfed down the river toward the cave opening in town.
Sona, Timmy, Frankie, and Lon each grabbed a coiled vine and placed it around her shoulders.
They followed Luna into the green river.
It was dark and quiet while Luna, Sona, Lon, and the Space Dreamers swam down the river.
In outer space, the earth probe with attached Neila probe flew out of the black hole near the planet Deserta.
Twenty minutes later, Luna, Sona, Lon, and the Space Dreamers swam out of the cave opening with the coiled vines at the base of the mountain. They swam to the bank and got out of the water.
Way down the river, they could see the lighted hovering docks of Neilaville. The dock was void of any ships.
They waited on the bank in the darkness.
Ten minutes later, Saul, Lorge, and Bingo sky surfed down from the sky. Lorge and Saul each had extra sky boards under their arms. They landed on the bank near Luna, Sona, Timmy, Lon, Monica, and Frankie.
"Here's some extra sky boards," said Lon while the Surfers jumped off their sky boards.
Lorge handed Luna a sky board while Saul handed Sona a sky board then Bingo handed Lon a sky board.
Lorge looked bothered. "Bad news, Luna!" said Lorge while he removed a small device called HoloNews and pressed a button.
A hologram newspaper emitted from the HoloNews device with "Prince Luna Dead In Mountain Explosion Along With Earth Creatures – General Meena Grieves And Calls For Immediate War With Earth!" headlines.
Luna, Sona, and the Space Dreamers all looked at the headlines from the hologram newspaper.
"More lies from Meena," Luna said and looked pissed.
"We need one of those things back on earth," Timmy said.
Frankie and Monica both nodded in agreement.
"Does everybody remember their assignments?" Luna asked.
Everybody nodded in agreement.
"Good. We better hurry and get my crown and give Meena some true grief," Luna said while he hopped on his hovering sky board.
Sona hopped on her hovering board with her coiled vine around her shoulder.
Lon, Lorge, Saul, and Bingo hopped on their hovering boards with their coiled vines around their shoulders.
Timmy, with his coiled vine around his shoulder, hopped on Luna's board behind Luna.
Monica, with his coiled vine around his shoulder, hopped on Sona's board behind Sona.
Frankie, with his coiled vine around his shoulder, hopped on Bingo's board behind Bingo.
Luna, Sona, and the Surfers sky surfed away and rose high up in the sky. For once, all the Space Dreamers looked brave and determined.
They sky surfed high above Neilaville, which was quiet since everybody was sound asleep.
Back on earth in Florida, the Watson, Blake, and Hernandez families sat in their living rooms and heard the booming thunder from the storm that hit the east coast. They were scared their kids might be gone forever.
Back on Neila, Luna, Sona, and the Surfers soared in the sky on their sky board and headed toward the Army base.
Soon they sky surfed high over the Army base, and it looked quiet down below except for the two searchlights that searched the base from two high towers.
Luna, Sona, Lon, Saul, Lorge, and Bingo surfed down to the base.
The Surfers broke off and surfed down toward the flight line.
Luna and Sona broke off and surfed down toward a cluster of buildings in the center of the base.
At the flight line, the Surfers surfed down out of the night sky and landed behind a large hangar.
The Surfers and Frankie all hopped off the sky boards. They leaned against the wall of the building.
"Okay, things look quiet around here," Lon said while he looked around and no soldiers were seen.
They all snuck over to the left side of the hangar.
They all snuck down the left side of the hangar.
When they got to the corner, Lon peeked around and saw that the flight line was free of soldiers. Then they saw the eight fighter spaceships Neila 4 through 13 parked on the flight line.
"The coast is clear," Lon told everybody.
They ran off toward the flight line with the coiled vines to eight fighter spaceships.
Lon got to the first fighter – Neila 4. He tied one of the vines to one of the landing struts. Then he ran over to Neila 5 and tied the other end of the vine to one of the landing struts.
Lorge ran over to Neila 6 and tied the other end of the vine to one of the landing struts. Then he ran over to Neila 7 and tied the other end of the vine to one of the landing struts.
Saul ran over to Neila 8. He tied one end of his vine to one of the landing struts. Then he ran over to Neila 9 and tied the other end of the vine to one of the landing struts.
Bingo ran over to Neila 10 and tied one end of his vine to one of the landing struts. Then he ran over to Neila 11 and tied the other end of the vine to one the landing struts.
Frankie ran over to Neila 12 and tied one end of his vine to one of the landing struts. Then he ran over to Neila 13 and tied the other end of the vine to one the landing struts.
The Surfers and Frankie ran back to the left side of the hangar.
Meanwhile, up in the sky over the office buildings of the base, Luna and Sona with Timmy and Monica sky surfed down and quietly landed on the flat roof of Meena's residence.
The guards that walked around the building below did not have a clue the four landed on the roof.
Luna, Sona, Timmy, and Monica hopped off their sky boards, and they hovered inches above the roof.
Luna looked around the roof for a way inside Meena's residence. He saw a big round horizontal opening for an air shaft. He pointed to it, and they nodded, they understood.
Luna and Sona had coiled vines hanging on their shoulders.
They quietly walked over to the round opening.
They looked inside and saw a big three-bladed fan that rotated slowly, which sucked in outside air for ventilation inside Meena's residence.
Timmy and Monica looked apprehensive about their next move.
"Will that cut us in half?" Monica asked, very nervously.
"Smaller pieces if it hits you just right," Luna answered quietly.
Timmy and Monica swallowed hard and shook a little, as they were afraid of those blades.
Luna took a breath for courage and watched the blades while they rotated. He saw his opportunity and ran into the opening and made it safely past the rotating blades. He stopped behind the blades.
"Okay, Sona, I know you can do it," he called out.
Outside the opening, Sona took a couple of deep breaths and watched the blades. She saw her opportunity and ran inside. She safely slipped past the blades.
She stood by Luna's side.
"Okay, Timmy and Monica. It's your turn," Luna called out from the other side of the blades.
Timmy and Monica looked at each other and wondered who would be brave and go next.
Timmy took a deep breath and watched the rotating blades. He saw his opportunity and raced inside the opening. He made it safely past the blades. He looked so proud while he alongside with Luna and Sona.
Monica got a little nervous when she realized she was next. She looked at the rotating blades. She decided to get brave again, and when the opportunity arrived, she closed his eyes and raced into the opening.
She safely made it past the blades but bumped into Luna, and they both tumbled to the floor.
Timmy looked a little jealous while he saw Monica on top of Luna.
She got off of him and was a little embarrassed.
"Okay, we need to head down this shaft," Luna told them while he got back on his feet.
They looked down the shaft and saw that the opening tapered down to a big HVAC type of duct.
Luna got on his hands and knees and crawled into the duct.
Everybody else followed on their hands and knees.