Astro-Knights Island (6 page)

Chapter Ten

Finally . . . a Flying Machine!

“We should go back to the museum and look under Mordred's bed,” Alice suggested. “The Princess said he kept secrets under there.”

Simon shook his head. “Are you forgetting about the windmill? We've got to get there before the full moon tonight. Let's do that now while we're here.”

“You're right,” Alice agreed.

They walked over to the windmill, and Simon stopped by the door.

“You know, I climbed up in there the other day,” he said. “I didn't find anything of Mordred's. Just that strange girl.”

“You mean you were all the way up there?” Alice asked, pointing to the top of the mill, which was covered by a round glass dome.

Simon frowned. “I didn't see a dome above me,” he said. “That means there must be a secret room under there!”

“Mordred's secret room,” Alice reminded him.

“We've got to get up there and check it out,” Simon said eagerly. He hopped on the nearest large windmill blade, and the blades slowly began to spin, lifting him a few feet off the ground.

“Excellent! We can ride the blades to the top!” Alice said, her eyes shining with excitement. She eagerly jumped onto the blade with Simon—a little too eagerly. The windmill groaned as the blades quickly made another counterclockwise turn, and Alice almost lost her balance.

“Whoa!” Alice cried, steadying herself.

She and Simon jumped to the next blade, and the windmill turned again.

“Hey, look up there!” Simon cried when they were about halfway up. The glass dome was now about halfway open on its hinges. “I think it opens a little every time the blades turn.”

Simon climbed up to the next blade, keeping watch on the dome. Just as he had guessed, it opened a little bit more. By the time Simon reached the top, the dome was open all the way.

He peered down inside but couldn't see anything except a dusty wood floor. He was eager to jump down but wanted to be fair to Alice.

“We made it!” Alice cheered. “Now let's see what's in that secret room.”

Whomp!
They both jumped down, landing safely in a soft stack of hay.

Alice leaped up, brushing hay off her dress.

“It doesn't look like we'll find anything up here except maybe some mice,” she said, gazing around. Then she patted the sack hanging from her belt. “No offense, Mordred Mouse.”

Simon started to look around. “There must be something hidden, maybe under a board in the floor,” he suggested. “Or inside a—ow!”

“What's an
ow
?” Alice teased.

“There's something hard under here,” Simon said, kicking the haystack he'd just bumped into.

He began to push aside the hay, and Alice joined him. They quickly revealed what was hidden underneath—a shiny metal craft!

“This must be what the secret order was talking about,” Simon guessed.

“Do you think it's a spaceship?” Alice asked.

Simon walked around the craft. It was smaller than the ones that had come from the sky, and there was no glass dome on the top.

“I'm not sure,” he said, and then he jumped into the pilot's seat. “But there's only one way to find out.”

Alice hesitated just a second before jumping in beside him. “Might as well. The more time I spend out of that kitchen, the more I don't want to go back.”

“All right. Brace yourself,” Simon said, and Alice closed her eyes and gripped the side of the craft. Then Simon pressed the green button marked
START
on the control panel in front of him . . . and nothing happened.

Alice opened her eyes. “What's wrong?”

“I'm not sure,” Simon said.

Alice pointed to a gauge on the panel that read
FUEL
. The arrow was pointing to
EMPTY
.

“I guess it needs fuel to run,” Alice said. “But what kind?”

Simon climbed out of the craft and walked around it. “It looks like this is where the fuel goes,” he said. He unscrewed the cap and peered into the hole.

“Phew! I'd know that smell anywhere. This thing runs on manure,” Simon said.

Alice grinned. “Lucky us! There's plenty of that around here.”

“Don't I know it,” Simon grumbled. “Be right back.”

He climbed out of the windmill and returned a few minutes later carrying a sack of manure. Holding his nose, he dumped it into the fuel tank. Then he jumped back into the craft.

“This better work,” he said, pressing
START
once more.

This time, the craft roared to life. It quickly shot straight up into the air through the top of the windmill.

“We're going to the stars!” Alice shrieked, laughing.

The craft lurched wildly from side to side. Simon started pressing buttons like crazy until the craft evened out.

“I don't know,” Simon said. “I don't think it goes much higher. But I think we can go lower. See?”

He pulled on a stick coming out of the control panel, and the craft gently lowered until it was hovering just a few feet off the ground.

“Whoo! This is almost better than riding a horse!” Simon cried as the craft zipped across the muddy field next to the windmill.

Alice's eyes were shining. “This is fun! Can it go faster?”

Simon tried some more buttons, but the speed didn't change.

“I guess not,” he said. “This thing is cool, but I don't think it will get us into space.”

“It might not,” Alice agreed. “But
that
might.”

She pointed to an object sticking out of the mud in the middle of the field. It was another spacecraft—larger than the little landskimmer they had found and with a clear dome on top.

“It's one of the invaders' ships!” Simon said excitedly. He pulled back on the control stick, and the landskimmer hovered right next to the craft. Simon jumped out.

“Does it work?” Alice asked.

Simon opened the dome and climbed into the cockpit. “The panel here says that the fuel is empty, too,” he said.

“We should get more manure,” Alice suggested. “There's plenty of it around here.”

“Don't I know it,” Simon muttered. He climbed out of the cockpit and examined the craft. The word
Excalibur
was painted on the side. Simon kept searching but couldn't find the fuel tank.

“I don't see a fuel tank like the one on the landskimmer,” he reported. “I don't think this thing uses manure.”

Alice frowned. “Too bad we don't have any
space
manure,” she said. “Maybe that would do the trick.”

Simon thought for a minute. “Wait a second. When Mordred escaped from the dungeon, he flew into space, right? So he must have used something from around here.”

Alice nodded. “I bet the secret is in his lab. I just wish we could find it!”

Chapter Eleven

The Secret under the Hay

Simon and Alice hopped into the landskimmer and sped across the muddy field.

“We'd better hide this thing,” Alice suggested. “We don't want the secret order to find it.”

They quickly hid it under a pile of hay and then sat down with their backs against it. Alice took a flask of water from her pouch, took a sip, and handed it to Simon.

“Looks like we're stuck,” she said.

Simon shook his head. “We can't be. There's got to be something we're forgetting. Let's try to think back over the last day.”

“Well, let's see,” Alice began. “The lady-in-waiting told us that she was delivering secret messages to the order for the Princess. Then you got into the Princess's room and found out that she was a member of the order and she was in touch with Mordred.”

Simon nodded. “And the secret order told us there was something in the windmill, which we found.”

They were both quiet for a moment, thinking.

“Wait a second,” Alice said finally. “Didn't the Princess say some other things in her letter?”

Simon took the crumpled paper from his pocket. “Here it is,” he said. He began to read aloud. “‘The order believes the Great Inventor kept many of his secrets under his bed, but the—'”

“That's it!” Alice cried. “She must be talking about his bed—the one in the museum. Maybe there's a map to the location of his secret lab or something!”

Simon's eyes brightened. “It's worth a try. Let's go see what we can find.”

They hurried back to town and ran into the museum. The curator coughed politely.

“You need one coin—”

“We're on official business from the King!” Alice announced as she and Simon breezed past him. The curator didn't know what to make of that, so he let them pass. They climbed up the rickety stairs and knelt down in front of Mordred's old bed.

Alice slid underneath, pushing away cobwebs. Then she triumphantly emerged holding a yellowed piece of paper.

“I found something!” she cried, holding up a yellowed piece of paper. Simon leaned in to read it.

I have found a nearby moon with activity that I believe to be alien life! I have found that animal waste makes decent fuel, and there is just enough manure in Arturus to bring my flying craft to this moon. The star coordinates are x-56, y-52.

“‘Alien life?'” Simon asked.

“It means . . . from another place,” Alice said.
“He means that he found people—or something—living on this moon.”

“Maybe those aliens are the ones who attacked us,” Simon guessed. “Anyway, this isn't much help. Mordred says he used manure to take his craft to the moon, but I don't see how I'm supposed to get manure into that ship we found in the mud.”

“Maybe he did something to change the manure,” Alice mused. “You know, to make it work in the flying craft.”

“Which is exactly why we need to find his lab,” Simon pointed out. “Isn't there anything else under there? Like a map?”

Alice shook her head, stood up, and dusted her hands off on her skirt. “Nothing except for dust bunnies and cobwebs. But you're welcome to look yourself.”

Simon stood up. “Forget it.” He said. Then he marched downstairs without saying another word.

Alice followed him outside. “We can't give up now!” she urged.

“It doesn't matter,” Simon said. “I don't know what I was thinking, anyway. I'm just a stable boy. Did I really think I could fly to the stars and rescue the Princess?”

“Yes, you did,” Alice reminded him. “And you can.
We
can.”

They walked past the Planetarium and the Crop Circle Inn and headed for the Castle. Two large haystacks sat on the path in front of them.

“More hay!” Simon complained. “Did Mordred know a way to turn hay and manure into gold? Because that would actually have been useful in a place like this.”

He gave the haystack a good kick, and the bundle nudged forward. To his surprise, Simon saw a gleam of metal on the ground by the stack.

“What's this?” he wondered. Curious, he gave the stack a push, groaning, until he revealed a round, wooden door with metal hinges.

“Now that's interesting,” Alice remarked.

“It looks like it goes underground,” Simon said, kneeling down. Then he frowned. “But there's a lock on it.”

Alice reached into her pocket. “Maybe this will work,” she said, handing him a Key. “It's the one I swiped from the order, remember?”

Simon grinned. “Alice, you are the best!” he said, and his friend blushed. Simon took the Key, opened the lock, and slowly opened the door. A rope dangled down into a dark hole.

A mechanical whirring sound came from down in the hole. Simon and Alice peered down, and they saw two blue, glowing eyes coming up through the darkness—fast.

“Look out!” Alice warned.

They quickly darted out of the way as a winged creature flew out of the hole into the light. Its entire body—sharp claws, pointy beak, wings, and feathers—was made of metal.

“It's Mordred's mechanical owl!” Simon cried.