Operation Twin Trouble Read online

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1 Game Time!

  Chapter 2 Journey to Mirer

  Chapter 3 Mirer, Mirer

  Chapter 4 Twin Boys Dancing!

  Chapter 5 Long Ride Home

  Chapter 6 Shopping Spree

  Chapter 7 Operation Twin Trouble

  Chapter 8 Phase Two

  Chapter 9 The Longest Dinner

  Chapter 10 Teamwork

  Science Fair Disaster! Excerpt

  About Ray O’Ryan and Jason Kraft

  Chapter 1

  Game Time!

  Zack Nelson stood in the living room of his house on the planet Nebulon. He stared at his friend Drake Taylor.

  Zack’s parents, Shelly and Otto, sat on their floating shimmer-couch. Zack’s twin sisters, Charlotte and Cathy, sat nearby on the floor.

  It was family game night at the Nelson house. Three teams were playing Space Charades. Zack and Drake were one team. Charlotte and Cathy were another. And their parents were the third team.

  “Ready . . .”

  “. . . Set . . .”

  “. . . Go!” the girls shouted together.

  A hologram of a digital timer appeared in the air. It was projected by Ira, the Nelson’s Indoor Robotic Assistant. The timer started counting off the seconds.

  Zack pinned his arms at his sides. He began to jump up and down.

  “Jump!” guessed Drake.

  Zack shook his head.

  “Fly! Leap! High! Ceiling!”

  Zack kept shaking his head.

  “Bounce!” Drake shouted.

  Zack stopped jumping and cupped his hand behind his ear.

  “Sounds like bounce?”

  Next, Zack held his hands together over his head.

  “Circle?” guessed Drake. “Zero? . . . The letter O?”

  Zack touched his nose, the sign that Drake was correct.

  “Bounce-O-what?”

  Zack pretended he had a shovel in his hands and was digging in the ground.

  “Dig? Shovel?”

  Zack shook his head. He pretended to throw something into the imaginary hole he had dug. Then he went back to his shoveling.

  “Bury!” shouted Drake.

  Again, Zack touched his nose.

  “Bounce-O-Bury,” Drake said. He thought for moment.

  “Boingoberry!” he shouted.

  “That’s it!” yelled Zack. He gave Drake a high five.

  Boingoberries grew all over Venus. They were used to make Zack’s favorite shake and syrup.

  Drake looked at the timer hologram. “One minute and thirty seconds,” he announced. “Pretty good.”

  “Okay, girls. Your turn,” Zack said, taking a seat in his invisible energy chair. He appeared to be sitting on thin air.

  The girls stood up. They both had flaming red hair. Charlotte kept hers in a ponytail. She also wore a scarf around her neck. Cathy wore her hair in two braided pigtails. This was the only way most people could tell them apart.

  “Ready, set, go!” Zack shouted.

  Charlotte stuck out her left hand. She then pretended to strum a guitar with her right hand.

  “TBD!” Cathy shouted.

  “That’s it!” Charlotte said. She glanced up at the timer and cheered. “Five seconds! That’s a new record!”

  Zack exclaimed from his invisible chair. “TBD? That’s not even a word!”

  “Shows what you know. TBD is . . .”

  “. . . our favorite band. It stands for . . .”

  “. . . Twin Boys Dancing!”

  “No fair,” Zack moaned. “How can we compete against two people who do everything together? They even talk like one person.”

  “I have heard of TBD,” said Drake. “In fact, I read that they are playing a concert on their home planet, Mirer.”

  The girls ran over to their parents.

  “Can we . . .”

  “. . . go . . .”

  “. . . please?”

  “Well,” said Mrs. Nelson, “I guess that would be okay.”

  “Yay!” the girls screeched.

  Mr. Nelson scratched his head. “But what about our turn at Space Charades?”

  Chapter 2

  Journey to Mirer

  The space cruiser carrying Zack and his family lifted off from the Creston City Spaceport. They were on their way to the planet Mirer.

  The view outside changed from blue sky to black space. Thousands of stars twinkled in the darkness.

  “You know, Mom, every time I travel in space, it’s just as exciting as the first time,” said Zack.

  “I know how much you love it, honey,” said Mom. “It almost doesn’t matter where you are going.”

  In the seats next to Zack, Charlotte and Cathy could not hold in their excitement.

  “I can’t believe . . .”

  “. . . we are going to see . . .”

  “. . . TBD!” the girls squealed with delight.

  “Uh-huh,” said Zack. He turned back to his window.

  “I take it you’re not looking forward to the TBD concert, Captain?” asked Dad.

  “No, but I am looking forward to seeing a new planet,” Zack said. “And, when I get home, I can add a 3-D image of Mirer to my holographic planet-collector.”

  Charlotte and Cathy kept talking about their favorite band.

  “I hope they sing . . .”

  “. . . ‘Double Trouble.’ Oooooh, that’s my . . .”

  “. . . favorite song! There are two of us. No, you’re not seeing double . . .”

  “. . . Take us as we are, or there’s gonna be trouble!” the girls sang loudly, then shrieked with excitement.

  A short while later an announcement came over the ship’s speakers.

  “Passengers, we are beginning our landing pattern for Mirer.”

  “TBD, here . . .”

  “. . . we . . .”

  “. . . COME!!!”

  A few minutes later the space cruiser landed. Zack walked down the ramp from the ship. He couldn’t believe what he saw. He rubbed his eyes.

  “Am I seeing double?” he asked. “There are two of everything!”

  Chapter 3

  Mirer, Mirer

  Zack looked around the Mirer City Spaceport. Mirens looked very much like humans, except that their skin was orange. But Zack had met many aliens since he and his family moved from Earth to Nebulon. Seeing people who looked different was no big deal.

  What was a big deal was the fact that every person walking through the spaceport had a twin! Everyone.

  “Mommy, can we please have . . .”

  “. . . four mirlars so we can buy . . .”

  “. . . a Double-Crunch Duo Bar to share?” said two little boys as they walked past Zack.

  “Oh no!” he cried. “Everyone here talks like my sisters!”

  The Nelsons reached the flying-car rental area. Dad spoke with the two identical clerks behind the counter.

  “We need a car for the five of us,” he said.

  “Five?” the two clerks said together. They looked right at Zack.

  “Your twin couldn’t . . .”

  “. . . make it today? I’m sorry, you must be . . .”

  “. . . very lonely,” the clerks said.

  “I don’t have a twin,” Zack replied.

  The two clerks looked at each other in shock.

  Zack thought about how Charlotte and Cathy often felt different from everyone else because they were twins. Here in Mirer, he was starting to understand how they felt.

  “Here’s our car!” said Dad a few seconds later. “Or should I say ‘cars’?”

  The Nelsons climbed into a car. It had two windshields, two trunks, four headlights, and two sets of seats.

  “This
looks like two cars glued together!” said Zack.

  With everyone in, the Nelsons zoomed out of the spaceport. Zack looked around at Mirer City, the capital of the planet. This was where the TBD concert would take place that evening. They had all day to tour the city.

  “There are two of every building!” Zack said. “Every building has a twin standing right next to it!”

  First, the Nelsons stopped at the Mirer City Zoo. As Zack walked around, he saw a whole bunch of animals he had never heard of.

  “Quarnaks,” Zack said, reading the first sign. “Four-legged creatures with fur and wings. And there are two of them!”

  “Mumbrads,” he said, reading the next sign. Two identical huge green beasts stood side by side. “They look like an elephant crossed with a hippo and a rhino!”

  “I love . . .”

  “. . . this zoo! There are two . . .”

  “. . . of everything!” said the girls.

  Zack suddenly noticed the sky getting darker. He looked up and saw gray clouds moving in front of Mirer’s two suns.

  Rain started pouring down. The Nelsons ran for cover in the zoo’s snack shack.

  “Since we’re here,” said Dad, rubbing his hands together, “who wants a snack?”

  “We do!” Charlotte and Cathy shouted together.

  “Me too,” said Zack. He glanced at the menu.

  “A Double-Dual-Ice-Cream Planet,” he said. “I want one of those. Or should I say . . . two of those!”

  Zack’s snack arrived. His eyes opened wide. The bowl was black, covered in white dots that looked like stars. In the bowl were two huge scoops of ice cream. Bright orange marshmallows orbited around the ice cream “planets” like tiny moons.

  Outside, thunder cracked and lightning flashed. Zack looked out the window. Every lightning flash contained two jagged white bolts.

  “Even the lightning here comes in pairs!” said Zack. Then he shoved another spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.

  A few minutes later, the rain slowed down. The clouds began to break up, and sunlight poured through. There in the sky, a double rainbow appeared.

  “This is the coolest planet . . .”

  “. . . in the galaxy!”

  “Twins rule!” the girls cheered.

  Chapter 4

  Twin Boys Dancing!

  The Nelsons spent the rest of the day touring Mirer City. Zack couldn’t get over the fact there were two of everything. Kids in the park played a version of soccer—with two balls at once. Others rode jet-powered hoverboards—one for each foot!

  Dinner at the Double Down Diner was twin galactic patties. “At least they have food I like here—even if it is just two patties on two buns,” said Zack.

  For dessert Zack had a mondo-chocolate layercake—two cakes, four layers each. The twins shared a helping of doubleberry pie. Doubleberries grew throughout Mirer, and always in pairs.

  After dinner, it was finally time for the concert.

  “Twin . . .”

  “. . . Boys . . .”

  “. . . Dancing! Here we come!” the girls shouted.

  The Nelsons drove to the arena where the concert was going to take place. It was called the Dual Dome.

  Zack looked up at two round domes rising from a flat platform. “This place looks like a big, bald, two-headed monster,” he said.

  Twin ushers stood on either side of the entrance.

  “Tickets, please. Who’s . . .”

  “. . . next? Watch . . .”

  “. . . your step,” said the ushers.

  A few minutes later, Zack, the twins, and his parents were in their seats. The lights went down and the crowd cheered.

  Then a voice boomed from the arena’s giant speakers. “Twins of all ages! Please welcome Mirer’s own Twin . . . Boys . . . Dancing!”

  The Twin Boys burst onto the stage. Of course, they were wearing identical outfits. Tiny rows of colored lights blinked across their shirts. Lasers flashed from their boots. They each grabbed a microphone and launched into their first song: “Double Crush!”

  “No matter what you do . . .”

  “. . . you can count from one to two . . .”

  “. . . but still it will be true . . .”

  “. . . I’ve got a double crush on you!”

  Charlotte and Cathy sang along with every word. The also imitated the hand movements that the boys made. Before the song was over, they were up and dancing. So was every other girl in the place.

  Zack’s parents bobbed their heads in time with the music. They were glad that the girls were having so much fun.

  Zack, on the other hand, was bored out of his mind.

  These guys have nothing on Retro Rocket! he thought. Retro Rocket was Zack’s favorite band from Earth. He began thinking about intermission, when he could go see what double-size snacks were for sale.

  After several songs, a spotlight started moving across the audience.

  “Okay, girls . . .”

  “. . . this is the part of the show . . .”

  “. . . when one lucky fan gets to dance with us on stage!” the boys shouted.

  The crowd went wild.

  Cries of “Pick me!” echoed throughout the arena.

  Suddenly, the spotlight stopped. It landed right on Charlotte!

  “Come up, little lady, and . . .”

  “. . . dance with . . .”

  “Twin . . . Boys . . . Dancing!”

  Charlotte jumped from her seat and ran toward the stage. Cathy jumped up too, running close behind her sister.

  Charlotte reached the stage. One of the Twin Boys leaned down and offered her a hand. Two security guards stepped out right in front of Cathy.

  “I’m sorry. Only one guest . . .”

  “. . . is allowed on the stage,” said the security guards.

  “But I’m her sister!” Cathy cried.

  The guards looked back toward the stage. Charlotte was dancing with the Twin Boys.

  “It looks like she’s doing . . .”

  “. . . just fine by herself,” said the guards.

  “Now please go back to your seat.”

  Cathy was crushed. She had never been jealous of anyone in her life. And now she was jealous of her own sister! She walked slowly back to her family.

  Up onstage, Charlotte danced, holding hands with the boys. A huge smile beamed from her face.

  “Now this is great, isn’t it?” Dad said to Cathy.

  Cathy said nothing. She sat with her arms crossed. She wished she was up onstage in Charlotte’s place.

  Chapter 5

  Long Ride Home

  Following the concert, the Nelsons boarded the space cruiser for the ride home. Charlotte could not stop talking about her time onstage.

  “And then they twirled me around and around,” she said excitedly. “And just when I thought I might fall, the Twin Boys lifted me into the air! And everyone cheered—for me!”

  Zack quickly realized two things. First, he was really getting tired of hearing about the concert. And second, he could not remember the last time that he heard one of the twins complete a sentence by herself.

  “That’s wonderful, honey,” said Mom. She smiled at Charlotte, then looked over at Cathy. Cathy stared down at the floor between her feet and frowned. Mom was happy for Charlotte. But she was worried about Cathy, who was obviously feeling left out.

  “I’m going to go to the snack machine,” Zack announced. “Be right back.”

  “I’ll go with you,” said Cathy.

  Zack and Cathy headed to the back of the ship. Once they were away from the rest of their family, Cathy turned to her brother.

  “It’s not fair,” she complained. “Not fair at all!”

  “What’s not fair?” asked Zack.

  “Charlotte got to go onstage, but I didn’t,” she said. “I mean, just because we look alike doesn’t mean we are the same person.”

  “You could have fooled me,” said Zack. He couldn’t resist giving his sister a ha
rd time.

  “Well, we’re not!” Cathy shouted. “We are two different people!”

  Zack could not recall the last time he had a conversation this long with only one of his sisters.

  Zack and Cathy arrived at the snack machine. The choices included brick bark, crispy fritters, and nebu-nuts. While they were deciding, a tall girl near the snack machine stood up and pointed at Cathy.

  “Hey, look, everybody. It’s the girl who got to dance with TBD!” she said.

  Cathy smiled for the first time all day. Maybe I can get a little bit of the attention, she thought. No one will know that it wasn’t me up on that stage.

  But just as Cathy opened her mouth, Charlotte stepped up to the snack machine.

  “Actually, I was the one dancing with TBD,” she said.

  Cathy looked super-annoyed. “You couldn’t even pretend it was me for one minute?” she asked.

  “Well, it wasn’t you—it was me!” replied Charlotte.

  It was strange to see his sisters argue, but Zack was kind of enjoying this surprising trouble in twinland.

  Chapter 6

  Shopping Spree

  The next morning, Zack hurried downstairs.

  “Good morning, Master Just Zack,” said Ira. “Would you like your usual breakfast?”

  “You bet! Thanks, Ira,” said Zack.

  “Preparing nebu-cakes,” said Ira.

  “And don’t forget the boingoberry syrup!” said Zack.

  A moment later a steaming stack of nebu-cakes slid out of an opening in the kitchen counter. As Zack gobbled up his breakfast, Charlotte came downstairs. Cathy followed a few seconds later.