Journey to Juno Read online

  “ ‘Zack Nelson and Seth Stevens!’ ” Mr. Shecky called out.

  Oh no! Zack thought. Not him! He had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

  Chapter 7

  Crystal Caves

  Zack and Seth set off for the crystal caves. Okay, I’m not going to let Seth Stevens ruin my chance to explore Juno, Zack thought.

  Zack paused at the entrance to the first cave. He turned on his camtram and began recording. “This cave appears to be surrounded by a ring of flickering rocks,” Zack reported. “It looks like they have tiny blinking lights inside them. Pretty cool, huh, Seth?” He figured he would at least try to get along with Seth.

  But Seth had his face buried in his hyperphone.

  “Yeah, yeah, whatever,” mumbled Seth.

  They stepped into the cave. The light from the camtram helped them see. Zack saw crystals of all shapes and sizes.

  “Oh great!” Seth whined. “What kind of a dumb planet is this anyway? I cannot even get z-mail service here. And I cannot get on the Sprocketsphere to see what my friends are doing.”

  “But we’re here to explore,” Zack pointed out.

  “Wrong!” Seth snapped. “You are here to explore. I am here to get famous for what you discover. So you better find something special.”

  Zack just shook his head.

  “Hey, Earth wimp, get a picture of that!” shouted Seth. He pointed at a large crystal right over their heads.

  Zack glanced up and saw what looked like an octopus hanging from the ceiling. He aimed the camtram and took a picture.

  Zack and Seth walked deeper into the cave. They soon came to a river flowing through the icy crystal floor.

  “Check out the colors!” said Zack Looking into the river, Zack saw tiny ribbons of color flowing through the water. “It’s like a liquid rainbow.”

  “Just take a picture of it!” Seth said impatiently. “How am I going to get famous if you do not get proof of everything I discovered?”

  Part of me doesn’t even want to record any more discoveries, Zack thought. Not if Seth is going to take all the credit when I’m doing all the work.

  “Why did you join the Explorers Club if you aren’t even interested in exploring?” Zack asked Seth.

  Seth shrugged. “My dad made me. He said it would look good on my student record.”

  Zack sighed. He pointed the camtram at the river and started recording it.

  “All the colors of the rainbow seem to flow through this river,” he said. “Because we’re in a cave, the colors can’t be formed by sunlight. They are already in the water.”

  Seth quickly lost interest in what Zack was doing. He wandered over to the entrance of the cave. Then he pulled out his hyperphone and tried again to get a signal.

  Zack hiked deeper into the cave. He went around a bend and found a pile of crystals.

  Zack picked up one of the crystals. It felt smooth and cold.

  Suddenly, Zack felt a wave of warm energy wash over him.

  “Whoa. That heat is coming from the pile of crystals,” Zack said.

  He spotted a soft green glow coming from the pile. Zack moved a few crystals out of the way.

  “It’s a glowing green crystal!” he said. Then he quickly looked back over his shoulder to see if Seth was there.

  Zack picked up the green crystal. Unlike the others, this one was warm. It was about the size of a baseball.

  Zack opened his spacepack and slipped the crystal in.

  “Seth is not going to take credit for this one!”

  Chapter 8

  An Amazing Discovery

  Zack hurried back toward the cave entrance.

  I’ll show the green crystal to the other Explorers Clubs, he thought. And maybe even to the Nebulon Navigators. I’ll be famous!

  Once again Zack imagined a series of news blasts. In his mind, giant z-mail headlines flooded Nebulon:

  ZACK NELSON FINDS RAREST CRYSTAL EVER!

  BOY EXPLORER MAKES GALAXY-SHAKING DISCOVERY!

  ZACK NELSON AWARDED THE ZURBIC PRIZE FOR SCIENCE!

  Zack rejoined Seth outside the cave.

  “Come on!” said Seth. “There are more great discoveries for me to make.”

  Zack spent a few more hours recording interesting crystal and water formations. Seth spent the time complaining and pacing around. Then the two rejoined the rest of the Sprockets students.

  Zack saw many students from different Explorers Clubs. They were all eagerly sharing the exciting discoveries they had made.

  Seth grabbed the camtram right out of Zack’s hands.

  “Hey, everyone, check out all the grape stuff I found,” said Seth.

  “Grape?” Zack whispered to Drake.

  “On Nebulon, we call awesome stuff ‘grape,’ ” Drake explained. “It is like when people on Earth say ‘cool.’ ”

  Seth played back the video and photos of all the discoveries that Zack had made. Everyone oohed and aahed as Seth took credit for all of Zack’s hard work.

  That’s it! Zack thought. I’ve had enough of Seth.

  “Thank you, Seth,” said Mr. Shecky. “Excellent work.”

  Then Zack pulled the green crystal from his spacepack. It glowed and pulsed with warm energy.

  “Mr. Shecky, I also found this,” Zack announced.

  Mr. Shecky’s eyes opened wide.

  “Zack, where did you find this?” He gasped. “Do you know what this is?”

  “No, I don’t,” Zack replied.

  Seth glared at Zack.

  “That, young man, is a galaxy gemmite!” exclaimed Mr. Shecky. “That crystal has an incredible amount of energy stored within it. Usually they’re the size of pebbles. But a gemmite this size could power all of Creston City for a whole year. A gemmite this large hasn’t been found in more than one hundred years!”

  Seth clenched his fists. His face turned bright red.

  Zack smiled. Maybe now more kids will like me, he thought.

  A researcher from the Nebulon Navigators hurried over to the Sprockets group.

  “What is all the fuss about, Mr. Shecky?” the researcher asked.

  Zack held up the gemmite.

  “Why, that is amazing!” said the researcher. “You found that?”

  Zack nodded.

  “No fair!” cried one the Explorers Club members.

  “Yeah!” shouted another member. “We have all been in the Explorers Club longer than Zack. We have been on lots more trips. We never found anything like that!”

  Oh no! Zack thought. This is not what I wanted to happen!

  As the excitement increased, more Explorers Clubs came over to see what was going on. So did the rest of the Nebulon Navigators.

  “A huge gemmite!” exclaimed one of the Navigators. “Who found this?”

  Zack stepped forward.

  “The students of the Sprockets Academy Explorers Club found it,” Zack announced. “We make a great team!”

  Everyone in the club cheered. They all surrounded Zack and patted him on the back.

  Everyone except Seth, who looked on from a distance.

  Chapter 9

  Fame and Friendship

  Zack had a great time on the trip back to Nebulon. Everyone on the space cruiser was in a fantastic mood.

  The Explorers Club was proud of the incredible discovery they had made. And they were happy that Zack shared the credit with everyone.

  Zack finally began to feel like he belonged on Nebulon.

  When he got home, Zack was shocked to see how fast the news of his discovery had spread. Z-mail blasts were everywhere showing the Sprockets Explorers Club holding the gemmite. Zack was up front in all the photos.

  Zack and his family gathered in the living room. He flipped on the sonic cell monitor. The Evening Galactic News came on.

  “Good evening. A group of students from Nebulon has made an amazing discovery,” the newscaster said. “The Explorers Club of Sprockets Academy found the largest gemmite anyone has seen in years.”<
br />
  Charlotte and Cathy both pointed at the screen.

  “Look . . . ”

  “ . . . it’s Zack!” they both said.

  “We’re very proud of you, Zack,” said Dad. “You’re a natural explorer!”

  Zack’s mom watched all the kids on Juno celebrating with Zack.

  “And it looks like you made some new friends,” said Mom.

  Just then Zack’s video-chat hyperphone started buzzing. He looked at the screen.

  “It’s Bert calling from Earth,” Zack said. “I’ll be in my room!”

  “Go ahead, Captain,” said Dad. “We’ll just watch you on the sonic cell monitor!”

  Zack hurried to his room. He plugged the hyperphone into his 3-D holocam.

  Instantly a life-size 3-D image of Bert appeared in his room.

  “Dude, I just saw you on TV,” Bert said. “You’re famous!”

  Zack was still amazed at how lifelike the image of his friend was. It felt like Bert was right there hanging out in his room—just like in the old days back on Earth.

  “It was pretty grape finding that gemmite,” admitted Zack.

  “ ‘Grape’?” asked Bert. “Are you hungry?”

  “No!” Zack laughed. “Sorry—that’s what they say on Nebulon when something is cool,” he explained.

  “Sounds like you’re fitting right in there,” said Bert.

  “I’m doing okay,” Zack said. “But I still miss hanging out with you.”

  Zack went to pat Bert on the back. But no matter how lifelike the image of Bert was, it still was not the real thing. His hand passed right through the 3-D image of his friend!

  “Whoa, dude. That is just too creepy!” said Zack.

  Chapter 10

  Burgers and Dogs

  A couple of days later the Nelsons held their old-fashioned Earth-style barbecue. They had invited all their new Nebulite friends.

  Zack and the girls helped Mom carry platters of uncooked burgers, hot dogs, chicken, corn on the cob, and vegetables out to the backyard.

  “Hey, look what we got!” shouted Dad. He ran from the house holding an open package. “Real peanut butter cookies, made with real peanuts!”

  “Wow!” exclaimed Zack. “Where’d these come from?”

  “Bert’s mom made them,” Dad said. “Bert told her how much you missed real peanut butter cookies—”

  “Excuse me, Mr. Nelson,” Ira said. “Some of your guests have arrived.”

  A few minutes later a crowd of Nebulites gathered in the backyard. Zack didn’t know the adults, but he recognized most of the kids from school.

  And of course Drake was there. The kids all gathered around the barbecue grill.

  “Yow! What are those burning round things?” Drake asked.

  “Those are burgers,” explained Zack. “They’re yumzers!”

  “Mr. Stevens and his family have arrived,” Ira announced.

  Dad’s boss, Fred Stevens, walked into the backyard. He was followed by his wife, Angie, and their son, Seth.

  Seth Stevens! Zack thought. Here in my yard? I guess I should be polite since he’s my guest.

  Zack walked up to Seth.

  “Hi, Seth. Glad you made it. Would you like some food?”

  Just then Luna ran over. She jumped up onto Seth.

  “Yah!” Seth cried, backing away in fear.

  Zack was surprised to see Seth so scared. Despite all the bullying, Zack actually felt sorry for Seth.

  Zack remembered how frightened Drake had been the first time he met Luna.

  “Luna’s friendly,” Zack told Seth. “She won’t hurt you. She’s my dog.”

  Seth joined the other kids over near the food.

  “Would you like a hot dog?” Zack offered.

  “You eat dogs?” Seth said. “But I thought you liked Luna.”

  “Hot dogs aren’t made from dogs,” Zack explained. “That’s their name.”

  “Weird,” said Seth.

  “Would anyone . . . ”

  “ . . . like to . . . ”

  “ . . . dance?” Charlotte and Cathy asked.

  The Nebulites looked puzzled.

  “You know . . . dancing,” added Zack’s mom.

  “Ira, how about a little dance music?” Zack’s dad said.

  “Certainly, Mr. Nelson,” said Ira.

  Loud dance music blared out into the backyard.

  Zack’s dad and mom started to dance. Their Nebulite guests just stared at them. Music and dancing were not popular on Nebulon.

  Mr. Shecky joined right in. “I love music!” he said. “Come on, everybody. It’s fun!”

  Slowly a few Nebulites joined in. They imitated the moves that Zack’s dad and mom were making.

  Zack turned away, trying not to giggle. He glanced over at all his new Nebulite friends. He thought about his adventure on Juno. Seth wasn’t even bothering him today! He smiled and looked up into the pink Nebulon sky.

  That’s when Zack saw something streak across the sky.

  What is that? Zack wondered.

  Zack rushed inside. He hurried to his room and flipped on his überzoom galactic telescope. He zoomed in on the streak. Now he could clearly see a body and wings. Zack could not believe his eyes.

  TO BE CONTINUED . . .

  Zack Nelson ran through a jungle. In the distance he saw a huge waterfall.

  Omph!

  Zack tripped over a large white rock and landed on his stomach. As he picked himself back up, he heard a sharp ka-raaaaack!!!

  This noise was followed by a high-pitched screeeeeeeee!!!

  Turning back toward the white rock, Zack discovered that it was actually a huge egg. A creature stepped out. It let out another ear-splitting yell.

  “I’ve seen pictures of that animal,” Zack said to himself. “It’s a baby Tyrannosaurus rex!”

  Suddenly, the ground began to shake. And then an earth-shaking ROOOAAAARRRR! split the air.

  Zack saw a huge Tyrannosaurus rex rumbling toward him.

  “YAAAAA!” he shouted, running.

  An excerpt from The Prehistoric Planet

  Zack ran through the jungle. The giant dinosaur was catching up to him.

  That’s when he began to hear familiar music.

  “Wait a minute,” he said. “I know that song. It’s ‘Rockin’ Round the Stars’ by Retro Rocket. But how can it be playing here in this jungle?”

  The music grew louder and louder. The dinosaur got closer and closer.

  Zack’s eyes popped open. He saw that he was not in a jungle. He was in his bed, sweating from his nightmare.

  I’ve GOT to explore the Prehistoric Planet! he thought.

  RAY O’RYAN has loved space stories ever since he watched the very first episode of Star Trek. He loves to imagine what traveling across the galaxy might be like, and is a bit jealous of Galaxy Zack in this regard. Ray lives in the beautiful Catskill Mountains of upstate New York with his wife and two lovable, zany cats named Stitch and The Way.

  COLIN JACK is originally from Vancouver, Canada, and has illustrated several children’s books. He currently works at DreamWorks Animation as a story artist and character designer and lives in the Bay Area with his wife and two sons.

  GalaxyZackBooks.com

  Meet the author and illustrator and get activities at

  KIDS.SimonandSchuster.com

  Jacket design by Nicholas Sciacca

  Jacket illustration copyright © 2013

  by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Little Simon

  Simon & Schuster

  New York

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  LITTLE SIMON

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

  1230 Avenue of the
Americas, New York, New York 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  Copyright © 2013 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. LITTLE SIMON is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and associated colophon is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

  Designed by Nicholas Sciacca

  Library of Congress

  Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  O’Ryan, Ray.

  Journey to Juno / by Ray O’Ryan ; illustrated by

  Colin Jack. — 1st ed.

  p. cm. — (Galaxy Zack ; 2)

  Summary: On the planet Nebulon in 2120, Zack joins his

  school’s Explorers Club and visits Juno, a planet made of crystals, but he is less than thrilled when he is partnered with the class bully.

  ISBN 978-1-4424-5390-6 (pbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4424-5391-3

  (hardcover : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4424-5392-0 (ebook)

  [1. Science fiction. 2. Explorers—Fiction. 3. Human-alien

  encounters—Fiction. 4. Bullies—Fiction.] I. Jack, Colin, ill. II. Title.

  PZ7.O7843Jo 2013

  [Fic]—dc23

  2012005691