Akiko and the Alpha Centauri 5000

Chapter 1 My name is Akiko. This is the story of how I went from building a snowman to flying through a black hole to nearly getting crushed by the Jaws of-- Well, I don't want to give it all away. Let's just say for now that some really weird stuff happened to me the other day. Stuff involving my friends from the planet Smoo, a big rusty spaceship named Boach's Bullet, and several tons of something green and smelly called grull. See what I mean? Weird stuff. I'll start with the snowman. It was a freezing cold January morning, a Saturday. My best friend, Melissa, and I were playing in Middleton Park, just a few blocks from the apartment building where we both live. We were chucking snowballs at each other, making sorry-looking igloos, and just generally goofing around with the six or seven inches of snow that had fallen the night before. "Middleton is nowhere," said Melissa. "When I grow up I'm moving to a big city. Where exciting stuff happens. Every day, all the time. And I'll tell everyone I meet: Stay away from Middleton. Unless you really like being bored." "Oh, come on," I said. "It's not that bad." Melissa chucked a snowball and we both watched it slide across the frozen duck pond. I threw one too, but it didn't go as far. "Trust me, Akiko. I've been to Chicago and Milwaukee and Cincinnati. Those are real cities. Your problem is you've never been away from your own hometown." (Melissa's problem is she starts too many sentences with "Your problem is.") "I have too," I said. "Where have you been?" "I've been to places you've never even heard of." "Such as?" If only I could tell her: Smoo! Quilk! The castle of Alia Rellapor! "Leamington." "Leamington?" She laughed and shook her head. "I've been to Leamington. It's even worse than Middleton." She threw another snowball. "When I get older I'm going to stay away from any place that ends with -ton." "I like Leamington," I said. "My gramma lives there." "You like everything," Melissa said. "That's your whole problem." Then Melissa's mom called her from the top of a hill on the other side of the duck pond. "Come on, 'Liss! Time to go!" "But Mom," she said, "we're in the middle of something really important here." Ha! "Count of ten: one . . . two . . ." "Mom!" Melissa pleaded. She stretched it out until it sounded like Maaaah-um. ". . . three . . . four . . ." "Gotta go." Melissa sighed, dropped the snowball she'd been making, and trotted off around the edge of the duck pond. I stood there and watched the puffs of breath trail off behind her. "See ya, Melissa!" "See ya!" A minute later there was no one in the park but me. I was about to head back home, but then I decided to make a snowman. We don't get that much snow in Middleton, so there are only so many chances for snowman making before it's suddenly March and the so-called snow is so gray and slushy you don't want your mittens going anywhere near it. I had finished with the second big ball of snow--the snowman's belly--and was working on the third when I began to feel warm. Seriously warm. It was like I was being heated from inside or something. I unzipped my coat and loosened my scarf a little, but it didn't really help. I took off my mittens and stuffed them in my coat pockets. That's when it started happening. First my hand-knit winter hat disappeared. It sort of loosened itself from my head like it was, I don't know, letting go of me. And then it just vanished. By that point I was feeling downright feverish.Crilley, Mark is the author of 'Akiko and the Alpha Centauri 5000' with ISBN 9780385729697 and ISBN 0385729693.