Captain Jek-O-Jek and
the Zorbies
by Christina Hoag
Captain Jek O’Jek was tracing a route on the space map screen when a white light flashed outside the porthole of her cabin in the Spaceship Amity. It was followed by another spark and another and another until so many lights shone so brightly she could hardly look at them. Stars. That was odd. The map showed only a few stars on the Intergalaxy Spaceway to Planet Orensha.
She put on a pair of star glasses and looked outside. The Amity was flying in a star sky. Captain Jek spoke into her wrist computer. “Where are we, Spacester?”
“Galaxy unknown,” Spacester said. “We are off course.”
Yenk and Gelfer! Captain Jek had left the two Zorbies in charge of flying the spaceship while she figured out the route for the mission after they delivered the space colony plans to Orensha. But she knew how the Zorbies loved to play light chess.
Jek zipped up her red spacesuit and pulled on her white boots. She marched to the control cabin so fast that the three braids looped in big circles on her head came loose. She peeked through the door.
Just as she thought - Yenk and Gelfer were pacing around a big chess board they beamed onto the floor from the game boxes in their hands. The Zorbies were small creatures, covered with tight curly wool, who were half the size of grownup humans. They had star-shaped eyes and pointy ears that sat on top of their heads.
Yenk pushed a lever and his queen sped across the board to take Gelfer’s knight. The knight disappeared in a little puff of smoke.
“Gotcha!” Yenk said.
“Game’s not over yet,” Gelfer said.
“Yes it is.” Captain Jek stepped into room.
The Zorbies jumped. They quickly turned off their game boxes and the chess board disappeared. They scrambled into their seats at the control panel. The strong starlight immediatelyhit their eyes and they had to turn away. Captain Jek handed them star glasses.
“Didn’t you see we were off course?” Captain Jek said.
“But we put the ship on pilot control,” Yenk said.
“You must have programmed a wrong turn because we’re not heading for Orensha,” Jek said.
The Zorbies looked at Captain Jek with wide eyes. “We’re sorry, Captain Jek,” Yenk said. A tear oozed out of a big brown eye.
“Real sorry,” Gelfer added.
Captain Jek tweaked their ears gently. “Quit crying and let’s figure a way out of this mess,” she said.
The Amity twisted and turned through the stars until the light finally turned into blackness.
“We’ve hit dark sky.” Gelfer took off his star glasses.
“Look.” Yenk pointed to a purple planet with white swirls ahead.
“Spacester?” Jek asked.
“Planet unknown,” Spacester said.
“Spacester, how come you’re so useless when I need you the most?” Jek muttered.
“Meanie alert,” Spacester replied.
She rolled her green eyes. “Find a landing spot, Gelfer.”
“But we don’t know if it’s friendly planet,” Yenk said.
“We’ll have to take that chance,” Jek said. “Otherwise, we may never find our way back.”
The Zorbies landed the V-shaped ship by a huge stone mushroom. The crew put on their planet protection suits and walked down the exit ramp, searching for signs of life. There was nothing but purple sand and rocks, not even a plant.
“This might be one of the few planets in the universe with no life,” Jek said.
A door in the mushroom suddenly slid open. A group of tall, very thin people dressed in rags and some leaning on sticks and each other stood inside. A woman stepped forward.
“I am Kinjawa, leader of the Planet Stervia. We have been waiting for your arrival. We have only two sacks of space chews left.”
The crew looked puzzled. “I’m afraid you weren’t waiting for us,” Captain Jek said. “We arrived here by mistake. Our spaceship went off course.”
“You do not bring food?” Kinjawa said.
“I’m sorry, we don’t,” Captain Jek said.
A loud sob rose from the crowd. “We are doomed,” a man cried.
“This is what is left of my people,” Kinjawa said. “We were once a rich planet. But then a star thrown off by a starstorm crashed into us and pushed us into dark sky. The plants we used to grow for food won’t grow any more. We have survived by trading with space pirates. But now we have nothing left to trade for food. We will starve to death.”
“Don’t worry, Kinjawa,” Captain Jek said. “We’ll bring you food, I promise. But we need to get back to our galaxy, Exios. Do you have any fuel or space charts?”
“The space pirates have taken everything,” Kinjawa said. “But if you continue traveling into dark sky, you will find a stardust beam. That will pull you into the next galaxy.”
The Amity crew said goodbye and boarded their spaceship. As they shot into the sky, they saw the door sliding shut on the sad crowd.
They traveled far into dark sky, but there was no stardust beam. Captain Jek hoped Kinjawa was right. The Amity’s blasters were making strange noises.
“We’re running out of fuel,” Captain Jek said. “Switch into glide.”
Gelfer turned off the blasters. “Glide, on.”
“Captain, planet ahead!” Yenk said.
“Just in time,” Captain Jek said. “Prepare for landing.”
They floated down into a field filled with wild weeds. Buildings shimmered in the distance.
Gelfer was first down the ramp. “Wow, it’s hot,” he said.
“Maybe there’s a swimming pool near here,” Yenk said.
“Forget pools. Let’s get the thrusters and headfor that city,” Captain Jek said.
Yenk handed out the thruster vests. They put on them on and pressed the “up” buttons on the hand controls. Yenk shot into the air and started doing flips and twirls. “Weeee!” He squealed.
“Will you cut that out?” Gelfer growled. “We have serious business.”
Yenk’s face fell. “Can’t a Zorby have a bit of fun?”
“Not until we get fuel and space charts.” Captain Jek was already zooming toward the buildings. Yenk and Gelfer raced to catch up.
The trio flew over fields of weeds until they entered the city. It seemed empty, but then Captain Jek noticed gigantic bodies lying on the sidewalks and streets.
“Hello,” Captain Jek’s voice echoed. “Hellooooo…”
She heard a whirring noise. A blob was flying toward them on a carpet powered by a blaster. As the carpet drew closer, Captain Jek saw it was a very large lady wearing a silver crown and a flowing polka dot satin robe.
“Who might you be?” The lady asked with a big yawn.
Jek explained. “What planet is this?”
“This is Planet Pudge. I’m Queen Yulan.”
“Queen, we need space charts and fuel to get back on course.”
Queen Yulan waved her hand. “We have all that, but you’ll have to get it yourselves. You see, I’m too fat to walk and too fat to enter our buildings. That’s what happened to all my people.”
“Why did you build the buildings so small?” Gelfer asked.
“We Pudgees weren’t always so fat,” Queen Yulan said. “But we were greedy. We’re a very rich planet with lots of food and then we brought more food from all over the universe. All we did was eat. Now we’re too fat to do anything and our great planet is crumbling.”
Tears rolled down Queen Yulan’s big cheeks. “We’re waiting to lose weight, but I fear that after we get thin, we’ll still be greedy and we’ll get fat again,” she said.
Captain Jek looked at Yenk and Gelfer. Theynodded at the same time.
“Queen Yulan, I think we have the solution to your problem. But we need maps and fuel,” Captain Jek said. “And we need to borrow two of your space craft and fill them with food.”
Queen Yulan blew her nose into a hanky and pointed to a building. “Go ahead and take the lot,” she said.
For the rest of the day, Yenk and Gelfer loaded the Amity and two Pudgee spaceships with food. Captain Jek checked the space charts.
When they were finished, Captain Jek boarded the Amity, while Yenk and Gelfer each took control of a Pudgee ship.
“On to Stervia!” Captain Jek said into Spacester, which transmitted the message to Yenk and Gelfer. They cheered in their pilot’s seats. The three spaceships launched and flew through dark sky until they reached Stervia.
The ships landed by the same big mushroom. This time there was no welcoming party.
“I hope we’re in time,” Gelfer said.
“It looks like we’ll have to go find them.” Captain Jek and the Zorbies banged on the mushroom.
The door slid open and the crew walked inside.
“Kinjawa!” Captain Jek shouted.
A figure stepped out from the shadows. “By Zwelter, it is you!” Kinjawa said. “We thought you were space pirates.”
“We’ve brought you three spaceships full of food,” Captain Jek said. “And there’s plenty more where it came from. Come and look.”
Kinjawa fell to her knees when she saw the food. Yenk and Gelfer started unloading. “You have saved us. How can we ever repay you?” She asked.
“By becoming healthy and happy again,” Jek replied. “Here are the space charts to get to Planet Pudge. When you run out of food, you can fly the ships back to get more. But now we must get to Orensha.”
The crew boarded the Amity. They waved at the Stervians as they zoomed upward.
“We’re going to be late to Orensha,” Gelfer said.
“We couldn’t abandon the Stervians,” Captain Jek said. “They had no one else to help them.”
“We helped the Pudgees, too,” Yenk said.
They all smiled. Gelfer pointed at a trail sparkling in the blackness. “That looks like stardust, Captain.”
“Let’s catch that beam,” Captain Jek O’Jek said.
