Steve Brezenoff - The Final Mission

Michael Dahl has written about werewolves, magicians, and superheroes. He loves funny books, scary books, and mysterious books. Every Michael Dahl Presents book is chosen by Michael himself and written by an author he loves. The books are about favorite subjects like monster aliens, haunted houses, farting pigs, or magical powers that go haywire.

The debris field that the Saber investigates is not unique in the universe. According to NASA, Earth is surrounded by millions of pieces of orbiting space junk! This includes old satellites that have stopped working, boosters that fell away from traveling rockets, or bits of spacecraft that have broken off.

Many of these pieces are smaller than a marble. But over 20,000 are the size of a baseball or larger. That could cause a lot of damage to a floating astronaut!

Space debris circles around planets at thousands of miles per hour. In order to safely check out any valuable items, the Saber would need to orbit the orange planet at roughly the same speed as its debris. If the astronauts and the space junk are moving at different speeds, the debris might zoom past Officer Yaz. Or a small, marble-sized chunk might rip through her helmet!

Not all space debris floats. Humans have left more than 400,000 pounds of junk on Earths moon. I dont think Captain Lightheart would consider every piece valuable. The lunar garbage includes plastic bags of astronauts urine! Think about that next time you look up at our shiny, white moon.

(BRIJ) the control center of a ship (KAHR-goh) the objects carried by a ship (duh-BREE) the pieces of something that has been broken or destroyed (dee-PRESH-uh-rahyz) to release pressure of a gas (such as air) from inside a closed space (EN-suhn) the lowest-ranking officer in some military groups (in-TROO-duhr) a person who goes into an area where he or she isnt allowed (nav-uh-GAY-shuhn) the processes and systems that move a ship from one place to another (SKRAP) old material, such as metal, that can be broken down and used again in some other way (STOH-uh-way) a person who hides on a ship in order to travel without being seen (WEL-duhr) a tool that uses heat to melt two pieces of metal together

Steve Brezenoff is the author of more than fifty middle-grade chapter books, including the Field Trip Mysteries series, the Ravens Pass series of thrillers, and the Return to Titanic series. Hes also written three young-adult novels, Guy in Real Life; Brooklyn, Burning; and The Absolute Value of -1. In his spare time, he enjoys video games, cycling, and cooking. Steve lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with his wife, Beth, and their son and daughter.

Juan Calle is a former biologist turned science illustrator, trained at the Science Illustration program at California State University, Monterey Bay. Early on in his illustration career, he worked on field guides of plants and animals native to his country of origin, Colombia. Now he owns and works in his art studio, LIBERUM DONUM, creating concept art, storyboards, and his passion: comic books.

The Meddler seemed to float impossibly. It was large and heavy-looking, and it was shaped more like a giant steel brick than a sleek spaceship. Its crew was a mixed-up bunch of pirates and adventurers. And they filled the Meddlers .

Thats what the crew of the Meddler did. They traveled from star system to star system. Along the way they gathered bits of metal, pieces of old technology, and whatever other valuable materials they could find. Then they sold them.

Usually the scrap came from dead spaceships that orbited dead planets or dying stars. These were damaged ships whose crews had been gone for a long time. Or the crew was still on board but unable to make the repairs needed to keep traveling.

The dead ships had suffered accidents, or theyd run out of fuel, or theyd blown a gasket. Or sometimes the Meddler blew a gasket for them. The Meddler wasnt above piracy, and it put them on the wrong side of the law across the galaxy.

The Meddlers captain liked it that way. It added to the adventure and the ships reputation.

Amelia Lightheart, twelve years old and the youngest member of the Meddlers crew, squirmed on her stool in the officers mess hall. The captain sat across the table and sipped steaming black coffee from a dented metal cup.

The captain of the Meddler was known by most of the crew as Fist. The nickname had been earned over years of leading the crew. The Meddler never met a law officer its captain couldnt fight off, often one-on-one and with fists flying.

Fist kept one eye on Amelia. The other was hidden behind a gleaming metal eye patch. Were taking him on as cabin boy, Fist said in a gruff voice. It meant, Dont argue with me.

Mom, Amelia said. For Fist was, in fact, Captain Jessamine LightheartAmelias mother. Greeny is impossible. Couldnt you just get a dog instead?

Amelia, said Fist. I asked you not to bring up D-O-Gs when were talking about Greeny.

After all, Greeny didnt look like an average boy. He looked like a human mixed with a white terrier. He came from a small planet called Canus.

The Meddlers last stop had been at two of Canus moons. They had fought tooth-and-nail with local security guards. But the guards werent trained to deal with a whole ship of pirates, and the moons were on the edge of Canus system. The guards didnt have time to call in help from the Canus Anti-Piracy Police Force.

The Meddler crew was lucky. The C.A.P.F. were known as the fiercest and cruelest officers in the solar system. They were willing to do anything to protect the property of Canus.

That was why the captain had chosen to strike the planets two outer moons. Her crew was in and out before the C.A.P.F. had a chance to attack.

It was a good thing. Amelia didnt go on the mission, but she had seen the security videos. She had gotten a look at the moons guards.

The Canus people were like huge wolves. Their long snouts opened to reveal rows of sharp, yellow teeth. Their narrow eyes were rimmed in red. Their huge paws held ragged claws that could cut a person to shreds as well as hold a blaster.

The security guards were poorly trained, and yet they had fought furiously. Amelia didnt want to think about what it wouldve been like to battle the skilled and brutal C.A.P.F.

But thanks to Captain Fists smarts, the Meddler escaped the moons with no losses and one of the largest scores theyd ever taken. And one furry little .