Theo Baker - Gas Giant Jump

2018 Rourke Educational Media

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.

www.rourkeeducationalmedia.com

Edited by: Keli Sipperley

Cover layout by: Tara Raymo

Interior layout by: Kathy Walsh

Cover and Interior Illustrations by: Alex Lopez

Series Concept by: Colton Sipperley

Library of Congress PCN Data

Gas Giant Jump / Theo Baker

(Galaxy Games)
ISBN 978-1-68342-336-2 (hard cover)(alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-68342-432-1 (soft cover)
ISBN 978-1-73160-296-1 (e-Book)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017931182

Dear readers:

In a time of universal prosperity, technology, and good will, Earth is still the home base for a thriving human civilization, which has spread across 50 or so planets. In addition to these colonies, the people of Earth are on friendly terms with hundreds of alien civilizations. Some of these aliens are humanoid, some are animal-like, and a few are truly unique! Almost all the civilizations Earth is in contact with are friendly, and military aggression is extremely rarebut that has not always been the case. For many generations, conflicts and misunderstandings led to a galaxy in continual war. But this all began to change in U-year 13,154,333,701, when a visionary alien named Eno Therru called all the alien civilizations together for the first Galaxy Games!

With a mix of space science facts and science-fiction fun, the Galaxy Games series stars 12-year-old twins Gemma and Jones, Team Earths very own out-of-this-world athletes! The twins travel from planet to planet with their teammates to compete in the biannual Galaxy Games.

This series is nonsequential, so you can enjoy them in any order. And when the reading fun is done, theres lots of bonus stuff to dive into, including jokes, fun facts, scientist bios, websites to visit, and more. These books are a real blast!

Happy reading,

Rourke Educational Media

The shuttle was just passing Mars when Jones Estrella closed his eyes.

The next thing he knew, someone was elbowing his arm. Check it out, his sister, Gemma, said.

Jones opened his eyes. His sister was leaning over him and looking out his window. What is it? Jones whined, rubbing his eyes and nudging Gemma out of his personal space. But when Jones finally did look out his window, he couldnt believe what he saw.

Its so big, he said. I cant believe how big it is. I mean, its just so...so...

Big? Gemma said.

Very funny, he said, and tried to act like he wasnt amazed. But seeing Jupiter in person was unbelievable. It was huge and strange and awesome. He could see the bands of clouds moving. He saw the Great Red Spot. The colors were so sharp and peculiar. They almost looked like paintings, except more real. So real it was like a dream. Hed seen hundreds of videos and simulations of Jupiter, but they didnt do it justice.

Its just so ... big, he said again. And awesome and scary. It makes me feel so small. Jupiter is other-worldly.

Earth to Captain Jones, his teammate Felix Rip said from the seat behind him. Jupiter is another world.

Thanks Captain Obvious, Jones said. But he was still looking out the window. He couldnt tear himself away. But really, isnt this amazing? Jupiter is just so ... its just so ...

Big? his sister laughed.

Jones laughed. Cant I experience the wonder of the universe without everyone making fun of me?

Everyone on his team was laughing now. And for the moment, Jones pulled himself away from the window and started joking along with them. But in the back of his mind he kept thinking about Jupiter. It really was immense. Almost too big. There was something powerful about that planet. Something way bigger than humans. Something that maybe kind of terrified him. Just a little.

Since Jupiter didnt have anything solid to land on, the shuttle took Team Earth to the Galactic Village on Ganymede, Jupiters largest moon. There the team would rest and get ready for the next days event: The Grand Relay Regatta.

After the team had eaten and chatted with some of the athletes from other planets staying in the Village, Coach Yanos called the team in for a meeting. The Grand Relay Regatta was a relay sailing race. But instead of sailing on a lake or the open ocean, the athletes would be sailing the winds of Jupiters upper atmosphere.

Even though theyd been over everything dozens of times, and trained in hundreds of simulations, Coach Yanos reviewed the details one last time.

He showed a picture of Jupiter, and pointed to the striped bands. Each of these bands is a different prevailing wind, he said. Jupiter has twelve of them. Well be sailing in the middle one, the equatorial zone. The winds will be an average of three hundred miles per hour there. Coach paused to make sure he had the teams full attention. Then he continued. The whole course is seven thousand, five hundred and sixty two miles long, so each of you can expect to be in the air for about six hours. Depending on how fast you ride the currents, of course. Remember that you can pick up speed if you veer toward the top of the equatorial zone. But dont get too near this brown belt up here. The north equatorial belt. Fierce storms are known to pop up on the borders between belts.

Jones was beginning to get pretty nervous. For a while, he had managed to put that strange feeling the sight of Jupiter gave him out of his mind. But now, he was beginning to feel a breathless dread spreading through him. An empty feeling. Like he was already falling. Jupiter was so big. So big. And he was so small. And as much as it had been studied, there was still plenty that was unknown about Jupiter. Nobody knew whether the planet had anything solid in the center, under those thick moving clouds.

... So dont be afraid, Coach Yanos was saying. Galactic Games scientists have set up a force field under Jupiters top layer of clouds. Even if you get caught in a storm, theres no chance of you falling deeper and getting crushed by the pressure.

Thats a relief, Felix said. The team laughed.

But how does it work? Gemma asked.

Its simple, Coach Yanos said. If you fall, the force field will bounce you back into the upper clouds. Youll be out of the race, of course, but a shuttle will come pick you up.

But I mean, how does the force field work? Gemma asked. Whats powering it?

Ive been told its beyond Earths understanding, Coach Yanos said. Everyone looked at him nervously. But dont worry. The Galaxy Games have been going on for millions of years. There are alien races here who have technology that is thousands of years ahead of ours. And there hasnt been a fatal accident at the Galaxy Games in more than fourteen thousand years.