H. Badger - The Brainiacs

The Brainiacs

published in 2011 by

Hardie Grant Egmont

Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street

Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia

www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means without the prior permission of the publishers and copyright owner.

A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia

Text copyright 2011 H. Badger
Illustration and design copyright 2011 Hardie Grant Egmont

Cover illustration by S. Miller

Illustrated by D. Greulich

Series design by S. Swingler

Typeset by Ektavo

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

Printed in Australia by Griffin Press, an Accredited ISO AS/NZS 14001:2004
Environmental Management System printer.

The paper this book is printed on is certified against the Forest Stewardship Council Standards. Griffin Press holds FSC chain of custody certification SGS-COC-005088. FSC promotes environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the worlds forests.

THE BRAINIACS

BYH. BADGER

ILLUSTRATED BYD. GREULICH

CONTENTS

Kip Kirby couldnt stop yawning. Hed been studying for ages and the school library always made him feel sleepy. His head nodded and his eyelids lowered

Wake up! yelled Kips best friend Jett.

SHHHHHHHHHH! bleeped a robot, tidying a shelf nearby. Its red eyes flashed.

Kip and Jett hated Shhhbots, which had replaced human librarians hundreds of years ago. Shhhbots had antennas on their heads that picked up the tiniest noise. In-built detectors scanned your library books from a distance. The Shhhbot gave your arm a mild shock if your books were overdue. Antenna for picking up noise

Keep reading, Jett told Kip. Youre nearly out of time.

Kip wasnt studying an old-fashioned paper book. He was reading a BuzzBook. In fact, he was reading two at once!

BuzzBooks vibrated with millions of electrical pulses. Kip ran his fingers over them and his brain converted the vibrations into words. He was reading Alien Cuisine(Year 2354 ed.) with his left hand and Flagsof the Universe, Vol. 2 with his right.

Kip didnt usually study this hard. He didnt have time! He was juggling school with his job as a Space Scout.

Kip loved being a Space Scout. It was his job to search the universe for a second Earth, because the current one was nearly out of room.

Kips job meant he got the fastest, coolest starship and lots of high-tech gadgets. Plus he got to explore planets that humans had never seen before.

Kip was due to leave on his next mission into space in a couple of hours, but this one was going to be different.

Kip was heading to a planet called Clevor. The annual Smartest Kid in the Universe quiz was being held there. Earth was competing for the first time, and Kip had been chosen to represent his planet!

How come you were chosen, anyway? asked Jett.

Kip explained that even though he wasnt the geekiest kid on Earth, he had the most intergalactic travel experience. It was a long flight, and space travel could be hard on people who werent used to it.

So thats why theyre sending me, he finished, pushing back from the desk. Anyway, Im bored of these BuzzBooks. Lets do something else.

Kip hit play on his Teach-A-Tronic, a virtual-reality lesson player.

A virtual alien popped out from behind Jetts chair. Kip picked up a glob of virtual purple goo that had appeared next to him. It felt slimy and cold. Even though Kip knew the goo didnt really exist, he was always impressed with how real virtual reality was.

Studying alien slime-tossing customs is heaps more interesting this way! Kip laughed, tossing the glob at the virtual-reality alien.

The alien hurled back his own glob of slime and Kip ducked as it flew past him. Straight into the back of a ShhhBots head!

SPLAT!

Uh-oh, thought Kip.

Leave the library IMMEDIATELY! bleeped the outraged robot.

It wasnt real slime, Jett protested.

But it made real noise, the Shhhbot snapped.

Dont chuck us out, Kip begged. I havent finished studying!

The Shhhbot rolled towards Kip, waving the shocker on its arm.

Kip and Jett jumped up. They didnt want to get shocked! They raced out of the library and jumped into an elevator, narrowly missing the Shhhbot.

Theres no point hanging around on Earth if I cant study! said Kip pressing the button for the roof. I might as well head up to MoNa a bit early.

MoNa 4000 was Kips starship. She was glossy and black, and highly advanced. Unfortunately she was also very bossy.

Kip flagged down a Universal Taxi and jumped in. UniTaxis were small, self-piloting spacecraft designed for travel within Earths atmosphere.

In a swirl of dust, Kip blasted off, waving goodbye to Jett. Kip was heading for the Intergalactic Hoverport, where MoNa was docked.

Soon the UniTaxi dropped Kip off inside MoNas landing bay. Kip jumped out and strode through the airlock into MoNas main cabin.

Soyoure battling the Universes smartest kids, MoNas voice chirped over the loudspeaker. She saw and heard everything Kip did while he was onboard. Are you sure your head will fit through that door? she added.

Kip rolled his eyes and didnt answer. He felt a paw on his shoulder.

It was Finbar, Kips second-in-command, or 2iC. Finbar was half-human, half-arctic wolf. He was two metres tall and looked scary. But beneath his fangs and claws, he was a total softie.

Finbar lived aboard MoNa. He always looked thrilled to see Kip. Kip reckoned that living with MoNa would get a bit much sometimes!

Time to download your mission brief, ordered MoNa, right on cue.

An excited shiver zipped up Kips spine. His mission to Clevor was about to begin!

Kip and Finbar headed for MoNas bridge, the command centre in her nose cone. It had huge windows looking out to space.

Kip got into his captains chair and activated the holographic console. A cylinder of light shot down from above. MoNas controls floated in mid-air all around him.

Kip hit Download Mission Brief.

While Kip was reading, MoNa had piloted them out of the Hoverport. There was a bump as she left Earths atmosphere. Then MoNa flew herself smoothly towards the wormhole leading to Clevor.

Wormholes were shortcuts through space. Starships could travel through them in seconds to distant galaxies.