Earthling Ambassador by Liane Moriarty Page B

yours into practice? I’m at your service.”
    Nicola’s heart raced. Nobody was going to stop her. She was going to be allowed to put this most audacious plan into practice.
    She assumed her most confident voice. “Yes, please. I actually do need your help with one thing, Georgio,” she said. “I need you to go back to Earth and pick up a few people for me.”

CHAPTER 17
    â€œI need to get a team of people together,” explained Nicola.
    â€œA squadron!” interjected Shimlara. “A squadron ready for battle !”
    â€œOh goodness,” said Mully faintly. “I need chocolate to hear this.” She gave the Telepathy Chef a desperate look and pressed the button, and an oversize bar of chocolate popped straight out. Mully took an enormous bite and gestured for Nicola to begin.
    â€œWe’ll be called the Earthling Squadron—except that’s no good, because Shimlara’s not an Earthling. Okay, we’ll be the Space Squad. No, no, we’ll be the Space Brigade ! That sounds better.”
    Space Brigade. Just saying the words made Nicola feel resourceful and capable.
    Georgio blinked rapidly. “Okay, okay, I see your strategy. Many hands make light work, as they say. Of course, they also say too many cooks spoil the broth, but you’re not making broth, are you? That is, I assume you’re not . . . So how many Earthlings do you need me to pick up for this Space Brigade of yours? One hundred? Two hundred? A few squillion?”
    â€œOh, no, just three.” Nicola handed him a slip of paper with the three names written on it:
    Tyler Brown
    Katie Hobbs
    Sean Berry
    â€œRightio,” said Georgio. He lowered his chin and started talking into his top button, just like he had back on Earth when he first chose Nicola as Earthling Ambassador.
    â€œHis top button is a Voice-Operated Miniature Phone,” whispered Shimlara, who knew by now that Nicola didn’t always understand the technology on Globagaskar. Although sometimes Shimlara went a bit far with her explanations.That morning at breakfast she’d explained to Nicola that glasses were used to hold water. “Actually, we do have glasses on Earth,” Nicola had said.
    â€œHello, Plum!” cried Georgio. “Can you hear me? It sounds very noisy there. It’s me, Georgio! I need you to fly me to Earth for a quick Earthling pickup. Can you get here fairly soon? Like, right now? Oh, it’s your birthday today? You’re in the middle of your birthday party? Well, many happy returns! So, how quickly can you get here?”
    â€œGeorgio!” hissed Mully.
    Georgio gave Mully a baffled look and said into his button, “Wonderful! The spaceship is still parked at the community hall. I’ll meet you there.”
    He rubbed his hands together purposefully and said, “Plum is on her way. She didn’t sound very gracious about it, I must say, but spaceship pilots can be a grumpy lot! I’ll be back in a jiffy.”
    He strode off, wrapping a giant scarf around his neck.
    Nicola imagined how Sean,Tyler, and Katie would react when Georgio turned up in their classrooms. Sean and Tyler would be crazy with excitement. Katie would be nervous—but Nicola knew she needed her for the Space Brigade. She had a feeling that Katie’s marshmallow-soft heart might be useful.
    Five minutes later, Georgio leaped through the door and Nicola waited to hear what he’d forgotten—the keys to the spaceship, perhaps?
    â€œI’m back!” he said. “Got them all, no problem!”
    Nicola’s jaw dropped.
    â€œPlum must have convinced Georgio to let her fly at Time-Squeeze speed,” said Mully. “Georgio probably spent a few hours collecting everyone on Earth, but Time-Squeeze compressed that time into just a minute. It uses a lot of rocket fuel so we can’t do it too often, but poor Plum probably wanted to get back to her