Albert Hopper, Science Hero: Blasting Through the Solar System! Read online

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  For Phoebe, Your mission? Explore the world and beyond!

  Blasting Through the Solar System!

  Professor Albert Hopper is a Science Hero.

  His heroic science mission?

  EXPLORE THE WORLD AND BEYOND!

  He is often joined by his two Junior Science Heroes, niece Polly and nephew Tad.

  Come with them on their latest adventure …

  BLASTING THROUGH THE SOLAR SYSTEM!

  Chapter 1

  PIGEON

  “Calling Junior Science Hero Polly. Calling Junior Science Hero Tad. Report to the laboratorium, and quickly!”

  Polly and Tad raced to their uncle’s lab. A huge metal bird filled the room.

  “Behold! Our newest ship! I call it … Pigeon,” said the Science Hero.

  “We shall be … BLASTING THROUGH THE SOLAR SYSTEM!”

  “Pigeon?” asked Tad.

  “Yes,” said his uncle.

  “That’s the bird you chose?” asked Tad.

  “THAT VERY ONE!” said his uncle. “Pigeons are the wisest and most noble of creatures in the kingdom of birds!”

  “No they’re n—” began Tad.

  “PIGEON, I say!” said his uncle. “Come inside.” The scientist pulled out a chart. “There are eight planets in the solar system.”

  “And Pluto,” said Polly, “which is a dwarf planet.”

  “Dwarf planet?” asked Tad.

  “We’ll get to that in Chapter 12,” said his uncle. “They all whip around the star we call … the sun! We will visit that, too.”

  “Won’t we melt?” asked Tad.

  “We’ll find out in two more chapters,” said his uncle. “There are also asteroids and comets,” he added.

  “Which chapter are those?” asked Tad.

  “I’ll surprise you,” said his uncle.

  “Why aren’t you answering questions?”

  “Suspense, my nephew, SUSPENSE! One of my favorite things to wait in! Who is coming aboard?”

  “Junior Science Hero Polly reporting for duty,” said his niece.

  “I have homework,” said Tad.

  “Do it between planets,” said his uncle.

  “I have to clean my room,” said Tad.

  “You have a robot for that,” said his uncle.

  “Okay, okay,” said his nephew. “Junior Science Hero Tad coming, too.”

  “Let’s go!” said Polly.

  The hero of science tugged some levers. He twisted some knobs and punched some buttons. The ship lurched into the air!

  “I see you added the A-C-H button,” said Tad.

  “Yes! The ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN button,” said his uncle. “But you know NOT to press it!”

  “Then why do you always put one in the ship?” asked Polly.

  “You never know,” said her uncle.

  “You do know that I will press it,” said Tad.

  “I do know that you shall not!” said his uncle.

  Tad’s finger inched toward the button. “You do know I can’t stop myself,” he said.

  “Self-control, Tad! Self-control!” shouted Polly.

  Tad’s finger touched the button. “Must … press … shiny … button!” grunted Tad.

  “Oh, go ahead,” said his uncle.

  “Now I don’t want to!” said his nephew.

  “Ha!” barked his uncle. “You fell for my trick!”

  “Well, don’t YOU press that button,” said Tad.

  His uncle put his finger on the button. “For some strange reason, I now feel that I must,” he said.

  “I am telling you not to,” sang Tad.

  The hero of science pressed the button. “Drat, nephew Tad,” he said. “You used my own trick against me!”

  “Now what?” asked Polly as they rocketed into space.

  The Science Hero sighed. “Good question.”

  Chapter 2

  VENUS

  Albert Hopper pulled down a chart. “The planets all travel in wide circles around the sun.”

  “The circles are called orbits,” Polly said to Tad.

  “I know,” said Tad. “The sun holds them all in place with an invisible force.”

  “Gravity,” said Polly to Tad.

  “I know,” said Tad.

  “Gravity is like a magnet,” he added.

  “I know,” said Polly.

  “Do stop with the ‘I know’s,’” said their uncle. “We shall begin at Venus. Then we will stop by Mercury. From there, we blast our way to … the VERY SUN ITSELF!”

  “Not a good idea,” said Tad.

  “No, Junior Science Hero Tad. It is a SPECTACULAR idea! We will then whip away from the sun and into the distant solar system!”

  “How long will it take to get to Venus?” asked Tad.

  “Not very,” said his uncle. “In fact, we are here. Cram into your heat-blocking, acid-proof Venusian suits, and let’s dive into those toxic yellow clouds!”

  They put on their suits and floated outside the ship. “Take great care not to unzip your suit,” warned science’s greatest hero. “It is nearly a thousand degrees on the surface, and we are in a cloud of … SULFURIC ACID!”

  “WHY?” screamed Tad.

  “LIFE!” shouted his uncle. “Tiny creatures live in sulfuric acid on Earth. If they exist on this planet, here is where they will be!”

  “What would they look like?” asked Polly.

  “Don’t know,” said her uncle. “But they would be very, very small. Turn up your magnivisors, everyone!” The Science Heroes floated in the acid clouds.

  “What’s that hissing sound?” asked Tad.

  “That’s just the sulfuric acid trying to burn through your suit,” said his uncle.

  “CAN IT?” asked Tad.

  “Unlikely,” said his uncle. The heroes of science searched and searched. Finally, the professor said, “Mission over, everyone. No life here. Back to Pigeon.” They climbed into the ship.

  “No, there was no life on Venus,” lectured the professor. “But in science, even failure is success!”

  “What does that even m—” began Tad.

  “ONWARD TO MERCURY!” announced science’s most confusing hero.

  Chapter 3

  MERCURY? NOPE. YEP.

  “Change in plans!” said the professor. “Turns out Mercury’s orbit took it to the other side of the sun.”

  “So the sun is next?” asked Polly.

  “Yep,” said her uncle.

  Pigeon approached the great ball of fire.

  “Shorts and T-shirts, everyone! The upper atmosphere of the sun is nearly 20,000 DEGREES!”

  “It’s too bright to see anything!” said Tad.

  “Install your solar lenses,” ordered the Science Hero.

  “You can’
t look at the sun with sunglasses!” said Polly. “It will hurt your eyes.”

  “CORRECT!” said her uncle. “But these are a THOUSAND times darker than the darkest of sunglasses.”

  “What about the heat?” asked Tad.

  “The ship’s anti-furnace will protect us,” said his uncle. “It is fueled by small blocks of frozen dihydrogen monoxide.”

  “Ice cubes?” asked Tad.

  “Precisely,” said his uncle.

  “They’re melting too quickly,” said Polly.

  “Refill the ice trays!” ordered the Science Hero. They filled the trays with water and put them in the freezer.

  “This will take too long!” said Polly. “It takes over three hours to freeze ice cubes.”

  “Hmm,” said Albert. “And here’s more bad news. Pigeon has overheated. We’re just drifting.”

  “That is bad news,” said Tad.

  “Not as bad as the next bad news I’m about to share,” said his uncle. “The sun’s massive gravity will soon pull us into its fiery surface.”

  Tad looked out the window. “Is that Mercury?” he asked.

  “Why yes, it is, Junior Science Hero Tad. Yes, that IS Mercury. And I have an idea.”

  Chapter 4

  MERCURY

  “There is ice on Mercury!” said Polly.

  “Correct, my niece. It rests deep in the craters, beyond the reach of the sun’s rays. But we need more time!”

  Polly looked at the controls. “The ship’s thermometer is sensing a cooler area up ahead,” she said.

  “Sunspot!” said her uncle.

  “I see it!” said his niece. “It’s that Earth-sized dark spot.”

  “We’re floating toward it,” said Tad.

  “It’s darker because it’s 2,000 degrees cooler than the rest of the surface,” said his uncle. “That will buy us some time. Polly, you steer into the sunspot and lift the anchors to wait for us. Tad, come with me to the Eggsplorer. We shall toodle over to Mercury for some ice.”

  They blasted away from the sun.

  “Mercury is the smallest planet in the solar system,” said the scientist. “During its two-month-long day, it is 800 DEGREES! But during its two-month-long night, it drops to … MINUS 280!

  “Comets SMASH into the surface and leave behind water, deep, deep, DEEP within the craters! That water freezes into ice—”

  “Who are you talking to?” asked Tad.

  “Shh, I’m narrating,” whispered his uncle.

  Tad looked out the window. “The ground is so dark.”

  “It’s made of graphite,” said his uncle. “You could fill a TRILLION pencils with it!”

  They dropped into a crater. The Eggsplorer filled itself with ice. “Back to the sun, and quickly!” said the professor. “The anti-furnace needs fuel, AND … I’m a wee bit chilly!”

  Chapter 5

  AND BACK TO THE SUN …

  Tad and the professor shoveled the Mercurian ice into the anti-furnace.

  “The ship is running again,” said Polly.

  “Hurrah,” said her uncle. “Now, fire up the rockets and let’s build up some speed.”

  “We’re using the sun’s gravity to slingshot us to Mars?” asked Polly.

  “Precisely! We shall let it fling us around until we’re ready to pull away.”

  “How long will this take?” asked Tad.

  “Well, with the sun being 432,170 miles across, and Pigeon able to reach speeds beyond what can be imagined…”

  “Two days,” said Polly.

  “Yes, niece Polly, about two days. So put on your solar lenses and enjoy the view.”

  They whipped around the sun. Columns of fire shot up from the surface.

  “Steer clear of those solar flares, Polly. The rising heat and energy of a single one could blast us into the endless universe!”

  “I have an idea to save some time,” said Polly. She searched the surface for just the right solar flare. “That’s the one,” she said. She steered the ship into the flames.

  “What are you doing?” asked Tad.

  “I found one shooting in the right direction. Strap in,” said his sister. She steered into the solar flare. “Tad, pull that lever!”

  Her brother yanked on the lever. The ship dumped out the ice, which melted in an explosion of steam! Pigeon launched with blinding speed into space.

  “Next stop, Mars,” said Junior Science Hero Polly.

  Chapter 6

  NEXT STOP, MARS

  “Wave to Earth,” said Albert Hopper. “We’ll be on Mars in no time.”

  The explorers arrived on Mars in no time.

  “What is our mission here?” asked Polly.

  “We are constructing new Science Hero headquarters!” said Albert Hopper.

  “What about the one on Earth?” asked Tad.

  “Oh, we’re also keeping that one,” said his uncle. “I just thought it would be good to have a clubhouse on Mars, too.”

  “Clubhouse?” asked Polly.

  “Headquarters!” said her uncle. “Headquarters for SCIENCE!”

  “And vacations?” asked Tad.

  “Sure!” said his uncle. “Now, Martian suits on! We’re going outside.”

  They climbed out of Pigeon. Tad floated up into the air. His uncle grabbed his foot. “You forgot to stuff your pockets with heavy stuff,” he said. “The gravity here is very weak!”

  “We should get underground,” said Polly. “The atmosphere is too thin to block the sun’s radiation. We will be fried.”

  “Yes,” agreed her uncle. “Our clubhouse must be built beneath the very ground!”

  “Clubhouse?” asked Tad.

  “Erm … headquarters!” corrected the professor. “Squeeze into this crater!”

  They turned on their flashlights. “It’s nice down here!” said Polly.

  “Do you hear that?” asked Tad.

  “WATER!” shouted the Science Heroes. A stream ran through the cavern.

  “I KNEW there was water inside of Mars!” said the professor. “Now, back to the ship for our clubhouse things!”

  “Clubhouse?” asked Polly.

  “HEADQUARTERS! HEADQUARTERS!” insisted her uncle.

  Their clubhouse was finished by evening. “Headquarters,” whispered the professor. Albert Hopper dozed in his comfy chair. Polly did some puzzles. Tad fished in the stream.

  “There are no fish on Mars,” said Polly.

  “You forgot we pressed the ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN button,” said Tad.

  “But sometimes ‘anything’ also means ‘nothing,’” said his sister.

  “Shh,” said Tad. “You’ll scare the fish.”

  Albert Hopper woke up. “Rest up, Junior Science Heroes,” he said. “In the morning we leave for our largest and gassiest planet … JUPITER!” Then he fell back asleep.

  Chapter 7

  THE LARGEST AND GASSIEST PLANET!

  “And there it is!” announced the hero of science. “Jupiter. It’s huge. It’s gassy. It’s spectacular!”

  The Junior Science Heroes stared in awe. “What is that red spot?” asked Tad.

  “It’s a storm,” said Polly. “It has been blowing for over 300 years.”

  “A storm larger than our Earth,” added their uncle. “Let’s have a closer look.”

  “That’s okay,” said Tad. “We can see it very well from here.”

  “Down, I say! Down into the very teeth of the storm!” bellowed the professor.

  Polly steered them into the red spot. The ship was tossed around like a pigeon in a hurricane.

  “Pigeon is falling apart!” shouted Polly. “The winds are over 400 miles per hour!”

  “Maybe we shouldn’t have done this,” said her uncle.

  “I have an idea,” said Polly. She yanked Pigeon toward the center of the storm. The ship stopped shaking. “See? It is calm in the center,” she said.

  “Brilliant thinking, Junior Science Hero Polly!” said her uncle.

  “Nice,”
said Tad. “Should we be dropping, though?”

  “Uh-oh,” said Polly.

  “Uh-oh,” said Albert Hopper.

  “Uh-oh,” said Tad. “But I don’t know why.”

  “Jupiter’s humongous size gives it humongous gravity,” said his uncle. “A gravity more than double that of Earth!”

  “We should not have flown so close,” said Polly.

  “Agreed, Junior Science Hero Polly,” said her uncle.

  “So we’re being sucked into the planet at rocket speed,” said Tad.

  “So it seems,” said his uncle.

  “I have an idea,” said Polly. She turned Pigeon straight down and zoomed toward the planet.

  “You’re going right into the gravity to build up speed!” said her uncle.

  “Shh,” said Polly. “Concentrating!”

  “And we’ll blast out the other side!” said her uncle.

  “Shh,” said Polly.

  “Be sure to go around the rocky core,” whispered the professor.

  “I’ve got it,” said Polly. “And, SHH!”

  The ship raced through the gas layer. It ripped through the liquid layer. Polly steered it around the rocky core. They shot up and away from it at the other end. Then, right through the lower liquid layer! Through the upper gas layer! And back into space, free from Jupiter’s gravity.