4 Don’t Eat the Passengers!

Chapter 4 DON'T EAT THE PASSENGERS Hooo… hooo… hooo… Andrew and Judy unbuckled their seat belts. Andrew pulled up the trapdoor in the floor. Then he and Judy climbed down the rope ladder to the lower compartment. It was dark, but Andrew found the light switch and turned it on. Hooo… hooo… hooo… When Andrew turned toward the fuel tank, he was nose to beak with a small, feathery face. Its yellow eyes stared at him fiercely.

"An owl!" said Judy. "It's so tiny and cute! But how could it have gotten in here?" meep… "Owl get into Unkie's lab," said Thudd. "Maybe follow prey animal into Time-A- Tron." "A mouse or something?" Judy said. chee chee chee A chirpy sound was coming from a tangle of black tachyon tubes on the floor. Andrew and Judy scrambled over to the tubes. meep… "Look!" said Thudd. Inside a broken black tube was a tiny furry nose.

meep… "Shrew!" Thudd said. Judy leaned down to see. The nose looked like a mouse nose, but longer and pointier. "Cheese Louise!" said Judy. "It's munching on a tachyon tube! That's why we're losing fuel!" Judy glanced back at the owl. It hadn't moved, but it was staring at that twitching nose. "Humph," said Judy. "I know owls eat things like mice and shrews. But there are only four creatures alive on Earth right now. Nobody is going to be eating anybody." Andrew nodded. "We need to get the shrew out of the tube," he said. "Then we've got to fix the tube before we lose any more fuel." Suddenly the pointy nose disappeared into the tube. "Uh-oh," said Andrew. He put his foot on the tube behind the shrew to keep it from moving back. Judy cupped her hands in front of the tube.

The shrew crept out, wobbled, and fell over into Judy's hands! "Oh no!" said Judy. "I think it fainted! I'll take it upstairs." While Judy climbed into the upper compartment, Andrew studied the hole in the tube. "Is there any tape around here?" he asked. bong… "No, Master Andrew," said the Time- A-Tron. "Professor Dubble was kidnapped before he could stock the Time-A-Tron with tools and supplies." Andrew scratched his head. Then he noticed something small and dark and round on the floor beneath the owl. "I guess you can't expect owls to use litter boxes," Andrew said. meep… "Not owl poop," said Thudd. "Owl pellet. Owl not got teeth. Owl eat whole animal. Owl stomach digest meat. Then stomach make bones and fur into lump called pellet. Owl throw up pellet, spit it out."

Andrew rolled the owl pellet along the floor with his slipper. It was hard and dry. He tapped it and it fell apart. Inside were little bones—and a tiny skull! meep… "Mouse bones!" said Thudd. Andrew examined the tachyon tube. "Hmmmm," he murmured. "This tube is made out of soft stuff. I wonder…" Andrew put one end of the broken tube inside the other. Then he pushed little bones through both parts to hold them together. Andrew climbed the ladder up to the top compartment. It felt cooler now. Outside, the melted rock had gone from yellow to reddish orange. Judy's bathrobe was piled on the floor next to the chair. In the middle of the bathrobe was the shrew, curled into a ball. "I think he's okay," said Judy. "He even ate some scraps from your stupid fudge."

"Super-duper pooper-scooper!" said Andrew. "And I fixed the broken tachyon tube!" "Then let's try moving forward in time," said Judy. Andrew and Judy fastened their seat belts. Then Judy smacked the Fast-Forward button. Flack! Flack! Flack! HNNNN… HNNNN… WOOHOOOO!