Chapter 9

9 Secret door Q shut just as Pablo, Violet, and Deepak passed through it. They stumbled as their feet landed on the now closed door. Pablo beamed. "I can't believe it!" In the middle of the room, Dr. Crisp was standing in front of a row of small spaceships! A black M was painted on top of both wings, and two engines hung below them. Everyone was dressed in space suits again.

"Are we really going to fly these?" asked Pablo, walking closer. His hands and feet jittered with excitement. "You bet your jets!" replied Dr. Crisp. "This is amazing," squealed Violet. "I'm going to drive a spaceship before I even drive a car!" Deepak ran over to one of the ships and pressed his face against the windshield. "Whoa, there are a lot of buttons. And knobs." He pulled his face from the glass and asked Dr. Crisp, "Are they hard to fly?"

"Not at all! They pretty much fly themselves," she replied. "But we gotta hurry! We have to make it to three different planets, and we only have twenty-five minutes!"

"Three different planets?" the trio repeated. "Yes!" Dr. Crisp began to explain the challenge. "For this final level, we are going to take these beauties for a spin." She gave one of the ships a pat. "With the help of our handy-dandy wormholes, we will hop around to three different planets. You'll have to guess which planet we are on based on what you know about their environments." "But I don't even remember all the planets," said Violet. She bit her lip. "I do!" said Pablo. He counted each name on a finger. "Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune!"

"What about Pluto?" asked Deepak. "Scientists used to call it a planet," explained Pablo. "But not anymore." He smiled. Dr. Crisp gave Pablo a high five. Then she quickly ran over to a red button that was sticking out from the middle of one of the walls. She slammed it with her fist. After a few moments of silence, the spaceships started to vibrate and hum. Then suddenly, their engines all turned on at once. The buttons on each dashboard lit up as the glass shields pulled back. "Hop to it, Makers!" shouted Dr. Crisp as she jumped into her seat. Pablo, Violet, and Deepak climbed into their ships. The glass shields closed. "Vroom, vroom!" cried Violet. "Let's go!" Dr. Crisp pressed a black button on her dashboard and said, "Maker Maze, activate wormhole!" The ceiling slid open, and the purple beam of light blasted down from above. "Okay, Makers! Here we go!" said Dr. Crisp. "Hold down the green button on your right!" The trio pressed their buttons at the same time.

SWIZZZZZZZZZ!