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"Thank you!" he called out. Then he dived gracefully into the pool with barely a splash.
"Outstanding dive!" called out Georgio. Squid, who was sitting on his dad's shoulders, clapped.
The Space Brigade, Princess Petronella, and the Gorgioskios were all enjoying a swim in the pool on the Royal Spaceship. The princess had offered to give the Earthlings a lift back to Earth, and although Tyler was sorry not to have the chance to use the Mini Easy-Ride Spaceship again, they hadn't been able to resist the chance to use all the Spaceship's incredible facilities as it flew through space.
There were huge windows all along the side of the swimming pool and Nicola could see the Planets of Volcomania and Whimsy silently floating in space, joined by the cylinder that was the Underground Sea. From this height, Volcomania's erupting volcanoes were like tiny matchstick flames.
"It looks so peaceful from up here," commented Mully. She, like the rest of them, was wearing a jewel-encrusted swimsuit from the Royal Spaceship wardrobe.
"Hopefully it will be peaceful from now on," said Nicola.
"Thanks to us!" said Princess Petronella, lazing back on a floating inflatable throne.
"You never told us how you and the aunts managed to infiltrate the enemy lines," said Nicola to Mully. "What was your secret weapon?"
"Age," said Mully.
"Pardon?" said Nicola.
"When you get to a certain age," said Mully,"you become invisible to young people.The aunts and I just walked on past those soldiers, saying things like, 'Excuse me, young fellow.' None of them took the slightest notice of us."
"And how did you sabotage their tanks?" asked Tyler. "Did you use some special technique from your army days?"
Mully smiled. "We threw away the keys. It's the simplest solutions that are the most effective."
"I always knew I'd married a genius," said Georgio.
When they had left the Planet of Whimsy, Henry Sweet and Marty Mania were deep in discussion. Henry had already agreed that the Volcomanians could grow crops on Whimsy's lands, as long as there were still plenty of meadows left for lying around staring at the sky.
The United Aunts had stayed behind to help ensure the peace process continued peacefully. "I'll see you back at Grammy's birthday party," Great-aunt Annie had told Nicola and Sean. Then she winked. "Maybe you won't call me Crazy Great-Aunt Annie in the future, eh?"
At the mention of Grammy's birthday party, Katie had remembered that they'd promised to bring something pink back for Nicola's little cousin Jessie. One of the Whimsians had given them the most beautiful handmade doll wearing an exquisite pink ball gown. "I actually wouldn't mind keeping it myself," Katie had admitted to Nicola.
The Volcomanian soldiers hadn't gone home yet. An enormous dance party was underway with some of Whimsy's best rock bands playing. Volcomanian soldiers had already proposed marriage to Poppy the waitress/actress and Rosie the beautiful preschool teacher.
Mrs. Mania had been untied from her chair, but was refusing to budge. "All this niceness is making me nauseous," she said, but Nicola noticed a spark of pride in her eyes as she watched her son transformed from toad to president. The United Aunts were arguing among themselves about the best punishment for Mrs. Mania, given that she had ordered the invasion of an innocent planet and the kidnapping of the United Aunts. Some of them (like Nicola's great-aunt Annie) were arguing she should be exiled on the Planet of Arth for her actions. Other, cuddlier-looking aunts were saying, "Oh, let's just insist she apologizes."
The prison camp guards had also been released from their chairs in the food hall and were following Marty's orders to pull down the camp. It had been especially satisfying to see the guard who reminded Nicola and Sean of the school bully sweating and swearing as he pulled down the barbed wire fence he'd ordered the prisoners to polish.
They hadn't needed their scuba diving suits again. Marty Mania had arranged for them to travel back through the Underground Sea in comfortable Volcomanian submarines.
When they got back to Volcomania, Shimlara had proudly showed off her bus driving skills to her parents and brother, and driven them back to the stone hut where the Globagaskarian secret agent JJ-11 had been waiting for them.
"I hear you not only achieved your mission but you actually helped the Whimsians win the war!" said JJ-11. "I eat my words. When I first met you at the bottom of that pile of volcanic ash, I thought you were giggling fools, but you really did live up to the Space Brigade's reputation!"
As Nicola dived beneath the water of the Royal Spaceship pool, her hand went to her neck where her limited edition gold button had once been, and she thought about how close the Space Brigade had been to losing their reputation.
She swam to the surface.
"Hey!" she called out to the others. "Did anyone use their gold buttons to fix a mistake?"
The rest of the Space Brigade swam over to her.
"I've still got mine." Tyler held up the button still hanging around his neck.
"I used mine," admitted Katie. "I made a terrible mistake that would have lost us the battle. I was too soft on my music platoon. I didn't make them practice enough. It was so embarrassing. The drums didn't sound anything like hooves! The Volcomanians burst out laughing. They were on to us right away. I'm so relieved I got a second chance to fix that mistake!"
Nicola remembered how she'd been surprised at Katie's sternness with her platoon.
