The Shrinking Race Read Free

the blue man heaved the Chocano off Kip’s hand. It was a quarter of the size of the blue man’s head. He opened his mouth wide. He could only just fit the Chocano in!
    WorldCorp Chocanos

    The blue man sucked. Warm chocolate dribbled from his mouth. His eyes crinkled with pleasure.
    The blue man held out his tiny hand. Kip shook it with his fingertip.
    No-one can resist a Chocano! Kip smiled.
    The blue man began talking. His soft voice was strangely powerful.
    Kip switched his SpaceCuff to Translate. This function used well-known alien languages to guess the meaning of what new aliens said. Kip and Finbar understood the blue man easily.
    â€˜I’m Blutor, and I’m a Baltian,’ he said. ‘Please accept this sugarmelon lolly as a gift.’ Blutor picked a bright pink melon-shaped fruit from a nearby bush.
    In Kip’s hands, the melon was tinier than a gumball. He popped it into his mouth using the special airlocked compartment in his helmet. Flavour exploded on his tongue. His mouth filled with fizzy pink juice. The lolly was thousands of times sweeter and more delicious than a Chocano!
    â€˜Mmmm!’ said Kip. He had an instant craving for another sugarmelon.
    When Blutor handed him some more, Kip wanted to eat them all at once. He forced himself to save one as a sample for WorldCorp’s scientists.
    â€˜You love sugarmelons as much as we do,’ smiled Blutor. ‘Our scientists first grew them on trees about two years ago. Now, no-one eats anything else.’

    If I lived here, I’d pick lollies off the trees all day long , Kip sighed to himself. Much yummier than LabFresh vegies.
    Finbar tried a sugarmelon. Kip could tell Finbar didn’t like the lolly, even though he was trying to be polite. Because he was part-wolf, Finbar didn’t have a sweet tooth.
    â€˜Hope they’ve got good dentists,’ Finbar whispered to Kip.
    But Kip wasn’t going to ask Blutor about dentists. They seemed to be making friends. Maybe now’s the time to tell Blutor about our mission, he thought.

CHAPTER 5
    Kip didn’t have time to explain anything to Blutor, though. At that moment, a figure rushed towards them. She looked like Blutor, except she was younger and had long pale blue hair.
    â€˜There’s been another accident!’ puffed the little blue girl. ‘Someone has fallen down a drain.’
    â€˜They’re smart enough to grow lollies on trees,’ Finbar whispered to Kip. ‘So why would they build drains big enough for someone to fall down?’
    Kip shrugged. Finbar had a point.
    â€˜Our ropes aren’t long enough,’ the blue girl added.
    â€˜We’ll help!’ said Kip.
    Cobalt could be Earth 2, Kip thought. If we save the day, Blutor and his people might share their planet in return .
    Plus, Kip was trained to always help friendly aliens in distress.
    â€˜That’s our city, Cobaltville,’ said Blutor. He nodded at the silver buildings around the field.
    â€˜I’ll carry you there,’ said Finbar, scooping up Blutor and the blue girl. ‘We’ll get to the accident faster that way.’
    Kip and Finbar raced across the sugar-melon field and into Cobaltville.
    The red-paved streets were crowded with blue people talking about the accident. Everywhere, digital signs flashed updates. A tiny blue dog-like animal with horns yapped at Kip’s heels.
    More and more Baltians ran out of the silver buildings. The buildings had no doors, though. The walls looked like they were melting to let the people walk through them. Then they formed again, as though they were made of liquid-metal. It looked a bit like walking through a waterfall.

    Kip made a quick mental measurement of the buildings. They were the perfect height for humans. Not Baltians.
    His logical Space Scout brain couldn’t make sense of it. Why would the Baltians build a human-sized city when they were so much smaller?
    Kip felt like a gigantic