A science fiction story for children. Recommended age: 8-80.
Ever since he could crawl and look at the stars, Tycho had loved astronomy. He lived on a farm called Twinkling Creek, and when the night was clear, the sky was dotted with a thousand crystals.
On his 5th birthday, Tycho got a star map. He sat outside with his star map and torch, scanning the skies and finding constellations.
Often Tycho’s mother called from the window, “Come in love, you’ll catch a cold.”
But Tycho replied, “Five more minutes mum, just five more minutes. I’m about to catch a meteor.”
After five minutes he came back indoors. But after his parents had gone to bed, he tiptoed through the house and snuck back outside. He would hang his glasses on a tree branch, grab his binoculars, and observe the stars until midnight.
Today, Tycho was really excited. It was his 9th birthday, and the day of the first moon landing. His mum and dad gave him the best present ever. A telescope!
But his friend Shamar said, “I would have asked for a cricket bat.” Chandra would rather have got a mountain bike. And Joey wished for anything but a telescope.
Tycho didn’t care what they thought. Now he could see the moons of Jupiter, the Orion Nebula, and the craters on the moon.
That night, Tycho invited his friends over for a slumber party, and to watch the first men land on the moon. He stuck glow-in-the-dark stars all around the house so that the lounge room looked like the Hebrides Cluster, the kitchen became the Large Magellanic Cloud, and his bedroom sparkled like the Andromeda galaxy.
His mother baked a mooncake with 9 rocket candles, then joined his father outside to continue digging the hole for the new dam.
Tycho’s friends dressed as aliens. Chandra and Shamar came as Martians, with their own Martian language. “Dooka dooka,” said Chandra. “Fuggly pop!” replied Shamar.
Joey wore a mask with nine goggly eyes attached and said he was from Venus.
“There are no aliens on Venus,” said Tycho. “It’s too hot.”
“I live in the clouds.” Joey jumped in the air and his goggly eyes jiggled about.
“Why didn’t you dress up, Tycho?”
“I did. I’m an astronomer.” But the truth was that Tycho had forgotten that this was supposed to be a fancy dress party. He had been too busy plotting the rocket’s course to the moon.
Everyone crowded round the TV to see the launch on the Saturn V rocket. “10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…Lift off! We have lift off. The rocket is on its way to the moon with a perfect launch.”
Everyone had a slice of the mooncake. Joey had to remove his mask to the eat the cake. His alien head had nine goggly eyes, but no mouth.
Next, Tycho took his friends on a tour of the house to show off all the glowing stars and constellations. Then they sat in the lounge with the lights out, telling scary alien stories.
“Time for bed,” said Tycho’s father. The kids snuggled into their sleeping bags. But after his parents had gone to bed, and he could hear his father snoring, Tycho and his friends crept out to play.
While Shamar, Chandra and Joey played ‘Spotlight’ among the trees, Tycho gazed through his telescope, scanning the stars for the rocket.
Suddenly a blinding light streaked through the sky, followed by a boom like thunder. His friends ran towards the back of the yard to investigate. But Tycho couldn’t find the branch where he’d hung his glasses. “Wait for me,” he cried, stumbling around. “Oh! Where did I put them?”
When Tycho’s friends got to the back fence, they saw a spaceship in the dam. Two figures dressed in spacesuits climbed out of the spaceship, planted a flag in the centre of the hole, and began to jump around.
Shamar, Chandra and Joey hid among the bushes. They watched the spacemen collect rocks and rubble, sealing them in plastic bags.
The spacemen jumped out of the dam, and began to pull out weeds from the garden. “Tycho will be happy,” Chandra whispered, “He’s supposed to weed the garden tomorrow.”
“They’ve seen us!” gasped Shamar.
The first spaceman said slowly, “We come in peace, moon people. We are from Earth.” He pointed to the stars. “We bring great gifts.” He gave each of them a chocolate space bar.
“Loopity doop,” said Shamar.
“Blurp blurp,” shouted Chandra.
Joey tried to say something sensible, but no one could hear him beneath his mask.
The second spaceman held a camera. “May we take a photo?” He snapped a picture of the three little moon people.
The camera flash blinded Joey’s nine goggly eyes. He ran straight into a tree. Then he ran into Tycho.
When they saw Tycho, the spacemen jumped in amazement.
The first spaceman said, “What are you doing here?
“Where are we?” asked the second spaceman, “Isn’t this the moon?”
“No,” said Tycho. “This is Twinkling Creek farm.”
“Uh-oh,” said the second spaceman, “Mission control will not be pleased.”
“Yeah. We’re supposed to be on the moon, but we must have got lost. I’m Neil Armstrong, and this is Buzz Aldrin.”
“You’re just like my father,” said Chandra, “He can’t read maps either.”
“Shush!” Tycho rubbed his glasses. “I’ve always wanted to meet astronauts. Let me show you my telescope.”
“That’s a powerful telescope,” said Buzz Aldrin.
Tycho smiled. “I can use it to redirect you to the moon. He showed the astronauts his star maps, then he pointed out craters and lunar seas with his telescope.
“Thank you, we owe our mission to you,” said Armstrong. “What is your name?”
“I’m Tycho!”
“In return for your services to space exploration, we will name a crater on the moon after you. It will be called: Tycho’s Crater!”
“Shrobble bobble ding!” Shamar did a space dance.
“Klarp Tycho klarp!” Chandra gave him a friendly punch in the arm.
Joey wiggled his nine goggly eyes.
Tycho and his friends waved goodbye as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin boarded the lunar lander, then blasted off on the correct course to the moon.
Next weekend, Shamar, Chandra and Joey visited Tycho again. But they didn’t watch TV, or play Spotlight in the backyard. They all looked through the telescope to catch a glimpse of Tycho’s Crater.