S.M.A.R.T.S. and the Mars Mission Mayhem Read online

“That should be easy,” Caleb said. “Just go outside and wave a cell phone around.”

  * * *

  “Got it!” Lark called. She trotted toward the bench outside the Mars Commission building where Caleb, Jaden, and Barrett were waiting for her.

  Finding Lark had been just as easy as Caleb had predicted. Jaden had offered her a deal — if she could convince Kaylee to loan Lark her cell phone for five minutes, Jaden would let the girl use his phone until they went home. He was sure she’d be able to do it. He’d seen her begging in action.

  “Trade you!” Lark said, eyes sparkling.

  Jaden gave her his phone, and he took Kaylee’s. “We’ll give it back,” he said, but Lark had wandered off, already playing her game. Jaden hit the email icon on Kaylee’s phone. “Good. She’s still logged on.”

  “You’re going to read her email?” Caleb asked.

  Jaden hesitated. “I just want to see if she set up that fake Mars Commission email account. I’m not going to read any personal stuff.”

  “I’ll do it!” Barrett said, snatching the phone. A few seconds later, he grinned. “Oh, yeah. Here’s a receipt for the domain name marscommisssion.com — with the extra s.”

  “And once she had the domain name, she could set up email accounts with the fake address,” Caleb said.

  Barrett rubbed his hands together. “I can’t wait to tell that blogger that we caught her. I’ll be like, ‘In your face, Kaylee!’ Let’s go!”

  “Actually, there are a few other people we should tell first,” Jaden said, smiling. “I think it’s time for the other reporters covering the simulation to get a scoop of their own.”

  13

  On Monday afternoon, Zoe, Goo, Samuel, and Dylan stood in front of the airlock. It was finally time to leave the hab. They hadn’t been able to complete all their experiments since they’d had to save power, but they’d kept the essential hab systems running. They had survived Mars.

  The door swung open smoothly. Mr. Pegg stood by the entrance, one of his frighteningly wide smiles on his face. There was also a crowd of people waiting — reporters, potential investors, and the Mission Control groups for all four teams.

  Underneath their cheers, Zoe thought she could hear people chanting “Earth First! Earth First!” But their voices couldn’t compete.

  Zoe spotted Jaden and Caleb and raced over to them. She had a million questions to ask them and a million things to tell them about living like a colonist. But before she could say anything, Jaden handed her a stack of newspapers from that morning, a big grin on his face.

  Zoe scanned the headlines: “Blogger Falsifies Story,” “Simulation Sabotage,” “Sabotage for a Scoop” — they were all accompanied by pictures of Kaylee.

  Zoe stared at one of the pictures. In it, the blogger was trying to shield her face from the camera with one hand. She looked like she wanted to disappear.

  “Kaylee sent the fake emails?” Zoe asked, skimming the first few paragraphs of one of the articles.

  “Yeah. She also snuck the Crunchies in Samuel’s bag while you were touring the hab,” Caleb said.

  “I saw her get an orange streak on her shirt when she used it to wipe off her phone! That must have been Crunchies gunk!” Zoe said. “But why’d she want us to think the Mads were sabotaging us?”

  “All she cared about was getting great stories for her blog. So she did everything she could to create drama,” Jaden explained.

  “That’s why she wanted the Mads to think we were sabotaging them too,” Caleb added. “Then when she’d played that story out, she tried to make it look like the Earth Firsters had sabotaged both teams by putting quinoa on the solar panels.”

  “We thought there was something wrong with the panels,” Zoe exclaimed. “Samuel was great. As soon as we switched to emergency backup power, he had us shut down everything that wasn’t essential.”

  “Really? Benjamin was a nutball,” Caleb told her. “For a while we thought he was behind the sabotage because he wanted Samuel out of the hab.”

  Zoe laughed. “Maybe it was good for them to spend some time apart.”

  “Still, they look pretty happy to be back together.” Jaden nodded at Benjamin and Samuel. The twins were in front of the hab, taking selfies with their arms around each

  “In the hab, did you —” Caleb began.

  Zoe held up her hand to stop him. “First, I’ve got to know if the sponsors have decided who won the contest.”

  “They didn’t decide. But we did,” Caleb answered.

  Zoe frowned. “We who?”

  “The S.M.A.R.T.S. and Mad Scientists Mission Control teams,” he said. “We hung out together while we were waiting for the simulation to end. There wasn’t a lot for us to do, since we couldn’t communicate with the habs.”

  “So … who won?” Zoe asked.

  “It’s a tie,” Jaden told her. “Both teams were sabotaged, and both teams did a good job dealing with it. Plus we solved the mystery together.”

  “Sounds good to me!” Zoe replied. She raised her eyebrows. “Barrett must be mad, though. He really, really wanted to beat us.”

  “You’re not going to believe this,” Jaden said. “But calling the contest a tie was Barrett’s idea.”

  “So, are we like friends with him now?” Zoe looked over at Barrett, who was standing with the Mads and Mr. Olsen.

  Caleb nudged Jaden, smiling. “Did you hear that? I think Zoe had a breakdown in there. She just asked if we’re friends with Barrett.”

  “After Barrett said he thought the contest should be a tie, he told us we’ll have to make them the biggest trophy ever,” Jaden told her. “Then he promised the Mads would destroy us if we ever dared go up against them again.”

  Zoe laughed. “I’m glad planet Earth didn’t change too much while I was gone.”

  About the Author

  Melinda Metz is the author of more than sixty books for teens and kids, including Echoes and the young adult series Roswell High, the basis of the TV show Roswell. Her middle-grade mystery Wright and Wong: Case of the Nana-Napper (co-authored by the fabulous Laura J. Burns) was a juvenile Edgar finalist. Melinda lives in Concord, North Carolina, with her dog, Scully, a pen-eater just like the dog who came before her.

  About the Illustrator

  Heath McKenzie is a best-selling author and illustrator from Melbourne, Australia. Over the course of his career, he has illustrated numerous books, magazines, newspapers, and even live television. As a child, Heath was often inventing things, although his inventions didn’t always work out as planned. His inventions still only work some of the time … but that’s the fun of experimenting!

  Glossary

  colony (KAH-luh-nee)—

  a group of people sent to live in and settle a new territory

  essential (i-SEN-shuhl)—

  very important and necessary

  habitat (HAB-uh-tat)—

  a structure that provides shelter, air, controlled temperature, and other necessities so that humans can live in places that would otherwise be impossible to survive; also called a hab

  module (MOJ-ool)—

  a self-contained unit that can work by itself but is also a part of a larger spacecraft

  perp (PURP)—

  short for perpetrator; a perpetrator is someone who has committed a crime

  quinoa (KEEN-wah)—

  seeds from a tall crop plant used as food or ground into flour

  rover (ROH-ver)—

  a vehicle designed to travel across planets or moons

  sabotage (SAB-uh-tahzh)—

  to deliberately damage or destroy something so that it no longer works correctly

  scrubber (SKRUHB-er)—

  a device that removes harmful substances from air or water

  simulation (sim-yuh-LAY-shuhn)—

  something that looks, feels, and behaves like a specific situation or process; a simulation is often used for study or to train people

  suspect (SUHS-pekt)—


  a person who might have done something wrong and is being investigated

  Discussion Questions

  The Earth First group was protesting against the Mars Commission. Why do they think people shouldn’t spend money on a Mars colony? Look back at the text, then explain why using your own words. Do you agree with the Earth Firsters?

  Would you rather be a Mars colonist or a member of Mission Control? Talk about the reasons behind your choice.

  Jaden and Caleb had a lot of suspects to investigate. When you were reading, who did you think was the perp? Discuss what made each person a suspect, including the facts that made them look guilty and the reasons why they might have wanted to sabotage the teams.

  Writing Prompts

  Benjamin and Samuel usually do everything together, but they split up for the Mars mission. Write two paragraphs that compare and contrast how the twins felt during the simulation. How did Benjamin feel? How did Samuel feel? Use examples from the story to support your answer.

  Write your own blog post! Tell readers how Kaylee sabotaged the S.M.A.R.T.S. and the Mad Scientists. Don’t forget to explain why she did it!

  Although Zoe was excited to be a colonist, living in the hab wasn’t always easy. Make a list of things that would be hard about living on Mars, and then write a list about what would be good or exciting. Looking at your lists, would you become a Mars colonist? Why or why not? Write a paragraph about your decision.

  Space Colonization

  Space colonization, also called space settlement, is the process of creating permanent places off of Earth for humans to live. Colonies could be set up on places like moons, planets, or asteroids. A colony could also live in a man-made structure, such as an orbiting space station.

  There are a lot of problems to solve before living in space becomes a reality. One of the biggest challenges is cost. It’s expensive to develop and build the technology, train colonists, gather supplies, and rocket everything millions of miles into space. A single trip would costs billions of dollars. And once colonists arrive, they would have to deal with a deadly environment. Other planets don’t have an atmosphere that provides breathable air and protection against radiation, moderate temperatures, food, or water the way Earth does.

  Despite the challenges, different groups continue to work toward space colonization. Government agencies such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) develop advanced space technology. And companies such as SpaceX and Virgin Galactic want to make spaceflight safer and cheaper so people can take vacations in space. An organization called Mars One even wants to put a colony on Mars by 2027.

  Some scientists, including famed cosmologist Stephen Hawking, think space colonization is essential for our survival. They fear we will one day destroy our planet through war or by using up all its natural resources. Others interested in space colonies can’t resist the adventure of living among the stars. In any case, we should do our best to care for Earth because it’ll be difficult to find anywhere that’s as good as our home planet.

  S.M.A.R.T.S. is published by Stone Arch Books

  A Capstone Imprint

  1710 Roe Crest Drive

  North Mankato, Minnesota 56003

  www.mycapstone.com

  Text and illustrations © 2017 Stone Arch Books

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on the Library of Congress website.

  ISBN: 978-1-4965-3016-5 (hardcover) — 978-1-4965-3018-9 (paperback) — 978-1-4965-3020-2 (ebook pdf) — 978-1-5158-8753-9 (ebook)

  Summary: After winning a contest, S.M.A.R.T.S. participates in a Mars colony simulation out in the desert. Now, only a day into the mission, the S.M.A.R.T.S. equipment is malfunctioning. Could it be sabotage?

  Designer: Heidi Thompson