Planet Leap

Planet Leap 2020 by Martin F. Lewis. ISBN: 84-699-0228-8 se encuentra bajo una Licencia Creative Commons Atribución-NoComercial-SinDerivadas 3.0 Unported.

PLANET LEAP

By Martin F. Lewis ISBN: 84-699-0228-8



FOREWORD

This story was created to be used in a classroom, especially by Spanish Teachers of English as a Foreign Language.

It was first published in 1999 by the “Centro de Profesores y Recursos de Parla” Madrid (Spain), as a part of a series of Didactic Units called “Tales in English for children in Primary and Secondary School”, created or recreated by the Rodary Group. The Rodary Group was formed by Isabel Fernández Otero, Paloma Hellín de la Torre, Xavier Frías Conde and Luis Francisco Martínez Torres, all teachers of English in Parla.

The “Centro de Profesores y Recursos de Parla” Madrid (Spain). C.P.R. de Parla doesn't exist anymore.

Every chapter has a proposal of activities to work with. Pre-reading, while-reading or after-reading activities can be found along the story.

Many pictures shown here have been taken from various links in the Net and from an application called Deluxe Paint for Amiga Computers, and some of them have been modified to fit in the story. If you find any copyrighted material in here, please, let me know. Visited links are shown in another page.

I will appreciate any comments or criticisms intended to improve this material.

Every teacher who wants to use “Planet Leap” in a classroom may use it as s/he wants to.



BLURB

The Earth is almost dead. Women and men have wasted all the natural resources. The atmosphere is polluted and so are rivers and seas. There are no forests because trees have been cut down or burned. The use of products that destroy the ozone layer, have reduced this important shield to a minimum and acid rain is poisoning plants and animals. There isn't enough food to heal the world.

Tow and Dame are on board the Scud, a Spaceship searching for a new world for humans to live. Will they be able to save the earth?



BEFORE READING ACTIVITIES

1- Read the title of this novel. a) What does leap mean? __________________________________________ b) Read the blurb and the chapter headings below. What do you think this story is going to be about? _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________

2-These are the chapter headings: THE TURNING OPERATION JAZZY´S ROOM´S EMPTY

JAZZY IS NUTS EARTHQUAKE

LIFE MOLE´S LAUNCHING

SABOTAGE! JAZZY APPEARS

WHERE´S JAZZY? SOMETHING WEIRD

TITAN FAILURE!

ON BOARD THE SCUD APPROACHING SATURN

CRASH HIT

MOLE IMPACT

Of course, they are in wrong order.


a) Which chapter do you think is going to be the most exciting? _________________________________________________________ b) Which one the most important? _________________________________________________________ c) Which chapter heading do you think is the first and which is the last? 1st _________________________________________________________ Last ________________________________________________________ 3- Read the blurb, look at the remaining chapter headings and decide your own order. 1.- ______________________________________________________ 2.- ______________________________________________________ 3.- ______________________________________________________ 4.- ______________________________________________________ 5.- ______________________________________________________ 6.- ______________________________________________________ 7.- ______________________________________________________


8.- ______________________________________________________ 9.- ______________________________________________________ 10.- _____________________________________________________ 11.- _____________________________________________________ 12.- _____________________________________________________ 13.- _____________________________________________________ 14.- _____________________________________________________ 15.- _____________________________________________________ 16.- _____________________________________________________ 17.- _____________________________________________________ 18.- _____________________________________________________


4- According to the blurb you´ve read, a) What´s going to happen in the story. _________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

b) Try to invent your own final.

_________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________


CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 1: ON BOARD THE SCUD CHAPTER 2: APPROACHING SATURN CHAPTER 3: THE TURNING OPERATION CHAPTER 4: TITAN CHAPTER 5: FAILURE! CHAPTER 6: CRASH CHAPTER 7: JAZZY´S ROOM´S EMPTY CHAPTER 8: WHERE´S JAZZY? CHAPTER 9: SOMETHING WEIRD CHAPTER 10: SABOTAGE! CHAPTER 11: JAZZY APPEARS CHAPTER 12: HIT CHAPTER 13: MOLE CHAPTER 14: JAZZY IS NUTS CHAPTER 15: MOLE´S LAUNCHING CHAPTER 16: IMPACT CHAPTER 17: EARTHQUAKE CHAPTER 18: LIFE EPILOGUE



INTRODUCTION

Aren't we human? Have we not eyes? Have we not hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions, fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? **

**Adapted from The Merchant of Venice, By William Shakespeare.



CHAPTER 1

ON BOARD THE SCUD

A VIEW FROM THE SPACESHIP

"Scud, this is N.E.S.A. speaking from planet Earth. You are now 750,000 km. from Saturn's orbit. The second part of your mission is about to start. Set all timers for a 24 hours final countdown. Wake Dame, make sure that all systems work properly and be ready yourselves for landing on Titan's ground. Operations will start tomorrow at 14:00 h. Greenwich Meridian Time. Answer Scud! Over."

An image of a man wearing an uniform had appeared on Eddy's screen and Tow could hear that voice loud and clear. Although he was more than one and a half billion kilometres (1,500,000,000 km.) far


from the Earth, messages didn't take long to arrive there, only slightly more than half an hour. Using a newly developed technology, they travelled as light waves but at a speed twice that of light.

"N.E.S.A. This is Scud answering." Tow said . "All systems and timers are working and ready. Eddy's going to wake Dame and we'll be ready for landing. Over."

Tow was on board the Scud, a Spaceship of the Council for Universe Development, a spaceship launched by the N.E.S.A. the New European Space Agency. It looked like a vacuum cleaner and it was as long as ten football pitches. It used solar energy as fuel. It had lots of rooms and services.

The Scud, travelling at a speed of 50 kilometres per second, was on its way to Titan, one of the ten satellites that moved around Saturn.

Tow was one of the ultimate versions of the N.R.G. series of robots. These robots had been built up in a country called Spain by a group of different enterprises from different countries: Norway, Finland, Luxembourg, Portugal, Eire and, of course, Spain. These countries were the six members of the strongest Economic Community in the world: The N.E.A. New European Alliance.

N.R.G. robots looked like men and women. They didn't breathe, eat or drink but they seemed to do it in order to live with human beings.


They had no feelings, emotions, dreams or childhood memories. They hadn't got blood, sweat or tears neither. They could stand the lowest and highest temperatures. They were four times stronger and more agile than humans. They were able to jump higher and longer than any man and run three times faster than the fastest man. They never got tired. Their artificial brain was 20 times more intelligent than that of a human's.

They only needed sunlight or electricity to carry on living. They were created just to help humanity.

Tow was three years old. He looked like a man in his early twenties. He was very tall. He had short brown hair and big brown eyes. He was wearing brightly coloured tight clothes.

"Eddy! Wake up Dame." "All right, Tow."

Eddy was Scud's main computer. It had been Tow's only fellow traveller for the last 294 days when the Scud took off from the Moon. Eddy was the last generation of the MATE Series III Computers and he was very similar in its spirit to those old Amiga computers of the late eighties. It hadn't got a keyboard nor a mouse. Neither Ram nor Rom. It didn't need floppy or hard drives and it didn't use C.P.U. or CD ROM. All you could see on this almost ultimate computer was a screen. There was one in nearly every compartment of the ship, on walls, on tables or on desks. Its screens looked like posters and they could be as wide as you wanted. From these screens, Eddy controlled everything on board. You could also do a lot of


things with Eddy: You could listen to music or watch 3-D movies with superb quality of sound and vision, read every newspaper or book published in the Earth, chat, play games and so on. "Dame's awake. She's waiting for you," Eddy said. "Where is she?" Tow asked. "She's at the infirmary. She doesn't feel very well."

Chapter 1 ACTIVITY What do you know about Tow? _________________________________________________________ What year is in the story? _________________________________________________________ Where is Tow? _________________________________________________________ Who or what is Eddy? _________________________________________________________


CHAPTER 2

APPROACHING SATURN

"What's the matter, Eddy?" "Nothing too important really. She's been sleeping too deeply for too long." In long voyages across the universe, people and robots had to travel whilst sleeping to save energy. This sleep was very heavy. People were laid down inside a glass case in a low temperature environment to reduce their living signs to a minimum. Dame had been sleeping for ten months. "What can I do, Eddy?" "Go with Dame and talk to her." Eddy answered. "O.K. I'll be there in a minute." Dame was another NRG robot. There were six more robots sleeping in the spaceship. Their names were: Rag, Moll, Jazzy, Stiff, Posh and Silt. "May I come in?" Tow asked . "Yes, Tow. Come in." She whispered. Dame's room was a square. It had a bed inside a glass case in the centre. Its walls and furniture were white. The only different coloured thing in the room was Eddy's screen. Dame was sat on the bed. "How are you, Dame?' "Not as well as I would like." She moaned. "I'm feeling a little sick."


Dame was also three years old but she looked like a woman of 22. She was tall. She had blond hair and blue eyes. She was also wearing brightly coloured tight clothes. "You've been sleeping for too long and your body needs exercise. That's all. Let's walk for a while." Tow said smiling. "Please, help me to stand up." "Hold my hand!" "Thank you! Where are we going?" "To the control dome." "O.K. I'm going with you. By the way, what's the date? Where are we?" "It's 14:50 G.M.T. on December 2nd, and we are approaching Saturn. We've got 24 hours to start the landing sequence on Titan." "So our journey is about to finish?" "I don't think so. There's a lot of work to be done and if we are successful in our mission, we'll have lots of boring days in Titan." "That's right. But we are the last hope for humanity and if we fail, there will be no hope for all living creatures on planet Earth."


The Earth was almost dead..."

The Earth was almost dead. Women and men had wasted all the natural resources. The atmosphere was polluted and so were rivers and seas. There were no more forests because trees had been cut down or burned. The use of products that destroyed the ozone layer, had reduced this important shield to a minimum and acid rain was poisoning plants and animals. There wasn't enough food to heal the world. The solution was in the hands of powerful people who didn't care for anything but themselves and they didn't want to do anything to change this situation. There were, however, a group of countries that wanted to save the human race: The N.E.A. The N.E.A. had entrusted a project called STARTING POINT to the N.E.S.A and this enterprise had made the Scud able to achieve this job.


The STARTING POINT project was simple: Find or create a place for humans to live. It was divided into four steps: Firstly, the construction and launch of a spaceship. The second was the search of a planet similar to the Earth in gravity and atmosphere. Scientists knew that Titan, one of Saturn's satellites, had atmosphere and they had also discovered that its gravity was similar to that of the Earth's. The third step was to prepare Titan to receive people from the Earth by transforming its atmosphere, ground and weather. This step might be finished in six months. And, finally, the fourth was to send people, animals and plants to live on Titan. Tow and Dame went into the control dome. It was near the nose of the Scud and It was a round room with six armchairs and six big screens. The floor was made of glass and through it you could see the stars. "Eddy, how are things?" Dame asked . "Quite well." Eddy answered. "We are near Saturn's orbit and we must be prepared for landing procedure. It will start in twenty-three hours time." "Eddy, may we help you?" "No, thanks. I can manage myself quite well." "Excellent." Replied Dame. "You'd better take a look through the telescope." Eddy said. "The scene is fabulous." "Look at that! Saturn! Oh, it's fantastic!" "Great, isn't it?" Tow said. Saturn was the seventh planet of the Earth's solar system. It was a very large yellow and green planet encircled by rings. It was 95 times bigger than the Earth.


Surprisingly its gravity was near the same that the Earth's. Saturn needed 29 years to go round the sun once and a day on its surface lasted only 10 hours. "Come on!" Tow said . "Let's start working."

SATURN


Chapter 2 ACTIVITY

Answer these questions.

-How old is Dame? __________________________________________________

-What is she wearing? _______________________________________________

-Do you think she is: 1-Happy 2-Angry 3-Sad 4-Tired?

The Rings


CHAPTER 3

THE TURNING OPERATION

SATURN AND ITS SATELLITES "Ten minutes to go before stopping the main thrust." "Thank you Eddy." Dame said. "Be ready for the Turning Operation. Fasten safety belts." Warned Eddy. "Let's go to the control cabin. We can sit there and watch the procedure." Dame said. Travelling as they were, at such a terrific speed, the Scud would crash on Titan and that would be the end


of the mission. The Turning Operation prevented that situation. It consisted in turning the Scud completely round, nose to tail. It had these steps: 1st- Cut out the main motor. 2nd- Start up an engine giving directional thrust. 3rd- When the Scud was completely turned round, start up the main propeller to brake the descent. 4th- At a very slow speed and very near Titan's surface, start up landing propellers to place the spaceship horizontally and land gently on Titan. "One minute to go." Eddy said. "Get ready, Dame." "I am." "Check systems, Eddy." Tow said . "I check all systems twenty times per second." Eddy said. "Sorry, I didn't remember." "All systems O.K. Thirty seconds to go." "Dame!" Called Tow. "Something strange is happening to me." "What?" "A very weird sensation I can't understand it." "Yes. Tow's systems are going faster than normal." Eddy said. "That's what human call getting nervous. Fifteen seconds to go." "Maybe it's a malfunction." Dame said. "We'll give you a check up shortly afterwards." "Ten seconds to go... nine... eight... seven... six... five... four... three... two... one... ZERO. Main motor stopped." Announced Eddy. "Any problems?" Dame asked .


"None at all." Eddy answered. "Twenty seconds to start up the directional thrust." "How do you feel, Tow?" Dame asked . "Much better. It's amazing." "Ten seconds to go...nine... eight... seven... six... five... four... three... two... one... ZERO." Eddy said. The Scud begun to turn round. "Be ready." Eddy said. "Cut off the directional thrust in ten seconds... nine... eight... seven... six... five... four... three... two... one... ZERO... Operation completed." The bottom of the ship was now pointing at Titan. "Ten seconds to start up the main motor." Eddy said. "Nine... eight... seven... six... five... four... three... two... one... ZERO... Operation entirely successful." "Eddy, how long will this brake operation last?" Tow asked . "Two hours." "Enough time to recharge my systems." Tow said . "Don’t you need to do it, Dame?" "No, but we should check whether your systems work properly or not." "O.K." Tow said . "Eddy, verify all my operations." "I'm doing it, wait a second... that's it. You are in 100% working order." "Thank you, Eddy." Tow said . "So, what was the problem?" He asked.


"I guess you have been working for too long and you need what humans call rest." Answered Dame. "You'd better go and recharge and forget all about it." "Maybe but I'm an N.R.G. and I was made to resist almost everything. I can't understand this. See you later." Tow went to the electricity storage cells room. "What do you think, Eddy? What's happening to him?" "I really don't know." Eddy answered. "Let me think about it for a while." "All right Eddy."

Chapter 3 ACTIVITY

Write, at least, five words that describe the "Turning Operation".

_____________________________________________



Chapter 4 Pre-ACTIVITY

The following words have been taken from chapter 4. What do you think it’s going to happen in this part of the story?-

APPROACHING

BELTS

ATMOSPHERE

FRICTION

BANG

I think _____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________


CHAPTER 4

TITAN

TITAN

Titan was not very large. Its diameter was about 5,830 km. A rotation on its surface lasted 18 hours and it revolved round Saturn in 16 days. Its gravity was 1 point under the Earth's gravity. The centre of Titan had very high temperatures and it might be extremely thick.

"Be ready for the last part of the Turning Operation." Eddy said. "We are very near Titan's ground. We are approaching at a speed three times that of sound. Weather conditions on Titan's surface are bad.


Winds at a speed of 120 kph, thick fog and very low temperature. Ignition of landing thrust in 60 seconds."

"Roger, Eddy." Dame told. "We're going to the control cabin"

Temperature on Titan's surface was 178 degrees below zero, but this was the only satellite that had atmosphere. This atmosphere was essential to allow human beings to breath and it protected any living creature against ultraviolet rays. No living organism could live without it. Titan's atmosphere, however, was composed of methane, nitrogen, ethane, hydrogen cyanide, carbon dioxide, oxygen and water vapour.

"Thirty seconds to go." Eddy told. "Fasten safety belts."

"Let's sit down. How are you, Tow?"

"Fine thanks, Dame. Are you ready?"

"Yes I am."

"Fifteen seconds... fourteen... thirteen... twelve... eleven... ten... nine... eight... seven... six... five... four... three... two... one... ignition. Spaceship turning round to horizontal position... Operation completed. Twenty minutes for landing. Speed decreasing. Thermic shield working."

The ship was now entering Titan's atmosphere. The friction with the atmosphere caused an overheating


all over Scud's outside. Vibrations were getting stronger and stronger.

"It's hot in here." Tow said.

"Yes it is. Eddy!" Dame called. "Show all indicators on screen."

"O.K. Dame."

Eddy's screen was now full of meters, gauges and figures.

"Look at that! A thousand centigrade degrees outside."

"Don't worry." Eddy told. "The Scud will resist."

"Fifteen minutes for landing."

Suddenly, a bang was heard and the spaceship begun to fall without any control.



CHAPTER 5

FAILURE!

"What's going on?" Tow asked .

"I don't know." Dame answered. "Eddy! What's happening?"

"We've lost all landing thrust. The generators are sending power but the engines are receiving nothing. We have a very slight period of time to mend it or else we'll crash on Titan."

"Eddy, what can I do?" Tow asked.

"We've lost all force of gravity. So you and Dame put on your magnetic boots and try to go to the generators' room and find what has caused the failure. Seven minutes to crash"

"O.K. Hurry up Dame! We're in danger!"

As quick as they could, they put on their boots and ran through Scud's doors. A few seconds later, they arrived at the generators' room.

"Oh no!" Dame said. "Look at that."

"What has happened?" Eddy asked.

"There has been an explosion and the wires have been destroyed" Dame said. "What shall we do?"


"You'll have to take a new set of cables and connect them from the generators to the engines." Eddy Answered. "I've switched off the power. Let me know when I can switch it on again. Quick! Five minutes to crash!"

"I'm on it. I've got the cables. Dame, take this end and connect it to the engines. I'll connect the other end to the generators."

Dame went as quick as she could.

"Have you done it?" Tow Asked.

"I'm doing it now." Dame Shouted. "Finished!"

"Connected. Switch on the power, Eddy."

"Power is on but nothing is happening. There's a switch in there. Look for it! Hurry up!" Eddy asked.

"Yes, there's one near the generators." Tow said.

"Quick, turn it on!" Claimed Eddy. "Four minutes to crash."

Tow grabbed the lever and pulled it down. A whirr begun to sound and the ship was waved for a few seconds. Then the ship began to brake.

"That's it. The engines are working and I've got control again." Eddy Claimed. "Our speed is too fast. Be ready for a crash landing. Go to your chairs, put on your


helmets and fasten your safety belts. Two minutes to crash."

Dame and Tow rushed into the control dome, they put on their helmets and they fastened their belts.

"We are falling too fast. I'll give maximum power to the engines. One minute to crash." Eddy Announced.

"Tow!" Dame said. "I don't want to die."

"We don't die; we just go out, Dame. We are nothing more than machines."

"I know that. I also now that I'm not supposed to have feelings or emotions but I don't want to go out. I don't feel like leaving this world now and I am frightened."

"Thirty seconds!" Eddy said.

"Don't worry. We were designed to go through all situations and you are too strong."

"I hope so, Tow."

"Fifteen seconds." Eddy Said. "All security devices working. Ten... nine... eight... seven... six... five... four... three... two... one..."


..we'll crash on Titan!

Chapter 5 ACTIVITY

Many things happen in the story. Number these events in the correct order.

- Dame and Tow rushed into the control dome

- They lost all force of gravity

- They put on their boots and ran

- The ship begun to break

- Tow grabbed the lever and pulled it down


CHAPTER 6

CRASH

SURFACE OF TITAN

A crash happened. Thick smoke came into the cabin. Dame unfastened her belt and stood up. Then she looked at Tow. He seemed to have blacked out. His eyes were closed and his arms and legs were inert.


"Eddy." Dame called. "Report all damages and tell me about Tow's injuries."

"The crash has been too hard." Eddy said. "There's fire in the crew rooms and in the compartments of the auxiliary engines. All other systems are O.K. Tow is not hurt. He'll wake up in a few minutes. The fire extinguishers are working and the fire is getting controlled."

"Thank you, Eddy."

Dame had taken out Tow's helmet and was shaking his cheeks.

"Wake up, Tow! Wake up!"

"Where am I?" Tow Asked as he opened his eyes slowly. "What has happened?"

"You fell asleep. Don't you remember?"

"I can vaguely remember. My head was hit by something."

"Yes, Look at your helmet. It's dented. Are you all right?" Dame asked.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Are there any problems, Eddy?"

"I'm not quite sure." Eddy answered. "Everything is under control but this is bad news: All the crew rooms have been burnt and all my screens destroyed. So I'm


sorry to inform you that the other six N.R.G. who were there sleeping may have been destroyed.'"

"That would be terrible." Dame said.

"I've put out the fire," continued Eddy, "and checked all systems. Starting Point devices haven't got any damages and everything seems to work correctly but there is something I can't understand."

"Tell us, Eddy."

"I've found particles of explosive inside the generator's room" Eddy said.

"What?" Tow said.

"I've found..."

"I know, I heard you. Explosives!"

"What can it mean?" Dame asked.

"It can only mean that the explosion was not an accident." Tow said. "Someone didn't want us to do the job."

"But that's impossible!" Dame added. "We verified all rooms before takeoff and everything was normal."

"Yes, there was nothing wrong inside the generators' room. Wait a minute!" Tow said. "Eddy! Can you look in your files and recordings for something unusual?"


"Consider it done!" Eddy answered. "But it will take some time."

"O.K. Meanwhile, Dame and I will clean the destroyed rooms and prepare all things for the third part of our mission."

Chapter 6 ACTIVITY

Write a word that describes the situation of the following:

STATUS

TOW

SCREENS

HELMET

SYSTEMS

CREW ROOMS

SCUD

CREW

STARTING POINT DEVICES


CHAPTER 7

JAZZY´S ROOM´S EMPTY

All the corridors were dark. There were no lights because the electrical circuits had been destroyed by fire. It was too hot. Dame and Tow walked silently and slowly. They were using a mask to breathe. The air smelled bad and there wasn't enough oxygen. "Give me a torch, Dame." "Here you are. Switch it on."


They went into the first room. It was Rag's. The walls were black and dark grey because of the smoke. Eddy's screen was destroyed and all the furniture and equipment was ruined. They pointed the lights of their torches at the glass case and opened it. A burned body appeared. Although the glass had resisted the fire, Rag's body couldn't stand the heat.

"It's terrible, Rag's dead." Dame said.

"Rag was not human. He wasn't a living creature so he is not dead. He is out of order. That's all." Tow said.

"I know that, but I can't believe that we are just machines. In fact we have thoughts, we've got memories and I think two of us are starting to have feelings." Dame said.

"You shouldn't think that way," Tow said, "but I've got the same sensation."

"What has happened in there?" Eddy asked. Its voice sounded too deep and resonant through the charred screen.

"Rag's body's burned and there's no electricity in here." Dame answered. "What has happened in the other rooms, Eddy?"

"I don't know, my screens are not working and I can't see anything."


Eddy's screens worked in two ways: They could record whatever happened near them: images, sounds, changes of temperature etc. and they also could play those recordings. They were Eddy's eyes and ears.

"Let's take a look at the other rooms." Tow said. "I'm going to Moll's room and to Stiff's room. You'd better go to Posh's and Silt's."

"O.K. Tow."

All that Tow and Dame found were four more burned rooms and four more N.R.G. robots destroyed.

"Are there any living robots?" Eddy asked.

"No," answered Tow, "the four are dead."

"There is one more: Jazzy." Dame said. "Let's go to her room."

They went into Jazzy's room. It was completely burnt and the glass case was opened and the bed destroyed but there was nobody inside.


Chapter 7 ACTIVITY

Use your own words. Write a summary of the part of the story that is missing.

Dame and Tow walk silently... ____________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

...The bed was destroyed but there was nobody inside.


CHAPTER 8

WHERE´S JAZZY?

"Where's Jazzy's body? I can't find it." Tow said.

"Neither can I." Dame added. "Eddy! Jazzy's glass case was opened and her body has disappeared."

"Has the body been removed?" Eddy asked.

"No, it looks like nobody was here when the fire burnt the room." Dame said.

"I agree." Tow said turning to Dame. "The case was empty when the fire reached it."

"But we were here when Jazzy lay down and fell asleep."

"Yes, and together we closed her glass case a few minutes before the takeoff." Tow said. "What do you think, Eddy?"

"Sherlock Holmes said in one of his stories: 'When you remove the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.' Eddy Said.

"What does that mean?" Tow asked.

"We know that Jazzy was inside the case when we took off but her body isn't in there now." Eddy said. "On the other hand we do know that nobody has been burned on that bed. So we can guess that before the fire


caught this room, someone took out the body from the glass case or perhaps Jazzy woke up, got up and went out on her own."

"So Jazzy is alive." Dame cried. "What has happened to her? Where is she now?"

"I don't know." Eddy said. "I don't have screens in all the compartments. I can't see her on my screens. She must be in a storage compartment."

"O.K. Eddy. Let us know if you find her. Also be ready for the third stage of the mission and prepare the launch of the first series of missiles. Dame and I will keep on cleaning this mess."

"All right, Tow."


DIONE, ANOTHER SATELLITE OF SATURN


Chapter 8 ACTIVITIES

-What does Eddy think has happened to Jazzy?

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

-Do you agree with Eddy’s guess? _________________

-Why? _______________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

-Do you know anything about Sherlock Holmes? Have you read any of his books by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? __

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________


CHAPTER 9

SOMETHING WEIRD

"I think we should lock all doors and seal the whole burned sections. What do you think, Dame?" "I agree with you. Eddy! Lock every door of this section. Tow and I are going to seal them." A clank sounded. "Doors locked." "Thank you, Eddy. Dame, seal that side and I'll seal this one." "Right." "Before you start," Eddy said, " I've found something in my files I think you should see." "What is it, Eddy?" Tow asked. "You'd better come and see. I think it's important. "Eddy answered. "O.K. Are the missiles ready?" Dame asked. "Yes, they are. I'm just waiting for your orders." "Well. We'll be at the control dome in a minute. Let's go there, Tow." Dame and Tow started walking through the corridor, got into the control cabin and sat down. "Look at the screen." Eddy told them. "I've played Jazzy's room's recording from launch to crash and I've found this." Tow and Dame stared at the screen. A red-haired woman had opened the glass case and was going out of the room. She was a woman in her early twenties and was wearing white tight clothes.


"It's Jazzy!" Dame shouted. "Yes. When was this picture taken, Eddy?" Tow Asked. "At 14:50 hours of December 2nd." "We were woken up at the same time." Dame said. "Why did you wake Jazzy, Eddy?" Tow asked. "It wasn't me and I didn't notice anything at that moment." "I thought you checked everything in the ship twenty times per second." Dame said. "Yes. I've been controlling the living signs of all N.R.G. sleeping robots during the entire journey and there have not been any variations at all from when we left the moon until we crashed." Eddy said. "You can look at all the tables, charts and figures if you wish." "I believe you but..." Tow said. "And," interrupted Eddy, "as I didn't need to see them to control them, I disconnected the incoming video signal even though it has kept on recording all the time, as you can see." "According to what you have told us," Dame said, "your senses were deceived by someone or something. You were receiving false data from Jazzy's glass case and those data indicated that she was all right, sleeping on her bed." "That's right." Eddy said. "How can it be done?" Tow asked. "Just by connecting a device between Jazzy's bed and me." "O.K. Eddy." Tow said . "Play a fast-speed forward picture of Jazzy's room's recording from this point and look for something odd."


"Right!" "Prepare launching of missiles in two hours. Start a final countdown sequence. We are going to Jazzy's room and we'll try to find out what has caused this trouble." Tow said . "Two hours till launching." Eddy said.

ENCELADUS


Chapter 9 ACTIVITY

WHO DID WHAT? Match the names and the sentences. You can look at all the tables -

It’s Jazzy- -Tow I thought you checked everything in the ship twenty times a second- -Eddy

I believe in you but…- -Dame

I’ve found something you shuould see-


CHAPTER 10

SABOTAGE!

Tow and Dame were searching Jazzy's room when Eddy called them. "I'm receiving a message from Earth. They are asking for information about the status of the mission." "Tell them that everything is all right. Don't tell them anything about Jazzy." Tow Said. "I can't do that." Eddy said. " I can not hide any information to the N.E.S.A." "O.K. I'll talk to them." Tow went to the screen, stood in front of it and began to talk. "N.E.S.A., this is Scud speaking from the surface of Titan. I'm sorry to inform you that we have had a crash landing on here. That has caused a fire and all N.R.G. robots, except Dame, have been destroyed. Nevertheless the mission continues without any problems. We are now preparing the launching of the first series of missiles. Over." Tow moved away from the screen. "That's it." He said. "You haven't told the truth!" Dame said amazed. "They don't need to know everything." Tow answered. "We must solve our own problems." "Yes, but we were made to always tell the truth. How have you been able to lie?" Dame asked. "I don't know. It wasn't on purpose. I just told it. That's all. Doesn't matter; let's go on searching, please." "Right, but I think that something strange is happening to us." Dame said as she was searching. "There's nothing in here." Tow said.


"Have you searched in the glass case?" Eddy asked. "The ends of the optical cables are under the mattress." "Not yet. Wait a second. Yes! There's something between the mattress and the floor!" Dame said. "What is it?" Eddy asked. "I don't know." Tow answered . "It is completely burnt. It looks like one of those remote control units of the 20th century." "Bring it here," Eddy said, "and we'll found out what it is. Ninety minutes to go." "Come on, Dame!" Dame and Tow went into the control dome. "Put that remote control unit inside my scanner cabinet." "Done!" "Watch this." Eddy said. Lots of diagrams appeared on the screen. "What is it, Eddy?" Dame asked. "A small computer." Eddy answered. "It sent me false information about Jazzy's condition." "Why?" "So that I thought that Jazzy was in her room." "What for?" "I'm starting to understand. Look at this recording. It was taken a short time before the explosion." Eddy said. "Yes, That's Jazzy." Dame said watching the screen. "She wasn't sleeping!"


"What is she carrying in her right hand?" Tow asked . "It looks like a piece of machinery." Eddy said. "What's she doing now?" "She's handling it." Eddy said while Jazzy disappeared from the screen. "She's gone out of her room. Let's follow her. Look. There she is in the corridor." "Where's she going?" "She's on her way to the generators' room." Eddy said. "Yes, she's opening the door. And now?" Tow asked. "She has placed the mechanism on the floor and has gone out. “Where is she now? She's out of sight." Dame said. "Yes. But if you keep on watching you'll have the answers to many questions." Eddy said as the screen went on showing an empty generators' room. They saw on the screen how a blast destroyed part of the floor. "Jazzy exploded the cables! That's impossible. N.R.G. Robots were created to help humanity." Dame said. "You have seen it with your very own eyes." Tow said. "Yes, seeing is believing. What shall we do now?" Dame asked. "We must stop Jazzy. She is dangerous. Have you found her, Eddy?" "No, I haven't. She must be in a room without a screen." "Have we got any spare screens, Eddy?" "Yes, there are plenty of them." Eddy answered.


"Is it possible to hang a screen in every compartment of the spaceship?" Tow asked. "Yes, it is. All you have to do is activate them and put them on the wall." Eddy answered. "Easy, isn't it? That's what we are going to do: Dame and I are going to put screens all over the Scud and you, Eddy, are going to look for Jazzy and continue the countdown. Is that all right?" "O.K. We've got a job. Let's do it." "Seventy minutes to go." Eddy said.

MIMAS


Chapter 10 ACTIVITY

-Tow has done something he is supposed he can’t do. What is that? _____________________________________________ -Jazzy has also made something she shouldn’t. What’s the reason why she shouldn’t have done it? __________ _____________________________________________ -What’s Tow’s plan? Try to imagine and write it briefly. _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________



CHAPTER 11

JAZZY APPEARS Dame and Tow went over all of the spaceship. They hung a screen on every corridor, room and compartment. "Twenty minutes to go." Eddy Announced. "Have you finished, Dame?" Tow asked. "Where are you?" "I am entering store-room number 5. I'm finishing. This is the last screen." "O.K. I'm going to the control dome. I'll be waiting for you there. Hurry up!" Tow said running through the corridors. Shortly after he went in the control dome. Eddy! How much time have we got?" He asked. "Fifteen minutes left." Eddy answered. "Are all the screens working?" "Yes, they are." "Show me Dame on this screen." "There she is." "Dame! What are you doing?" Eddy asked. "All this store room is in a mess. Lockers and boxes have been untied and opened and all equipment has been knocked down. Can you see it?" "Yes, but forget all about it at this moment. We haven't much time left." "Twelve minutes to go. All missiles on launching sites and ready." Eddy announced. "All right. I'll be there in a minute. Just let me..." "Look out!" Eddy interrupted. "I've just found Jazzy. Look at your screens! She was hidden inside a


locker in the missiles launching room. She is now handling the control panel." "Can she change missiles' targets from there, Eddy?" "I don't think so, unless... Yes, she's disconnected the links between the panel and me. Dame!" Eddy called. "Yes?" "The launching room is very close to you. You must stop her or else she will ruin all the project. She is changing the missiles' aims. They are now pointing at Janus, another one of Saturn's satellites." "Stop the countdown!" Eddy ordered. "It's impossible! All connections have been interrupted. Ten minutes to go." "Can Jazzy hear us?" Tow asked. "Of course. There's a screen there." "Jazzy!" Tow called. "Listen to me! Don't do that! You will sentence humankind to death!" "She doesn't want to answer you." Eddy said. "Dame! You'd better go there and try to stop her. I'm also going there." Tow said. "I'm on my way!" Dame and Tow rushed towards the launching room. When Dame arrived Jazzy turned her head and she stared at Dame. "Why are you doing this? Dame inquired. "None of your business!" Jazzy shouted as she came close to Dame. "Connect the links again!" Dame ordered. "No way!"


"I have to stop the launch!" "Try to do it!" Jazzy said as she jumped in the direction of Dame.

RHEA


Chapter 11 ACTIVITY -What do you think is Jazzy going to do? ____________ _____________________________________________ -You are Dame. What are you going to do? __________ _____________________________________________


CHAPTER 12

HIT

When Tow arrived, Dame was unconscious, lying on the floor. "What's happened?" Tow asked. "Jazzy hit her, knocked her down and ran away." Eddy answered. "Dame is hurt. Take her to the infirmary. I'll take care of her but we must change the missiles' targets before. We must point them towards Titan. Three minutes to go." "What shall I do?" "Try to connect the links again... Right! It is working now. Don't stay there. It's dangerous. Get out." Tow took Dame and ran away. "Where's Jazzy?" Tow asked as he went into the infirmary. "She ran inside the burnt section and vanished." Eddy answered. "Lay Dame down on the stretcher. One minute left." "How is she?" "She's been hit very hard on her head. I think she will get better soon. Sit down and fasten your belt. Third step of the Starting Point project to start in thirty seconds." A human being couldn't live on Titan because its atmosphere was composed of methane -extremely poisonous gas-, nitrogen, oxygen, and water vapour. By means of chemical chain reactions the Starting Point


project had to change this ambience into an atmosphere similar to the Earth's: Nitrogen 77%, Oxygen 21%, Ozone, Argon, Neon, Krypton, Helium, Radon, Xenon 1%, Water vapour 0.41%, Carbon Dioxide 0.03%, Hydrogen 0.00005%. On the third step of the Starting Point project the Scud had to shoot three series of bio-missiles to certain places all over Titan. The three series had to be launched in perfect timing. The second series had to be launched one hour after the first and the third five minutes after the second hit Titan's ground. The first series had to destroy methane gas molecules (CH4), extracting all Carbon and Hydrogen. Then pour Carbon and Nitrogen on Titan's ground and spread Hydrogen, Carbon Dioxide and all other gases over Titan's air. "Show me the launching progress on this screen." Tow asked. The screen was now divided into twenty sections. Each section was showing a group of five hundred missiles on their launching sites. "Ten... nine... eight... seven... six... five... four... three... two... one...zero." One by one, all the missiles were rushing through the clouds, at a speed of 30 kilometres per second, and went out from the atmosphere and orbited Titan. The last missile, carrying a satellite with a camera, soon


reached the highest altitude. Shortly after, the satellite was released and stayed orbiting Titan and sending images to Scud's control cabin. "Eddy! Show the images from the satellite on screen." Tow asked. Tow could see how all missiles pointed their noses to Titan and began to fall. At the same time all the missiles hit Titan's ground. There was a dull sound of explosions and the whole planet was hidden by thick fog. In a few seconds, the chemical products carried by the missiles were released by the explosions and caused a chain reaction with the components of the atmosphere. "Operation successfully completed." Eddy said. "Great!" Tow said. "Prepare Mole missile for launching. We've got one hour to launch. Start countdown." "Sixty minutes to go." Eddy Announced. "How is Dame?" Tow asked. "She's getting better quite quickly." Eddy answered. "Is she awake?" "Yes. She has followed all the launching procedure from the infirmary." "Right. What about Jazzy? Where is she?" "She is still inside the destroyed section." "What's she doing?" "I can't tell you. All the screens in there are out of order." "OK. I'm going to see Dame. Watch Jazzy and tell us if she comes out."


TETHYS

Chapter 12 ACTIVITY

-Put these sentences in the correct order.

____All missiles pointed their noses to Titan and began to fall.

___ Tow took Dame and ran away.

___ All the missiles were rushing through the clouds.

___ Jazzy hit her, knocked her down and ran away.



Chapter 13 Pre-ACTIVITY -If you don't know its meaning, look for the word "mole" in the dictionary. -Mole is the title for chapter 13. Can you guess what is going to happen in this part of the story to or with a mole? Here you have some help: 1-On Titan’s surface a dark spot _________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ 2-A tremendous dark-grey animal _________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ 3-A big stone wall ______________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ 4-(You choose) ________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________


CHAPTER 13

MOLE "How are you, Dame?" "Much better now. I've missed you so much!" "Missed me?" "Yes. I don't understand it but I need you near me." "That's nonsense." "I know that. But there's nothing I can do about it." "That's impossible. I mean... We are just robots and...By the way, what happened to you at the launching room?" "Jazzy gave me a push and I hit my head, that's all. Her eyes were oddly bright and I didn't pay attention to what she was doing." "Can you walk?" "Yes." "We should go to the control dome. How much time have we got, Eddy?" "Forty five minutes." Eddy answered. "Dame and I are going to the dome and we'll follow the launching from there." "MOLE missile on its launching pad. Pictures from satellite and outer indicators inform us that everything is going all right." Eddy said. The second series of missiles had to change weather conditions, elevate temperature by extracting heat from the centre of Titan and create a cycle of seasons similar to Planet Earth's one: A spring, a summer, an autumn and a winter with clouds, rains, snow, winds and sunny days.


Only one Mole missile had to be launched to crash at a very calculated point of Titan. When this missile hit Titan, a huge pneumatic telescopic drill would start working, getting in the centre of Titan. It would take out the heat and, by means of valves; it would increase Titan's temperature to 20 degrees centigrade on average. The Scud only had two Mole missiles. Only one was necessary to do the job. The other was there to be used in case the first failed. Mole missiles were eighty metres high. They were made of the hardest and most resistant steel. "Twenty minutes to go." Eddy announced. "Have you found Jazzy?" Dame asked. "No." Eddy said. "She hasn't come out yet." "O.K." Dame said. "Prepare the spare Mole missile for launching." "What for?" Tow asked. "We must do things on schedule and I think Jazzy's going to try and boycott the mission, we must not let her do it. If something happens to the first missile I want Eddy to launch the second one instead and eventually the third series of missiles on its own." "Great! Eddy, when the final countdown finishes, launch one of the Mole missiles. Prepare the spare one. Show us both missiles on screen." "Spare missile will be ready in ten minutes." Eddy said. "Have we got enough time, Eddy?" Dame Asked. "Yes. Eighteen minutes to go." Eddy answered. The screen was showing two big round hangars. There was a missile pointing at the sky in the first one


and another missile that was being placed little by little in the second hangar. Their surfaces shone when the light hit them. "Everything is under control." Eddy said. "The second missile is..." "What's happening, Eddy?" Tow asked. "Jazzy has come out." Eddy answered.

THE CONTROL DOME


Chapter 14 Pre-ACTIVITY According to this chapter heading; 1- What do you think is going to happen to Jazzy? _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ 2- Use your dictionary. Look for the meaning of nuts and write it down. _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ 3- Read the whole chapter and explain the difference between nuts and Nuts. _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________


CHAPTER 14

JAZZY IS NUTS "Where is she now?" Dame asked. "She's walking through the corridors straight to the hangars. Seventeen minutes." "Show us Jazzy on the screen." Tow said . "Tow, go there and stop her. I will try to talk to her." Tow stood up and went out of the dome as quick as he could. "Eddy, can Jazzy hear me?" Dame asked. "Yes, all screens work perfectly." "Where are you going, Jazzy?" "You know where I am going." "What are you going to do?" "I must stop this mission." "Why?" "I was ordered." "Who has ordered you to stop the mission?" "Never mind." "Yes, it's important. You are an N.R.G. robot. You can't do this to humankind. You..." "Leave me alone!" "Jazzy! Jazzy!" Dame called. "..." "Sixteen minutes." Eddy announced. "Tow, where are you now?"


"I'm still far away from the hangars." Tow answered while he was running. "Where is Jazzy? Have you talked to her? What's she going to do?" "She's told me she's going to stop the mission." "How?" "She didn't say. She's going to hangar 1." "Talk to her. Try to persuade her." "She doesn't want to listen to me." "Doesn't matter. Go on speaking. Eddy! Where is she now?" "She's inside hangar 1. Fifteen minutes to go" "What's she doing?" "She's inside the elevator that takes her to the control desk of the missile." "Dame, try to find out what's she going to do. Ask her." "Jazzy, please, where are you going? What are you doing?" "I'm going to destroy the aerial and the missile's computer. You won't be able to take control of it." "Tell us who has ordered Scud's destruction." "O.K. I can tell you now. I'm not Jazzy. She was moved away and I was placed in her bed." "If you are not Jazzy, who are you?" "My name is Nuts and I am a clone of Jazzy. I am here following the instructions of M.A.D. Enterprises." "M.A.D. Enterprises!" Dame said. M.A.D. Enterprises was a group only interested in making money. In the beginning they had some interest in the project but their ideas were rejected by the N.E.A. because they wanted to make use of nuclear energy as


fuel, much cheaper than solar energy but much more contaminating. (M.A.D.= Micro Advanced Devices) "Why do M.A.D. Enterprises want us to fail?" "Can't you imagine? They want to build the spaceship that creates a brand new world." Nuts said while she opened the entry hatch. "That will bring them a lot of publicity and they'll win a lot of money. When the Scud is destroyed or when you inform them that this spaceship and its crew haven't been able to do the job, the N.E.A. will entrust the mission to M.A.D. Enterprises." "But there is not enough time to build another spaceship and prepare a new mission. You will sentence humanity to death." "I don't care whether humans live or die. It's my mission and I have to do it." Nuts disappeared inside the Mole. "What are you going to do?" "I'm going to blow up the computer." "Don't do it. Mole's fuel tanks are very near. They have liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen and if there is an explosion it will damage the Scud. Nuts, can you hear me?" "The computer will be destroyed in two minutes." Said Nuts as she came out and closed the hatch. At that time Tow arrived at the hangar. "What's happening?" Tow asked. "Nuts has put explosives inside the missile! They will explode in two minutes; get out of there as fast as you can!"


"Six minutes to go." Eddy said. "Where is Nuts?" "She is now running to the corridor between the two hangars." "I'll go after her." Tow said. "You won't have enough time!" "I have to stop her." "O.K. I've got an idea. Eddy! Is it possible to launch Mole number 1 now?" "Yes, but we have to open the ceiling of the hangar before. It will take a little bit longer." "We don't have much time. Launch the missile now and it will pass through the ceiling. Tow, where are you?" "I'm inside hangar 1. Why?" "Eddy's going to launch the missile now. It will explode in space." "O.K. I'm already out of the hangar. Lock the gates to prevent damages and launch the missile!" "All gates locked. Missile launched." Eddy said.


CHAPTER 15

MOLE´S LAUNCHING

The missile began to elevate, passed through the ceiling and went out of the Scud. Soon it was far away from the spaceship. Suddenly, a big explosion happened. Great balls of fire covered the sky and thick smoke blacked out the Scud. Pieces of hull and machinery were now falling and hitting all of the ship. "Tow, are you all right?" "I am." "Eddy, report damages." Dame asked. "The ceiling of hangar 1 has been destroyed. Nothing very important but there are strong winds and low temperatures out there and they could cause a failure on the ship. Three minutes for Mole's launching" "Where are both of you, Tow?" "We are in the corridor between hangars one and two. Nuts is running in front of me." "Try to stop her. She doesn't know that the second Mole is about to be launched. Nuts! Nuts!" Dame called. "Don't go into hangar 2. It's dangerous. The second Mole is going to be launched." "They're lying." Nuts thought. "Nothing is going to stop me now." "Two minutes." Nuts opened the gate of the hangar, went in, close the gate and locked it.


"Thirty seconds to open the ceiling." Eddy announced. "Nuts! Get out of there. The ceiling will be opened in twenty five seconds." Dame said. "What's she doing, Eddy?" "She's entering the elevator." "Eddy! Don't close cage's door. Nuts!" Tow called. "Eddy's not going to close the door and the lift will not work. Come out of the hangar. The missile will leave in a minute! What's she doing now?" "She's climbing the stairs." Eddy answered. "All gates locked. Ceiling is being opened. One minute to go" A purr sounded and the ceiling begun to open. In a second, frozen winds came in to the hangar and the temperature fell to minus 120 degrees centigrade. Nuts then realized that she was in real danger. When the rocket engine started, the temperature would reach more than a thousand degrees. She went back to the gate and she furiously knocked on it while she shouted: "Open the gate! Hurry up!" "Eddy, open the gate." Tow ordered. "It's impossible." "I said open the gate." "I can't. Thirty seconds." "Eddy!" Nuts shouted. "Open the gate, please." "Eddy! open the gate!" Dame said. "If the gate was opened, a very quick decompression would occur and the Scud would be in danger." Eddy said. "Stop the countdown!" Tow ordered. "That is not possible." Eddy said. "We must launch the Mole on time or else the Starting Point project could fail. Fifteen seconds... fourteen... thirteen..."


"Unlock the gate!" Dame shouted. "Please." "Twelve... eleven... ten... nine..." "Open the gate, don't be stubborn!" Nuts said while she pulled the latch. "Eight... seven... six... five..." "Help!" Nuts said. She was now pushing and kicking the door. "Four... three..." "I don't wanna die, please!" "Two... one...ignition." Instantly, Nuts was burnt by the heat that came out from the thrust nozzle of the missile. "She's passed away." Dame said.

ANOTHER VIEW OF ENCELADUS


Chapter 15 ACTIVITY Read these sentences and number them in the correct order. ___"Open the gate, you stubborn!", Nuts said. ___"Nuts is running in front of me." Tow said. ___Nuts was burnt by the heat. ___Nuts opened the gate, went in, closed the gate and locked it. ___Nuts then realize that she was in real danger.

******************

Chapter 16 Pre-ACTIVITY These are the first and the last sentences of chapter 16. What do you think will happen in this part of the story? 1st: Soon the missile reached Titan's orbit and surrounded it. ________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ Last: A great boom was heard and suddenly the Scud begun to shake.


CHAPTER 16

IMPACT

Soon the missile reached Titan's orbit and surrounded it. "Mole missile's on its way to target. It'll hit the ground in four minutes. Ceiling closing." Eddy said. "You've killed Nuts, Eddy!" Dame said. "That's not true. We warned her not to go in to the hangar." "But you could have stopped the countdown or the launching." Tow Said. "It was not possible. I was programmed to finish the job whatever happened and I did it. If I would have stopped the launch, the whole mission would have been ruined." Eddy said. "Yes, maybe you're right but Nuts' death is a great sorrow to me." "Yes I'm also sad." "But she was only a robot." Eddy said. "No!" Tow Shouted. "We aren't robots any more! Perhaps we weren't born but..." "We are not machines, we are human!" Tow added angrily. The missile was pointing at Titan. In less than three minutes, the missile would fall on the satellite's surface at a very high speed. "Two minutes to impact." Eddy said. "O.K. Any problems, Eddy?"


"Everything's all right. Gates locked and safe." Eddy said. "Tow, you should go to the burned section to look for something strange. Nuts has been there, alone, for a long time." "Right. Meanwhile Eddy and you prepare the third series of missiles for launching." "Eddy, prepare missiles. Can you see anything unusual?" "Everything seems to be all right." "Let me see it." "O.K. One minute to go." Dame watched the screen. Hundreds of missiles were lined up inside their silos. "Twenty seconds." Eddy announced. "Tow, take care. Mole missile to crash in fifteen seconds." "Sit down and fasten safety belts." Eddy said. "Ten... nine... eight... seven... six... five... four... three... two... one...zero." The missile hit Titan and a huge crater arose. The drill started working getting the mole deeply in the ground. A great boom was heard and suddenly the Scud begun to shake.


CHAPTER 17

EARTHQUAKE

IAPETUS

"An earthquake!" Dame Shout. "Don't worry. The scud will resist." Eddy said. The Scud was shook for two minutes. Little by little the vibrations got weaker. "Mole missile working." Eddy said. "It'll reach its aim in two minutes. Launching of the third series of missiles in three minutes." "Tow! Tow! Where are you?" Dame called. "I'm in Moll's room." "Are you all right?" "Yes, I'm fine. I was a bit shaken for a while." "It was the Mole. Have you found anything strange?"


"I haven't." "O.K. Keep on searching. Everything is under control." "Right." Soon the Mole was very near the hot layer of Titan where the temperature was more than three thousand degrees. It stopped and threw eight big anchorages to the walls of the tunnel that it had made to fix itself. Shortly after, it spread its hollow telescopic drill and went on digging. A big stream of heat passed through the Mole and went rapidly to the surface. Little by little, the temperature of Titan's atmosphere increased. "Launching of the third series of missiles in a minute." Eddy said. "Silos opening." The aim of these series of missiles was to change all wasteland into fertile land by combining Carbon, Nitrogen, water and salts with Titan's soil. First of all they had to spread B.E.G.I.N. devices all over Titan's atmosphere, then precipitate the B.E.G.I.N. devices' contents, carbon and nitrogen all together from the atmosphere and finally mix everything with Titan's ground. The B.E.G.I.N. (Blast of Enzymes for Genesis In Nature) device was the most important and secret discovery of the Starting Point project. It consisted of a sphere as big as a football and had groups of bacteria, enzymes, proteins, seeds, salts and other secret substances with water that could create life wherever they fell. There were thousands of BEGIN spheres inside Scud's missiles.


"All missiles are ready for launching." Eddy announced. "Twenty seconds to go." "Come on, Tow! Cheer up!" Dame said. "The mission is about to finish. "I've got a strange feeling." Tow said. "What's that?" Dame asked. "I've been thinking..." "Ten seconds... nine... eight..." Eddy Interrupted. "I'll tell you later." Tow said. " Seven... six..." Eddy continued. " Five... four... three... two... one...zero." All missiles got out of their silos. Quickly they spread out on Titan's orbit and stood up there. Eventually, they opened their doors and released the BEGIN spheres. Little by little the BEGIN devices started falling and got in Titan's atmosphere. When they were 1,000 metres from Titan's ground they exploded at the same time and a dark green dust covered the entire planet. "Great!" Dame said. "How long must we wait till we know whether it will work, Eddy?" "All that green dust has to fall but I think that in no more than twenty minutes we will be able to see the effects." Eddy answered. "So, what's going on with you, Tow?" Dame asked. "Are you worried?" "Yes, I am." "Tell us why." "Well, as you know, Nuts was ordered to destroy the Scud whatever happened to her." "And?"


"If N.E.S.A doesn't receive a message from the Scud informing them that the mission is terminated, they will think that we have failed and they will prepare a second Starting Point Project." "And probably they will entrust M.A.D. Enterprises with the project." Dame said. "That's right." Tow said. "Eddy! How can the Scud be destroyed?" he asked. "Using explosives." "No, I'm thinking of something more elaborated and difficult to discover." "Maybe using the missiles." "No. Is everything under your control?" "I think so." "Check up on it." "There's nothing unusual." Eddy said. "I've only found a lightly overloaded system." "Which one?" "Hydraulic." "That's it! What would happen if all the gates were opened at the same time?" "Well, there would be a quick decompression and the Scud would suffer an explosion." "Here's the answer!" Tow Shouted. "Eddy! Quick! Close all the inner gates to prevent explosion and try to..." Just at that moment all the gates opened and the Scud was violently broken in two and destroyed. Dame and Tow were thrown out of the dome and they fell to the ground. They laid unconscious. Meanwhile a green dust was covering the surface and dark clouds were appearing.


Chapter 17 ACTIVITY Read these sentences and number them in the correct order. ___The scud was broken. ___A green dust was covering the surface. ___A big stream of heat passed through the Mole. ___All missiles opened their doors and released the BEGIN spheres. ___Just at that moment all gates opened.



CHAPTER 18

LIFE A drop of water fell to the ground. Later on another drop, and another, and hundreds and thousands. Plants and trees began to grow everywhere. Forests and jungles were made in minutes and water covered a lot of land making rivers, waterfalls, lakes and seas. Dame woke up. Her face was pale. Her clothes were in shreds, dirty and wet. Her body was aching and she was shivering. She felt tired. Water was running down her hair and face. She turned her head and saw Tow lying near her. Tow's clothes were also in shreds and dirty. His face was pale and he had a red liquid running down his nose. Dame stood up and looked at the Scud. It was completely ruined. All its walls had been broken and water was flooding over all the compartments. "What a pity." She thought. Then she looked at the ground. It was oddly green. "Dame!" Tow called. "What has happened?" He asked. "Tow, Are you OK?" She asked sadly. "Everything has been finished." She added. "We have failed. Nuts destroyed the ship and we haven't had enough time to send a message to the earth." "Hold my hand." "What is this red liquid running down your face?" Dame asked as she dried it. "That's blood!" "Blood?"


"Yes, blood." said a voice behind them. "Eddy, you gave me a fright!" Dame said. "Where are you?" "I'm in the spaceship." "I thought you had been destroyed. I'm glad to hear your voice." "So am I. What did you say, blood?" Tow asked. "Yes. The BEGIN devise has turned you into living creatures. Now you will have dreams, pain... You'll feel sad, hungry, tired...And you will love and hate." "I'm feeling very happy now. How do you feel, Dame?" "I'm not that happy. Things haven't happened as we planned, humanity is starving and we can't do anything about it." "Come here to the control dome. Let me show you something." Eddy said. "O.K. Let's go. Tow, give me your hand." They went into the dome holding each other's hands. The dome was completely destroyed. There was only a wall remaining. The screen was showing an image of a blue planet with clouds, seas, forests, jungles, rivers and seas. "Look at the screen." Eddy said. Tow and Dame watched the screen and Dame said: "That's the Earth. It's very beautiful." "Yes, it's fantastic." Tow said. "You are wrong. That's an image of Titan that is being taken now from our satellite. We did the job. Humankind will be able to live here." Eddy said.


TITAN AFTER BEGIN DEVICES’ EXPLOSION "But the Scud has been destroyed. Communications centre and aerials are all also destroyed. We can't tell the Earth our success." Tow said. "Don't worry. They can see Titan from the Earth and they will feel that things have changed here. Besides, I have sent them a message" Eddy said. "What?" Dame said. "How?" Tow asked. "Just before the Scud burst out, I wrote a message and I sent it."


Chapter 18 ACTIVITY

Tow wrote a diary every day about the things that happened to him. Write Tow’s diary for this chapter. _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________


EPILOGUE

The control room inside N.E.S.A. headquarters in the Earth was quiet and empty. Lights were turned off.

Suddenly some words appeared on a screen.

"SCUD TO N.E.S.A. JOB DONE.

SEND PEOPLE TO LIVE ON TITAN."


Epilogue ACTIVITY

-Write a newspaper article to go with the headlines.

_____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________

END


AFTER READING ACTIVITIES

1-Think about Tow and Dame. Sometimes good things happen. Sometimes bad things happen to them. Copy this chart. Keep a record of the good and the bad things that happen to them. Some things are better or worse than others. Show this on your chart. Start from chapter 1. The chart will be long!


2-Design a new cover for this novel.

3-What happens after the story ends? Write a blurb for PLANET LEAP NEXT, the sequel of this novel. ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________


4-Here are the chapter headings in the novel. Choose a new heading for each chapter. Use a sentence or some words from the book as a heading or make up a heading yourself.

OLD HEADINGS YOUR HEADINGS 1: ON BOARD THE SCUD - 2: APPROACHING SATURN - 3: THE TURNING OPERATION - 4: TITAN - 5: FAILURE! - 6: CRASH - 7: JAZZY´S ROOM´S EMPTY - 8: WHERE’S JAZZY? - 9: SOMETHING WEIRD - 10: SABOTAGE! - 11: JAZZY APPEARS - 12: HIT - 13: MOLE - 14: JAZZY IS NUTS - 15: MOLE´S LAUNCHING - 16: IMPACT - 17: EARTHQUAKE - 18: LIFE -



NOTES ON TITAN

Titan is the fifteenth of Saturn's known satellites and the largest: -orbit: 1,221,830 km from Saturn -diameter: 5150 km -mass: 1.35e23 kg It was discovered by Huygens in 1655. In Greek mythology the Titans were a family of giants, the children of Uranus and Gaia, who sought to rule the heavens but were overthrown and supplanted by the family of Zeus.


It was long thought that Titan was the largest satellite in the solar system but recent observations have shown that Titan's atmosphere is so thick that its solid surface is slightly smaller than Ganymede's. Titan is nevertheless larger in diameter than Mercury and larger and more massive than Pluto. Titan is surrounded by a thick, opaque atmosphere; the surface cannot be seen at all in visible light. Titan is about half water ice and half rocky material. It is probably differentiated into several layers with a 3400 km rocky center surrounded by several layers composed of different crystal forms of ice. Its interior may still be hot. Though similar in composition to Rhea and the rest of Saturn's moons, it is denser because it is so large that its gravity compresses its interior. Alone of all the satellites in the solar system, Titan has a significant atmosphere. At the surface, its pressure is more than 1.5 bar (50% higher than Earth's). It is composed primarily of molecular nitrogen (as is Earth's) with no more than 6% argon and a few percent methane. Interestingly, there are also trace amounts of at least a dozen other organic compounds (i.e. ethane, hydrogen cyanide, carbon dioxide) and water. The organics are formed as methane, which dominates in Titan's upper atmosphere, is destroyed by sunlight. The result is similar to the smog found over large cities, but much thicker. In many ways, this is similar to the conditions on Earth early in its history when life was first getting started. Titan has no magnetic field and sometimes orbits outside Saturn's magnetosphere. It is therefore directly


exposed to the solar wind. This may ionize and carry away some molecules from the top of the atmosphere. At the surface, Titan's temperature is about 94 K (-290 F)(-178 C). At this temperature water ice does not sublimate and thus there is little water vapor in the atmosphere. Nevertheless, there appears to be a lot of chemistry going on; the end result seems to be a lot like a very thick smog. There are probably two layers of clouds at about 200 and 300 km above the surface. Other more complex chemicals in small quantities must be responsible for the orange color as seen from space. It seems likely that the ethane clouds would produce a rain of liquid ethane onto the surface perhaps producing an "ocean" of ethane (or an ethane/methane mixture) up to 1000 meters deep. Recent ground-based radar observations have cast this into doubt, however. Recent observations with the Hubble Space Telescope show remarkable near infrared views of Titan's surface. Voyager's camera couldn't see through Titan's atmosphere but in the near infrared the haze becomes more transparent, and HST's pictures suggest that a huge bright "continent" exists on the hemisphere of Titan that faces forward in its orbit. These Hubble results don't prove that liquid "seas" exist, however, only that Titan has large bright and dark regions on its surface. The landing site for the Huygens probe has been chosen in part by examining these images. It will be just "offshore" of the largest "continent" at 18.1 degrees North, 208.7 degrees longitude.


The observations by HST also indicate that Titan's rotation is in fact synchronous like most of Saturn's other moons. Open Issues -Are there liquids on the surface? -Is the interior still hot? -Why does Titan have a dense atmosphere while the other large moons do not? There are a lot of organic compounds and a potentially liquid environment on Titan. It is extremely cold for life, but could it be possible? Titan is one of the best possibilities. In any case, it's interesting as a comparison with the early environment on Earth.


The satellites of Saturn are:

Pan Telesto Atlas Calypso Prometheus Dione Pandora Helene Epimetheus Rhea Janus Titan Mimas Hyperion Enceladus Iapetus Tethys Phoebe


VISITED PAGES Images of Saturn and its moons and this information have been taken from these links below. You can find a lot of information about our solar system through them. http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/photo_gallery/ http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~lemmon/titan/ http://planetscapes.com/solar/eng/titan.htm http://www.seds.org/billa/tnp/titan.html To see an animation of Titan http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~lemmon/titan/titan.mpg


THE SCUD

Ç

By David Abades

Here you can see an amusing interpretation of the spaceship drawn by a reader.

Documents

Planet Leap