H
A
T
CHAPTER 1
T
he Aliensons were having dinner—even aliens need to
eat—but it wasn’t going so well. Let’s take a closer look . . .
‘Watch out!’ shouted Andy Alienson. ‘The Powdermatic is
out of control!’
6
The Powdermatic was a machine from the Alienson’s
home planet of Valvax-7. The idea was that you added
the special Powdermatic Powder, set the dial for whatever
you wanted to eat, and in five seconds the machine would
turn it into the dish of your choice. Well, that was the idea.
Unfortunately the Powdermatic was a bit temperamental
and had begun splattering food all over the room.
7
‘The Powdermatic has gone bananas,’ said Andy. ‘Duck!’
‘Bananas?’ said a surprised Mr Alienson. ‘No-one
wanted bananas! And who asked for duck?’
‘I was quite looking forward to enjoying my seafood
platter,’ said baby Aha. (Valvaxian babies are amazingly
advanced for their age.)
‘No,’ said Andy, ‘it’s going bananas. It’s a human
expression, like, “it’s raining cats and dogs”.’
‘It’s raining wildlife? I’ve got to see that,’ said Mr
Alienson. ‘Where’s my umbrella?’
As you’ve probably noticed, Mr and Mrs Alienson still
had a lot to learn about living on Earth!
‘Take a look at the Powdermatic now!’ said Andy. The
machine was spewing green sludge all over the table.
‘Yuck!’ screamed Mrs Alienson. ‘What is that stuff?!’
‘Broccoli ice-cream!’ said Aha. ‘It’s mixing the main
courses and desserts.’
HA
T
tasty—
ight be
That m rotten!
s
’
it
n
e
wh
The Powdermatic was now making a very strange rumbling
noise . . . ‘I think it’s going to blow!’ wailed Mrs Alienson.
‘Everyone under the table!’ shouted Andy.
8
9
The Powdermatic rumbled and shuddered.
Then there was a huge . . .
T
A
All kinds of disgusting foods
and liquids sprayed everywhere!
10
11
The Aliensons
slowly emerged
from under the
table.
‘It went totally
mad,’ said Andy,
looking at the
goop all over the
kitchen. ‘There’s
raspberry burger,
spinach custard, and
this looks like pork-chop mousse.’
‘Is it safe to come out?’ asked Mrs Alienson, who’d
narrowly escaped being slapped in the face by a flying
blob of tuna jelly.
‘I think so,’ said Andy,
nervously approaching the
machine. ‘But this looks
completely wrecked.’
Andy, unlike his parents, had adapted pretty well to life
on Freak Street. ‘Why don’t we just get a normal Earth oven?’
he asked.
‘No,’ whined Mrs Alienson, ‘they’re far too complicated.
The Powdermatic is so much simpler. Once you’ve regulated
the spongeorial shaftules, tuned the zebedaian sparkulators
and polished the frangian narks, it’s easy!’
HA
T
13
It actually sounded
quite complicated to
Andy.
‘The Powdermatic
will have to be
scrapped,’ said
Mrs Alienson.
‘I’m sorry kids,
but dinner is
off tonight. I
think I have a
tin of prunes
somewhere.’
T
HA
CHAPTER 2
T
HA
‘I was going to take it to school for
Show and Tell next week,’ said Andy,
frowning at the steaming clump of
metal. ‘But I guess I’ll have to come up
with something else.’
O
ne member of the Alienson family had completely
missed the Powdermatic explosion: Arlene Alienson.
That was because she had been in her bedroom, where
she spent most of her time, singing along to her favourite
boy-band—Naughty Boyz.
Arlene was, in fact, a very good singer. On Valvax-7 she
had even been a contestant on Galaxy Idol.
Galaxy Idol is the biggest singing talent show in the
universe, with aliens and robots from across the Milky Way
competing to win the prestigious title. But the year that
Arlene Alienson made an appearance was a disaster!
15