First published in Great Britain in 2020

by Egmont UK Limited

2 Minster Court, London EC3R 7BB

Text © 2020 Katie Tsang and Kevin Tsang

Cover illustration © 2020 Nathan Reed

Interior illustrations by Dynamo © 2020 Egmont

Illustrations on p59, 133 and 161 by Olivia Adams, Illustrations on p. xii, 4, 5, 9, 10, 12, 13, 22, 23, 59, 74, 80, 111, 114, 115, 133, 135, 138,

139, 140, 142, 147, 151, 161, 184 © Nathan Reed

eBook ISBN 978 1 4052 9762 2

www.egmont.co.uk

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.

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FOR THE CAPTAIN AND COMMANDERS OF THE SAM WU SERIES: OUR EDITORS LINDSEY HEAVEN AND ALI DOUGAL AND OUR AGENT CLAIRE WILSON

–Katie and Kevin Tsang

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

CHAPTER 1: THE SCARIEST THING IN THE SPACE

CHAPTER 2: WHO DOESN’T LOVE SPACE BLASTERS

CHAPTER 3: HOW TO PACK FOR OUTER SPACE

CHAPTER 4: READY FOR TAKE-OFF

CHAPTER 5: EVERYTHING IS A MISSION AT SPACE CAMP

CHAPTER 6: THE BEST WAY TO STAKE YOUR CLAIM

CHAPTER 7: SPACE FOOD EXPLOSION

CHAPTER 8: EMERGENCY DEBRIEF

CHAPTER 9: GHOSTS DON’T WEAR SOCKS

CHAPTER 10: THE SPACE CHAIR

CHAPTER 11: REAL ROCKET SCIENCE

CHAPTER 12: TAKE A SPIN IN SPACE

CHAPTER 13: RETURN OF THE GHOST KING

CHAPTER 14: ROCKET SABOTAGE

CHAPTER 15: PERILS OF (ALMOST) ZERO GRAVITY

CHAPTER 16: THE REAL THIEF

CHAPTER 17: SPACE RACE

CHAPTER 18: I SMELL A RAT

CHAPTER 19: SPACEMAN SAM

BACK SERIES PROMOTIONAL PAGE

My name is Sam Wu and I am NOT afraid of space. And by that I mean outer space. With stars and planets and aliens and moons and spaceships.

I may not have actually been to space yet, but I’ve done the closest thing.

I’ve been to SPACE CAMP.

You might be wondering what is so scary about space.

Let me tell you. There is an ENTIRE universe of scary things out there in space . . .

AND, ON TOP

OF ALL THAT,

SPACE GHOSTS.²

I found out about all these things at Space Camp. And it was there that I had to prove how NOT afraid I was. I’ve had to prove how not afraid I am over and over again. I’ve faced ghosts, sharks, the dark, spiders, even zombies. But little did I know that all that was just to prepare me for all the scary things in

SPACE!

¹ I’m pretty sure this is what happens if astronauts take off their helmets in space. I haven’t actually seen it.

² Space ghosts are ghosts that float around in outer space. Way scarier than normal ghosts here on Earth.

It all started, as so many things in my life do, with . . .

SPACE BLASTERS is not only my favourite TV show, it is the BEST show in the universe. I’ve been watching it FOREVER. I’m definitely its number one fan. It is about Spaceman Jack,

Captain Jane and their alien friend Five-Eyed Frank, and the adventures they have all over the universe! I would do ANYTHING to be a spaceman.¹

Ask ANYONE.²

Sometimes, you don’t even need to ask me, I’ll just start telling you how great SPACE BLASTER is.

I was doing just this at school one day with my best friends, Bernard and Zoe. They are used to me talking a lot about SPACE BLASTERS. But then, just as I was quoting Spaceman Jack (he’s my favourite character on the show), Ralph Philip Zinkerman the Third showed up.

Ralph and I have an interesting history. We were former enemies (after all, he was the one who started calling me Scaredy-Cat Sam in front of the WHOLE class and the reason I had to start proving how brave I was in the first place) but after surviving MULTIPLE life-or-death situations together, we were almost friends. I guess coming face to face with zombies will do that for you.

He still wasn’t a fan of SPACE BLASTERS.

‘Are you talking about that space show AGAIN?’ Ralph said. ‘I don’t get what is so great about it.’

‘That’s because you’ve never even seen a SINGLE episode!’ I said. ‘I bet if you watched one you would be a fan too.’

I was expecting Ralph to snort (this is his signature move) but instead he shrugged. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘I’ll watch an episode.’

And that is how Ralph ended up at my house watching SPACE BLASTERS, which then led to us going to Space Camp, and me having to prove how brave I was. Again. But that was all to come . . .

Here is what you need to know about Ralph:

1. He can be THE WORST, but he’s a good person to have on your side.

2. He SNORTS at basically everything you say to him. He is the master of snorts.

3. He loves BOW TIES.

4. He has a twin sister named REGINA.

Here is what you need to know about his twin sister Regina:

1. She’s way nicer than Ralph.

Ralph and Regina had only been to my house once before, and that was on Halloween and for a VERY short visit.

This was different. This was going to be a whole night at my house. Everything had to be PERFECT. What if they didn’t like SPACE BLASTERS? I’d NEVER live it down!

Zoe and Bernard helped me prepare.

‘You need snacks,’ said Zoe. ‘Lots of snacks. Lots of really good snacks.’

‘Sam always has good snacks,’ said Bernard. ‘Like those prawn crackers. Do you have any of those by the way?’

‘Of course I have prawn crackers. We always have prawn crackers! But Zoe’s right. We need LOTS of snacks.’

‘Popcorn,’ said Zoe. ‘You definitely need popcorn for a SPACE BLASTER marathon.’

‘I’ll ask my mum for popcorn,’ I said. But I still felt anxious. I must have looked anxious too because Bernard patted me on the back.

‘Don’t worry, Sam, they’ll love SPACE BLASTERS,’ he said. ‘Zoe and I liked it right away, remember?’

‘You’re right,’ I said, trying to sound more confident than I felt. ‘Everyone loves SPACE BLASTERS.’

When the doorbell rang, I had all the snacks set out and my favourite episodes of SPACE BLASTERS lined up on the TV. We were ready to go!

Of course my little sister Lucy got to the front door first, wearing her cat pyjamas and clutching her cat Butterbutt in her arms.

‘WELCOME! I am QUEEN LUCY and THIS is my castle!’

‘Hello, Queen Lucy,’ said Regina, curtsying. For someone who didn’t have a little sister, Regina knew exactly the right way to handle them. ‘May we come in?’

Lucy grinned at her. ‘What’s the password?’ she said.

‘Lucy is the queen,’ Regina said quickly.

‘Correct!’ declared Lucy, spinning around. ‘You may enter!’

‘Hi, guys,’ I said to Ralph and Regina. ‘You ready for the BEST TV show ever?’

‘I have very low expectations,’ said Ralph, sitting down on the sofa and grabbing a handful of popcorn.

‘I know it is going to be great,’ said Regina, sitting next to Zoe. ‘From everything you’ve said about SPACE BLASTERS, it sounds AWESOME.’

‘I hope you like it,’ I said, and pressed play.

Two episodes later, Ralph and Regina were hooked, just like I knew they would be.

‘Everything looking good for take-off, Captain Jane?’ said Spaceman Jack.

‘All clear,’ said Captain Jane.

‘Nooo! It’s not all clear!’ said Zoe. ‘The Ghost King is ON the spaceship!’

Suddenly, the lights flickered and went out. The TV turned off with a . . .

I wanted to yell for my mum, but I didn’t want

Ralph and Regina to think I was afraid.

‘Everybody, STAY CALM!’ I said.

Ralph turned on the flashlight on his phone. ‘I am calm,’ he said. ‘You don’t sound very calm though.’

‘I think this is a SITUATION,’ I said.

‘Sometimes the lights just go out. That happened before, remember?’ said Bernard.

‘Yeah – when we were watching a SPACE BLASTER episode about THE GHOST KING! A coincidence? I think not!’ I declared.

Ralph started to look nervous. ‘What do you mean, it happened before?’

‘I think the Ghost King is here on planet Earth,’ I said. I lowered my voice. ‘Maybe even IN this house. He’s looking for something. Or someone.’ I looked at my friends. ‘This is SERIOUS. More serious than zombies. Or the last time we faced the Ghost King.’

‘The last time?’ Ralph yelped.

‘We dealt with it, don’t worry,’ said Zoe. ‘We have the certificates to prove it and everything.’

‘How do we know if the Ghost King is here?’ asked Regina, looking around the room as if she might have been able to see the Ghost King.

‘There will be CLUES.’ I pointed at the TV. ‘Like on the spaceship on SPACE BLASTERS. The power goes out, then things start to go missing – all signs of the Ghost King.’

‘I don’t believe the Ghost King is real,’ Ralph said very loudly. In the kind of way that made me think he probably DEFINITELY believed the Ghost King was real . . .

PHEW! The lights came back on and the TV did too. Spaceman Jack was talking. ‘It’s important to be on high alert,’ he said.

We all stared at each other. ‘You hear Spaceman Jack,’ I said. ‘We all need to be on high alert!’

We finished watching the episode, and the power stayed on the whole time. At the end credits, Ralph turned to me. ‘You know what, Sam,’ he said slowly, ‘ SPACE BLASTER wasn’t as terrible as I was expecting it to be.’

‘It was AMAZING!’ said Regina. ‘I loved it. Captain Jane is the best. She flew TUBS³ through a whole moon LABYRINTH!’

‘She’s really good at flying spaceships,’ I said proudly.

‘And that alien space battle on Planet Zonkers?’ said Ralph. ‘That was SO COOL!’

‘I want to be just like Captain Jane,’ said Zoe.

‘You really, really love space,’ said Ralph, still looking at me. I thought he was making fun of me at first, but he seemed serious. I nodded.

Ralph and Regina suddenly looked at each other over my head, and appeared to be having a conversation with their eyes. It must have been a TWIN THING. Then they both started to grin at the exact same time.

‘I’ve got the BEST idea,’ said Regina, her grin growing even wider.

‘No,’ said Ralph. ‘We’ve got the best idea.’

‘We’re going to Space Camp,’ said Regina. ‘All of us.’

¹ A spaceman is kind of like an astronaut but even COOLER.

² By anyone, I mean you should ask me.

³ TUBS stands for The Universe’s Best Spacecraft and is the name of the spaceship on SPACE BLASTERS.

‘SPACE CAMP? Actual real Space Camp?’ I spluttered. Going to Space Camp was my biggest dream.

‘Yep,’ said Regina with a huge smile. ‘We’re going over the Christmas holidays.’

‘Didn’t you already go last summer?’ Bernard asked Ralph.

‘The summer session was cancelled,’ said Ralph. ‘And of course you are going, Sam. I said you are going. So you are going.’ He looked at Zoe and Bernard. ‘You two are coming too.’

‘Are you going to sneak us there in your suitcase?’ said Zoe sceptically.

Ralph scoffed. ‘Obviously not. We’ll just ask our parents to send all of us.’ He said this as if it was no big deal, even though it was a VERY BIG DEAL.

‘Exactly!’ said Regina. ‘Easy-peasy.’

Zoe, Bernard and I just sat staring at them.

‘Even if you convince your parents to send us to Space Camp,’ Zoe said slowly, ‘how are you going to convince our parents to let us go?’

‘We’ll take care of it. Trust us,’ said Ralph.

I should have known Ralph was good at getting what he wanted. Because not only did he and Regina convince their parents to send all five of us to Space Camp, his parents convinced my parents to let me go! Even though it was for a WHOLE WEEK.

It was all happening. I, Sam Wu, official SPACE BLASTER’ number one fan and future spaceman, was going to Space Camp. All that was between me and what was surely going to be the BEST WEEK OF MY LIFE was packing my space bags¹.

On the morning we were leaving for SPACE CAMP, I made sure I enjoyed my breakfast of congee² and the fresh orange juice my dad had squeezed.

‘I’m proud of you, Sam,’ said my dad as he poured me more orange juice. ‘You’ve come a long way with Ralph. I remember when he was the last person you would want to go away with, but look at you two now, the best of friends!’

‘I wouldn’t say “the best of friends”,’ I said, but my dad ignored me.

‘And going to Space Camp! It’s very generous of the Zinkermans to send all of you.’

‘Felicity Zinkerman was telling me that her family is one of the key donors to the camp,’ said my mum, taking a sip of her tea. ‘So the camp was more than happy to have her kids and their friends come to stay.’

I wasn’t exactly sure what that all meant but I knew what the result was: I was getting to go to SPACE CAMP and it was paid for.

‘I’m going to miss you,’ Lucy announced, kicking me under the table.

‘I’m going to miss you too, Luce,’ I said, kicking her back. ‘But you’ll look after Fang and Butterbutt while I’m gone, right?’

Fang is my VERY fierce man-eating³ pet snake.

Only the BRAVEST people can hold Fang. Like me. And Lucy, who is incredibly brave for a little sister.

‘Of course,’ said Lucy. ‘We’re going to have LOTS of adventures while you are at Space Camp.’

I grinned at her. ‘Okay, I want to hear all about them when I get back.’

‘You be good at Space Camp,’ said Na-Na. ‘I won’t be there to get you out of any trouble,’ she added, waggling her eyebrows at me. Sometimes, when I get into a little bit of a SITUATION and need a grown-up, my Na-Na will let me bargain with her for help. In return I usually have to weed her garden.

‘Don’t worry about me,’ I said to Lucy. ‘I’m going to be the BEST astronaut-in-training that Space Camp has ever seen!’

¹ Technically just my suitcase, but from here on, it was a space bag.

² Congee is a rice porridge and it is my FAVOURITE breakfast. Na-Na, that’s my grandma who lives with us, makes it for me almost every morning. I didn’t think they’d have congee at Space Camp.

³ I have not yet seen Fang eat a person but one day he might.

From the outside, Space Camp did not look anything like how I thought it would.

Even though I knew we weren’t actually going into space, for some reason I had imagined camp would at least be up in the air.

It was not. It was a huge square building with no windows. And it was one hundred per cent on the ground.

Zoe clearly felt the same way I did. ‘Are you sure this is Space Camp?’ she said. ‘It’s nowhere near space!’

‘It says “Space Camp” right there,’ said Bernard, pointing to the side of the building where was clearly written.

‘I bet the WHOLE BUILDING takes off into space,’ said Regina. ‘Just wait.’

I swallowed. I wasn’t totally sure that was what I wanted either.

We all stared up at it.

‘Hurry up, children,’ said Ralph and Regina’s mum, bustling behind us. ‘You don’t want to miss take-off,’ she said with a laugh.

‘SEE?’ said Regina. ‘I knew we’d be taking off somewhere!’

Once we were inside, it seemed to grow a MILLION times bigger. I’d never been in such a humongous building! And everything inside it was AWESOME. I didn’t know where to look first!

Even though it was daytime outside, just inside Space Camp building, it was like stepping into the starry night sky. I couldn’t even tell where the walls were – when I looked for them I could only see stars on an night sky that seemed to go on forever.

No wonder it was such a big building! It wasn’t going up into space – they’d brought space down to Earth!

In the centre of the room was what looked like a giant hamster enclosure made of connecting tubes and squares.

‘I think that’s meant to be the space station,’ whispered Regina next to me, pointing at it. ‘It’s where we sleep!’

I gulped. I’d forgotten that I was going to be SLEEPING here.

‘Welcome, future astronauts!’ boomed a voice over the loudspeaker. ‘Please immediately report to Area One to sign in and get fitted for your spacesuits.’

‘This is where I leave you,’ said Mrs Zinkerman, checking her phone. ‘Ralphie, Regina, come over and give me a kiss goodbye.’ She leaned down and Ralph and Regina dutifully kissed her on the cheek. ‘Farewell, my dear space explorers! I can’t wait to hear all about your intergalactic adventures!’

And then she was gone.

‘Future astronauts, please immediately report to Area One,’ the voice repeated over the loudspeaker.

‘That’s . . . us,’ I said, not quite believing that we were the future astronauts. ‘Let’s go!’

We joined a group of kids and stood at the back.

‘I think we’re the youngest ones here,’ said Zoe, looking around.

As if he had heard her, a tall boy with a big nose turned around and glared at us. ‘Ugh. Who invited a bunch of babies?’

Ralph bristled next to me.

Zoe crossed her arms and glared back at the tall boy. ‘I bet we know way more about space than you do.’ Zoe has older siblings and isn’t intimidated by ANYONE. She pointed at me. ‘My friend Sam is a space expert.’

I tried to look serious, like a space expert would.

‘Yeah!’ said Regina. ‘Nobody knows more about space than Sam!’

I gulped.

‘Oh yeah?’ said the tall boy. ‘This is my third year at Space Camp. I’m pretty sure I know more than you do.’ He looked at me a little closer and then started laughing. ‘Where did you get that shirt? Looks stupid.’

I was wearing my special SPACE BLASTERS shirt that I’d made myself.

‘You clearly know nothing,’ said Ralph, pushing forwards and glaring up at the boy. ‘That is a one-of-a-kind SPACE BLASTERS shirt.’

‘What the heck is SPACE BLASTERS?’ said the boy.

‘The BEST TV show in the universe!’ I burst out.

‘Yeah!’ added Bernard. ‘Everyone knows about SPACE BLASTERS.’

‘You kids are weird,’ said the boy, turning back around. ‘Just stay out of my way.’

‘You stay out of OUR way,’ said Zoe.

‘Zoe,’ I whispered, ‘maybe we should just stay out of his way.’

‘Attention, space cadets!’ said a woman at the front with black hair that sat on her head like a helmet. ‘Attention and welcome to the winter session of Space Camp. We’re so glad everyone was able to join us. I’m Commander Margaret Liu, and these are my colleagues, Commander Wes Herman –’ she pointed at a short man next to her with curly hair like Bernard – ‘and Commander Sharon Hopper.’ A tall woman with lots of small braids smiled and waved at us. ‘We’ll be leading you on your missions this week here at Space Camp.’

‘And yes,’ said Commander Sharon, ‘we’ve all really been to space.’

We all applauded.

I couldn’t believe that I was meeting real life astronauts! Going to Space Camp was by far the coolest thing I’d EVER done!

‘You’ll be split up into teams of six,’ said Commander Margaret. ‘Throughout the week you’ll compete against other teams in four challenges as well as learn what it takes to be a real astronaut.’

‘Sam,’ said Bernard in a low, urgent voice. ‘There are only five of us! Who is going to be our sixth person?’

‘As long as it isn’t that guy,’ said Zoe, looking at the tall boy in front of us, ‘I don’t care who it is.’

‘First up, we have Team Red. Please listen out for your names,’ said Commander Margaret. She started reading out names. When she said, ‘Felix Stevenson,’ the boy in front of us stepped forwards.

‘I hope we aren’t on different teams,’ I said, starting to get an anxious feeling in the pit of my tummy. That thought hadn’t even occurred to me!

Commander Sharon read out Team Yellow.

None of our names were listed.

Then Commander Wes read out Team Green.

I held my breath the whole time. Not a single one of our names were called.

‘We are at the right camp, aren’t we?’ said Bernard.

I nodded. At least I hoped we were.

‘This is good,’ I said. ‘It means we’re all on the SAME TEAM!’

‘And last but not least, we have Team Blue,’ said Commander Margaret. ‘First is Sally Doyle . . .’

‘She’d better say one of our names next!’ said Zoe.

‘She’d better say all of our names,’ I said.

‘Shh!’ said Ralph. ‘Listen!’

‘Zoe Turner . . . Bernard Wilson . . . Sam Wu…’

When she said my name after Zoe’s and Bernard’s, I smiled so wide it made my cheeks hurt.

‘And Ralph and Regina Zinkerman,’ finished Commander Margaret.

The five of us cheered, and Commander Margaret laughed.

‘I like your enthusiasm,’ she said.

I looked around. Who and where was Sally Doyle?

‘Do I have to be on a team?’ said a girl with two long red braids and about a million freckles who was smacking on pink bubblegum. She blew a giant bubble, almost as big as her face, and popped it with her finger. ‘I’m not really a team player

‘That must be Sally Doyle,’ Bernard said.

‘Yes, Sally, you have to be on a TEAM,’ said Commander Wes with a smile. ‘Just like we all have to be on a team when we go up to the International Space Station. No single person can run an entire spaceship by themselves!’

‘Bet I could,’ Sally said, with another smack of her gum.

‘I’m Sam,’ I said. I tried to think of what Captain Jane would say in this situation. ‘It’s, erm, an honour to have you on our team, helping us with the challenges.’

‘I don’t care about silly fake space challenges,’ said Sally. ‘I don’t even want to be here. My parents made me come.’ She rolled her eyes.

‘Can we swap her out for a different teammate?’ whispered Bernard.

I took a deep breath and tried not to think about my palms starting to feel sweaty. I had thought having to work together with Ralph was going to be my BIGGEST HURDLE. I had not been expecting Sally Doyle. I tried to think of what Spaceman Jack would do if he had to complete a mission with someone who didn’t want to be there.

‘That’s okay,’ I said, trying to sound friendly but also like I was the boss. ‘We’ll make it work.’

‘Whatever,’ said Sally, blowing another big pink bubble of gum that hid nearly all her face.

I stared at her back. I could not imagine this happening to Spaceman Jack.

‘It’s okay, Sam,’ whispered Regina, ‘we’ll still have the best team! Don’t worry!’

‘I’m not worried,’ I whispered back.

I might have been a little bit worried.

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