I think that Selfi likes me a lot, because when I sit on top of her shoulders, I can see it in her eyes that she is happy. Do you know what she taught me one evening? It was one of those evenings when I was following her eyes. She said:
“Timok, do you know anything about Neptune?”
I looked into her eyes. She knew I could understand what she was saying. So I did not hide it and I shook my head as a no.
“Neptune is a gas giant. A lot of people say that the planet is only made out of gas. That means that we wouldn’t be able to land there with the ship. It is because there are only clouds.”
Hearing that, I started thinking that these clouds must be thicker than we think. They must be like a fluffy bread dough.
Selfi continued: “On the clouds in Neptune live some interesting creatures. But no one heard them talk or even saw them very well. That is why there are a lot of myths about them. Some say that they are huge monsters that eat everything they find in their way; others say that they are like dark shadows that fly around you. I have read all the stories about them, but I do not believe that they are true.”
“However, I am sure that I will find out the truth once we go there, on Neptune’s clouds.“
After telling me about Neptune, Selfi suddenly started to make weird movements, very weird movements. But after I looked at her closely, I noticed that she was happy – happy movements. Have you ever noticed how humans move their heads and hands when they become cheerful? That is exactly what Selfi did. And they say that we, the animals, make funny faces. Huh!
Anyway, this monster story sounds interesting, but I do not think they are real. Either way, I do not want to meet them, but if the entire family is going to Neptune, I also have to go. Someone needs to protect them from the ugly creatures.
When I woke up the next day, I had a weird feeling in my stomach. It felt heavy, as if I had just eaten stones. I am sure you know that it is not good to eat stones. You can get very sick!
I went to Selfi and pointed towards my tummy. She started petting my belly and the weird feeling went away. It felt so good!
“Timok, you are afraid of those monsters, aren’t you? It is normal to be afraid, I am also afraid. But we are going there together and as long as we are careful, everything will be fine. Also, I don’t think that those monsters are as bad as in the stories. “
After talking to Selfi, I was completely relaxed, so I went to see Color, who was still sleeping. I started jumping around his bed and on this tummy until he opened his eyes. He looked happy to see me, and I licked his face for “good morning”. I was jumping so much that a fart escaped. Colors looked at me, petted me and then pushed me off the bed. But I knew that he was not mad at me, he just wanted to play. He always does that. So I sneaked on the other side of the bed and I jumped on his back and growled. Color pretended that he wanted to go back to sleep, but I am such a smart micinik and I cannot be fooled. I know that he can act very well. For example now, he even started snoring and pretended to get scared when I jumped on his back. He is a very good actor!
After I got bored of Color who kept on pretending to sleep, I started sniffing around. I kept on sniffing until I could smell some delicious food. There are multiple people that cook for me on this ship. One day, even the Ship offered me some delicious cans of food. But I think that today it is Lumi’s turn to give me food. I am not sure, but she has been in the kitchen for some time. So I sneaked behind her back and started barking very loud, to scare her. But she does not get scared very easily. I don’t know how, but she always knows I am coming.
I don’t usually jump on her back. She is so small that I am afraid I will push her down onto the floor; with Color is different. As I said, he can pretend very well. When I jump on his back, he falls down and drops everything he has in his hands, as if he really fell. But with Lumi I cannot play the same.
“Timok, today I prepared you the food of the brave miciniks. I know that you are afraid to go down on Nepun’s clouds, so I cooked your favourite food: Chrunchies…..”
I was unable to hear what she said next, because I attacked my food bowl, eating as fast as I could. That means that I try to take as much as I can in my mouth and then I close my eyes and enjoy the food flavours. When I do this I can only hear the crunches and nothing else matters. I suppose that Lumi kept on telling me things, but I was unable to hear her. All I could see and hear was my food.
After I was done eating, I noticed that all the family members gathered in the living-room. I quickly joined, because I could not miss something like this. They were talking about Neptune and about what we should expect when we get there. They all had something to say; the first one was Color, then Lumi, Selfi and Music. I almost said my opinion as well, but I stopped on time. I thought that it was not a good moment for them to find out about my special powers.
Then, we put our space costumes and off we went. Oh! I forgot to tell you that on Pluto the space costumes are made out of a material which is almost invisible. You can only see it if you look carefully. Then, you will see something shining, like an armour. But you have to look up close, ok? So that is why you cannot see them clearly in our pictures from Neptune, because they are almost invisible.
Now that I have explained this as well…. Let’s go and explore Neptune!