Nela and her talking kitten Robo spot a strange light in the sky and blast off in her dad's little rocket to find out what it is.
Nela lived in a small house beneath a very big sky. At night, the stars pressed close to her window, bright and cold and curious. Her best friend was a kitten called Robo, who could talk, blink like a pair of tiny lamps, and glow softly in the dark.
One night, just as Nela was tugging up her blanket, she saw something odd outside.
A coloured light slid across the sky.
It did not shine like a star. It swirled and spun, leaving a long glittering trail behind it, as if someone had tossed a ribbon of light over the moon.
"Robo, do you see that?" Nela whispered.
Robo sprang onto the windowsill. His whiskers twitched. "I see it," he said. "And I have never seen anything like it."
The light drifted away before Nela could blink.
She stayed awake for a long time, thinking about it. What could make a sky-light change colours like that? Where had it come from? Why did it look as if it was calling to her?
In the morning, while the sun was still climbing over the garden fence, Nela tiptoed outside with Robo beside her. Her dad was an inventor, and in the middle of the lawn stood his smallest rocket: round, bright, and just the right size for two small travellers.
Nela ran her hand over the door. It was cool and smooth.
"We only need a quick look," she said.
Robo flicked his tail. "A quick look often becomes a very big adventure."
Nela smiled and climbed inside. She pressed the green button.
The rocket gave a gentle hum, then a happy little purr. The floor trembled. The garden shrank below them. Her house became a toy. The trees became matchsticks. Soon they were rising past the clouds, then higher still, where the sky turned deep and velvety and the stars looked close enough to touch.
Robo began to hum a sleepy, spacey tune under his breath.
Then Nela saw it.
Ahead of them, in the dark between the stars, the same coloured light was spinning again.
The rocket leaned towards it on its own.
"Robo," Nela said, gripping the window edge, "I don't think it's waiting for us by accident."
The light flashed once, bright as a wink, and the rocket began to shake as something moved in the darkness just beyond it.