Astropup’s Space Tourist
Dedicated to Ryan Beechey who supports storynory on Patreon
Read by Richard.
Luna - by Jana.
Proofed and audio edited by Jana Elizabeth.
Story and Sound FX by Bertie.
My friend the parrot was once more a bachelor, free to roam the cosmos. He had parted ways with his fiancée, Polly, the only being in the known universe who could leave him lost for words. She had begun a new life as a business bird, running a chain of health and beauty spas, starting on the Planet of the Holy Cows. She soon messaged the parrot to say that she was opening a second and a third spa on nearby planets and that she had already earned one million bags of bird seed!
Polly’s ginormous profits set the parrots brain ticking. He sat on his porch with his head on one side. I swear I could hear his little brain going..
“Eureka!” He shouted.
“We shall set up a space travel business!”
“Why would we want to do that?” I asked.
“To earn seed and dog biscuits,” he squarked.
“And dollars,” added Marlow.
“Or Japanese Yen or Vietnamese dong or crypto space coins or whatever you want… the point is we are going to use our extraordinary talents and experience to go into business!”
“Hey,” said Marlow. “This isn’t about competing with Polly is it? It is, isn’t it? You don’t want your ex girlfriend to be more successful than you are.”
“Not a bit of it!” exclaimed the parrot. “I am a triumphant success in my own right. I don’t measure life in bird seeds. But it is true she gave me an idea. We aren’t paid nearly enough for risking our feathers and our skins. Let’s go freelance and become billionaires in no time!”
“Woof woof,” I agreed, thinking of all the lovely chewy dog treats I could earn. I especially miss those ones like sticks that you can hold in your paws and gnaw on with your back teeth.
Our business began with a fever of frenzied feathered activity. The parrot opened an account at the Interplanetary Bank of Birds where we would keep all our profits. I was in charge of security, to keep our clients safe, but as we did not have any clients yet, I curled up in my basket which floated around the spaceship. I dreamt of tasty profits. And Marlow tried to write the advertisement to post on the intergalactic internet. I say ‘tried’ because the parrot was at his bossiest and wanted to dictate it. Marlow argued back. After much debate, this was the final wording:
“Three experienced astronauts offer customised Space Tours inside their five star luxury spaceship. Let your wildest dreams come true!Travel with us to the furthest reaches of the universe! See stuff you have never seen before! Suitable for extremely rich people of all ages. Safety guaranteed! You will not be kidnapped by Cat people or other evil aliens while travelling with us!”
The last part about safety was my suggestion by the way.
So we posted the advertisement, sat back, and waited for our first customer. In fact we waited for about a year. By then we had almost forgotten about the parrots business plans. Personally I was excited about the prospect of putting my paws back down on planet earth. My thoughts took me to fondly remembering my Jenny, my dear owner… as we were now only about a fortnight away from home.
So when Marlow exclaimed, “Well how about this? We’ve got ourselves a customer!” I hadn't the faintest idea what he was talking about.
“Is that news good or bad?” I asked.
“Pretty good,” said Marlow. “A billionaire from Planet Earth called Mark Crassus will pay us a quarter of a million dollars if we take his teenage daughter on a moonwalk.”
“Wow! That’s a lot of money just for one Walkies,” I said.
“Let’s ask him for more?” suggested the parrot.
Marlow messaged Mr Crassus suggesting a special deal of two trips to the moon for 450,000 dollars, but the billionaire replied that he wanted a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience for his daughter on her sixteenth birthday. I suppose that twice in a lifetime did not sound so special. Her name was Luna and she had always had a special affinity for the moon.
Two weeks later we went into orbit around the gorgeous blue and green planet we call home. Down below on earth, Luna took off from a spaceport in Kazakhstan. 24 hours later, her ship docked with ours. We got our first sight of our passenger when she crawled through the airlock into the control room where I, a dog had lived these past few years alongside a parrot and a man. She had a round, almost moon like face, with a slightly pained expression.
‘Excuse me,” she said, “I’m feeling a little space sick.”
“It’s perfectly normal,” I woofed. “Try to chuck up in the bucket in the corner.”
She looked at me puzzled: “Wow, that’s so cool. How is this possible?You’re a dog and I can understand exactly what you’re saying.”
“That’s because we have the automatic language translation switched on,” said Marlow. “It’s a smart piece of alien technology that we picked up on our travels.”
By now, Luna’s sickness subsided and she was happily floating around the room flapping her wings like a baby bird that had jumped off the nest for the first time.
“Unfortunately our gravity machine broke some years ago,” said Marlow.
“Oh, I don’t mind, I'm having so much fun. And I don’t feel sick any more. I've never flown before like this. At least not unless it was in an aeroplane or a spacecraft like the one that brought me here. What a great start to my birthday,” she squealed with joy.
Just as I was starting to like Luna, an alarm went off. Not just any old warning but the most serious of all - the anti-cat alert.
“Warning! warning! At least one cat is on board the spacecraft.”
“Grrrrrrr! Woof Woof! Luna is a cat person in disguise. Get your laser gun, Marlow, shoot her!”
Marlow drew his gun from his holster, but fortunately the parrot, who had been uncharacteristically quiet until then, squawked out, “Don’t shoot our best customer you idiot! She’s not a cat person. There’s the cause for alarm.”
He was frantically pointing towards the airlock with his wing.
“Rrrrrrrr ruff ruff ruff RUFF!” I exclaimed as I charged over to where a feline intruder was springing back into the chute through which he had sneaked into our ship.
“No! Stop! Don’t hurt him,” cried Luna. “That’s Mr. Muggles. He’s my pet. Please stop Astropup, you’re scaring him.”
I managed to do something which is very hard for any dog to do. I resisted the urge to sink my teeth into the cat’s tail which was dangling out of the chute as he cowered within. I turned around, took a deep breath, and asked, “Did we say that customers could bring pets on board?”
“Wooof woooof….”
“I don’t think we did,” said the parrot.
“But my dad said that for a quarter of a million dollars I could bring Mr. Muggles If I wanted to,” protested Luna.
“Hmm. Fair enough I suppose,” concluded the parrot. “But next time he’ll have to buy a ticket. It’s ok Mr. Muggles. You can come in. Nobody’s going to eat you.”
“Wrrr wa wa ra,” I muttered, trying to control my biggest ever biting urge.
“Aww what a cute kitty!” exclaimed Marlow. I begged to differ. He had one bright blue eye and the other one was a mix of emerald and gold…odd if you ask me. His grumpy looking face was surrounded by a sort of fluffy main. I guessed that he was one of those rare breeds of cat that only rich, and in my humble opinion, foolish, people will pay a lot of money for. This supposedly ‘cute’ kitty jumped back into the control room and started to float about while flapping all four of his hairy legs and meowing piteously.
“Meeeow!” He whined, “I don’t like this flying business.”
“Aw don’t worry my beauty pie,” reassured Luna. “You’ll soon get used to it. Zero gravity...this is so amazing!
Hey, isn't it strange that he can talk?”
“No it’s not,” protested Mr. Muggles. “I’ve always been able to talk. What’s strange is that you can understand me!”
I saw Marlow and the parrot glance at each other.
“Hey,” said the parrot. “No one ever said that getting rich was going to be easy. Marlow set a course for the moon.”
“Aye, aye, sir, right away.”
And so our rocket fired and we set off on our shortest but most profitable trip to the mysterious orb that so many dogs down the centuries have bayed at.. the moon.
Now the moon is a funny old place. The atmosphere is very thin, and there are no clouds to control the climate, so when you are on the side that is facing the sun, it is ever so burning hot, and when you are on the dark side, it is frightfully chilly. As for gravity, there’s just enough of it to stop you floating off into space, but not enough to pull you completely down, and when you run, you tend to bounce up and down in free floating leaps and bounds. We actually weigh less on the moon than we do on earth, so perhaps we should start a slimming club there for our next business venture. I’m told that I could lose a pound or two off my tummy, though I don’t believe that.
I know all these facts about the moon because Luna told me. The moon was her special subject, you could say, and she has always been fascinated by it. She even knows several poems about the moon off by heart, including this one by a lady called Christina.
“Is the moon tired?
she looks so pale Within her misty veil:
She scales the sky from east to west,
And takes no rest.
Before the coming of the night
The moon shows papery white;
Before the dawning of the day
She fades away.”
But her pet cat, Mr. Muggles, was not looking forward to our moonwalk. Luna had bought a space suit for him, and as she helped him get into it, he asked: “Are there any mice on the moon?”
“Of course, Mr. Muggles, there are tons,” assured Luna.
“Liar!” he purred back.
As Luna was slipping her arms through her own space suit, which her dad had bought in a very expensive store in Austria, she said, “I expect Mr. Muggles is just a teeny-weeny bit scared. And you know Astropup, although it's always been my dream to walk on the moon, for as long as I can remember, I can’t help being a little bit frightened too.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” I assured her, “I’ll look after you.”
“That’s what I’m scared of, “said Mr. Muggles.
I snarled at the hair ball. Like every cat I have ever come across, he was very rude!
Our ship touched down in a nice soft bed of moon dust. I jumped out of the airlock and sent particles splashing around my head. Luna came next, climbing down the three steps of the ladder. The cat stood on the top rung. “You go ahead,” he mee-owed. “I’ll watch you from here.”
“Coward!” I woofed.
Luna returned to the ladder with a bounce and a skip and swept him up in her arms. “Oh come on Mr. Muggles,” she said. “Aren't you excited? You’re the first cat on the moon!”
Which was not strictly true, but I wasn’t going to scare her with tales of the cat people whom we met up there once before.
Luna wanted to practice her gymnastics on the moon. She put Mr. Muggles down before taking a run and tipping over into three cartwheels in a row. “Wow that’s got to be a world... I mean a moon record! Woo hoo,” she claimed while clapping and congratulating herself. But Mr. Muggles was not impressed.
“So where are all the mice your promised?” But she could no longer understand him because we had moved out of range of the automatic translation machine.
Luna was too busy doing low-gravity handstands to notice what happened next, but I did and so did Mr. Muggles. A luna mouse who was behind a rock very unwisely squeaked:
“Eek eek.”
Mr. Muggles sprang into action and found himself flying over the surface and doing an unintentional somersault: “Meeow!”
He landed in a shallow crater about two meters from where he had started. The mouse scurried away and Mr. Muggles scrambled to his feet and went after it in leaps and bounds.
“Hey, come back!” I woofed.
Now Luna caught on to what was happening. “Mr. Muggles!” She called out across the radio. She tried to run after her absconding kitty-cat, but she flew up into the air, and fell face down onto the surface of the moon. I soon caught up with her. I would have licked her face.. as we dogs do when we want to check if a human is alright and still breathing, but as we were both kitted out with glass helmets, I gently tapped my helmet against hers. She was soon back on her feet and chasing after her pet again. “Here kitty, kitty.. here boy.. Mr. Muggles, where are you?”
Stop! Stop!” squawked the parrot who was on board the spaceship, but in radio contact. “You mustn't go too far. We mustn't lose you!”
“But I've lost my cat!” whined Luna.
The fact of the matter was, both the cat and the mouse had vanished from sight. All we could see was the cratered surface of the moon, the black sky, the twinkling stars, and two thirds of Planet Earth 240,000 miles away. I had been wondering where the other third had gone, but there was no time for questions.
And that, was the first part of ‘Astropup’s Space Tourist’.
And to find out what happens next, tune in soon to Storynory.com
And I’m delighted to dedicate this story to Ryan Beechey, whose family generously supports us on Patreon. . . I hear that Ryan is having his sixth birthday, and so a big Happy Birthday to you Ryan!
For now, from me, Richard, goodbye.
I love this story
Kate — August 3, 2019
It is amazing I love dogs
Katelyn — August 3, 2019
Yay we love astropup!!! Thanks from Toronto!
Rusty — August 3, 2019
wow i love it so so much great job awesome work
i love space and dogs thank you soo much for making me and soo many others happy
🙂
saphira — August 3, 2019
Jana’s voice is soooo cuteeee
Sabelia — August 3, 2019
More stories pleaseee Jana elizibeth
Helouise — August 3, 2019
jana make more stories please xxx
bobbie — August 4, 2019
Good story
Jharque — August 5, 2019
Good
Drew — August 5, 2019
Good story👍 , i can’t wait for the second part !!!
Andrea — August 5, 2019
The Lady’s voice of poem is so beautiful and soft. ‘Is the moon tired?’ I keep hearing it and please read more wonderful poems the girl reading. 😊😊😊😊😍😍😍🤪
Bellamy Tose — August 5, 2019
Thank you Bellamy, very sweet of you to say 😊
Jana Elizabeth — August 5, 2019
Mr muggles? He’s like crookshanks, Hermuones cat from Harry Potter right? So he a muggle ? Ha
Hermoinegranger101xox — August 5, 2019
I see where you’re coming from, yes.. but no Mr Muggles is just an ordinary cat – not magical. It’s nothing to do with being a muggle (from Harry Potter’s non-magic folk, though. Totally different story. 😜
Jana Elizabeth — August 5, 2019
Hey! Diddle diddle. The cat and the fiddle. The cow jumped over the moon. The little dog laughed to see such craft. And the dish ran away with the spoon. Hey! Diddle diddle. An angel in the middle. The wand swirled around the moon. The little pets laughed to see much luck. And the spoon ran away with the cup. Hey! Diddle diddle. The rat in the puddle. The monkey flew over the moon. The little duck clapped to see colored flakes. And the cup ran away with the cake. Hey! Diddle diddle. The turtle in a shuttle. The fish flew near the stars. The dark clouds glittered. All the pets fluttered. And the cake came again with the dish.
Gabe — August 5, 2019
Old King-Cole was a merry old soul and a merry old soul was he! He called for his Pipes and he called for his Bowls and he called his fiddlers 3.
Gabe — August 5, 2019
Cool story I like it can you make more
Unknown — August 6, 2019
Lots of action I like it
Saws — August 6, 2019
Cool story can you make more
Unknown — August 6, 2019
Great story
Anonymous — August 6, 2019
cool story can we have the next one soon
pokemon lover — August 6, 2019
The next one will be on Friday
Bertie — August 6, 2019
You’re portraying cats as rude and aloof and you shouldn’t because most cats are quite lovely! Maybe you should tell all the stories from the point of view of the cat people
! 😾😾😾😾😾😾😾😾😾😾😾😾👎🏻
Maxicat 😾 — August 6, 2019
dear Maxicat Astropup is told by a dog with a certain bias. We have Lapis stories for cat-lovers !
Bertie — August 6, 2019
There was a crooked man and he walked a crooked mile. He found a crooked penny and gave a crooked smile. He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse. And they all lived together in a little crooked house. There was a crooked man and crossed a crooked road, to help a crooked chicken and a crooked toad. He brought his new friends home to meet his crooked cat and his crooked mouse. And they all lived together in a little crooked house. There was a crooked man and he met a crooked girl. He gave her a crooked ring with a crooked pearl. He danced a crooked way with new crooked spouse. And they all lived together in a little crooked house. There was a crooked man and he walked a crooked mile. He found a crooked penny and gave a crooked smile. He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse. And they all they lived together in a little crooked house.
Gabe — August 7, 2019
It was bad
Kiara — August 8, 2019
I wish I could go to the moon like Luna, it’s my dream come true Jana Elizabeth
Susia — August 8, 2019
Wouldn’t it be an amazing experience, thanks Susia! I would love to go too 😊
Jana Elizabeth — August 9, 2019
this was a good book apart of the series i like it good job
kane — August 9, 2019
I love astropup how about you
Sabina — August 9, 2019
Love it, thanks
Jana Elizabeth — August 9, 2019
Cool story, so funny. Mr muggles is non magic cat like from Harry Potter 😄😍🙌🏼🙌🏼🙌🏼
Liza — August 9, 2019
Jana your voice is soothing I fell asleep listening to your voice and Richard voice is very complementary too. Thanks a bunch guys
Tiana — August 9, 2019
Aw thank you Tiana 😊
Jana Elizabeth — August 9, 2019
I just love my cat Simba so much and if he got lost that would be the end of me. It’s beautiful story of a love between Luna and her cat, except mine is pure white and lazy crazy gentle. Cats rule 😽😻
Sylvie — August 9, 2019
I loved them
Betoo — August 12, 2019
super cool
Gab — August 12, 2019
noice
Nick — August 13, 2019
I still think that a story from the point of view of the cat people would be cool!🐈😺🐈😺🐈😺🐈😺
Maxicat — August 13, 2019
Good job. Where did that poem come from Bertie, Jana? It’s so breezy and beautifully read 💜💜💜Now I can’t wait for part two 🌙🌙🌙By the way my mum loves it too
Cindy — August 16, 2019
Hi Cindy, Glad you (and mum) enjoyed the poem and Jana’s reading (in voice of Luna). It’s by Christina Rossetti
Bertie — August 16, 2019
🕷 went up the 🚿. Down came the 🌧 and washed the 🕷 out. Out came the ☀️ and dried up all the 🌧. Then, 🕷 went up the 🚿 again. 🕷 went up the 🚿. Down came the 🌧 and (almost) washed the 🕷 out. Out came the ☀️ and dried up all the 🌧. Then, 🕷 went up the 🚿 again. 🕷 went up the 🚿. He brought his submarine. It was 💧 proof. (Whoo-Hoo!) He made it to the top all the 🕷 ate French Flies. (Ew!)
Gabe — August 17, 2019
🐄
🌙 The cow jumped over the moon.
🐈 🎻 Hey diddle diddle. The cat and the fiddle.
🐕 The little dog laughed to see such fun.
🍲 🥄 And the dish ran away with the spoon!
Gabe — August 17, 2019
Thanks for replying Bertie, please please tell jana she is my top favorite and me and my mum are eager for more! Many many thanks 😍😍💜💜
Cindy — August 17, 2019
🐄 The cow jumped over the moon. Hey! diddle diddle.
🌝
🍲 🥄 The dish ran away with the spoon.
🐈 🎻 The cat and the fiddle.
🐕 The little dog laughed to see such fun.
Gabe — August 17, 2019
I’m a big fan of storynory! Please can Bertie anser me? I like Thumbelina and Katie stories the most. Is there coming any new Katie stories?
Cinderella — August 19, 2019
Hi Cinderella, I am thinking about more Katie stories
Bertie — August 19, 2019
Luna, the moon is not tired. The moon never tires. You know why? I’ve been there.. by the way, this story is the bomb. I love it!
Ivy — August 21, 2019
The eensy weensy spider went up the water spout. Down came the rain and washed poor eensy out. Up came the sun and dried up all the rain. So the eensy weensy spider went up the spout again.
☀️ 🌧
🕷
Gabe — August 22, 2019
Love it
Hi — August 24, 2019
Cool
Billy — August 30, 2019
Dear Story Nory,
It’s me again, Bayard. I listen to Story Nory on my ipod every night. I am 9 years old. I wrote the suggestion about the Wicked Uncle getting a new nephew. Can you write a story when Astro-Pup gets a exo-suit that boosts his intelligence?
Sincerely,
Bayard — August 31, 2019
I just wanted to say that I have two lovely kittens ((10 months old and 4 months old) which my parents bought a month or two ago) which I love deeply, cats are not selfish, my two cats aren’t family but they groom each other and curl up together… Exept for whne they torture mice, insects and bats, they are lovely sweet creatures.
Cool Cat — September 3, 2019
That’s lovely Cool Cat, thank you for sharing. In fact, stay tuned as Im holding a short story competition about a special pet. 😊
Jana Elizabeth — September 3, 2019
ASTROPUP FOREVER
cameron — September 12, 2019
Great story!!!
I love your stories
Thanks for the story form:
Leah Ashe
Leah — October 9, 2019
it is so good
Megan — October 9, 2019
🙂 cool also 2+2=4 i love it 🙂 😀
david — November 12, 2019
Please can we have more of a variety of stories. I love listening to the stories but they are almost the same. Harry Potter, horrid Henry, Roald Dahl, ect.
Bea — December 27, 2019
Lovee it wonder if you can have any Astropup story competition Bertie ?
we love you Astropup!
Mr muggles is definitely EVIL under line the evil
And Astropup, zoo, and wicked uncle stories are great.
Thanks,Bertie from all the family.
No kneed to know my name — January 16, 2020
Thank you!
Jana Elizabeth — January 17, 2020
I loved it
Tommy — February 7, 2020
It’s the beautiful.
!! — February 10, 2020
Wonder full I’ll read book 2 tomorrow when is book 3 coming out Jana?
Eyad — February 21, 2020
i did and the reason i llike it was because it was interesting and i like the part were they first meet luna amd the other reason i liked this story was because in my math and science class we were learning about planets and those are the reason why i liked this book and the people who have not read it yall should read it it is super good bye.
Mariya — March 18, 2020
uummm idk how Jana can read like an angel like that!!! wow good job, your gifted!!
Ezana — March 21, 2020
uummm idk how Jana can read like an angel like that!!! wow good job, your gifted!!
yeetimus prime — March 21, 2020
i like the story
Joanne — March 26, 2020
Hello, and thank you for taking my daughter to the moon, and thank you Astropup for resisting the urge. Thank you all.
Mark Crassus — March 30, 2020
Great story guys and I especially enjoyed luna’s moon poem, Jana. You have a beautiful and soothing voice 👌🏽
Raja — April 1, 2020
its funny and cool
Hossaflame — April 8, 2020
yes,its intresting
caisa — April 16, 2020
cant wait for the next one
dawn — April 16, 2020
Yes I liked it
Derek — April 17, 2020
That is a good story!!!!
Emily — April 20, 2020
i like it
tom — April 20, 2020
this is story is very good. I like it.
Anonymous — April 20, 2020
cool
shauni — April 21, 2020
awsome
xander — April 21, 2020
it about a dog how go to space and what it work is
ww12 — April 24, 2020
i like the way how the there are different voices for each person and animals <3 it's kinda funny and kinda cute too
Danica .B. — April 24, 2020
This is a good book !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!👍👍👍👌👌👏❤
Jamine — April 24, 2020
It was ok.
Joe-Angel — April 24, 2020
Loved the story
L — May 6, 2020
nice story guys very good
Anonymous — May 7, 2020
Are you going to do stories when Marlow gets captured and astropup saves him and the parrot actually betrase him and then the parrot learns his lesson and helps astropup and then the parrot gets captured in the trying and then astropup is their only hope and the astropup saves the parrot and then they save Marlow together and the space force let’s them take a holiday for a month and then Marlow thanks the parrot and astropup and says he oad his life to them
Optimus prime — June 6, 2020
I loved the story!
Julian — August 8, 2020
wow
Anonymous — January 12, 2021