Dr. Skyler was pacing up and down the hall outside the planetarium when the Aldens arrived. “It’s about time,” she said, checking her watch. “Half the museum is working on Dino World, and nobody pays any attention to my planetarium. The stars and planets are just as important as those dusty old bones!”
“Mr. Diggs said you needed some painting done,” Henry said.
“Yes,” Dr. Skyler snapped. “If you get started now, the ceiling will be dry by morning. I don’t want to miss any more shows. Do you know that during the shows today, everyone kept asking about the scratch marks that showed through?”
The Aldens went straight to work. Violet helped Benny and Soo Lee spread drop cloths across all the planetarium seats. Dr. Skyler wrapped the star projector in plastic to protect it from paint drips. Henry and Jessie set up the ladders, stirred the paint, and prepared the brushes and rollers.
The Aldens were relieved to see Dr. Skyler leave.
“In a way I can’t blame her,” Henry said as he climbed the ladder, “Look at this.”
Even from down below, the other children could see that the lower sections of the dome ceiling of the planetarium were scuffed and scratched, just as Dr. Skyler had said.
“We’ll make it a nice smooth sky again,” Jessie said.
“We’ll clean up more,” said Benny. He and Soo Lee went to work.
Slowly and carefully, Henry began painting over all the little marks. After his neck and shoulders got cramped from looking up, Jessie took over the job.
Finally, two hours later, they were done.
“The dome looks completely smooth now,” Violet said. “I wish we could try out the projector to see how it looks with stars on it.”
“We’d better wait until tomorrow,” Henry said. “Let’s just clean up.”
“I can’t wait to take a shower and wash my face and hair,” Jessie said. “I’m covered with paint speckles.”
“Paint freckles!” Soo Lee said with a laugh.
The children neatly folded up the drop cloths, unwrapped the star projector, and rinsed out the brushes in the storage room sink. Henry and Jessie hammered down the paint can lids and wiped down the cans so there wouldn’t be any paint drips.
“Benny, reach in the cabinet under the sink and hand me another packet of those paper towels,” Jessie asked. “I’m down to the last sheet.”
Benny scooted under the sink and stuck his head inside. But when he came out again, he wasn’t holding paper towels. “Look what I found. Posters!”
“More Dino World posters!” Jessie cried. “Why are they under here? We could have used these when we were out this morning.”
Benny was the first to notice something strange about the posters. “I think these are the posters we put up this morning. Look, there’s tape attached to some of them and thumbtack marks on some of the others.”
“I hate to say it because we don’t know for sure,” Jessie began, “but I bet Dr. Skyler was the person the shopkeeper told Mrs. Diggs about. You know, the one who said she wanted the posters for a souvenir?”
“Some souvenir,” Henry said. “I bet Dr. Skyler did take them down. She just doesn’t want people to come to Dino World and take visitors away from her planetarium.”
Jessie gathered up the posters. “We’d better show these to Mr. and Mrs. Diggs right away. They need to know what Dr. Skyler has been up to.”
Henry let the children out of the storage room and shut the door.
“Open the door again, Henry!” Jessie yelled. “The lights are out in the planetarium. It’s dark as night out here except for the exit light. We need the light from that little window in the storage room.”
Henry reopened the door, but the light from the small window didn’t do much. “Can you find your way to the exit door?” Henry yelled to his sister.
“Barely,” Jessie said, “but I’ll try anyway.” Feeling her way along the aisle seats, she followed the dim exit light to the door. She pulled, and she pushed it, but the door didn’t budge. “It’s locked,” she shouted to the other children. She banged several times. “It’s no use. It’s way past closing time.”
“Can we call anyone?” Violet asked.
“The phone is in Dr. Skyler’s office up there.” Henry pointed to the darkened office overlooking the planetarium. “But we can’t get to it with the exit door locked.”
Henry checked the door again, “Looks like we’re stuck here. Hey, wait a minute! Maybe we can signal for help over the remote camera.”
The children tried to make out where the remote camera was located. They finally spotted it on the ceiling. They jumped up and down and waved their arms. But they had no way of knowing whether the camera was working or even whether anyone was watching the screen at the other end.
“It’s so dark in here, I don’t think the camera has enough light to show us anyway,” Jessie said.
Henry felt his way toward the storage room. “Maybe there’s a flashlight in there.”
It was already early evening, so even the daylight from the small storage room window had completely disappeared. Henry reached into some cabinets. Finally, he felt something. “Hey, I found a flashlight!” he called out to the other children.
With the flashlight in hand, Henry tried jiggling and banging the exit door. Soo Lee and Benny stayed next to him, afraid of the big dark room.
“I’m getting the ladder to climb up to the remote camera,” Henry said. “Maybe I can find some way to make it work.”
“Can we stay with you, Henry?” Violet said. “Even with the flashlight, it’s still so dark in here.”
With the help of the others, Henry put up the ladder and climbed up to the camera. “Rats,” he said. “I bet it’s connected to the electric lines that went out. All the power is off in here except for the emergency generator that runs the exit lights.”
“Will we have to stay in here all night, Henry?” Soo Lee asked.
Henry climbed down the ladder. “Pretty soon someone will come for us, Soo Lee. I’m sure Dr. Skyler will be back here in no time … I know! Let’s have a special sky show!”
The other children sat down while Henry went over to the star projector. It was mounted on a turntable that Henry could turn by hand. He aimed the flashlight through the little holes, and a handful of stars appeared in a small space on the ceiling.
“Now look just to the left Soo Lee,” Henry said. “Do you know what that is?”
“The Big Dipper!” Soo Lee cried. “My father showed me.”
“Good!” Henry said. “Now, who can tell me what is next to the Big Dipper? See, it’s got four legs.”
“It’s Pegasus, the horse with wings,” Violet said. Like all the Aldens, she knew the night sky very well from many summer evenings in their backyard.
Henry kept all the children busy for the next half hour, helping them find some of their favorite stars. They soon forgot they were locked in a dark room.
The next thing they knew, the lights went on in the planetarium all at once. The children were almost sorry to see the stars and the night sky disappear.
“Hey, somebody got the electricity back on,” Henry said. “I bet Dr. Skyler will come back for us in just a bit.”
Sure enough, the Aldens heard a key in the lock. But when the door opened, it was Pete Lawlor and Nosey standing there, not Dr. Skyler.
“Hooray!” Benny cried as the dog wagged his tail and licked Benny’s face.
“How did you know we were in here?” Jessie asked Pete.
Pete pointed up to the remote camera. “I was doing some rounds. When I came back, I noticed a light blinking on my control panel at the guard desk. Sure enough, when I checked the circuit breaker box, I saw the switch in here had flipped. I put it back on. Then I rechecked my screens, and there you were!”
“Do you think you should check if something’s wrong with the wiring or anything?” Henry asked. “What made the electricity go off?”
Pete shrugged his shoulders. “Beats me. The smoke detectors didn’t go off, so everything seems okay.”
But everything wasn’t okay. Up in the office overlooking the planetarium, Eve Skyler stood in the shadows looking down at Pete, Nosey, and the Aldens. She wasn’t one bit happy with what she saw.
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