Outstanding Story (Sub-junior) - The Space Ranger

“The Space Ranger” is one of the outstanding stories (sub-junior) of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2019 written by Elijah Goodman, Suquamish Elementary, USA.

The Space Ranger

On the planet Homestead 2 lives the Slimbo family who are extravagantly rich. They have six kids, Ruby, River, Spencer, Taylor, Joey and Annabelle. They have an extremely fast spaceship. They call the spaceship The Hyperspeed. Their daughter, Taylor races it every year in the Washington 300. She has many second-place trophies because a space creature named Glathlon wins every year. Taylor thinks the reason Glathlon always wins is because he has one of the newest engines available. It is manufactured by the Lamborghini Company on Earth. This year, Taylor and her brothers and sisters have a plan that they think might beat Glathlon. Taylor and her siblings are going to build an engine that no one has ever heard of before. It is going to be EPIC. They will call it The Space Ranger. They went to the Lamborghini Company and got some tips from the engineers that created Glathlon’s engine. They were ready to build The Space Ranger.

It took them two weeks of working around the clock, stopping only for food and bathroom breaks. They took turns sleeping. There were only three weeks until the Washington 300. The Glathlon fans were starting to hang up flyers for his victory party. The Slimbo family was putting the finishing touches on The Space Ranger.

Finally, it was time to put The Space Ranger into the Hyperspeed. It fit perfectly.

The race was three days away. Everyone was wondering if Taylor Slimbo was even going to race this year because they hadn’t seen her or her family for two weeks because they were making the upgraded engine. Then the Slimbo family garage opened and everyone was shocked. They expected to see the same old Hyperspeed and they did. However, it was shiny and there was a slight change in the front. The Slimbos didn’t tell anyone about The Space Ranger.

On race day Taylor had a big smile on her face. Glathlon was not sure why she was so happy. He thought maybe it was because she liked getting second place.

“Start your engines!” the announcer blared through her megaphone.

When Taylor turned on the Space Ranger, it roared beautifully. She knew Glathlon was going to get second place today.

Taylor got ready to press the pedal as hard as she could. Taylor saw the flag wave as she pulled away. Glathlon was right at her side. He looked a little nervous. He thought that maybe she would win first place this time. Glathlon started to imagine her winning as his foot slowly lifted off the pedal. Then Glathlon stopped imagining when he realized Taylor was pulling ahead. The finish line was only a mile away. Glathlon pressed the pedal as hard as he could while Taylor was way ahead. No matter how hard he pushed he couldn’t catch her. Now the finish line was 50 yards away. Glathlon started to pull up next to Taylor. Taylor pressed the secret SUPER BOOST button that her brother Joey installed “just in case.” She pulled across the finish line leaving Glathlon in a spray of meteor dust. She got out of the Hyperspeed and went over to the side and hugged her family. Because of her family’s teamwork, they finally got first place in the Washington 300.