Starcross is a young adult novel by Philip Reeve

Philip Reeve

Philip Reeve is a British author and illustrator. He presently lives on Dartmoor with his wife Sarah and their son Samuel.-Biography:...

, released in October 2007. Illustrated by David Wyatt

David Wyatt

Davit Wyatt is an English commercial artist. Born in Northampton, he was adopted and raised in West Sussex. As a child, he learnt to play the piano; however, his interest in reading and drawing combined into a love of comics....

, it is the second book in the Larklight Trilogy

Larklight trilogy

The Larklight trilogy is a trilogy of young adult novels by Philip Reeve, entitled Larklight, Starcross, and Mothstorm. These books are all illustrated by David Wyatt.-Setting:...

, sequel to the 2006 novel Larklight

Larklight

Larklight is a children's novel by author Philip Reeve. Illustrated by David Wyatt, it is the first book in the Larklight Trilogy. The hardcover edition has alternate title lines Or the Revenge of the White Spiders! or to Saturn's Rings and Back!...

.

Plot summary

Protagonist Arthur ("Art") Mumby and his older sister Myrtle are invited to the Starcross hotel on a small and periodically barren asteroid

Asteroid

Asteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...

. There, Arthur’s mother Emily suspects that Starcross is built on a piece of Mars

Mars

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...

 which routinely slips through a hole in the fabric of time

Time

Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....

, and Myrtle then discovers that Sir Richard Burton and his Martian wife Ulla have been changed into trees. Jack Havock, now a British secret agent, appears on the scene disguised as an Indian prince.

In the following night they are attacked by the Moobs, a species resembling animated black top hat

Top hat

A top hat, beaver hat, high hat silk hat, cylinder hat, chimney pot hat or stove pipe hat is a tall, flat-crowned, broad-brimmed hat, predominantly worn from the latter part of the 18th to the middle of the 20th century...

s, which take control of Jack’s crew and other guests, including Emily. Myrtle and Jack escape, but become lost in the deserts of prehistoric Mars. There, they encounter Delphine, one of the guests, a French secret agent determined to find her grandfather’s wrecked ship and create an American-style republic

Republic

A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...

 in his name. At the wreck, they discover that Delphine’s grandfather was killed by Moobs, and later learn that the Moobs are native to a time period near the end of the universe

Universe

The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...

, and that they live chiefly by feeding on other species' thought

Thought

"Thought" generally refers to any mental or intellectual activity involving an individual's subjective consciousness. It can refer either to the act of thinking or the resulting ideas or arrangements of ideas. Similar concepts include cognition, sentience, consciousness, and imagination...

s.

A well-intentioned Moob helps Jack win Delphine’s soldiers to his side, and they return to Starcross. There, the Moobs load Jack's ship with their comrades and plan to take control of the local societies. Art frees Jack’s crew from their influence, and they return to Starcross to discover that Arthur’s mother, having sufficient memory to sate them, has subdued the Moobs. Starcross' owner Sir Launcelot Sprigg and Delphine attempt to overpower the others; but Arthur’s mother changes them into babies. The protagonists enter the future and inspire the Moobs with new thoughts, whereby they are stimulated to greater activity. Thereafter Myrtle, challenged by Jack, determines to study the cold fusion

Cold fusion

Cold fusion, also called low-energy nuclear reaction , refers to the hypothesis that nuclear fusion might explain the results of a group of experiments conducted at ordinary temperatures . Both the experimental results and the hypothesis are disputed...

used in space travel; whereas Professor Ferny, a plant-like creature, promises to find a cure for Sir Richard and Ulla's transformation.