SOLVED. Boy & girl live off of earth, go to other planet with robotic orbs [s]

[Joseph]

I read this book sometime in Grade School. It was about a boy who lived on Earth and then moves to an off-world colony and meets a girl who has never lived on Earth. It's a custom to wear a pouch on a string around one's neck and the girl wears one with a seed (I believe) with some dirt from Earth in it. Somehow the two of them end up on another planet inhabited solely by silver robotic orbs. They come to realize that the orbs somehow are bad and ruled by a golden orb. They find a kind of fruit that when you eat it and then eat some dirt (I believe) from a planet, you turn into a creature from that planet. They have two of the fruits and the boy eats one and then dirt from the alien planet and turns into a floating, green (I believe), spherical alien (like the orbs), with an eye that goes all the way around his body. He tries to tell the orb, "Nax," which is the alien word for "Stop." The golden orb doesn't want to listen and wants to destroy the alien, but has to scan the alien first. It scan's the boy's (as an alien) eye and the boy says, "Nax," again and the orb stops completely, dropping to the ground. The boy eats the other fruit and dirt from Earth from the girl's pouch and the two return home. That's about all I can remember from this book. Thanks!

[Sallie]

Journey to Terazor by Frank Asch
"During a devastating flood, Matt and his parents are transported to a mysterious planet inhabited by other misplaced earthlings and ruled by robots where Matt teams up with two young geniuses in an effort to escape back to Earth."
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14...

"From School Library Journal
Grade 4-7-- Matt and his parents are rescued from a flood by alien robots who have set up colonies of intelligent beings from various worlds on Planet S-15. Matt joins two other children, Sarah and Ryan, in an attempt to reprogram a robot to get them back to Earth. Sarah and Ryan are caught, but Matt escapes to another colony and lives with the alien Dar for a while. Cyber, the robot, returns for him; they rescue Sarah and Ryan and set out for Terezor, the original planet of the robots. There, Matt changes his body to that of a (now extinct) Terezor and reprograms the master computer. The book ends with the four leaving for Earth and planning what they will do now that they control all of the robots. Space flight here is mainly a device to keep the plot moving, but the robots show fairly reasonable development. Perhaps the most imaginative part of the story is the alien Dar who metamorphose through a complex life cycle and, as a result, have an unusual culture. However, believing that Matt, even with the help of a Dar fruit, could metamorphose into a Terezor would strain readers' credulity if the plot were not moving very quickly at that point. Matt and Cyber are the only really developed characters, as Ryan and Sarah are essentially brainy snobs and all of the adults have succumbed to the good life on S-15. The suspenseful adventures will keep readers from noticing the plot contrivances, the shallow characters, and the cliched writing and create demand for the sequels in this projected trilogy."
http://www.amazon.com/Journey-Terezor...

[Joseph]

Thanks so much Sallie! That is exactly it, although I had gotten a couple of plot points off, ha ha! Thank you very much!