1 Buried Alive!

Chapter 1 BURIED ALIVE! KRAAAAAAAAK-UKK-UKKK-UKKKK! "Holy moly!" hollered Andrew Dubble. "It feels like an earthquake!" Another giant asteroid smashed into the Time- A-Tron time machine. Andrew and his thirteen- year-old cousin Judy bounced in their big blue seat. Just two hours ago, they'd been pigging out on pizza with their Uncle Al. Now asteroids were burying them inside the very beginning of planet Earth!

In front of Andrew and Judy's chair was a control panel. Its digital display flashed: 4 BILLION 500 MILLION YEARS AGO Judy looked up through the clear dome of the Time-A-Tron. All she could see was solid rock! "Cheese Louise!" she grumped. "These stupid asteroids and comets stick together like snowballs! We're trapped inside tons of rock!" meep… "Asteroids and comets make planets," squeaked a voice from Andrew's pajama pocket. It was Thudd, Andrew's little silver robot and best friend. bong… "That is right, little one," said the Time-A-Tron. "Without asteroids, there would be no solid Earth, no air. Without comets, there would be little water." "Oh, clap a lid on it, guys!" said Judy. "All I want to know is how to get out of here." She banged the heel of her slipper on the Fast-Forward button. When it worked, the Fast-Forward button moved the Time-A-Tron forward through time.

Flack! Flack! Flack! But there were no balls of green light. The Time-A-Tron's Fast-Fins wouldn't spin. bong… "I am afraid the Fast-Fins are stuck in stone," said the Time-A-Tron. "If the Fast-Fins cannot spin, we cannot move forward in time." Judy pushed her face close to Andrew's. "This is all your fault, Bug-Brain," she said. "If you hadn't gotten your stupid fudge stuck on the Fast- Back button, we wouldn't have traveled to the beginning of the universe in our pajamas!" meep… "Drewd! Oody! Look!" squeaked Thudd. He was pointing to the Super-Peeper. The Super-Peeper looked like a pumpkin-sized snow globe. It could show what was happening anywhere in the universe. Right now, it showed a sky full of asteroids… speeding toward baby Earth!

KEEERUCCKK! GRAAACK! SPLURSH! Through the dome of the Time-A-Tron, Andrew watched the rock around them start to glow and melt and swirl. "Yowzers!" yelled Andrew. "Yiiiikes!" hollered Judy. meep… "Giant asteroids hit hard, hard, hard!" said Thudd. "Make heat. Clapping hands make little heat. Smashing asteroids make big heat! Rocks melt!"

Thudd pointed to the much bigger Earth that now appeared in the Super-Peeper. meep… "Baby Earth getting born! Getting big!" Judy rolled her eyes. "I wish the Earth would get born somewhere else," she said. Suddenly the Time-A-Tron was tumbling along a river of flaming rock. bong… "We are following the molecules of Montana again!" said the Time-A-Tron. Montana was where they had started. The Time- A-Tron could move through time. But the only way it could move through space was to follow the molecules of Montana. Andrew squinted up at the dome of the Time-A- Tron. He was looking for cracks and bubbles. "Um, will the Time-A-Tron start to melt like when we were close to the beginning of the universe?" he asked. bong… "The temperature was a billion degrees then, Master Andrew," said the Time-A-Tron. "This rock soup is only two thousand degrees."

Andrew's eyebrows went up. "Judy try the Fast- Forward button again," he said. "Now that the rocks are soft, maybe the Fast-Fins can move." Judy slammed the Fast-Forward button again. Flack! Flack! Flack! HNNNN… HNNNN… WOOHOOOOO! The Time-A-Tron jiggled. Sparks of bright green light flashed outside the dome. "Green sparks!" said Andrew. "The Fast-Fins are working!" BLAFOOOOOOM! bong… "We are off!" said the Time-A-Tron. BUH-BUH-BUH ZNERKKK! The green sparks disappeared. bong… "Oh dear!" said the Time-A-Tron. "We've moved only ten thousand years ahead." They were still in the gushing rock river. It was carrying them toward the surface of baby Earth. "Look!" said Andrew, pointing to the top of the Time-A-Tron's dome. "I see stars!"