10 This Planet Rocks!

Chapter 10 THIS PLANET ROCKS! "WHAT?" said Judy, pulling out her earplugs. meep… "Sun exploding," said Thudd. "That what baby star do before it turn into grown-up star. Exploding sun throw lotsa stuff far, far away! Stuff go into orbit around sun. Make planets!" bong… "That is right," said the Time-A-Tron. "We have followed our Montana atoms ninety- three million miles from the sun. This is where the Earth will be." Outside the window was a swirling storm of pebbles. Then came rocks. A boulder the size of a bus was headed for them!

"Uh-oh!" said Andrew, ducking down in his seat. bong… "You need not be frightened," said the Time-A-Tron. "As long as we are traveling through time, nothing outside can harm us. Danger happens when we stop." The bus-sized boulder smashed into a truck- sized boulder. Instead of cracking apart, the rocks stuck together. "Yowzers!" yelled Andrew. meep… "Rocks hit hard!" said Thudd. "Press together hard, hard, hard! Pressure make heat. Rock melt. Rocks stick together!" Now some of the rocks zooming around the Time-A-Tron were the size of houses. Then they were the size of schools! meep… "Chunks keep smashing together. Thousands of years!" said Thudd. "Get big, big, big! Make tiny planet. Tiny planets smash together, make big planet!" bong… "We are so very lucky to be where we are," sighed the Time-A-Tron.

"Lucky!" said Judy. "You think we're lucky to be in the middle of crashing rocks the size of Texas?" bong… "We are lucky that the Earth will be ninety-three million miles away from the sun,"

said the Time-A-Tron. "If Earth were closer to the sun or farther away, life would not happen. "Mercury is thirty-six million miles away from the sun. But it will be so hot that everything will boil away except metal and rock. There will be no water on Mercury. There will be no air to breathe. During the day, the temperature will be eight hundred degrees Fahrenheit." Suddenly Thudd's purple button popped open. A purple beam zoomed out, but no one was at the end of it. Tick… tock… tick… tock… A whispery voice began to speak: "You think you're getting closer. I assure you that you're not. Your uncle's getting awfully cold. Miss Wilde's in a gruesome spot. But what can Dubble children do When time is running out?

While stuck inside the Time-A-Tron, They sit around and pout! HA! HA! HA!" Tick… tock… tick… tock… The purple beam vanished. Andrew and Judy looked at each other. Judy shivered. "It's scary that Doctor Kron-Tox is talking to us with the Hologram Helper," she said. meep… "Unkie gonna be okay," said Thudd quietly. BUH… BUH… BUH… ZNERKKK! came a sound from deep inside the Time-A-Tron. The Fast-Fins stopped spinning and the Time- A-Tron stopped lurching. bong… "Oh dear," said the Time-A-Tron. "We are no longer speeding through time. We are stuck in it." "I'll fix that," said Judy. "Thudd, hop off the button."

She gave the Fast-Forward button a hard smack with her slipper. The Fast-Fins fluttered a little, shook off a few sparks, then stopped. BUH-BUH-BUH-ZNERKKK! bong… "Good try, Miss Judy," said the Time- A-Tron. "But that got us only ten thousand years ahead. We're stuck in time again." Andrew scratched his head. "Uncle Al was having trouble with the Fast-Forward button," he said. "He was going to fix it tomorrow." meep… "Look out!" squeaked Thudd, pointing to a mountain speeding toward the Time-A-Tron. It zoomed closer. It was just a whisker away. It snagged one of the Fast-Fins!