6 Spaghetti-fied!

Chapter 6 SPAGHETTI-FIED! bong… "Zone of spaghetti-fication!" announced the Time-A-Tron. "Extreme gravity! Extreme stretching!" "Yuck-a-rama!" hollered Judy. "I feel like someone's playing tug-of-war with me!" Judy looked like stretchy bubble gum. bong… "Beginning Anti-Gravity Control!" said the Time-A-Tron. In a few seconds, Andrew's hands didn't look so far away anymore. He was shrinking back to normal size.

1 MILLION YEARS AGO… read the digital display. 2 MILLION YEARS AGO… 3 MILLION YEARS AGO… GALUMP! The Time-A-Tron jolted as though they had gone over a big bump. Andrew kept the Worm- Drive button pressed, but Thudd went flying out of Andrew's pocket—together with Uncle Al's fudge. Thudd fell into Andrew's lap. The fudge splattered onto the Time-A-Tron's control panel! 4 MILLION YEARS AGO… Andrew took his finger off the Worm-Drive button. But it didn't pop up. A piece of fudge was jamming it! 5 MILLION YEARS AGO… "Andrew!" yelled Judy. "What's going on?" "Um, I think the Worm-Drive button is stuck," said Andrew. Andrew pushed the button again and again.

6 MILLION YEARS AGO… 7 MILLION YEARS AGO… Suddenly the numbers began to flash by so quickly, they were just a blur. "Oh no!" cried Judy. "You and your stupid fudge!" Andrew tried to scratch the fudge away from the button with his fingernail. But the more he tried, the more he jammed the fudge between the button and the control panel. Andrew scooped Thudd up and put him on the control panel. "Thudd," said Andrew. "You've got pointy little fingers. You try unsticking the button." meep… "Okey-dokey, Drewd," said Thudd, scraping. "Hurry!" cried Judy. "We're going so fast!" bong… "Emergency!" The voice of the Time- A-Tron echoed through the compartment. "The Worm-Drive button has been pressed for too long. We are going TOOOOO FAAAAAR!"

The Time-A-Tron wobbled in its tunnel of rainbow fireworks. Thudd jiggled on the control panel, but the suction cups on the bottoms of his feet helped him stick tight. bong… "Terrible trouble!" moaned the Time- A-Tron. "Because of poor judgment about storing chocolate fudge, we are totally out of control." Suddenly the display blinked a number they could see: 10 BILLION YEARS AGO. "YIKES!" said Andrew. "That's before dinosaurs lived on Earth." bong… "That is five billion years before there was an Earth," said the Time-A-Tron. "You mean there's no Earth where we are right now?" asked Judy. "We've got to stop this thing!" She kicked the control panel. bong… "Let us hope our little silver friend is an expert fudge remover," said the Time-A-Tron. meep… "Know how much a billion is?" asked Thudd as he scratched away at the fudge.

"Um, it's a thousand million," said Andrew. meep… "Know what a billion look like?" asked Thudd, scraping and scraping. "Keep scraping," said Judy. meep… "A billion one-dollar bills make pile ten times high as Mount Everest!" said Thudd. "Fifty-five miles high!" 11 BILLION YEARS AGO flashed on the display. "What exactly is this stupid wormhole anyway?" asked Judy. "And how can we get out of it?" bong… "Do you know what a black hole is?" asked the Time-A-Tron.

"A hole that's black?" said Judy. 12 BILLION YEARS AGO flashed on the display. meep… "Black hole happen when giant star get old," said Thudd. "Star make big, big explosion. Outside of star blow away. But center of star shrink, shrink, shrink! If Earth shrink as much as star shrink, Earth be size of golf ball!" "That's ridiculous!" said Judy. "How can it shrink that much?" asked Andrew. meep… "Gravity," said Thudd. "Gravity pull stuff together. Gravity keep Drewd and Oody stuck to Earth. Gravity keep planets in orbit around sun." Judy rolled her eyes. "Gravity, shmavity!" she said. "Just make this thing stop!" 13 BILLION YEARS AGO flashed on the display. meep… "Black-hole gravity super-super strong," said Thudd. "Make Drewd and Oody stretch like spaghetti. Black hole pull everything