9 Here Comes the Sun!

Chapter 9 HERE COMES THE SUN! "Where's Uncle Al?" asked Judy. "He's always at the end of the beam." meep… "Maybe Hologram Helper not working," said Thudd. "At least he's alive," said Andrew. "He's got the Hologram Helper and he's trying to send us a message." "Unless Doctor Kron-Tox has his Hologram Helper," said Judy. Inside the Super-Peeper, a burst of light lit up one arm of the galaxy.

meep… "Exploding star!" said Thudd. "Star is like furnace that heat house. Need fuel When star use up fuel inside, star die. But not go out like light bulb. Star do strange stuff. Shrink, explode, turn into black hole sometime." "Are we near that exploding star?" Andrew asked. Inside the Super-Peeper, a little red arrow lit up far from the exploding star and far from the center of the galaxy. "You are here," glowed a sign above the arrow.

"But there's nothing there," said Judy. bong… "That is because our sun and solar system do not exist yet," said the Time-A-Tron. "Now they are simply a floating cloud of gas. We're in the midst of that cloud. "But in a while a star that is close to us will explode. That explosion will push gas molecules together. Then our sun will begin to be born. When stars explode, they help to make new stars." meep… "Make lotsa other stuff, too!" said Thudd. "Make lotsa kinds of atoms." bong… "Quite right, Master Thudd!" said the Time-A-Tron. "Exploding stars are the factories of the universe. They make big atoms out of little atoms. Without exploding stars, there would not be the atoms to make you! So be grateful for exploding stars." "Whatever," said Judy. "Just as long as they don't do it around me." The display on the control panel flashed 6 BILLION YEARS AGO.

bong… "Hold on tight," said the Time-A-Tron. "At the rate we are going, the solar system will happen soon!" Suddenly a ball of yellow light exploded across the sky! It was many times bigger than the sun and much brighter. Ribbons of fire curled away from it. meep… "Exploding star close, close, close!" said Thudd. bong… "The end of that star is the beginning of our sun," said the Time-A-Tron. "Watch." Outside the Time-A-Tron, a cloud of dust was whipping up. "It's getting stormy out there," said Andrew. bong… "When a star explodes, it creates powerful waves in space," said the Time-A-Tron. "These waves are pushing our cloud of gas and dust into a spinning whirlpool. As we fast-forward through time, you will watch what happens over thousands of years."

The whirling dust became a huge tornado. Through the storm, a red-orange glow was growing like a huge forest fire. meep… "Sun getting born!" said Thudd. "Lotsa stuff smash together in middle of monster cloud. Get hot, hot, hot!" bong… "Time for your goggles, Dubble children," said the Time-A-Tron. "It will not be long till…" Suddenly the forest-fire sun swallowed up the Time-A-Tron! Rivers of flame were swirling around it!

"I thought we were following the atoms of Montana!" yelled Judy. "What are we doing inside the sun?" meep… "All the stuff that make planets come from sun," said Thudd. bong… "Check your seat belts!" said the Time- A-Tron excitedly. "And you'll need these, too." A door in the front panel opened and big earplugs dropped out. "What now?" asked Judy. bong… "No time to explain, Miss Judy," said the Time-A-Tron. "Please do as I say."