Prologue

Zeetherious Zarnosis watched with amusement from 216,000 miles away as Benny, Kelly and Jonathan stood in front of Mr. Bumpus’ seventh grade science class. A working model of the solar system hovered, unsupported, above the heads of their classmates. The class was mesmerized, watching the planets spin about their axes and orbit around the yellow, papier-mâché sun. Mr. Bumpus stood off to the side. He, too, was awestruck at this most unusual sight.

Benny Bartholomew glanced back at his two best friends and smiled as he stepped forward to address the class. He grasped the wooden podium and cleared his throat. Jonathan and Kelly rolled their eyes and shifted their weight.

Zeetherious adjusted the contrast on his monitor and settled into his chair. This could take a while, he thought.

“Most of us think that we understand our world.” Benny looked up at the floating planets. “We think we understand our time and our place.”

“Here we go again,” Kelly whispered to Jonathan.

“We understand time. Time goes on, life goes on, we are born, we live and we die. Most of us think that there is only one time, and it is our time. But I ask you, does anyone know for sure?”

Grendle Ishpeming raised his hand, but he was always trying to answer questions when they weren’t supposed to be answered.

“We understand the idea of space. We take up space. We live on the planet Earth, which is in space. We know that Earth is one of several planets in our solar system.” Benny motioned at the planets floating in front of him. “We know that our solar system is in a galaxy of many other solar systems, in a universe of many galaxies.”

The children in the class were in awe of the demonstration going on before them, planets spinning around floating freely in the air. Zeetherious Zarnosis looked on from his lab, deep beneath the surface of Planet Zinitheron. He was pleased that his contribution to the children’s science project was working so well. It was the very least he could do after all that Benny, Kelly, and Jonathan had done for him.

Benny continued. There was no stopping him once he got rolling. “We compare things in our space using measurements of size and distance, an inch, a mile, a micron, or measurements of time, a minute, a nanosecond or a month. We understand these units. A mile is longer than a foot, 5,280 times longer. A day is longer than a second, 86,400 times longer. This is easy for us to understand.”

“We accept things like the basic laws of nature as being true. We’ve learned how gravity works and what makes plants grow, for instance. We accept these laws because of our experiences, or we try things out just to see. Most of the time things work the way we thought they would. The question is this; is it possible to think about things differently?”

Grendle Ishpeming again raised his hand. Kristen Holcomb grabbed it before it reached his shoulder and thrust it back down.

“I mean completely differently. You may ask, why should I do that?”

Kristen had hold of Grendle’s arm this time. No other hands went up.

“Well, I believe that thinking about things in a different way helps us grow, makes us better able to learn, and exercises our brains. Perhaps thinking about things differently even helps us to better understand things. Who knows, it may even be fun!”

Kelly snuck up behind Benny. “All right, come on, will ya?”

Benny turned. “Sorry, almost done.”

“Have you ever stood outside and looked up at the sky? Of course you have, but have you ever looked, I mean really looked and thought, really thought, about how much there is out there? Have you ever thought about how much there is that you can’t possibly know about? Some say anything is possible, but do they really mean it? Have any of you really taken time to think about what could be?”

Benny took a breath and nodded to his partners. “So, how is it possible that these planets, this sun are hovering here above you? I’m sorry, but I’m not going to tell you. I will tell you one thing though. There is nothing magic about what we have done here. Every one of you can do incredible things. You can perform feats much greater than this. All you need is a firm belief that you can do whatever you put your mind to and, oh yes, perhaps a little bit of luck.”

I couldn’t have said it any better myself, Zeetherious thought.