Nathaniel, Haticat, Fred, and Doctor Bill explore the surface of an airless, rocky world in bright sunlight. Here and there are pools of molten selenium oozing from below. The rocks come in a variety of shades and textures. Finally, Nathaniel picks up one small pebble with an odd shape. He holds it up in the sun. It is almost a cube. The faces are a little rough and the corners rounded, but it looks almost like a die. “This is the one I want.”

For years, Captain Nathaniel had been keeping a rock collection. He had one small stone from every planet he had visited. Once a day, he would pull open the drawer next to his bed and look at them, reminded of all his adventures at once. His body could only be in one place at one time, but his memories stretched across the galaxy.

The rock collection was also part of a science experiment. Rocks taken from different time periods had the potential to be causally connected in ways other than their direct interaction in his drawer. Most often, their connection was nothing more than their weak gravitational interaction across light years, but this was enough. Nathaniel expected the multiple, interrelated interactions to manifest as an increase in inertial mass without corresponding increase in gravitational mass.

He now had seventy-seven pebbles and this should be enough to generate enough additional mass for his sensitive instruments to measure. Back on his ship now, he gently places the cubic pebble onto the scale/accelerometer with the others and waits for the results.

Haticat enters his bedroom gazebo and looks around. “We’re ready to take off when you are.”
“I’m just waiting for a reading,” Nathaniel says.

Soon, the screen lights up and displays two numbers. “Well, I was right. There’s a discrepancy between the two masses. Although…it is considerable bigger than I predicted. I wonder why…”

“Sounds like a job for new physics,” Haticat says.

“Yes,” Nathaniel replies.

A few minutes later, the ship launches off the planet and speeds away. Nathaniel visits the dining gazebo for some olive loaf on wheat and chocolate milk. He watches the stars drift slowly by on the domed ceiling of the ship. Where to next? There were so many stars with planets to explore. He might never run out.

Then, something in the corner of his eye catches his attention. The light in his bedroom is flickering. “Hmm.”

“This planet has moderate gravity, breathable air, and… a forest,” Doctor Bill reports.

“Let’s go,” Haticat implores.

“According to the records, this is planet Mochtel. It is home to large worms called Flurbibians. They like to draw. There’s no other information,” Doctor Bill continues.

“I’ve never heard of them,” Nathaniel says.

“Me neither, let’s make some new friends,” Haticat says.

“Take us down,” Captain Nathaniel agrees.

The pool-ship lands in a forest of waffle trees and other plants. The explorers grab their backpacks, scanners, and guns and step outside. Haticat pokes a trunk. “These trees are spongy.”

“They’re some sort of carbon foam,” Doctor Bill reports.

Fred bends over to look closely at some insects on the ground. They are orange and green. “These bugs are cool.”

Nathaniel is already hacking his way through the thick underbrush. His crew follows him. They walk for a couple hours cataloging the plants, bugs, and amphibians until the sun begins to set. “Are we going to return to the ship?” Haticat asks.

“Nah, I want to see what comes out at night,” Nathaniel answers. “It might be like a whole other world.” The sun sets and Mochtel’s large moon rises in the sky, so reflective it almost seems like day. The biting flies appear gradually at first. Their annoying song fills the air. Then they hear a rustling in the brush too big to be an insect. Suddenly, a frog-like animal the size of a bear pushes its way through the leaves. Upon seeing the explorers, it burps – loud. The sound is so intense, they fall over in shock. With his ears ringing, Nathaniel fumbles for his gun and attempts to get back up. The creature steps forward and burps in his face. The vibrations make his jaw hurt and he collapses again. When he looks up, the creature is dead. Fred has shot it.

“What is that thing?” Haticat asks.

“What?” Nathaniel says.

“What?” Haticat says.

“What?” Nathaniel asks again.

None of them can hear the second creature running up behind them. It grabs Fred in its mouth and tosses him into a tree. The other three shoot it.

When they can hear again, they decide to head back to the ship. The biting flies get worse. In the distance, they hear what sounds like more burping. Then they see flashing lights in the sky. Flies with strobing abdomens the size of dogs circle the area. Even far away, they are hard to look at. The contrast of light and dark is even worse than the brightness itself. Minutes later, one slips between the treetops and descends near them. They hide behind a large waffle tree, but the creature follows them. Nathaniel closes his eyes, but the intense light hurts him even through his eyelids. He covers his face in his hands and then turns around. He hears the creature clicking. It gets closer. Then it gets closer. Zap! He shoots in the direction of the sound and the flashing stops. When he opens his eyes, the creature is dead.

“This planet is annoying!” Fred complains.

The iceberg plows through the ocean, propelled by the two large sails sticking from the top. It is a ship. The Nino colonists of Tikan have conquered the planet by mastering its most abundant resource – ice. Tikan was a water world with no dry land. The colonists lived in ships, submarines, and citadels made mostly of ice.

The officers on the upper deck play a game in the shadow of the sails. They take turns running across the deck around obstacles, trying not to slip on the ice. Best time wins. Finally, one slips and slides across the deck into the sunlight where he stays down, laughing, for fifteen seconds.

“Get back here!” another calls.

“I’m coming,” he says, but he slips again and again. Still laughing, he steps back into the shade where the others are staring at him, horrified. “What is it?”

“You…uh…you,” one says.

“Freckles,” another finishes.

“What?” the clumsy officer responds.

Bright stars sit scattered across empty space. Nothing happens here and there is nothing here for it to happen to. Then, there is a distortion of light. The background stars seem to shift. It’s a wormhole and something is coming through. Suddenly, hundreds of straight, segmented rockets burst into the emptiness. Each is fifteen school busses long. For a time, they fly in all directions. Then, they regroup and point themselves in the direction of a bluish white star. This is the sun of the planet Xirl, a jungle world valued by many. In two days, it will be visited by the giant worms that eat trees.