The Mama-And-Daddy immediately leaves Cartop and travels to Earth. When Nathaniel and Allison awake soon after landing it is late afternoon according to the local time zone. “Wake up Nathaniel; we’re going to a restaurant,” Daddy says.

“A restaurant?” Nathaniel asks, instantly awake.

“Yes,” Daddy says. The four boys are immediately teleported to the couch-unit where they join the girls.

Allison slouches in her seat with a scowl on her face. “I’m hungry now,” she says.

The couch-unit rises and moves forward, leaving the ship. “Stop whining,” Mama says. Looking around, Nathaniel sees that the ship has landed on a grassy beach. The couch-unit follows a dirt road inland. They pass by many flowers.

The girls start making quick glances at the boys and giggling. What is it they could have noticed? “He’s so,” Allison says.

“When he,” Sarah adds.

“I know,” Matilda says.

“Really?” Allison questions.

“Probably makes it,” Matilda comments. They all burst out giggling.

“The girls’ brains are getting stupider. They can’t make sentences,” Nathaniel whispers.

After several days on Binerty, The Mama-And-Daddy departs and spends one full sleep-cycle travelling to a planet named Cartop. The candy is now eaten, Allison is now eating the kitchen jelly, and the boys and girls have learned to avoid each other. The planet Cartop has no oceans, forests, or deserts. It is completely covered by a continuous surface of pavement punctuated only by parking garage entrances leading to a vast underground city spanning nearly the entire globe. Transport is primarily achieved by automobiles on the paved surface above or by subways, elevators, or moving walkways below. Nearly every surface underground is covered with lights, illuminating the city. Powerful atmospheric scrubbers keep the air clean. Cartop is dominated by the Zleesnits and Nops, though large minorities of Humans, Ninos, Hammer-Faces, Dendophorites, Heltas, Bezerms, and robots of all kinds also live there.

“We’ll be arriving at the planet Binerty soon,” Mama announces as Fred, Doctor Bill, Nathaniel, and Haticat play in their room. A new planet? Why was The Mama-And-Daddy changing its routine? They run up to the tower observation window to view the outside. The ship has already dropped out of overlight mode. The tiny, pale disk of a planet can be seen in the distance.

“What do you know about Binerty?” Nathaniel asks.

“Only that it is listed as a Human-colonized world,” Haticat answers.

“I guess we’ll find out more soon,” Nathaniel states.

The next morning during a breakfast of mostly fudge, Nathaniel and Haticat look out the window and realize that they have left the planet Candy and now sit on Gruezhe. Strangely, this is a different part of Gruezhe they have never visited before. They sit in enormous spaceport, far bigger than any they have ever seen. Instead of a flat, gravel plain, there are landing pads and strips surrounded by blue-brown moss-like plants.

Heading outside with Allison, the couch-unit leads them to a nearby hole in the ground. Descending a ramp into the hole, Nathaniel and Haticat are surprised to find a track with open-air cars. They are directed to climb on and strap in. “I’ve heard about these, but never seen them,” Haticat informs Nathaniel, “They’re called roller-coasters. Only the big playgrounds on Gruezhe have them.”

Nate gets out of bed and rubs his eyes. He is running a little late. He knows that a nurse will eventually come by to make sure he doesn’t miss breakfast, but he hates being told things he already knows. Hurrying, he puts on his slippers. He looks around at the flowered wallpaper and sighs.

Now in the breakfast line, he scoops scrambled eggs onto his tray. He hopes there aren’t any shells in them like last time. He skips the sausage and takes one pancake. Taking a half-pint carton of orange juice, he finds his way to an empty table and sits down. Two seconds later, another man sits down next to him. “Morning, Nate,” the man says.

“Hey,” Nate responds, slightly nervous. He does not know who this man is.

“I’m Derek, by the way. We do this every day. You never remember me,” the man says, shoving a forkful of pancake in his mouth. He has three times as much food on his plate as Nate does. Nate is surprised that the staff let him get away with it. The nurses at least are always fussing about Nate’s nutrition.

“All right. How long have you lived here?” Nate asks.

“Me? About six months now,” Derek replies.

“And I’ve been here about ten?” Nate asks.

“From what I hear,” Derek answers.

“Oh,” Nate says. He drinks his orange juice.

“Man, these sausages are amazing; you’re missing out,” Derek says.

“Mmm,” Nate says.

“I don’t know what Pierre puts in these things, but that man is a culinary genius!” Derek says, “I tell you, I really missed him when he went back to Guiana for his brother’s wedding.”

“Yeah,” Nate responds. He does not remember a Pierre.

Derek stuffs a large forkful of pancake into his mouth – so big he can barely close it. Talking with his mouth full, he says, “I wish they had real Vermont maple syrup. Instead, we get the fake stuff. Pierre says it’s not in the budget. Greedy bastards.”

“Why are you in here – at the facility?” Nate asks.

“Well, let me ask you something, Nate. Do you believe in aliens?” Derek asks.

“I used to,” Nate says, “I’m not sure anymore.”

Derek cracks up laughing. “I ask you that every day. You always give the same answer.” He laughs some more. Finally, he says, “Anyways, aliens killed my whole family – my wife, my kids, my in-laws – and they tell me I’m not managing the loss well.” Derek laughs again. “Oh, also they tell me that there are no aliens and that I actually killed them all myself with a hot frying pan.” He stops laughing long enough to stuff his mouth with pancake.

It is raining outside. The rainy season has begun. Haticat and Nathaniel are sad because they know it is against the rules to play in the rain. Suddenly, Nathaniel gets an idea. “Since it is against the rules to play in the rain, The Mama-And-Daddy will have to let us play inside,” Nathaniel says excitedly.

“Yeah, or else they’ll have to let us play in the rain since it is against the rules to play inside,” Haticat adds excitedly.

“When two rules contradict each other, we can choose which one to follow; it’s rule-relativity,” Nathaniel reasons.

“Yup,” Haticat says. They both immediately begin running through the hallways.

“Stop running inside!” Mama screams.

The Mama-And-Daddy lands on planet Lectipas. Lectipas is remarkably Earth-like, but with far fewer cities. The landscape is primarily forests and grasslands. Other than grasses, flowering plants are few. The trees are mostly ginkgoes, cycads, and conifers. Lectipas is populated by dozens of species of dinosaurs and other large reptiles of all levels of sentience. Small, scattered Human settlements exist as well. There are also aracial creatures of all kinds. The couch-unit carries Nathaniel and Haticat a short distance to a field of grass where other dinosaurs play. They are left off after being warned not to leave the field. The Mama-And-Daddy then joins the other parents standing still at the edge of the field. Haticat follows Nathaniel on all fours as they run toward the other children. The first group they approach consists of a psittacosaur, an iguanodont, a prosauropod, and five Gruezhlings. Though young, the prosauropod is already more than three meters long. “What’s your favorite number?” the prosauropod calls out as Nathaniel approaches.

The next morning before breakfast, Nathaniel runs through the halls of the ship screaming, swinging Haticat by the tail. Haticat laughs. Both are very excited to go to the chemical store and the library. Nathaniel also wants to eat more tacos. Suddenly, Nathaniel stops and drops Haticat. He looks out the window and sees only starry blackness. “Hey, we left Earth; we’re in space again.”

“How long do you think it will take to go back?” Haticat asks, concerned.

“I don’t know,” Nathaniel responds.

“We’re going to the planet Trachoos. That’s why we left Earth,” the nearest Mama-polyp-head says.

“And stop running inside the house!” Daddy yells gruffly.

In the mental health facility, the woman had forgotten to write notes, she had been so engrossed. Now the man had stopped talking. She suddenly became aware of her surroundings. “Why did you stop?”

“I’m curious what you think of it so far,” the man says.

“Well, Mister…” the woman starts.

“Just call me Nate,” the man interrupts.

“Nate. Uh…I’m fascinated with the multiple parallels to the surrounding world,” the woman says.

“Hmm?” Nate says.

“Um, well I mean clearly the Gruezhlings are based on stuffed animals that you either had as a kid or saw with others,” the woman says.

“Stuffed animals?” Nate prods.

“Yes, you don’t remember about stuffed animals?” the woman asks.

“No,” Nate says.

“Um, cloth bags made to look like animals, filled with cotton or some other stuffing. Children use them as toys or pretend companions,” the woman says.

“Oh,” Nate says, “Weird. Before history changed, children I knew preferred real companions.”

“I wonder if all your memories contain these parallels,” the woman says.

“That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? To try to deduce what happened in real life by listening to my stories and making analogies? I’m a witness to something?” Nate says.

“We want to know what happened the night you got caught,” the woman responds, nodding.

The next morning, The Mama-And-Daddy lands gently in a field on another part of Earth. “Nathaniel, it’s time you learned about the creation of the universe,” they tell him as he enters the kitchen for breakfast, still hungry after eating the last of his apples.

“Okay,” Nathaniel says, pouring clear jelly into his bowl (his candy is almost gone). Haticat follows behind on his hind legs, the gravity inside The Mama-And-Daddy somewhat less than outside on the surface.

“We’re going to a church,” Mama says.

“What’s that?” Nathaniel asks.

“It’s where you learn about the beginning,” Daddy answers.

Nathaniel slurps his jelly. “The beginning of what?” he presses.

“Of everything,” Daddy answers.

“Okay,” Nathaniel says, intrigued.