by Wendy Mass
“Who’s going to eat all this food?” I ask.
Aunt Rae grabs a pitcher of lemonade from the counter and brings it to the table. “I don’t know how much a human needs to eat, so I figured better too much than too little.”
Annika runs in, steadying her leaf hat with one hand. “Did someone say food?”
I point to the table. “Sit. Eat. Sleep. I have to go home for a little while, but I’ll come back for you and we’ll plan our next move.”
Aunt Rae walks me back to the door as Annika dives into a piece of cherry pie with gusto. I would have picked the pie first, too. With her mouth full, she calls out, “Don’t start re-creating the solar system without me!”
“I don’t think you need to worry about that,” I call back. I can’t help but glance at Kal’s drum set as we pass by. I haven’t heard his drumbeats since we were in the first simulation. I get a pang of fear that maybe that was my last chance.
Aunt Rae sees me looking and puts her hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry, he’ll be okay.”
I nod, not at all sure she’s right. I’m about to thank her for watching over Annika again, when I suddenly realize what she said. And she must have heard Annika’s comment about the solar system! We’re not supposed to be talking about it in front of Aunt Rae! This is what happens when there are too many secrets. You lose track! What does she know? And how does she know it?
“Um, what do you mean?” I ask nervously. “I’m sure he’s having fun OnWorld somewhere with his parents.” I have to look away when I say that last part.
“I’m certain you’re right,” she says, opening the door for me. As she closes it behind me, she says, “You can do more than you think you can.”
“What do you—”
But the door shuts behind me before I can ask anything else.
Women!
You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.
—Ray Bradbury, writer
I’m about to knock on Aunt Rae’s door for more of an explanation, when a voice behind me shouts, “It’s about time you’re alone!”
I whirl around. “Kal?”
“Head over to the street and I’ll meet you there,” he says. His voice sounds very clear this time. Hardly muffled at all.
I run down the path to the street. I look both ways to make sure we’re alone. Two young boys are kicking a ball down the block but they don’t even glance my way. “Kal, are you here?”
“I’m here,” he says, hurriedly. “Who’s the chick?”
“The chick?”
“That’s human-speak for girl.”
“Oh, the girl! That’s Annika. She’s the one who saw Aunt Rae baking the pie!”
“For real?” Kal says. “What’s she doing there?”
“She’s, er, staying in your room for now. Aunt Rae’s watching over her.”
“No, I mean, why is she there in The Realms?”
The two boys have stopped playing catch and are watching me now. “Is there somewhere else we can talk?” I ask.
“Just hold up your holoscreen like you’re talking into it.”
“Oh! Good idea.” I fumble in my pocket and pull out the little-used device. Pretending to speak into it, I say, “All I know is that she showed up right when you left. She’s going to help me rebuild the solar system and get Earth back. And you and your parents along with it.” I don’t add the word hopefully, although I’m thinking it. “Where are you, anyway? How are you talking to me?”
“You wouldn’t believe it. This other universe is totally bizarre and freaky beyond measure. I’m using gravitons to transmit my voice.”
“Gravitons? How can you do that?”
“It isn’t easy, I’ll tell you that. They’re the only things that can travel between us. My dad figured it out. It’s like… wait, what? Mom? Wait! I’m talking to Joss! I didn’t get to tell him yet, I was jus—”
“Kal? Are you there?”
A woman’s voice answers instead. “Joss? Can you hear me?”
It’s Kal’s mom! “Yes! I can hear you! We’re trying to get you back! We have a plan. Well, sort of a plan!”
“Joss, you have to listen.” Her voice is urgent. “The PTB know what they’re doing. If Earth had to be taken out of time, you need to leave it there.”
Figures Kal’s mom would feel that way. She works for the PTB and is very loyal. But I’m not going to let her sacrifice herself and my best friend. Not when I can do something about it.
“Joss? Do you hear me? You must—”
I wait for her to finish, but she doesn’t. I must what? “Hello?” I call out into the air. “Are you still there?” The two little boys are giggling behind me. I’ve forgotten I’m supposed to be talking into my holoscreen.
No one answers. “All right, then,” I say, directing my voice toward my screen. “Thanks for the, uh, visit.”
I run all the way home, and by the time I get there, I have a plan. Or the beginnings of one, anyway. I stand in front of the face reader. I expect to see the rest of my family’s pictures up on the screens, since anyone who misses Family Picture Day has to deal with the wrath of Mom, and that’s not pretty. But only one other face shows up—Ash’s. Fortunately, Ash is just the person I need to see to put the plan into action.
“Hello?” I call out.
“Up here,” he shouts from the second floor.
I find Ash at his desk, hunched over a book thicker than his arm. Even though we don’t sleep much, we each have our own bedrooms where we can go to be alone. It seems like a long time since I’ve been alone in mine, just playing, or doing homework. Which reminds me that I never wrote my essay. Hopefully my teacher will decide that saving a solar system is more important.
“Hey,” I say, plopping down on his bed.
“Hey,” he replies, turning the page of his large book.
“Where is everyone? Isn’t it picture day?”
He nods, not looking up. “Rescheduled.”
“Really?” That almost never happens. With time being so flexible in The Realms, there’s rarely a need to change anything around.
“Apparently Dad had some important meeting he couldn’t miss. After that, everyone else just left.”
“That’s too bad,” I say, relieved. Picture day is the worst. “Ash, can I ask you something?”
He doesn’t reply. I take that as an invitation to continue. I dig in my pocket and pull out one of the confidentiality agreements, which I place on his open book.
“What’s this?”
“Just read.”
When he gets to the part about cleaning my room for the next millennia, he tosses it aside. “What’s this all about, Joss? I’m sorry, but I’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Ash has a very important job, even though, like Bren and me, he’s still in school. “I know you’re busy creating species in far-flung corners of the universe. I’ll be quick.”
He closes his book and gives me his full attention. “Is that what you think I do? Create species?”
“Isn’t it?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t actually create anything, or anyone. I just monitor things. I compare the rise of a certain species on one planet with another. I look for mutations, and their sources. I also track the cross-pollination of species via interstellar travel. But create species… no.”
“I’m sorry,” I say, somehow feeling the need to apologize. “That’s still a really important job with a lot of important-sounding words. All I do is deliver pies.”
He tilts his head and studies me. “Fine, I’ll sign it. But only because I’m really curious.” He hands back the paper and I blurt out my story, the same one I told Ty in the Afterlives. Only this time I add the stuff about meeting Annika’s grandfather and the astronomer. I end with, “So then he disappeared before he got to tell us what chemicals were in the people. Gluck said I could find out by testing Annika somehow. Can you help me with that?”
“Why don’t you jus
t use the data dots? That’s where I get a lot of my information from. I’m sure they’ll let you borrow them.”
“They did. But they’re gone now.”
“Gone?”
I look down. “I sort of lost the dots.” I can’t bring myself to say that someone took them.
“Truly? The whole history of the planet is lost?”
I nod.
He shakes his head, but doesn’t reprimand me. “All right, Joss. I’ll help you. You’ve always been a good brother.”
That’s just like Ash to say. He looks at things very scientifically, without much judgment. Usually it annoys me. Now I could hug him. I won’t, though. That would be weird.
“When do you want to do this?” he asks.
“As soon as Annika wakes up. She’s at Aunt Rae’s.”
He shakes his head. “I don’t think so.”
Before I ask what he means by that, I hear it, too. The thump thump thump of her heartbeat. I look out Ash’s transparent wall to see Annika and Aunt Rae approaching the house. They look up and see me. Annika waves. “Hey, Joss! Couldn’t sleep! Cool house!”
Ash joins me at the window. “What’s in her hair? Did she cross-pollinate with a Florapod?”
“No. It helps her breathe.” We leave the room and head downstairs. “You probably shouldn’t mention it unless you can say something complimentary.”
“I won’t mention it, then,” he says.
Aunt Rae gestures for Annika to enter, then says, “I have to run. Got a big pie order in.”
“Should I deliver them?” I ask. I’ve never missed work before. I hadn’t even thought of it, but they must be piling up.
She shakes her head. “We’re okay for now. Don’t worry.”
She gives Annika a quick hug and rushes out.
“You sure you’re not tired?” I ask Annika.
She shakes her head. “Must be something in the food. Or the air. Or the lack of air. I don’t know, but I’m not.”
“Did you have enough to eat?”
She looks a little sheepish. “Honestly, all I could eat was the pie, which was AMAZING. Everything else was really bad. I’m still kinda hungry.”
Ash clears his throat.
“Oh, sorry! Annika, this is my brother Ash. He’s the third youngest.”
“I prefer fifth oldest,” Ash says, reaching out to shake Annika’s hand.
“Ash is going to help us figure out what kinds of chemicals are in your body. Gluck says if we know that, we can work backward and that will help us rebuild things.”
She turns to Ash. “How would it work?”
“Well, first we drain all your blood, collect the marrow from your bones, slice up your brain, and then analyze it all in the lab. That will tell us the proteins, fats, enzymes, phosphates, chemicals, and…”
Our openmouthed stares stop him from going any further.
“What?” Ash asks, looking back and forth between the two of us. “What’s wrong?”
“Seriously?” Annika demands.
He sighs dramatically. “Or… we could scrape a few cells from your arm, pull out a piece of hair, and you could spit in a jar.”
Annika taps her chin, pretending to think about it. “Let’s go with the second one.”
Ash shrugs. “Suit yourself. I can’t promise it will be as accurate.”
Pushing aside the piece of ivy that has slipped in front of her eyes, she says, “I’m willing to take that chance. Now, what’s a girl gotta do to get a bagel with cream cheese and Red Hots around here?”
Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand.
—Lawrence M. Krauss, physicist
For the tenth time during the short walk to the building where he works, Ash warns us not to touch anything when we get inside. Honestly, he thinks we’re children! I’m only nodding politely because he’s doing us a big favor.
“I’ll try my best not to stick my finger in a socket,” Annika promises. “It will be hard, but I’ll use all my efforts to make sure I don’t flip any off switches to on, and any on switches to off and cause anything to accidentally explode.”
“That’s a good start,” Ash says, ignoring her sarcasm, or simply not noticing it.
Like most of the other buildings in The Realms, the Hall of Species is dome-shaped. But where most of the others have transparent walls, these are permanently shaded. It is also the second-largest structure after the Afterlives, and like that one, the inside is much, much bigger than the outside. I haven’t been here since a school field trip when I was younger. Kal got lost in the maze of hallways and it took four teachers to track him down. I hope that wherever he is now, he’s safe and he knows I’m trying to help him.
Ash takes out a long key with lots of ridges and nubs. He inserts the key into the lock outside the main door and does some kind of elaborate routine of turning it back and forth in different directions before we hear the click.
I follow Annika into the building, but only get a few feet before I bump right into her. “Ugh!” I rub my nose.
“Sorry,” she says absently.
“Is this the wrong kind of light again?” I ask. “Can you see?”
“I can see,” she says. “Boy, can I see!” She turns in circles, looking in every direction with wide eyes and an open jaw.
Okay, so the place is pretty cool. Every few feet a holoscreen projects a life-size image of the most advanced species from each terrestrial planet. They revolve slowly, so we can see every angle of their bodies. The variety is astounding, and there is no rhyme or reason in terms of how they are organized, or at least none that I can see. Tiny microbes are next to giant multilimbed creatures, many with scales to protect themselves from the power of their sun. Most of the statues spread around The Realms are based on these projections.
“Where’s the human?” Annika asks, unable to tear her eyes away from a golden creature with three legs, four arms, and a mouth wider than Annika’s whole head.
Ash gives a little snort. “Humans have been around for only two hundred thousand years, your time. We’re still cataloging species two, three million years back. We’re a bit understaffed here.” Then he brightens. “Hey, we can use you as our sample! That will really help us out! Between you and me, I figured we’d have to cross Earth off our list since the reports are gone and, well, Earth is, too.”
Annika backs away slowly. “Will it hurt? A few minutes ago you were willing to slice up my brain.”
He holds up his hands. “Won’t feel a thing, I promise. And just think, you’d be immortalized in The Realms forever.” He spreads his arms wide as though to say, Look around! All this could be yours!
Annika shrugs. “Sure, why not.”
Ash smiles. “Excellent! I haven’t had a live specimen to test since… well, ever!”
Something occurs to me. “Hey, Ash, do you know why Kal’s parents would have wanted the records on humans? Gluck told me they asked for them for some big project they were doing.”
He nods. “Kal’s mother came herself. Took me a while to find it since, like I said, that data is pretty far down the list.”
“She came herself? That’s strange. Kal didn’t mention his mother was back for a visit.”
“She was in a big hurry,” Ash replies, lifting a set of keys from a hook on the wall. “She just kept saying it was urgent, but didn’t tell me why she needed it. Got me all flustered. Almost gave her the specs for Homins instead of Humans. Pretty different.” He chuckles. I can’t help chuckling, too, not because Homins are so funny—even though they are—but because it’s rare to see anything other than Ash’s serious side anymore.
“What’s a Homin?” Annika asks.
Ash leads us a few yards away and points to one of the holograms. The tiny yellow-and-blue-striped creature is an almost perfectly round ball of fur, except for the two protrusions with big round eyes at the ends. The eyeballs dance inside them to
a beat only they can hear. The creature’s nose and mouth are tiny, barely visible among all the fur.
Annika eyes it warily. “You pick the most evolved creature on each planet and that’s all you could come up with?”
“Press the button,” Ash says, pointing to a red circle on the podium below the Homin.
As soon as she does, a deep rumbling voice comes out, reciting what sounds like a mathematical equation. It goes fast, but I catch something like, take forty-two to the twentieth power, multiply by pi cubed, divide something, add something else, and then do a whole bunch of other things I have no hope of understanding.
Ash smiles. “That’s the formula for the universe. Only a few thousand out of the millions of intelligent species in the universe have ever figured it out. Never judge a creature by its size. Or its weird eyes. Or its—”
“Got it,” Annika says, holding up her hands. “No judgment.”
Ash leads us away, sorting through his large key ring. Annika walks close to me and whispers, “Note how I didn’t mention your brother’s overly large head. Looks like a bowling ball, that thing!”
I giggle. It may not be manly, but that’s what came out. Ash, if he heard, ignores both of us. We follow him through the seemingly never-ending display of the universe’s creatures. I give wide berth to the slender Niffum. Even though he’s obviously not real, those penetrating eyes and long fingers freak me out. Eventually we reach a wall with a long table against it. The table is dotted with various items from different planets, all with labels in front of them. I recognize a lot of the plant life from learning about them in school, and a lot of the food items, too. Beside me, Annika’s belly rumbles.
“Those look really good,” she says, pointing to a plate piled high with what look like hot buttered rolls but are actually fermented telimide beans from a planet whose main source of liquid is methane.
“You don’t want to try that,” Ash says, gently pushing Annika’s hand away.
“Why not? I’m really hungry.”