Journey to UB313

     Abby woke from her nap to Sam screaming. Not knowing what was going on she leaped off the couch and took off running towards the child. As she got closer she could see there was no danger so she slowed to watch. Sam was a very smart 6 year old boy with an imagination beyond compare.

     Abby watched the boy for a few minutes and finally asked him what he was pretending to do now?

     He replied "I am pretending we are on vacation again. Except this time we're going to a different planet, instead of to California!"

     "Oh that's great, that was a pretty fun road trip wasn't it?"

     "Yes!" Sam said adamantly.

     "Well, just like on our road trip, you have to stop along the way and see things. So what places did you stop at, what all did you see, and where were you trying to get to?"

     "The planet we were trying to go to was called, 2003 UB313, the 10th planet from the sun. Before you say it, yes there is a 10th planet from the sun. This planet is larger than Pluto and almost 100 times farther from the sun than the Earth is. It's an ice planet like Pluto, and yes," Said with much attitude and strife, "Pluto is a planet, a dwarf planet but a planet nonetheless. Anyway," He continued, "we stopped at the Moon, Mars, we got to see the asteroid belt on our way to Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto and Pluto's moons Charon and Hydra, Eris, and finally for 2003 UB313."

Abby popped into the boys monologue and asked "So, did you stop at these places or did you just pass by them?"

     "Well just hold on and I'll tell ya!" Sam said slightly annoyed by Abby's interruption. 

     "As I was saying, first the Moon, we stopped here and got to look around, eat, and I went adventuring a bit. It was kind of boring, there were no animals or creatures it was just a plain rock with a bunch of dark holes and craters. I'm glad that we only stayed there for a few hours. After the Moon, we stopped at Mars. And let me tell you, Mars is a blast! There were some other kids there too! I some ares the dirt was kind of sticky so we could stick it together like clay and other areas it was like snow fluffy and light. There was some really good restaurants there too, since people live there, you know. We stayed in a really nice hotel, our room was on the 14th floor and really really nice, it even had a bathtub big enough for me to swim in!"

     "That is really nice! The beds there were really comfortable too, weren't they?"

     "Well duh! Anyway after swimming in the bathtub and sleeping through the night we took off the next morning headed for Jupiter. I was really looking forward to seeing Jupiter. I wanted to see the storm that everybody goes on about. This girl in my class last year, she told the class about her family's trip to Jupiter and how they went to the center of the storm all so her and her mom could go to some fancy spa out there! It was incredulous and she would not stop going on about it! So I began to get a little bit curious. On our way to Jupiter, we passed through the asteroid belt, it was pretty fun but very scary. I thought for sure that one of those giant rocks was going to come straight through the window right into our ship! They had the roadway cleared of asteroids and other things flying through the way but I could have sworn I saw a few of them in the middle of the road! We stopped at the outer edge of the asteroid belt and got some more snacks and fuel, while we were there I got a souvenir, it was one of the rocks that someone had gotten out of the belt. Overall, I guess it wasn't too bad, just scary."

     "It's okay Sam, I think I would be scared too. So how was Jupiter?"

     "When we got to Jupiter, I jumped out yelling for everybody to follow so we can go into the storm! Everyone followed, but as we got to the gates of the storm and the lady at the desk said the area was closed due to the storm intensifying!"

    "What!? No! It can't be closed! You were so excited to see it!"

     "I know, I wanted to go to the mall and Jupiter's storm house - it's a massive bouncy house! I wanted to go play laser tag and ride the horses of Jupiter! I was looking forward to exploring the zoo! It was so horrible! We ended up going to some stupid salon resort for the day. The only thing I did while there was swim and get a hair cut!"

     "I'm sorry Sam. That's awful!"

     "It's ok Abby! When we got to Neptune it was made up for! We got to go swimming in the diamond field and scuba diving into the center. We got to see all of the interesting creatures when diving. I saw a dortej even. Abby, do you know what a dortejj is?"

     "A dortejj is kind of like a mermaid, right? Except it has lungs especially for breathing oxygen deficient air and a tail that has armor plates so that rocks flying around can't harm them."

     " Yeah! It. Was. Awesome! The world was so blue, it was perfect! I got to bring back a beautiful diamond as souvenir! See, Abby?"

     Sam held up a clear aquarium stone for Abby to see. That's very nice, Sam. It's very pretty!"

     "Beautiful. Abby, diamonds are beautiful. Anyway, next up we got to visit Pluto and it's moons Charon and Hydra. It was sooo cold!! And much smaller than I expected. I guess the people that live there must be used to the cold because they didn't have atmosphere heaters like the more touristy planets. The ice there was too gorgeous, the ice was blue when lit up and a greyish color when unlit. The moons though we're astonishing! They were even colder than Pluto so we didn't stay but a few hours there. Did you know, Abby, one Plutonian day is 153 hours?! That's almost a week on Earth!

     We then continued on to Eris, the next, and final, stop before 2003 UB313. I was looking forward to finding out why they called it Eris, you know the goddess of chaos? I feel like everything is a bit chaotic so how crazy must a place be to earn the name representing chaos? As we got there I saw the planet, someone told me that we would not be stopping here, I asked why over and over. It was so beautiful from the windows of our vehicle. After asking a few times and not really getting an answer I settled for watching and wondering from afar. Even though Eris is a dwarf planet much like Pluto it's fiery red, or so it was this time. It didn't take us long to pass by the tiny planet. I know it must have been cold, being so far from the sun but it didn't look like it. Anyhow, as we were almost past the tiny planet we learned why is was named after the chaos goddess. There was a giant asteroid that was flung around the planet and was hurled straight at us! As we were maneuvering away from the asteroid being flung our way we ran face first into a group of space pirates! All of a sudden they had over taken our vehicle and were looking me up and down! I was going to fight them! No one was going to mess with my family that way! So I gave my biggest war cry and grabbed a sword and swinging and slashing I took down enough pirates that they didn't dare harm us anymore! That's when the captain of the pirates stepped out. He was a scary old man with an eye patch and an ugly face! I don't know if he had a wooden leg but I didn't care! I was screaming going to run away. Then all of a sudden, you were there, Abby, protecting me. You made sure the captain didn't harm a hair on my head! 

     In the end we never made it to 2003 UB313 but we had a great adventure! Maybe we can go on a road trip like that this summer Abby! 

     Abby?"

     "Yes, Sam?"

     "Thank you for being such a great bot! I'm never going to let my mom do a so called upgrade on you. You're perfect as you are! I love you."

     "Thank you, Sam. I love you as well. And yes, maybe we can go on an adventure like the one you told of this summer. Though, maybe less pirates?"

     "Less storm uproars for sure, I want to go into that storm! But I think the pirates should stay!" 

THE END