Chapter 3: Stuck

Mr. DaLoiff was frightened by the fact that Senior and Junior would never be able to return home. “Well, we might as well make them feel at home now, because they won’t be able to go back to their old home,” he said.

Mrs. Hyken sighed, but nodded. Then she went out the door. She was going to prepare a new house for them to live in.

When Senior and Junior recovered, the first thing they said was, “Where am I?”

“You’re on the planet Sprigg,” said Mr. DaLoiff. “The most advanced civilization in the Milky Way.”

Senior looked around himself.

“It looks just like Earth. What’s so advanced about it?”

“We can view life on other planets.”

“There is life on more than just one planet??” Junior asked, bewildered.


“Yes, and we can view all of them from this building.”
Senior was confused about something else. “How did we get from Earth to...uh...what did you say this planet’s name was?”

“Sprigg. Let me show you what happened.” Mr. DaLoiff guided them to another TV set. The signal for this one was good. Mr. DaLoiff moved the camera around. “So, this is what’s happening this very moment on the planet Tweeká. That little boy is asleep. But watch what happens when the camera hits his teddy bear.” Mr. DaLoiff jammed the camera into the toy bear. Immediately that same toy bear disappeared from the screen and threw itself at the people. It had come out of the screen.

“So, that’s what we did, huh? Weird. It took us longer than that to travel between two worlds.”

“Well, time runs slower in the ‘transition tunnel,’ as we call it. But it runs a lot slower when the screen is malfunctioning,” said Mr. DaLoiff.

“How do we put the bear back in his world?” interrupted Senior, not hearing the last sentence.

“Well, do you see these white things? You have to stand on them until they’re the same height.” Mr. DaLoiff demonstrated. Then he threw the bear at the screen. It went through the screen, appeared on the screen, and landed in the exact same spot.

“Does it work for all the worlds?”

“Yes, it does, in fact!”

“Well! There we go, Junior. The way back ho...Junior?”

Junior was nowhere to be seen.

“Uh, there actually is a problem, sir...” started Mr. DaLoiff.

But Senior was more worried about his son now. “Junior!! Get back here!” he shouted.

Junior had followed Mrs. Hyken out the door. She was now typing something on a computer.

Then Junior noticed a bunch of wooden boards.

“What are those for?” he asked.

“Oh, we’re making a new home for you.”

“What, you mean we can’t go back to our home on Earth?”

“Nope, unless we find some way to fix your signal. Otherwise, you’re stuck here.”

“Great,” remarked Junior.

TO BE CONTINUED