“Phew!” The figure in the space suit followed George into the house, slamming the front door with a backward kick of a hefty space boot. “It’s hot in here,” it added, pulling off the round glass helmet and flipping out a long ponytail. It was Annie, a bit pink in the face from jumping about in the heavy suit. “Did you see how scared they were?” she said to George, beaming and wiping her forehead on her sleeve. “Did you?” She strode along the hallway, making clunking noises as she walked. “Come on.”
“Um, yes. Thank you,” George managed to say as he trailed behind her into the same room where he’d watched The Birth and Death of a Star with Eric. He’d been so excited about coming back to see Cosmos again, but now he just felt miserable. He’d accidentally told horrible Dr. Reeper about Cosmos, when he’d promised Eric he would keep it a secret. He’d had a long, frightening journey back from school being chased by the bullies, and to cap it all off, he’d been rescued by a little girl wearing a space suit. It was turning out to be a really bad day.
Annie, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying herself immensely. “What do you think?” she said to George, smoothing down the brilliant white folds of her jumpsuit. “It’s new—it just arrived in the mail.” On the floor lay a cardboard box covered in stamps, marked SPACE ADVENTURES R US! Next to it was a much smaller pink suit with sequins, badges, and ribbons sewn all over it. It was dirty and worn and covered in patches. “That’s my old suit,” Annie explained. “I had that when I was really young,” she said scornfully. “I thought it was cool to put all that stuff on it, but now I like my space suits plain.”
“Why have you got a space suit?” asked George. “Are you going to a costume party?”
“As if!” Annie rolled her eyes. “Cosmos!” she called.
“Yes, Annie,” said Cosmos the computer fondly.
“You good, beautiful, lovely, wonderful computer!”
“Oh, Annie!” said Cosmos, his screen glowing as if he were blushing.
“George wants to know why I have a space suit.”
“Annie has a space suit,” replied Cosmos, “so she can go on journeys around outer space. It is very cold out there, around minus four hundred and fifty-five degrees Farenheit. She would freeze solid in a fraction of a second if she didn’t wear it.”
“Yeah, but—,” protested George. But he didn’t get far.
“I go on journeys around the Solar System with my dad,” boasted Annie. “Sometimes my mom comes too, but she doesn’t really like it in outer space.”
George felt really fed up. He was in no mood for silly games. “No you don’t,” he said crossly. “You don’t go into outer space. You’d have to go up in the space shuttle to do that, and they’re never going to let you on board because they wouldn’t know what was true and what you’d made up.”
Annie’s mouth had formed a perfect O.
“You just tell stupid stories about being a ballerina or an astronaut, and your dad and Cosmos pretend to believe you, but they don’t really,” continued George, who was hot and tired and wanted to have something good to eat.
Annie blinked rapidly. Her blue eyes were suddenly very shiny and full of tears. “I’m not making it up,” she said furiously, her round cheeks turning even pinker. “I’m not, I’m not. It’s all true, I don’t tell stories. I am a ballerina, and I do go into outer space, and I’m going to show you.” She stomped over to Cosmos. “And,” she went on angrily, “you’re going to come too. And that way you’ll believe me.” She rummaged in a shipping box and brought out another suit, which she threw at George. “Put that on,” she commanded.
“Uh-oh,” said Cosmos quietly.
Annie was standing in front of Cosmos, drumming her fingers on the keyboard. “Where should I take him?” she asked.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” warned Cosmos. “What will your dad say?”
“He won’t know,” said Annie quickly. “We’ll just go and come right back. It’ll take two minutes. Please, Cosmos!” she pleaded, her eyes now brimming over with tears. “Everyone thinks I make everything up and I don’t! It’s true about the Solar System, and I want to show George so he doesn’t think I tell lies.”
“All right, all right,” said Cosmos hastily. “Please don’t drop saltwater on my keyboard; it rusts my insides. But you can just look. I don’t want either of you actually to go out there.”
Annie wheeled around to face George. Her face was fierce, but the tears were still flowing. “What do you want to see?” she demanded. “What’s the most interesting thing in the Universe?”
George thought hard. He had no idea what was going on, but he certainly hadn’t meant to upset Annie so much. He didn’t like seeing her cry, and now he felt even worse about Eric. Eric had said to him only yesterday that Annie didn’t mean any harm, and yet George had been pretty nasty to her. Perhaps, he thought, it would be better to play along.
“Comets,” he said, remembering the end of The Birth and Death of a Star and the rock that had smashed into the window. “I think comets are the most interesting things in the Universe.”
Annie typed the word comet on Cosmos’s keyboard.
“Put on your suit, George, quickly!” she ordered. “It’s about to get cold.” With that, she hit the button marked ENTER . . .
