“So what? you might think,” continued George. “What’s a cloud of dust got to do with anything? Why do we care or need to know what happened billions of years ago in outer space? Does it matter? Well, yes, it does. Because that cloud of dust is the reason we are here today.
“Now we know that stars are formed from giant clouds of gas in outer space. Some of these stars end their lives by becoming black holes that slowly, very slowly, let things escape until they vanish in a huge explosion.
“Other stars explode before they become black holes and send all the matter inside them through space. We know that all the elements we are made of were created inside the bellies of these stars that exploded a long time ago. All the people on Earth, the animals, the plants, the rocks, the air, and the oceans are made of elements forged inside stars. Whatever we might think, we are all the children of stars. It took billions and billions of years for Nature to make us out of these elements.”
George paused for a second.
“So, you see, it took an incredibly long time to make us and our planet. And our planet isn’t like any other planet in the Solar System. There are bigger ones and more impressive ones but they aren’t places you could think of as home. Like Venus, for example, which is really hot. Or Mercury, where one day lasts for fifty-nine of our Earth days. Imagine that, if one day at school lasted fifty-nine days! That would be pretty awful.”
George paused for a moment and then continued to speak, the whole hall hanging on his every word as he described some of the wonders of the Solar System. Finally he came to what he thought was probably the most important part, at the end of his presentation.
“Our planet is amazing and it’s ours,” he summed up. “We belong to it—we’re all made of the same stuff as the planet itself. We really do need to look after it. My dad’s been saying this for years, but I’ve just felt embarrassed by him. All I could see was how different he was from other parents. But I don’t feel that way now—he’s right to say we have to stop messing up the Earth. And he’s right that we can all try just a little bit harder. I feel proud of him now for wanting to protect something as unique and beautiful as the Earth. But we all need to do it or it won’t work, and our awesome planet will be ruined.
“Of course, we can also work on finding another planet for us to live on, but it isn’t going to be easy. We know there isn’t one close to us. So if there is another Earth out there—and there might be—it’s a long, long way away. It’s exciting, trying to discover new planets and new worlds out there in the Universe. But that doesn’t mean that home isn’t the place you still want to come back to. We’ve got to make sure that in a hundred years’ time, we’ve still got an Earth to return to.
“So, you might wonder how I know all this. Well, the other thing I wanted to say to you is that you don’t need to find an actual secret key, like I did, to unlock the Universe and help the Earth. There’s one that everyone can use, if they learn how. It’s called ‘physics.’ That’s what you need to understand the Universe around you. Thank you!”
The hall burst into applause as everyone rose to his or her feet to give George a standing ovation. Wiping a tear from his eye, the principal sprang onto the stage to clap George on the back, and said, “Well done, George! Well done!” He pumped George’s arm up and down in a very vigorous handshake. George blushed. He was embarrassed by the clapping and wished it would stop.
Down in the audience, Dr. Reeper also appeared to be crying, but not from pride or happiness, like the principal. He was weeping for quite a different reason. “Cosmos!” he raged under his breath. “So close! I had you in my hands! And now he’s stolen you away from me!”
The principal helped George down off the platform and had a very brief consultation with his fellow judges—all except Dr. Reeper, that is, who was hunched in his seat, whispering to himself and casting nasty looks at George. Borrowing the gym teacher’s whistle and blowing it sharply several times, the principal brought the hall to order again.
“A-hem!” he said, clearing his throat. “I would like to announce that this year’s winner of the interschool science presentation is, by—almost!—a unanimous vote on the part of the judges, George Greenby!” The school hall cheered. “George,” the principal continued, “has given us a wonderful presentation, and I am delighted to award him the first prize, which is this truly amazing computer, kindly donated by our sponsors.” One of the other judges produced a large cardboard box from under the table and handed it to George.
“Thank you, sir, thank you!” said George, who was rather overwhelmed, both by the experience and by the size of the box he had just been given. He staggered down the center aisle toward the exit, clasping his prize in both hands. Everyone smiled as he passed—except for one group of boys sitting at the end of the row, who were deliberately not clapping. They sat there with their arms folded, glaring at George.
“You haven’t heard the last of this,” hissed Ringo as George passed him.
George ignored him and hurried on until he reached Eric, Annie, and Susan.
“You did it, George! I’m so proud!” said Eric, trying to hug George around the huge cardboard box.
“George! You were great,” said Annie shyly. “I never thought you would be so good on stage. And your science was pretty amazing too.”
“Did I get it all right?” George asked her, feeling worried as Eric took the large box from him. “I mean, when I said ‘billions,’ should I have said ‘tens of millions’? And when I talked about Jupiter, I thought maybe I should have said—”
“No!” said Annie. “You got everything right, didn’t he, Dad?”
Eric nodded and beamed at George. “Especially the last part. You got that really, really right. And you won first prize as well. You must be very happy.”
“I am,” said George, “but there’s just one problem. What are my parents going to say when I come home with a computer? They’re going to be so angry.”
“Or they might be so proud,” said a voice.
George looked around and saw his dad, standing next to Susan. His jaw dropped. “Dad?” he said. “Were you here? Did you hear my speech about science?”
“I did,” said his dad. “Your mother wanted me to come and pick you up from school—she was worried about you this morning—and I got here in time to hear your talk. I’m very glad I did, George. Because you’re right, we shouldn’t be scared of science. We should use it to help us save the planet and not close our minds to it.”
“Does that mean I can keep my computer?” squeaked George.
George’s dad smiled. “Well, I think you deserve it. Only an hour a week, though, or my homemade generator won’t be able to keep up.”
There was a sudden commotion behind them, and their little group was rudely pushed to one side by Dr. Reeper, who was charging through the crowd in a great hurry. Following him were Ringo and the other members of his gang. They all looked mad.
George watched them go and turned to Eric. “Aren’t you going to do something about Greeper? Like punish him?”
“Um, no,” said Eric sadly. “I think Graham’s punished himself quite enough already. Best leave him alone. I doubt our paths will cross again.”
“But . . . but . . . ,” said George. “Eric, I wanted to ask you—how did Greeper know where to find you? I mean, you could have gone anywhere in the world, but he was waiting for you here, and he was right. How did he know?”
“Ah well. The house next door to you,” said Eric. “It belonged to my old tutor, the man in the photo with the beard.”
“But he disappeared!” said George.
“He only sort of disappeared,” replied Eric. “I got a letter from him some time ago, saying he was going away on a very long journey, and he didn’t know if or when he’d be back. He told me he wanted me to have his house, in case I ever needed somewhere to work on Cosmos. He couldn’t have imagined that Graham would lie in wait for me here, for all these years.”
“Where did the old man go?” asked George.
“He went . . . ,” Eric started.
“Home,” said Susan very firmly. “Can I give you a lift?” she asked George’s dad.
“Oh no!” he said. “I’ve got my bike. I’m sure we can balance the computer on the handlebars to get it home.”
“Dad!” huffed George. “Please! We might drop it.”
“I don’t mind running George home,” said Susan. “It might be cramped, but it’s amazing what you can fit inside a Mini.”
• • •
Back at George’s house that night, Eric, Susan, and Annie all stayed for a delicious supper of home-grown vegetables eaten by candlelight at the kitchen table. Eric and George’s dad got into a long and very enjoyable argument about whether it was more important to look for a new planet or to try and save this one, while Susan helped George to set up his shiny new computer.
Annie went out into the garden and fed Freddy, who was looking rather lonely in his sty. When she came back from chatting to the pig, she spent the evening dancing around George’s mom, showing her all her ballet steps and telling her lots of tall stories, which George’s mom pretended to believe.
After they went home, leaving with lots of promises of eco-warriors talking to scientists at their conferences and trips to The Nutcracker together, George went upstairs to his room. He was very tired. He got into his pajamas but he didn’t close the curtains—he wanted to look out of the window as he lay under his comforter.
It was a clear evening, and the night sky was studded with brilliant, twinkling stars. As he watched, a shooting star fell across the dark background, its long, shiny tail blazing with light for a few seconds before it melted into nothing.
Perhaps the shooting star is a piece of the comet’s tail, thought George as he fell asleep. As a comet passes the Sun, it warms up and the ice on it starts to melt . . .
