Have you ever wanted to do something great? Something that was bigger than yourself? Here is a story about a boy who had that chance and what he did with it.
Earth is so boring, thought Chad as he looked down from on top of the satellite station where his dad worked. The wind blew against his sun-tanned skin. He’d already done every sport imaginable that summer and didn’t have anything left to do. So, he’d come to see what his dad did at his job. It was dull!! Looking at data readouts on 12 screens that all said the same thing. He’d been spinning in a chair blowing bubbles with some Mega Blobble Gum he had brought when his dad angrily shouted, “Go find something to do already and spit that gum out, it’s not safe.”

Resentfully, Chad spit out his gum and began to climb to the top of the dish station. Just because the gum “supposedly” had radiation in it everyone hated it. As soon as he was sure no one could see him he popped another piece of gum in his mouth.

So here he sat, moping and trying to blow the biggest bubble he could. He blew his bubble bigger and bigger until BAM and he was coated in the bright green glob. It stuck to his blonde hair and all over his arms and legs. Suddenly, out of nowhere, opened a neon hole in front of him. Too distracted with getting the gum off he stumbled through it just as it winked out of existence.

Chad was in a glowing, orange tunnel, hurdling on and on. It was burning inside the tunnel and Chad could hear the gum sizzling on his skin. After a while he could actually make himself shift to the left and right. He was just about to touch the side of the tunnel when it abruptly ended and spat him out on the ground.

Bruised and sore, but otherwise unharmed Chad shakily crawled to his knees and opened his eyes. All around him were blackened bodies of hideous, foreign creatures. Their skin was flaking off and their empty eye sockets stared at him; drawing him into the eternal blackness. He screamed, or tried to since the gum was still covering his face. He hurriedly tore it off as he scrambled down the hill of corpses.

“I have no clue where I am,” deduced Chad as he peered around. Everything looked different. Surrounding him were tall, blue “trees” with orange berries. The ground was a fine, purple sand he observed as he scooped some up from the ground. Chad’s stomach growled noisily. As he looked around for some food he recognized he realized he would have to risk eating one of the orange berries. He began to scale the nearest tree. He had a berry in his reach when he was angrily pulled to the ground by the back of his shirt. Short, fuzzy, bear-rabbit things were all around him as he crouched on the ground. They were dark green with coarse hair all over their bodies. They would have been cute if not for the sharp spears pointed at him thought Chad. They bound and gagged him as they took him back to their village, several yards away. The village was a few huts enclosed by a huge wall made of purple bricks. In the center of the village stood a heap of burning metal.

They led Chad to the biggest hut and he stood face to face with the largest bear thing. Chad could tell that this was the guy in charge. It had many iron bands around its arms and a helmet made of sparkling rings. He began to speak, “Blark, Blooq, Flarkle?” Chad made a face to show that he didn’t understand. What’s he saying? thought Chad angrily. The chief realized that Chad didn’t know what he was saying and clapped his paws together. A servant quickly came up to Chad and jabbed a small needle into his neck.

“Owww!!” Chad yelled as it punctured his skin.


It really hurt, but now Chad could understand the chief.

“Who are you, that fell through the worm hole but was not burned? Why are you still alive?” he bellowed.

“I am Chad. I do not know why I was not burned.” Chad answered as bravely as he could.


Hundreds of thoughts were buzzing in Chad’s head as he said this. Most of which included why he wasn’t burned, how this translator worked, and where was he. Maybe it was the gum that protected him in the tunnel. All he knew was that he wasn’t in Kansas anymore.

“Hmmm”, said the chief, “You look like a very strong creature.” It was true all of the days at the gym had really paid off.

“You will help us defeat the Glorf,” said the chief.

“Whoa, Whoa, Whoa. Hold on”, Chad stammered,” Who are you and what are the Glorf?”

“We are the Zillians, proud inhabitants of planet Zau,” said the chief. “The Glorf are machines that came across the stars to destroy our planet. Long ago we were a peaceful people and farmed for a living. Then one day, many seasons ago a meteor fell from the sky. Out from the crater crawled the first of the Glorf. They were hideous!! They had several metallic limbs with pincers at the end and hundreds of little eyes that saw everything. We tried to live peacefully with them, but they kept consuming our resources. Eventually, we had to fight to stop the depletion of our planet.”

“Why would I want to help you defeat these machines?” questioned Chad.

The chief scowled at Chad and menacingly said, “Do you not feel any compassion for our race.”

Chad pondered this and quickly agreed to help the Zillians. Their plan was to destroy an outpost base just a few miles away from the village. To destroy it Chad would have to blow up the core using a small cube of chlorofium bioxide, which would cause a meltdown in the system. Most of the warriors got set to cause a distraction on one side of the base while an escort led Chad to the access tunnel. The distraction began as the Zillians hurdled rocks at the base from huge catapults. Immediately, giant turrets on the base started firing lasers at the catapults and Zillians. Chad knew that he had to move quickly or lives would be lost. He tossed the rope down the gaping hole after securing it to a boulder and proceeded to slide down it. The darkness was infinite; all he was aware of was the rope he was holding on to and the explosions of the battle above him.

Suddenly, he was out of the tunnel and swinging at the top of a huge cavern. The sides sloped at a steep angle like an eggshell and were a deep purple like the rocks above. Below him and to his right he saw a huge, pulsing, blue orb that rotated around the center of the cavern. In the center was a large platform with hundreds of computer screens. A lone robot sentry stood near the screens. All of the others must be up on the battlefield. I’m gonna have to time this just right, thought Chad. As the orb was advancing under him Chad threw the cube straight down. His eyes flicked back and forth from the cube to the orb, trying to see if it would hit. Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, the cube was sucked into the orb with a loud Fwoosh!!! The orb suddenly froze in place and began to turn a dark red spreading from the point of impact. The lone sentry noticed this and began firing his laser gun at Chad. Chad began to climb up the rope and avoiding the shots fired. He knew that when the orb turned fully red it would explode like an atom bomb.


“Up, Up, Up!!!” he shouted to the tunnel above him.


Slowly, the rope was pulled by the members of his escort. Hastily, he climbed as the cavern faded below him.



“Faster, it’s going to blow!” he screamed up at the Zillians.


Chad could just grasp the top of the hole when BAM BAM BA-BAM BAM!!!!! Chad had barely managed to climb out of the hole when a bright plume of fire blossomed out of it. In the blink of an eye it exploded into a huge mushroom cloud.

The last sensation Chad had was that he was being blown across the ground like a rag doll; and then he lost consciousness.