A Planet Named Orby

A Planet Named Orby

By Sam Hardy

            Oh, hello.  I didn’t realize that you were…reading…my typing…um…hello there!  My name is The Narrator.  Yah I know, it’s not a very relatable name.  My parents weren’t quite what you would call imaginative.  I would really like to have a more interesting name like Bob, or Joe.  Actually, Paul, Robert and Harold, those are all really cool names.  You know what else is a cool name?  Well, let me lay it on you.  Orby.

            Now, hang on a second, I know what your thinking.  Orby?  What kind of a name is that?  What would you possibly give a weird name like Orby to?  A toaster?  Some form of remote control?  None.  Well, you could, but it wouldn’t sound very good.  Actually, this is the name of someone very important.  This is the true name of the planet Earth.  While us humans refer to our planet as Earth, celestial beings, planets, Stars, the Sun, call our planet Orby.

            Now, this brings me to my point of writing all this about a name.  I’m going to tell you a story.  This is a story about our planet, Orby.

            Billions of years ago, before anything existed, there was this great celestial event that we now know as The Big Bang.  And yes, it was very big.  So big in fact, that one could not comprehend the magnitude of the event because it’s far more powerful than anything seen by man, either on Earth or in space.  Single-handedly, it was the most powerful, enormously destructive yet also the most unbelievably creative moment in the history of the entire universe.

            Now, we all know that life exists on Earth.  You wouldn’t be reading this if it didn’t.  Some scientists think that life may exist on other planets in our solar system, and probably outside our galaxy.  But did anyone ever think that the gigantic rock beneath our feet could be alive?  Someone did, because in this story, it is.  Or rather, he is.

            Now, this planet that we live on, Earth, Orby; it’s still pretty young.  Younger than most other planets.  If he were a human boy, he probably wouldn’t be much older than 11 or 12.  Orby is a bit of a do-it-yourself kind of guy.  He thinks he doesn’t need help from anyone.  Not from the Sun, not from Venus, or Mars, no one. 

            So, anyways, one day Orby was just reading his favorite comic, The Adventures of Captain Moon Jumper, when a bunch of small rocks hurtling though space were heading directly towards him.  Mars saw what was happening and decided to help Orby.

“Orby!  A bunch of rocks are going to hit you!” said Mars.

Orby looked around, and fried the rocks with his atmosphere. 

“Thanks Mars.  You don’t need to tell me about them, I’ll just make sure none get by me.”  said Orby.

“Are you sure?  It wouldn’t be any problem for me,” said Mars kindly.

“I’m fine, I don’t need your help,” Orby said almost rudely.

“Fine, do it yourself,” Mars replied, flustered.

            Later Orby Started spinning a little slowly, and the Sun warned him about it.

“Careful Orby, you’re spinning a little slow,” said the Sun.

“Just for a second.  I’m fine, I don’t need your help, and I can watch my own spinning.  You worry about your own stuff, okay?”

“Fine.  Just do it yourself,” replied the Sun calmly.

            The next day Venus saw that Orby was drifting a little close to her, but that discussion didn’t go so well.  Orby just didn’t like people telling him where he was wrong.  He just wanted to do things by himself.

“Will everyone stop telling me every single thing they notice me doing wrong?  It’s driving me crazy!  I can do it myself…” Orby said angrily to the other planets.

“Were just trying to help you out Orby,” the Sun.

“I don’t need your help, I’m fine.  Just leave me alone!” huffed Orby, angrily.

            Well, later that day, night fell on Earth.  Orby was Starting to feel pretty sleepy.

“Well, I better be off to sleep now,” said Orby, and he fell off to sleep.

            Well, that would have been fine, normally.  Normally the Sun is up during that time to make sure no one falls out of orbit.  But the Sun fell asleep an hour ago, from an all-nighter of poker from the previous night.  So Orby went a little off orbit.  Then a little more.  Then a little more, and then more and more until Orby fell out of his orbit altogether.

            The other planets weren’t too thrilled with Orby over the past little while.  No one really felt too inclined to help poor Orby over his past behavior.  He had been so rude to them that everyone just wanted to see him gone. Orby was drifting past all the other planets without any one to stop him.  The other planets just watched as he drifted away, their misguided prayers answered.

            After the planets could not see the tiny blue spec that was Orby against the rest of universe, they had no idea just how much Orby had drifted after that.  So no one really knew where Orby was, especially Orby himself when he finally woke up.

“Wha-where am I?” thought Orby.

            He looked around.  There was no sign of the Sun.  He could not see Mercury or Venus.  Even Mars was nowhere to be seen.  Now Orby was starting to get pretty scared.

“Where am I?  Sun, Mars, come on, where is everybody?”

            Then Orby finally felt a little twinkle of hope.  He saw the Sun way out in the distance.  Orby frantically fought his way over there.  He moved as fast as he could through the vast reach of space to catch up with

“Hey, Sun!  Where is everyone?” asked Orby.

            The Star turns around and Orby finds out that it’s not the Sun at all.

“Are you lost?” he asked in a mean tone.

“Hey, you’re not the Sun!” Orby said, confused.

“What is it, are you lost?” the Star asked again.

“No.  Well, yes, sorta; I dozed off and I woke up here,” explained Orby

“Well that’s too bad for you.  I have to be going.” the Star shrugged and left.

            Orby started wandering through this weird galaxy.  There were so many different things he hadn’t seen before.  He was both in awe and scared that he might never find his way home again.

            Well, after much drifting Orby heard a voice.

“Hey, Earth!” said the voice.

            Orby looked around.  He looked left right up down side to side and backwards and forwards.  Nothing was around him. He heard it again.

“Hey Earth, can you hear me?  What’s going on?”

            Orby was now quite scared.  Where was that voice coming from?

“Oh great.  I’m going crazy.  I’m, hearing voices from no where,” said Orby.

“No where?  What are you talking about?  I’m living on you!” said the voice.

“Living on me?  Who said that?” asked Orby

“My names Claira.  I’m a human on Earth, er, you,” said Claira.

“You’re a little girl?” asked Orby.

“Yes, I am.  What’s going on?  Where are we?  Why is the sky all different?” asked Claira.

“Uh, yeah.  About that… umm, I sorta, well, drifted off into intergalactic space while I was asleep,” explained Orby.

“Oh no that’s awful!  We have to do something about this!” Claira said.

“Its okay, I don’t need your help.  I can figure this out all by myself.”

“Earth, you need help.  I mean, the fact is that if someone helped you, you wouldn’t be in this mess,” said Claira.

“Well I don’t know.  And other planets don’t refer to me as Earth; they call me Orby.  Earth is a human name,” explained Orby.

“Oh okay, Orby.  Sorry.  Wasn’t there another Sun?  Which way did he go?” asked Claira.

“Umm...he went that way,” said Orby pointing off in the distance.

“Okay, lets go.  Maybe they can help us.”

“I don’t need help.  I can do this by myself,” said Orby in a huff.

“Okay then, which way is home?  No telling how much you’ve spun since you woke up,” said Claira confidently.

            It was true.  Orby knew it.  He had spun so much and he had no idea how much more he spun.  He had no real idea to know which way his solar system was.

“Okay, okay you win Claira.  Lets go see that Star.”

            So Orby and Claira went in the direction of the other Star.  Eventually as the Star got nearer and nearer the one yellow dot turned into four.  It was, as Orby had learned in school, a Star council.  Well anyways, as Orby neared the council of Stars one of them stopped him.

“Halt!  Who goes there?” asked the Elder Star.

“Uh, my name is Orby, and I’m lost.  Can you…” Orby had trouble saying this last part.  “He-help m-me to find my w-way back home.”

“Hmm, blue planet, land mass.  Aren’t you the planet with the humans on it?” asked another Star with a beard and mustache

“Yes, yes I am!  Can you help me get back home?” asked Orby again.

“Humans!  No, no, we will not help you.  We will help no planet inhabited with beings such as humans.  They are not to be trusted,” said the Elder Star.

            Orby started thinking about Claira.  Maybe the Elder Star was right, and that Claira was just trying to get back her people back to her solar system.  She didn’t care about him; all she cared about was the familiar space around the sun and the moon.

“Besides, you were much to careless to just drift through that much space.  What did you do, fall asleep?” asked the Elder Star

“Y-yes.  I did fall asleep, but I really want to get back home.  Can you just tell me which way it is?”

The Elder Star sighed out of frustration.  “Very well.  Your galaxy is back that way.  Start drifting.  Leave our galaxy now, and don’t ever return.”

            Orby, turned, and saw that the direction the Elder Sun was pointing to yielded nothing but a little cluster of dots.  But sure enough Orby Started to recognize tiny little dots that were red, and blue, and some were green and pink.  And Orby was able to confirm that that was his solar system. Orby did this with both happiness, and also, extreme disappointment.  It was going to take him forever to travel that distance.

            So, Orby started drifting.  He drifted, and drifted, and he drifted some more, and more and more and more.  He didn’t really have any a big form of transportation; he just sort of drifted in the general direction he needed to go.  Orby knew how fast he could travel, and right now he wasn’t hitting his maximum speed.  Orby didn’t have time to think about it before Claira Started talking again.

“So, that little cluster of dots and junk is our solar system?” looking through a telescope

“Yes.  You’ll be back soon enough don’t worry,” said Orby cruelly.

“Are you okay Orby?” asked Claira

“Listen, I know you don’t care about me and you just want to go home so just be quiet and get on with your life as I travel thousands of miles through space for the next year”

“Don’t care about you?  Orby that’s crazy!  Of course I care about you!” exclaimed Claira.

            Orby’s movement became harder by the minute. He had no idea what was going on.  Moving had never been this difficult.

“Yah…right…Like you care anything about me…I’m…just a planet.”

“Orby, what’s wrong?”

“I…can’t…move…” said Orby.

            Suddenly Orby started to move backwards.  Orby felt a great pull on his back, like some strange force had a chain on his back and was dragging him towards it.  Orby turned around and he saw the most terrifying thing he had ever seen in his entire life.

            A black hole.

“BLACK HOLE!!  NO!!” Orby yelled, fighting to escape the enormous gravitational pull that was growing stronger and stronger every second.

            Back on Earth, rather Orby, Claira started running away from the black hole, whose pull had yet to effect those living on Orby.

            Claira went straight to NASA headquarters.  Her and her parents were on vacation in Washington, all the way from Toronto.  Her hotel was coincidentally right beside NASA headquarters.  She ran inside, and went straight to the front desk.

“Sir, there’s a black hole outside!  It’s going to pull in the entire planet!

            “The man looked outside lazily.  To his horror he saw that Claira was right.  There really was a black hole outside.

“Holy Camoley!” said the man, and he hit a big red button by his computer.

            The news of the black hole made NASA headquarters go absolutely bonkers; bright red lights were flashing on and off, sirens were screaming piercingly loudly, people running around every which way.  Some people in army hats, some in astronaut uniforms, business outfits and the like.  Actually, mostly everyone who was running around had space suits on.

            Claira looked out the window.  Outside all the astronauts were running to an impresively large fleet of spaceships.  She saw that they were all connecting titanic cables of steel to the spaceship undercarriages.

“What are they doing?” asked Claira.

“We have protocols to follow if this were to ever happen...” said an army general from behind her.

“You have protocols for when the planet loses its orbit, drifts off into an alien galaxy, and gets near a black hole?”

“You’d be surprised as to how many people believed this would happen.  Now watch closely,” said the general.

            All the spaceships took off.  They rocketed off surface of the Earth and past the clouds and through the atmosphere and out into Space.  The surrounding Stars watched as hundreds of thousands of spacecrafts from across the entire planet combined into a colossal fleet.  Almost a million of these 800 ton or so cables were outstretched thousands of miles into space into the master fleet, and the slack was soon cut and they all stood forcefully taught against the menacingly massive black hole.  They desperately pushed their ships to the breaking point, trying to offset the huge gravitational pull that was going to swallow the entire planet whole.

            Far away, the Suns watched as the humans struggled to keep Orby away from the all-encompassing pull of the black hole.  Despite the valiant efforts of the humans, Orby was still inching towards doom.  The humans were doing nothing but preventing the inevitable.

            But then, just as all hope seem lost, just as Orby felt his body begin to tear from the conflicting forces, Orby felt one more tug.  Just one.  But it wasn’t the tug of a spaceship.  No, this tug was different.  Nothing was actually pulling Orby, but he could feel it.  It was like the black holes force, but different.  Suddenly, Orby was starting to pull away from the black hole.  No more ships had gone into space, but he still was.

            The Elder Sun was behind him, pulling with all of his might along with all the humans to save him.  Soon the other Suns began helping him.  Orby moved further and further from the hole and soon its gravity didn’t seem so strong, not with the gravity of 4 Suns and the might of thousands of space ships working against it.  Soon, Orby was far away from the black hole, and he could move freely again.  He was saved.

            Elder Sun came towards him, and Orby started gravitating around him.  All the spaceships from all over the world were circling the Sun as well.

“Why?  Why did you come and save me?” asked Orby.

“It wasn’t because of you being in danger did I save you. It was mostly because of them.”  Elder Sun pointed to all the space ships.  “It was the humans that convinced us to save you.”

            Orby looked back at the space ships, looking confused.  “The humans?  But I thought you hated humans?”

“So did I.  Until I saw how desperately they tried to save you.”  The Sun looked again at the ships, and back to Orby.  “If humans were really as cold and inconsiderate as I believed them to be not one single ship of theirs would have even a dream of thinking to save you.  They would have just gathered up their things and left.

“But they didn’t.”  Elder Sun continued.  “They risked their lives to save you, and they acted without hesitation.  They love you Orby.  They do.”

            Orby looked at the ships.  They were circling patiently, and then they started going back through his atmosphere to get back to their homes.

“Thank you.  All of you, especially you Claira,” said Orby.

            The Elder Sun was right.  The humans could have left him to go into the black hole, find a new planet to live on.  But they didn’t.  They instead used all of their knowledge and all of their hearts to save their planet; their one true home.

“Well, I guess I had better get going.  I have a really, really, really long way to go,” said Orby.

            The other Suns burst into laughter.  Orby didn’t get the joke, or even if there was a joke in the first place.  Before he could ask, Elder Star Started talking.

“Oh my boy, we wouldn’t have you simply drift in that direction.”  He said, after he stopped laughing. “It would be too dangerous and would take forever.”

“Then how am I going to get back home?”  asked Orby.

“We’ll slingshot you back home,” said one of the Stars.  “Watch.”

            The Stars moved into the shape of a square, in order of smallest to biggest.  Orby didn’t get it but then he suddenly realized how it worked.

“Just drift towards us and we’ll take care of the rest.”  Said Elder Star.

            Orby started forward.  He got caught in the gravity of the smallest Star and he looped around him a couple times.  Then he got slung over to the next Star, which also looped him around until he got slung to the next Star.  Orby was building up a lot of momentum; he could feel it.  Finally, the largest of the Stars, Elder Star gave Orby one last loop and Orby rocketed back home faster than what he ever thought possible.

“So long young Orby!  Have a nice flight!” yelled Elder Sun.

“Thank you for everything everyone!  Thank you!  WOOHOO!” shouted back Orby.

            Soon the Stars became but a distant glimmer to Orby as he hurdled through space at interstellar speed.  His galaxy was approaching so fast he could barely believe it.  Before long Orby could make out the Sun, Mars, Mercury and the rest of the planets.

But Orby didn’t slow down.  “HELP!” yelled Orby.  “I CAN’T SLOW DOWN!”

All of the planets used their gravity to slow Orby down.   It took a little while but soon Orby had slowed back down and he got right back into his proper orbit.

            Over the next couple of weeks, Orby changed.  He was more open to accepting help than ever, and that applied to both other planets and humans.  And Claira got the peace prize for saving the Earth.  She and Orby still talk, and the rest of the population began treating Orby right thanks to her and what happened with the black hole.

            Oh, and thanks to Claira, Orby never fell out of Orbit again.

The End