On Earth Read online

  Hiya! My name Thudd. Best robot friend of Drewd. Thudd know lots of stuff. How stars get born. Where planets come from. What happened to dinosaurs.

  Drewd and Unkie Al like to invent stuff. Unkie invent time machine. Oop! Drewd have snack accident. Drewd and Oody go back in time! Want to come? Turn page, please!

  Get lost with

  Andrew, Judy, and Thudd

  in all their exciting adventures!

  Andrew Lost on the Dog

  Andrew Lost in the Bathroom

  Andrew Lost in the Kitchen

  Andrew Lost in the Garden

  Andrew Lost Under Water

  Andrew Lost in the Whale

  Andrew Lost on the Reef

  Andrew Lost in the Deep

  Andrew Lost in Time

  Andrew Lost on Earth

  AND COMING SOON!

  Andrew Lost with the Dinosaurs

  To Dan, Zack, and the real Andrew,

  with a galaxy of love.

  To the children who read these books: I wish

  you wonderful questions. Questions are

  telescopes into the universe!

  —J.C.G.

  To Cathy Goldsmith, with many thanks.

  —J.G.

  Andrew’s World

  1. Buried Alive!

  2. SPLURSHHHH!

  3. KRUZZZAAAAAAH!

  4. Don’t Eat the Passengers!

  5. Knock, Knock. Who’s There?

  6. Beeper

  7. Bug Zoo

  8. Good-bye!

  9. Tsunami!

  10. The Big Dunk

  11. Whose Humongous Tail Is That?

  True Stuff

  Where to Find More True Stuff

  Andrew Dubble

  Andrew is ten years old, but he’s been inventing things since he was four. Andrew’s inventions usually get him into trouble, like the time he shrunk himself, his cousin Judy, and his little silver robot Thudd smaller than a mosquito’s toe with the Atom Sucker.

  Today a problem with a snack has sent Andrew traveling through time—to the beginning of planet Earth!

  Judy Dubble

  Judy is Andrew’s thirteen-year-old cousin. At nine o’clock, she got into her pajamas in a cabin in Montana. A few minutes later, there wasn’t a cabin, there wasn’t a Montana … there wasn’t even an Earth! According to Judy, it’s all Andrew’s fault.

  Thudd

  The Handy Ultra-Digital Detective. Thudd is a super-smart robot and Andrew’s best friend. He has helped to save Andrew and Judy from deadly octopuses, killer jellyfish, and the giant squid. But can he save them from an asteroid the size of the planet Mars?

  Uncle Al

  Andrew and Judy’s uncle is a top-secret scientist. He invented Thudd and the Time-A-Tron time-travel machine. But before he finished the Time-A-Tron, he was kidnapped and hidden in one of Earth’s ice ages! Will Andrew and Judy be able to find him?

  The Time-A-Tron

  It looks like a giant cooking timer, but it’s really a time-travel machine. Too bad Uncle Al got kidnapped before he could make sure it worked!

  Doctor Kron-Tox

  The mysterious Doctor Kron-Tox invented a time machine, too—the Tick-Tox Box. He’s used it to kidnap Uncle Al and another scientist. But why?

  Beeper Jones

  Say hello to Doctor Kron-Tox’s nephew. He likes to collect monster cockroaches and gigunda centipedes. Other than that, he’s not a bad kid!

  KRAAAAAAAAK-UKK-UKKK-UKKKK!

  “Holy moly!” hollered Andrew Dubble. “It feels like an earthquake!”

  Another giant asteroid smashed into the Time-A-Tron time machine. Andrew and his thirteen-year-old cousin Judy bounced in their big blue seat.

  Just two hours ago, they’d been pigging out on pizza with their Uncle Al. Now asteroids were burying them inside the very beginning of planet Earth!

  In front of Andrew and Judy’s chair was a control panel. Its digital display flashed:

  4 BILLION 500 MILLION YEARS AGO

  Judy looked up through the clear dome of the Time-A-Tron. All she could see was solid rock!

  “Cheese Louise!” she grumped. “These stupid asteroids and comets stick together like snowballs! We’re trapped inside tons of rock!”

  meep … “Asteroids and comets make planets,” squeaked a voice from Andrew’s pajama pocket.

  It was Thudd, Andrew’s little silver robot and best friend.

  bong … “That is right, little one,” said the Time-A-Tron. “Without asteroids, there would be no solid Earth, no air. Without comets, there would be little water.”

  “Oh, clap a lid on it, guys!” said Judy. “All I want to know is how to get out of here.” She banged the heel of her slipper on the Fast-Forward button.

  When it worked, the Fast-Forward button moved the Time-A-Tron forward through time.

  Flack! Flack! Flack!

  But there were no balls of green light. The Time-A-Tron’s Fast-Fins wouldn’t spin.

  bong … “I am afraid the Fast-Fins are stuck in stone,” said the Time-A-Tron. “If the Fast-Fins cannot spin, we cannot move forward in time.”

  Judy pushed her face close to Andrew’s. “This is all your fault, Bug-Brain,” she said. “If you hadn’t gotten your stupid fudge stuck on the Fast-Back button, we wouldn’t have traveled to the beginning of the universe in our pajamas!”

  meep … “Drewd! Oody! Look!” squeaked Thudd. He was pointing to the Super-Peeper.

  The Super-Peeper looked like a pumpkin-sized snow globe. It could show what was happening anywhere in the universe. Right now, it showed a sky full of asteroids … speeding toward baby Earth!

  KEEERUCCKK! GRAAACK! SPLURSH!

  Through the dome of the Time-A-Tron, Andrew watched the rock around them start to glow and melt and swirl.

  “Yowzers!” yelled Andrew.

  “Yiiiikes!” hollered Judy.

  meep … “Giant asteroids hit hard, hard, hard!” said Thudd. “Make heat. Clapping hands make little heat. Smashing asteroids make big heat! Rocks melt!”

  Thudd pointed to the much bigger Earth that now appeared in the Super-Peeper.

  meep … “Baby Earth getting born! Getting big!”

  Judy rolled her eyes. “I wish the Earth would get born somewhere else,” she said.

  Suddenly the Time-A-Tron was tumbling along a river of flaming rock.

  bong… “We are following the molecules of Montana again!” said the Time-A-Tron.

  Montana was where they had started. The Time-A-Tron could move through time. But the only way it could move through space was to follow the molecules of Montana.

  Andrew squinted up at the dome of the Time-A-Tron. He was looking for cracks and bubbles. “Um, will the Time-A-Tron start to melt like when we were close to the beginning of the universe?” he asked.

  bong … “The temperature was a billion degrees then, Master Andrew,” said the Time-A-Tron. “This rock soup is only two thousand degrees.”

  Andrew’s eyebrows went up. “Judy try the Fast-Forward button again,” he said. “Now that the rocks are soft, maybe the Fast-Fins can move.”

  Judy slammed the Fast-Forward button again.

  Flack! Flack! Flack!

  HNNNN… HNNNN… WOOHOOOOO!

  The Time-A-Tron jiggled. Sparks of bright green light flashed outside the dome.

  “Green sparks!” said Andrew. “The Fast-Fins are working!”

  BLAFOOOOOOM!

  bong … “We are off!” said the Time-A-Tron.

  BUH-BUH-BUH ZNERKKK!

  The green sparks disappeared.

  bong… “Oh dear!” said the Time-A-Tron. “We’ve moved only ten thousand years ahead.”

  They were still in the gushing rock river. It was carrying them toward the surface of baby Earth.
/>   “Look!” said Andrew, pointing to the top of the Time-A-Tron’s dome. “I see stars!”

  The Time-A-Tron bobbed to the surface of an ocean of fiery melted rock. Above, the night sky sparkled with stars.

  “Cheese Louise!” cried Judy. “Where’s the land? Where’s the water?”

  Andrew peered out through the dome. “This sure is a weird place,” he said. “But it’s too dark to see much. There isn’t even any moonlight.”

  meep … “Earth like this everywhere,” said Thudd. “Big ball of melted rock.”

  bong … “And there is no moonlight,” said the Time-A-Tron, “because there is no moon.”

  “Sure,” said Andrew. “On some nights you can’t see the moon at all.”

  bong … “Pardon me, Master Andrew,” said the Time-A-Tron. “The moon does not yet exist!”

  “I bet I know what you’re going to say,” said Judy. “One of these giant asteroids starts buzzing around the Earth and that’s how we get a moon.”

  “Noop, noop, noop!” said Thudd. “Moon happen different way.”

  “How?” asked Judy.

  meep … “Oody not want to know,” said Thudd.

  “Oh yes, I do,” said Judy. “Spit it out, Thudd.”

  meep … “Moon happen when planet big as Mars crash into Earth,” said Thudd. “Lotsa stuff splash into space. Make moon!”

  Judy shivered. “What if this thing crashes on us?”

  Out of the corner of his eye, Andrew saw a flash. A bright ball of light was streaking across the sky.

  “I hope that’s not the Mars-sized thing!” cried Judy.

  “Noop, noop, noop!” said Thudd. “Comet coming now. Big ball of ice!”

  Suddenly the purple button in the middle of Thudd’s chest began to blink. meep … “Unkie Al!” said Thudd.

  Thudd’s purple button popped open and a purple beam zoomed out.

  At the end of the beam was something furry. A flap of fur fell away.

  Underneath was the familiar face of Uncle Al! He was Andrew and Judy’s uncle, a top-secret scientist. He’d made Thudd and the Time-A-Tron.

  “Hi, guys!” said Uncle Al. His teeth were chattering, but he was smiling.

  “Uncle Al!” shouted Judy.

  “Hiya, Unkie!” squeaked Thudd.

  “Jumping gerbils!” said Andrew. “You really are in an ice age!”

  “You’ve got that right, Andrew,” said Uncle Al. “I’m still in Montana. But I’m located sometime between eleven thousand and twenty thousand years ago.

  “But where are you?” asked Uncle Al. “Safe inside the cabin, I hope.”

  When Uncle Al contacted Andrew and Judy by Hologram Helper, he could hear them, but he couldn’t see them.

  “Um, not exactly,” said Andrew. “We’re in the Time-A-Tron, floating in an ocean of boiling rock.”

  Uncle Al’s frosty eyebrows went up. “Walt Disney on a walnut waffle!” he said. “What happened?”

  “Thudd figured out that Doctor Kron-Tox kidnapped you and took you to an ice age,” said Andrew. “We had to take the Time-A-Tron to rescue you.”

  Uncle Al shook his head. “It’s great that you wanted to help me,” he said. “But time travel is too dangerous. I’d rather be stuck in an ice age than put my favorite kids at risk.”

  “Uncle Al,” said Judy. “The last purple-button message came from Doctor Kron-Tox.”

  Uncle Al frowned. “That doesn’t surprise me,” he said. “Kron-Tox grabbed one of my old Hologram Helpers.”

  bong … “Professor Dubble,” said the Time-A-Tron. “There is trouble with the Fast-Forward button.”

  Uncle Al brushed off an icicle hanging from his nose. “Check the tachyon tubes and—“

  gu … gu … guzzz

  The Uncle Al hologram looked like it was dripping away. Uncle Al’s voice was fading.

  “Uncle Al!” yelled Judy. “You’re disappearing!”

  “It’s the Hologram Helper batteries,” said Uncle Al in a voice they could hardly hear. “They don’t work well in the cold.

  “Now I have something very important to tell you. Doctor Kron-Tox has hidden Professor Wilde …” guzzzzzz “… and he’s planning to …” guzzzzzz

  Before Uncle Al could finish his thought, his hologram completely dripped away!

  “He’s gone!” cried Judy.

  meep … “Look!” said Thudd, pointing to a bright dot streaking through the night sky.

  Judy squinted to see it.

  “A shooting star!” she said.

  “We should make a wish,” said Andrew.

  bong … “We should wish to be somewhere else,” said the Time-A-Tron. “That is no shooting star. That is the planet that will smash into Earth and create the moon!”

  “Uh-oh,” said Andrew.

  “What can we do?” asked Judy.

  bong… “Nothing,” said the Time-A-Tron.

  “Unless the Fast-Forward button begins to work very soon.”

  Judy grabbed her slipper and slammed the button.

  Flack! Flack! Flack!

  Nothing happened.

  The sky was turning red. The tiny dot was growing into a globe of orange light.

  Glowing chunks were falling away from it. Tails of fire streaked across the sky as it sped closer.

  “What will happen to us?” asked Judy.

  bong … “That depends on how strong Strongium is,” said the Time-A-Tron.

  Strongium was what the Time-A-Tron was made of.

  meep … “Purple button blinking!” said Thudd.

  Thudd’s purple button popped open and a purple beam zoomed out. But there was no one at the end of it.

  Tick … tock … tick … tock …

  “It’s Doctor Kron-Tox again!” said Judy.

  A whispery voice began to speak:

  My oh my oh my oh my!

  What’s that coming

  from the sky?

  Is it huge and dark

  and lumpy?

  Does it make you

  awfully jumpy?

  What will happen

  when it crashes?

  Will the Dubbles

  turn to ashes?

  What is to become of you?

  What you don’t know,

  I surely do!

  “HA! HA! HA!”

  Tick … tock … tick … tock …

  The fiery planet was so close that it filled the whole sky. The sea of molten rock churned and turned into waves.

  bong … “Put in your earplugs, little Dubbles,” said the Time-A-Tron.

  Two pairs of earplugs dangled from a door in the control panel. Andrew and Judy stuck them in their ears.

  Then Andrew squeezed his eyes shut and waited.

  KRUZZZAAAAAAAAAAH!

  A humongous crash shook every bone in Andrew’s body. His stomach fluttered up as the crash blasted them down and down.

  When Andrew opened his eyes, flaming rock was zooming by the dome of the Time-A-Tron.

  Andrew pulled out his earplugs. So did Judy.

  “We must be miles deep inside the Earth!” said Judy.

  Ahead of the Time-A-Tron was a glow as bright and yellow as the sun.

  meep … “Core of Earth,” said Thudd. “Like core of apple. Earth core is big lump of iron. Earth core hot, hot, hot! Seven thousand degrees! Surface of sun only five thousand degrees!”

  bong … “Do not look, little Dubbles,” said the Time-A-Tron. “The brightness will hurt your eyes.”

  Andrew and Judy turned away. It was getting awfully hot and sweaty inside the Time-A-Tron. Judy fanned herself with her hand. Andrew wiped his face with his pajama sleeve.

  bong … “We are almost past the core of the Earth now,” said the Time-A-Tron. “We are slowing down.”

  “We’re buried so deep,” said Judy. “How are we going to get out of here?”

  bong … “Ah,” sighed the Time-A-Tron. “All we can do is follow the atoms of Montana. Perhaps the atoms will move up, but it could
take millions of years.”

  Hooo … hooo … hooo …

  Judy looked at Andrew. “What’s that?” she asked.

  “It’s coming from below,” said Andrew. “We’d better go down and see.”

  Hooo … hooo … hooo …

  Andrew and Judy unbuckled their seat belts. Andrew pulled up the trapdoor in the floor. Then he and Judy climbed down the rope ladder to the lower compartment.

  It was dark, but Andrew found the light switch and turned it on.

  Hooo … hooo … hooo …

  When Andrew turned toward the fuel tank, he was nose to beak with a small, feathery face. Its yellow eyes stared at him fiercely.

  “An owl!” said Judy. “It’s so tiny and cute! But how could it have gotten in here?”

  meep … “Owl get into Unkie’s lab,” said Thudd. “Maybe follow prey animal into Time-A-Tron.”

  “A mouse or something?” Judy said.

  chee chee chee

  A chirpy sound was coming from a tangle of black tachyon tubes on the floor.

  Andrew and Judy scrambled over to the tubes.

  meep … “Look!” said Thudd.

  Inside a broken black tube was a tiny furry nose.

  meep … “Shrew!” Thudd said.

  Judy leaned down to see. The nose looked like a mouse nose, but longer and pointier.

  “Cheese Louise!” said Judy. “It’s munching on a tachyon tube! That’s why we’re losing fuel!”

  Judy glanced back at the owl. It hadn’t moved, but it was staring at that twitching nose.

  “Humph,” said Judy. “I know owls eat things like mice and shrews. But there are only four creatures alive on Earth right now. Nobody is going to be eating anybody.”

  Andrew nodded. “We need to get the shrew out of the tube,” he said. “Then we’ve got to fix the tube before we lose any more fuel.”

  Suddenly the pointy nose disappeared into the tube.

  “Uh-oh,” said Andrew.

  He put his foot on the tube behind the shrew to keep it from moving back. Judy cupped her hands in front of the tube.