pi in the sky by wendy mass [sample]
TRANSCRIPT
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Little, Brown and CompanyNew York Boston
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What You Need to Know
Okay, rst o, the quotes that start each chap-
ter are rom real people who know a lot o
really cool things. Youll probably recognize
some o their names. Second, you should
know that this story takes place completely in The Realms
(pronounced like relms, not reelms, which would just be
weird). What are The Realms, you ask? Where are The
Realms? Well, those are tricky questions. I have a theory,
but its a guess, at best, and I hope you wont hold me to it.
Come closer and Ill tell you.
The Realms arent so muchsomewhere as they are every
where. And to explain that, Ill need to start by explaining
the discovery o a mysterious substance called dark matter.
Hang in there now. This wont hurt a bit.
Basically, a lot o supersmart scientists who have spent a
REALLY LONG TIME in school tell us that most o the
stu in our universe (96 percent) is invisible. Even
though dark matter is all around us, we cant see it. Not
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even with the help o those enormous telescopes that see so
ar out into space that they are really seeing back in time.
And why cant we see dark matter? Well, those same
smart scientists will tell you its because dark matter doesntgive o, or refect, or absorb any light that we can see or
measure. But we know its there because it attracts regular
matter, the stu we CAN see. Dark matter allows gravity to
spin gas and dust into stars and planets and galaxies. It gives
structure to the cosmos, like the scaolding o a building.
Yes, thats what your science teacher would tell you. But
thats hardly the whole story. The real reason we cant see
dark matter is because thats where The Realms are located
and they have EXCELLENT cloaking devices. Truly, the
universe is a much stranger place than most people give it
credit or, teeming with lie and ull o secrets.
Now you might be wondering what goes on in The
Realms. And what this has to do with us, tucked away on
our comortable little planet, a sae twenty-seven thousand
light-years away rom the massive black hole asleep at the
center o our Milky Way Galaxy. Well, who better to answer
those questions than someone who has lived in The Realms
his whole lie? Someone around your age, with the same
kinds o dreams, desires, and hopes or the uture. Someone
who thinks that nothing very exciting happens in his lie.
He doesnt know it yet, but thats about to change. So sit
back, relax, and enjoy. Because in about seven pages, the
gravity that keeps your eet glued to the ground will be gone.
Dont say I didnt warn you.
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I you wish to make an apple pie rom scratch, you
must frst invent the universe.
Carl Sagan, astronomer
1
I
you think its tough being the Supreme Overlord o
the Universe, try being his son.
Or, more precisely, his seventh son. That whole
thing about the seventh son being special in some
way? Just a rumor spread by a ew disgruntled seventh sons
trying to make a name or themselves. In my experience,
being the seventh son only means that by the time I got
here, my brothers had taken all the cool gigs. They spend
their days creating new species, choreographing sunrises
and sunsets, composing the music o the spheres by keep-
ing planets in their orbits, inspiring great artists, over-
seeing the Aterlives, and testing new, state-o-the-art
video games on the planets whose inhabitants havent yet
discovered how to access most o their brain cells. Me? I
deliver pies.
Thats right. I. Deliver.Pies.
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Cherry pies. Apple pies. Strawberry-rhubarb pies. True,
my pies happen to be the glue that holds the very abric o
the universe together, but have no illusionthey are still
pies. I guess you could say theyre pretty bigpies, but sizelike timeis relative. To a creature living on one o the
millions o inhabited planets that it is our job to oversee,
the pies might be as big as a moon or as small as, well, a
pie. Hard to say or sure, since Ive never been out o
The Realms. But thats a whole other gripe.
The point is, a long time ago, the Powers That Be
(known simply as the PTB) decided it was getting messy
trying to control the orces that keep the stars and planets
and galaxies rom crashing into each other. So they decided
to combine the undamental orces o nature and somehow
shape them into a nice, sweet-smelling pie. Why a pie?
Why nota pie! Who doesnt like pie?
Its my job to pick up the pies resh rom the oven, box
them up, and deliver them to the correct department at the
Powers That Be headquarters, which currently looks like a
giant boot but can change regularly.
Anyway, when I pick up the empty pie tins at the end o
my shit, only crumbs are let. Somehow the Powers That
Be distribute the pies to the ar reaches o the universe,
wherever new star systems are orming. Since the universe
is constantly expanding, this means my job is never done.
I dont actually know the nitty-gritty o what happens to
the pies once they reach their destinations, which is
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unortunate because I have this big report due or school
next week on what my job entails, and thats the kind o
detail teachers eat right up.
Yes, even immortal sons o Supreme Overlords have togo to school, which doesnt really seem air. I mean, I might
have only begun my teen years, but years here lastforever,
so really, Ive been in school since beore the Sombrero
Galaxy took its rst siesta billions o years ago. Its enough
already.
Anyway, right now Im heading to my last pickup o the
day and then I have to go home and write the annoying
report. At least the pickup is at my best riend Kals house.
Kals parents are OnWorlders, which means they live most
o the time on dierent terrestrial planets, doing research
and writing reports. As a rule, we never interere with the
planets natural evolution. That said, Ive heard rumors.
Ater all, theres only so much one can take o watching
dinosaurs stomp around aimlessly or a ew hundred
million years beore you need to send an asteroid their way.
No matter how many times I walk this same path, I never
get bored o it. The central Realmshome to most o the
residents and buildingsare set up like a grid, with walk-
ing paths crisscrossing each other at even intervals. On
either side o the paths trees loom high and streams weave
their way between them. When I was younger, beore I
started delivering the pies, I could usually be ound in one
o the distant elds with Kal or Bren, watching the clouds
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change color. The sky here is without color, but the clouds
more than make up or it. I learned in school that on the
planets, clouds and trees and water are solid objects,
providing some sort o purpose in nature. In The Realms,they are more likesuggestions o such things, until someone
wants to use them. A lake becomes a lake when someone
wants to go shing. A fower becomes a fower when some-
one wants to water it, or admire it, or put it in a vase. Even
then its not a real fower, like the type that grows in the
soil o many o the terrestrial planets. But that doesnt make
it any less beautiul.
Aunt Raes ront lawn is ull o fowers growing
rom nowhere and rootless trees. Shes very proud o her
garden, and when shes not making pies, I usually nd her
gardening out here.
Took you long enough, Kal says, swinging the door
open. Kalwhose ater-school job is to welcome new arri-
vals to the Aterliveshas a greater sense o time than most
o us here in The Realms. Since he deals with lie-orms
whose lives actually have beginnings and endings, the whole
thing sort o rubs o on him and he gets impatient easily.
I plop down on the couch and say, Im here the same
time I always am.
He mutters something that I choose to ignore. I put up
my eet and breathe in deep. Their house smells soooo
good. Aunt Rae is one o the best pie makers in all The
Realms, but she is also the slowest. Cant rush perfection is
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her motto. I never mind waiting. Any time I get to put my
eet up and do nothing works ne or me.
Is that you, Joss? Aunt Rae calls out rom the kitchen.
She always knows when Im here, even though shes nearlycompletely dea. She sticks her head out rom the kitchen,
apple pie juice running down the ront o her apron.
Hi, Aunt Rae, I yell. How are you today?
Kals aunt is one o the Old Ones. All the pie makers are
rom the rst wave o immortals. Its not like their bodies are
breaking down or anything, but they dont sel-repair as well
as the rest o us. O course, Aunt Rae could get her hearing
xed instantly instead o wearing an adjustable ear volumizer,
but she says the silence helps her ocus on baking her pies.
Personally, I think she likes not having to hear Kals music
blaring all the time. He has terrible taste in music, even with
all the music in the universe to choose rom. Hes been
working on his own masterpiece, which is even worse.
Cant complain, Aunt Rae replies cheerily, wiping her
orehead and leaving a smear o four behind.
Wanna hear my latest and greatest? Kal asks me, pick-
ing up his drumsticks without waiting or an answer.
Aunt Rae switches her volumizer to the offposition and
ducks back into the kitchen. I cover my ears with my hands.
As usual, this is the point where I get even more jealous that
my oldest brother, Thade, gets to hear the Music o the
Spheresthat melodic tune made by the planetary bodies
as they go around their orbitswhile I get to hear Kal doing
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things to the drums that should never, ever be described as
music. Kal claims he learned this latest piece rom a drum-
mer in a band he recently escorted to the Aterlives. The
guy had come rom Earth, which is a particularly well-likedplanet around here due to its being one o the ew where the
inhabitants developed a sense o humor.
Its only when Kal pauses to fip his drumsticks dramati-
cally in the air that we hear the sirens. He drops the drum-
sticks, and one hits the cymbal with a tszing! The sirens
mean only one thingsomeone on one o the inhabited
planets is zeroing in on our location with whatever technol-
ogy theyve developed to peer into their night sky. Normally,
The Realms cant be seen rom anywhere in the universe.
But every once in a while a rip occurs in the abric o the
space-time continuum. Quantum entanglement becomes
untangled. I someone happened to be looking at exactly
the right spot, they could catch a glimpse o us. And just
the tiniest glimpse is catastrophic.
I was only a billion or two years old, a baby really, when
the sirens last blared. Intelligent lie in the rst batch o
planets had just started peering into the skies. The viewer
at the other end o the primitive piece o equipment spotted
a garden party at one o the ancier estates in The Realms.
The old guy was so shocked at what he saw that he dropped
dead o a heart attack on the spot. Dying in this way was
actually a bit o luck or everyone else on his planet, since
the penalty or laying eyes on any o the beings living in
The Realms is the immediate disintegration o the entire
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planet. Under the circumstances, in an uncharacteristically
charitable move, the Powers That Be allowed the planet to
continue existing. A dead man tells no tales, as the saying
goes. But I doubt they will be so orgiving again. No oneknows exactly why the punishment is so harsh, but since
this almost never happens, the whole issue doesnt get
much attention.
DUCK! Kal screams, throwing himsel to the foor.
Between the intermittent wails o the siren, I can still hear
Aunt Rae humming.
Aunt Rae! I yell. You have to duck!
But she doesnt hear me. Even the sirens dont get
through when her volumizer is o.
I hal-slither, hal-crawl on my elbows and knees to the
opening o the kitchen. Kal ollows close on my heels. Aunt
Rae is reaching into the oven, pulling out a perect,
steaming-hot apple pie. I reach up to grab the hem o her
apron just as she turns around.
But Im too late. The area around her vibrates and
shudders, almost imperceptibly, then settles back into
place. No doubt about it, she has been spotted. Someone
has broken (or at least bent really ar) the laws o physics
and has laid eyes on Aunt Rae and her amous apple pie. It
is the last thing he will ever see. He will not get the chance
to tell anyone on his planet o his discovery. There will no
longer be anyone to tell.
The wail o the siren now becomes one long keening cry.
No one likes to think o any o the worlds ending. Weve
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watched them grow rom grains o dust, so its quite heart-
breaking. The siren ades out. I roll over onto my back and
stare up at the ceiling.
Joss? Aunt Rae asks, leaning over me with obviousconcern. She fips her volumizer back on. What is it?
But I can only shake my head, a tear sliding down my
nose. I know new planets are being ormed constantly, new
civilizations rising and alling and rising again, but still, its
a huge loss.
I hope it wasnt Earth, Kal says, his expression grim.
I nod in agreement. Besides the act that the people o
Earth understand that fatulence can be unny, they have
the tastiest enchiladas. Actually, those two things are most
likely connected. While there are millions o planets in the
universe with some orm o lie, they are all in vastly dier-
ent stages o development and intelligence. Many never
develop technology at all, never learn how to harness the
elements and orces around them. But i they do, and i they
cant control it, they usually destroy themselves pretty soon
ater. This leaves only a narrow window when the inhabit-
ants are using their knowledge to educate themselves, to
look out at the universe and seek answers. Earth is in this
zone right now.
A voice booms through the house. Joss! Are you still
there?
I jump up rom the foor so quickly my brain spins. Kal
and I stare at each other. My ather NEVER uses the
communication network himsel. As Supreme Overlord,
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he has a whole sta or that. The act that he is calling me
now cant be a good sign.
Answer him, Kal hisses.
I clear my throat. Yes, Dad, Im here.Report immediately to PTB headquarters.
Yes, sir, I reply, halway out o the kitchen.
But he isnt nished. And bring the pie!
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Dark matter holds the key to the universe.
Paul Davies, physicist
2
I
weave my way in and out o the busy streets, the
steaming pie tin burning my hands. I hadnt even
given Aunt Rae a chance to put it in a box. As always,
when I rst picked up the pie, I elt a sort o current
go through me, like my body was getting heavier. It must be
something in the pies that causes it. The eeling is not
entirely unpleasant, and I like to linger beore it ades. But I
couldnt do that this time. As relative as time is in The
Realms, my ather does not like to be kept waiting. And
when he does not like something, you do your best to
avoid it.
The streets are usually not this crowded. With so much
space in The Realms, there is rarely a reason or people to
gather. But the blare o the sirens got everyone out and talk-
ing. I push through a group o kids I go to school with,
which is made easier by the act that they part slightly when
they see me coming. This is one o the downsides to having
a really important atherthe other kids keep their distance
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rom me. All except Kal, who I can always count on to
remind me that I may have a amous amily, but my hair
grows in lopsided and no girl has ever gone on a date with
me twice.In the olden days, we used to be able to travel instanta-
neously, winking in and out o places like the smallest o
elementary particles. Those were the days. Everything was
so easy then. Took me a tenth o the time to complete my
daily pie-delivering, leaving endless opportunities to clown
around with Kal or bowl down at Thunder Lanes. But the
Powers That Be xed it so our bodies can no longer vibrate
at a high-enough requency to achieve this state. We also
eel pain now, which is bothersome. They decided we
needed to live more like our mortal kinsmen in order to bet-
ter serve their needs. The PTB are strange that way. Their
main job is to oversee the various species who populate the
universe, but a lot o the time they seem not to care much.
Suns explode in ery supernovas, wiping out any lie-orms
unortunate enough to be within ty light-years, sending
their atoms spewing orth into the void o space, and do the
PTB do anything to stop it?
No. No, they do not.
Civilizations destroy themselves (and others) over and
over again, and the PTB watch on the planet view screens
and place bets on what the last survivors nal words will
be. (Theyre usually something like, Oh, crud.) This is
not quite as cruel as it sounds, since the bylaws o the Pow-
ers That Be strictly orbid interering or choosing sides in
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planetary squabbles. This is widely agreed to be the best
course o action. Might they turn their backs occasionally
and allow someone to steer a meteorite embedded with
amino acids toward a recently cooled planet in a new solarsystem? Sure. Prevent nuclear destruction o an advanced
civilization? No.
Im coming with you, Kal calls out, catching up to me
on the street. Kal has transormed his legs into wheels,
which was very smart o him. Even though all o us in
The Realms can quickly rearrange the cells in our bodies
to create new patterns, I usually dont think o it. It takes a
lot o mental eort, and I preer to save that eort or school
so I dont ail out. Plus, with wheels, you wind up with all
sorts o bruises, and you have to pick pieces o dirt and
random tiny objects rom your skin long ater youve
turned them back into legs.
You should go home, Kal. My dad didnt sound happy.
You dont want to be around when hes not happy. Remem-
ber that time he turned you into a cow pie because you
wouldnt stop drumming with your ork and spoon when
you came over or dinner?
Kal shudders at the smelly memory but squares his
shoulders and says, It was my ault we didnt hear the
sirens sooner. You shouldnt have to take the blame.
I wasnt going to, I reply. Im lying and we both know
it. Ive been taking the all or Kal since we were in diapers.
As a son o the Supreme Overlord, I do get special treat-
ment. The PTB oten look the other way i one o my broth-
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ers or I bend the rules every now and then. Bren (the
brother closest to my age and the one I like the best) and I
once broke into the Department o Gravity to see i we
could nd some gravitons to take us to a neighboringuniverse. Wed heard rumors o other universes that waves
o gravity could travel between. It didnt matter to us that in
billions o years no one had ever ound these universes,
supposedly ull o their own stars and planets and galaxies.
We got caught, o course, because theres no way to sneak
around here without everyone knowing your business.
Since everyones araid o our ather, all we got was a
warning. (The next person who got caught breaking in
there was turned into an ear mite. He was last seen living
inside the ear o a particularly smelly Plumpadorus in the
Cygnus Galaxy.) But what happened today will likely result
in more than a slap on the wrist and a lecture.
Kal and I come to a stop in ront o PTB headquarters.
No longer a giant boot, the building has been transormed
into a fagpole, with a black fag fying at hal-mast in honor
o the recently destroyed planet.
The shape o the building makes it so we have to enter
single le. Kal converts his wheels back to legs, and we
hurry up the elevator to the inner sanctum o the PTB.
Ater recent events, I expect to nd the place a madhouse,
with committee members running to and ro, arms ull o
reports to le. I nothing else, the department that oversees
the Aterlives must surely be gearing up or an extremely
busy aternoon. Instead, the place has a quiet hush to it.
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The ew people I do see are speaking in whispers. Kal and I
exchange a worried look.
The door to my athers oce swings open to reveal the
top members o the Powers That Be gathered around thehuge round table, grim expressions on their aces. I notice
that hal o them are wearing their ceremonial robes, and
are all men. I I had to guess, the emale leaders were not
happy with the decision to destroy the planet and stormed
out in protest. My motheran honorary member due to
marrying my atherreports this happens airly regularly.
My ather glances away rom the holographic view screen
hovering slightly above his head. An odd look crosses his
ace when he sees Kal beside me. Dads not a huge an. He
doesnt think Kal has enough drive. Kal actually has
plenty o drive. Its just usually not in the right direction.
My ather waves us in. Im glad Kals here.
Kals ace pales and I shiver involuntarily. My ather is
never glad to see Kal.
I place the pie on the table, where it sits, ignored. Dont
blame Kal, Dad. Its my ault we didnt get to warn Aunt
Rae in time.
This isnt about placing blame, Dad says. We have a
much bigger issue to deal with.
Thats a relie, Kal says, color returning to his cheeks.
Not really, one o the suited men around the table mut-
ters. I can never tell the suited guys apart. Well, thats not
really true. Ive never actually tried. This oneshort, with
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green hairhands Kal a holographic screen that hovers in
his palm. We saved this or you, he says.
For me? Kal asks. Why? What is it?
It is a log o your parents last report, the green-hairedguy replies. They sent it only two days ago rom a planet
in the Milky Way Galaxy. From Earth. We assume they
havent let the planet.
Kal gives the report a quick glance. They go to Earth
pretty regularly. Am I missing something?
Im sorry, Kal, my ather says, when no one else
replies. We had no choice. Earth is gone.
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[When I look up at the sky,] I think about all the
things Idont see up there.
Kip Thorne, physicist
3
A
deaening silence lls the room as everyone
watches Kal. As virtually immortal lie-orms,
we dont have to breathe unless we want to,
and at this moment no one is.
My hand on his shoulder, I can eel Kal trembling. His
knees are locked in place, which is probably the only thing
keeping him standing. He reuses to turn away rom the
transparent wall o my athers oce. We are high up in
The Realms here, with the whole universe spread out
around us. Usually the sight o billions o galaxies swirling
like glittering diamonds is mesmerizing. Today, though, we
cannot see its beauty. Today the distant clusters o stars only
serve to remind us how, in a universe teeming with energy
and drama, one small planet in the Orion Arm o the Milky
Way barely counts or anything (no matter how much un
it is to watch their ootball games on our view screens).
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We have been raised to believe that in the grand scheme o
things, one planet doesnt matter. Cantmatter.
Unless your best riends parents are on it when its
destroyed.But I dont understand, Kal says, his voice sadder than
Ive ever heard it. (And Ive heard him sing the bluesbadly,
but hes sung them.) My parents are immortal, like all o us.
Wouldnt they have survived the destruction o Earth?
That was our assumption, too, my ather says. But we
have not ound any trace o them.
Kal still wont turn away rom the window. Its like hes
searching the vastness o space or some sign o his parents.
Through gritted teeth, he asks, Did you know they were
there? Beore?
O course not, says my athers second-in-command,
striding into the room. His name is Gluck the Yuck, a nick-
name my brothers and I gave him because he reuses to
rearrange his acial eatures to be even the slightest bit
pleasing. Hes not a bad guy, just a little hard to look at.
Well, we didnt exactly check, admits the green-haired
suit. I really should learn their names.
There wasnt time to check, insists another. The
destruction has to be instantaneous. And what would be
the odds o your parents working on that particular planet
at the exact time someone rom there would view The
Realms? The odds are astronomical, thats what they are.
A nice try to defect blame, but we all know that the odds
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o anything existing in the universe at all is astronomical,
so the mans argument alls short.
I know! Kal exclaims, whirling around to ace the
PTB. The Aterlives will be fooded with all the newarrivals. Im sure Ill be called into work. My parents will
still show up there with all the Earth people, right? So
theyll be back ater all!
The committee members exchange uneasy glances. They
look to Gluck to reply. Gluck then looks pointedly at my
ather. For the rst time in my (very long) memory, my
ather hesitates beore answering. No one will be coming
to the Aterlives.
Kal scrunches his brows. I dont understand. There
were billions o people on that planet.
Dad looks uncomortable, which is not a good look on
the Supreme Overlord o the Universe. We didnt exactly
destroy the planet. Per se.
So my parents are still alive! Kal shouts. He grabs my
athers arm, then immediately lets go when my ather
glares down at him. In a less shouty voice Kal asks, Why
did you say theyre gone?
My ather sighs. Perhaps I should have chosen my
words more careully. I someone never existed, you couldnt
truly say they were gone, could you?
This is as good a time as any to admit that Im only the
sixth smartest o Dads seven sons. My brother Laz is gen-
erally considered the least smart, at least when it comes to
school stu. He ails Planet Building class every term. Hes
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always calculating pi wrong, so his planets keep straying
rom their orbits and crashing into everyone elses. But
even with my limited brainpower, I can tell my ather isnt
making any sense. Dad, what are you trying to say?He sits back down at the head o the table and places his
large hands on the gleaming surace. The holograph pops
back up. He pushes it toward Kal and me. All I see is a dark
blob.
The last time The Realms were spotted, my ather
says, the spotters planet was able to escape harm due to
his being thoughtul enough to die on the spot.
Yes, we all know that, I say, anxious or him to get to
the point.
And the time beore that, he continues, the planet was
ar rom its sun, leading to very harsh living conditions. Only
a ew species had evolved, and their numbers stayed small. It
was airly easy to log them into the Aterlives in an orderly
ashion. But in the case o Earth, which supported such an
abundance o lie . . . He trails o, clears his throat, and con-
tinues. Basically, the Aterlives would have been totally over-
whelmed, so the PTB came up with a better idea. He pauses
and glances at Gluck, who nods his encouragement. Dad
sighs. We ripped Earth out o the space-time continuum.
Kal repeats the words, but slower. You ripped Earth . . .
out o space-time?
Technically we couldnt just take Earth, Gluck explains,
since its gravitationally bound up with the sun and the
rest o the solar system. . . .
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So we took that, too, Green-Haired Suit continues.
You took theirsun? I ask, hoping I heard him wrong.
Green-Haired Suit nods. One o the PTB wearing a long
white robe centuries out o style adds, And the rest o theplanets. And their moons and the asteroids and comets and
such.
I clutch the back o a nearby chair to steady mysel. From
all my years o history class, I know nothing like this ever
happened beore. To interere in the universe on such a
grand scale is just unheard o. Kal, too, is rozen rom the
shock o it.
We didnt have much choice, Joss, my ather says.
None o our options were good. I we had exploded the
planet, gravity rom the sun would have kept the pieces
grouped together. A dead world, clinging to chunks o lie-
less rock. No one wants to see that.
I shudder.
Dad puts his large, steady hand on my shoulder. Or i
we simply took away the sun, Earth would have gone shoot-
ing o into space, and a rogue planet aimlessly hurtling
about is simply too dangerous. We considered halting
the planets rotation, but what a mess that would make,
since everything on the surace would keep moving.
This way its nice and neat, and we dont have that nag-
ging guilt at killing o a ve-billion-year-old planet. Now
Earth never actually existed, so no one had to die. Its a
plan weve had in place or a while, in case the occasion ever
arose.
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23
Kal makes a sound that alls somewhere between a
whimper and a growl. He aces my ather and says, Accord-
ing to your logic, my parents never existed, since they were
ripped right out o time, too, right?I suppose you could say that, unortunately. Yes.
Kal puts his hands on his hips. Then why am I still
here?
I turn to Dad to await his answer. We all know about
cause and eect. Its one o the basic laws o the universe.
The arrow o time goes in one direction only. First comes
cause, then effect. EvenIknow you cant have a kid without
having his parents rst.
But Dad only stares at Kal. Or should I say, stares at the
spot where Kal had been standing. For Kal, my best riend,
my childhood companion in all things, is totally, utterly
gone. Gone like back in the days when we were able to wink
in and out o places, but those days are ar in the past. Is he
hiding behind a chair? I peer under the table, but all I see
are a lot o hairy legs in sensible shoes.
Hes just . . . gone.
Hmm, Gluck says thoughtully. I was araid that
might happen.
Beore I can question them on Kals sudden and utter
disappearance, hes made MORE gone by the act that in
his place now stands a tall, skinny girl wearing a big red
parka, a white ski hat, and a sour expression.
Fascinating! exclaims my ather.
Nowthat, says Gluck, I didnt see coming.
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This book is a work o fction. Names, characters, places, and
incidents are the product o the authors imagination or are used fctitiously.
Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright 2013 by Wendy Mass
Interior illustrations by Lauren Gentry/Jelly London
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act o 1976, the scanning,
uploading, and electronic sharing o any part o this book without the permission o
the publisher is unlawul piracy and thet o the authors intellectual property. I you
would like to use material rom the book (other than or review purposes), prior written
permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected].
Thank you or your support o the authors rights.
Little, Brown and Company
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Visit our website at www.lbkids.com
Little, Brown and Company is a division o Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks o Hachette Book Group, Inc.
The publisher is not responsible or websites (or their content)that are not owned by the publisher.
First Edition: June 2013
Library o Congress CataloginginPublication Data
Mass, Wendy, 1967
Pi in the sky / Wendy Mass. First edition.
pages cm
Summary: Joss, the seventh son o the Supreme Overlord o the Universe, must team up
with a human girl to recreate Ear th, when the planet is accidentally erased rom existence.ISBN 9780316089166
[1. UniverseFiction. 2. EarthFiction. 3. Science fction.] I. Title.
II. Title: Pie in the sky.
PZ7.M42355Pi 2009
[Fic]dc23 2012030638
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
RRDC
Printed in the United States o America