The Science Fair
Ubert was having a hard time keeping his excitement in check. This project he had created was going to win him the science fair this time. The Judges have never seen anything like it. He was pretty sure about that. It had taken him quite some time to complete, but the stakes were high. He could win a full Education and finally realize his dream of becoming an Explorer. Plain duty was not for him. He didn’t want to go back and forth on the same path every day. He didn’t want to sit and be obedient, completing every task the Master said to without question or hesitation. That was for his parents and his sister. Not for him. He was made of stronger stuff and his intelligence was rated highly. High enough that he should go to Education, but his parent’s Master was not one to pay high. So here he was at the science fair hoping to win so he could get his Training at Education.
The Judges were getting closer. Ubert could see that they were not happy with his best friend’s project. He had told Skip that it was a boring project. Skip said it was cool; he saw it on the Videos and replicated the whole experiment. Ubert thought it was stealing but Skip thought he could twist it enough look unique. Guess not because Skip was looking defeated and left the building with his tail between his legs. Only one more contestant and then it was his turn. Ubert felt his mouth going a bit dry. He took a drink of his water and rehearsed his explanation of his project. He looked at his display. It looked perfect of course. He nervously arranged his already perfectly placed data sheets. He then smoothed his hair down. He heard a noise and turned.
There they were in front of him, the esteemed Judges from Education, the Master Board, The Leader of his Collection, and of course, the beautiful celebrity Judge, Blinda. Ubert had to blink his eyes a couple of times in order to see her, her beauty radiated brightly.
“What is your name?” She snapped.
Ubert loved the sound of her voice, it was melodious and beautiful. He could listen to it all day. Ubert felt as if he melting into a pool of love. Instead of a dreamy splash into that pool, he was brought back by the sound of his Leaders voice.
“Answer her.” He growled.
“I…I am sorry. My name is Ubert and you are beautiful.” He felt a bit like a silly pup, but he couldn’t help it.
“Yes. I am beautiful.” The celebrity agreed with him. “Pleased to meet you. Now can you tell us about your experiment?”
With the last sentence she had turned and faced the camera. Ubert forget about the cameras. He forgot that this was being televised for the entire world to see. The celebrity turned him to face the cameras and Ubert forgot everything he had practiced forever.
Instead of his smooth explanation, he pointed at the planet spinning on his table and said “HUH”
“Commercial! Go to commercial” yelled someone. “Get this kid a drink or something and tell him we don’t have all the time in the world. This is LIVE!”
There was a swarm of people all over Ubert, straighten his hair, someone thrust a drink at him and there was a babble of voices telling him to relax. Finally, his leader came over and informed him if he embarrassed the leader he would be on Guard for the rest of his life. Not something anyone wanted, so Ubert took a deep breath. When someone else yelled “go” he looked straight into the camera and said.
“My name is Ubert, of the Cani Clan and I created a planet with intelligent life forms.” He waved at the planet. “It took a long time to figure it out. First in order to create the planet I formed it with dirt and rocks, then added some basic compounds like, silicon, aluminum, iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium. I added some water because I learned in class that life forms, most of them, need water. In order to make it so that there was oxygen and stuff I created pumps under the ground underwater. Then added some little spouts that the chemicals and heat bubble up from. That’s how I released a lot of the stuff to make the planet and oxygen. To make weather, cause it would help replenish my oxygen, nitrogen, argon and carbon dioxide, I made a little weather machine on the northern part of the planet. That is what the colors swirling around on the top is. I made my planet a kind of sphere with cold on the top and bottom and warm in the middle.”
He was interrupted by Blinda. She smiled brilliantly at him, “Wow sounds like a lot of work Ubert. But you said you also made beings? How did you do that? Can we see them?”
The other Judges, who had been standing to the side, chimed with agreement. They wanted to know more about the beings then the planet. Ubert liked making the planet better beings were hard. Now he had to admit failure at first.
“Yes. You can see them but they are tiny. I tried to use a hotter planet and reptilian type of beings but they were not very smart. So I turned off the pumps and weather for a minute and they died off pretty quick. Then I tried humanoids. That worked better. They took a while to mature but now they have buildings, weapons and all kinds of things. It’s much funner to watch. Here.”
Ubert handed all the Judges a magnifying glass. They all got close to the planet and peered down. “Fascinating.” they murmured. Ubert stopped them pretty quick though. He explained that they were blocking the light, which the creatures called a sun. If they blocked the planet too long, the little beings panicked and started to kill each other off. Short times of darkness they explained away with their “science”. The Judges liked that and Ubert was happy to see their ears perk up.
“I have photos.” He offered them all several pictures of the beings and their accomplishment’s.
Blinda showed the camera the photos while the other Judges bombarded Ubert with questions. As he was answering the best he could, a little object came off the planet. Everyone turned back to the planet to see what it was. Ubert just laughed.
“They are exploring space.” He said.
“Space?” asked the Judge from Education.
“Oh yes. I have genetically engineered these little guys to think that they are floated in a vast area full of stars and other planets. They believe they are one of nine planets in a system. They are exploring that system. This is new for them.”
The Judge from the Master Board said, “Well done Ubert. I think we have a winner here.”
Ubert was so overjoyed he couldn’t help it, he starting wagging his tail. The Judges, instead of being offended, laughed and joined in, was wagging their tails profusely. The Judges were wagging their tales watching the little object float around the planet and asking Ubert more questions, when Blinda interrupted. She had been with the director, who also happened to be wagging his tail.
“Ubert, could you face the camera and tell everyone what the name of your little planet is? Please.” She barked in that singsong voice of hers.
Ubert grinned. He turned to the camera and for affect waited until he could see the director stop wagging his tail.
“I call it Earth.”
