Adventures of Alex

Chapter 1

Alex was about to join his friends for a game in the park
when his baseball came to life. It rolled out of his hand and
across the room. It flew under the bed, hitting the wall with
a chirp. The baseball's stitches glowed red as it floated
around, beeping wildly as it tried to shake away a bit of
dust. Alex cleaned off the dust and the baseball purred in
gratitude. This was no ordinary baseball.
The baseball was as large as a softball now and growing by
the second. When it hopped onto the carpet, it was the size
of a basketball. It flew clumsily around the room, beeping
as it crashed into Alex's dresser and wastebasket. Alex
gasped. The basketball-sized beeping baseball was sifting
through his scattered trash and toys. Chirping happily as it
worked, the giant baseball spelled out a greeting.
Alex spelled the word hi, and the ball moved above the I
like a white and red dot. It buzzed and beeped, and Alex
chuckled. He would call his new friend Dot. Dot vibrated
joyfully in Alex's hands, and within seconds, its sporty
appearance shifted until it was a large silver globe etched
with strange designs. The metallic ball opened and large
robotic eyes blinked at Alex.
Alex's fingerprints were visible on Dot's silver surface
when he set it down, but they vanished with soft flares of
golden light. Beeping and whirring, Dot bounced against
the window sill, then blinked at Alex's model of the solar
system. The word home shone down on the boy and his
robot. Alex knew nothing about this day would be ordinary.

Chapter 2

The shining stars settled in a circular formation on the floor

in front of Alex and the robot. Dot beeped in excitement as
one star shifted to the center of the circle and glowed
brighter than the rest. It was bigger too, and it stuck out of
the center like a button on one of Alex's video game
controllers. Alex reached out and pressed the center star.
Without warning, the room shook like an earthquake.
An engine roared and Alex's rumbling bedroom
disconnected from the house. He was scared, but surprising
weightlessness dissolved his fear. Alex cheered as their
room ship rocketed into the sky. Through clouds, past
swooping planes, and puzzled birds, Alex and Dot left the
world behind. The higher they went, the drowsier Alex felt.
He leaned against the robot with a yawn, and as Earth
disappeared, the boy fell asleep among the stars.
Alex woke in a strange, unfamiliar place. The room hip
wasn't rumbling anymore, and he saw no sign of Earth or
other humans around him. Outside, the sky was full of alien
creatures and their ships. Alex could see an exercise bike
inside one, but the vessel's owner clearly didn't use the bike
to get in shape. The bulgy alien looked like a melting green
marshmallow on roller skates. That's when he noticed Dot
was gone.
The blobby alien the room ship stared angrily into but
stopped when Alex pressed his hand to the glass. With a
snort, the creature flew away, and the room ship door
swung open. Dot the robot beeped happily as it floated in.
Dot opened its top and a dish of lemon ice cream appeared.

Chapter 3

When Alex swallowed the last bite of ice cream, his feet
left the floor. He floated in his room ship, laughing as the
lemony treat tickled his tummy. Dot followed Alex as he
turned somersaults in the air. When Alex spun out of
control, Dot sounded an alarm, but Alex couldn't stop
himself from spinning toward the window. At the last
moment, Dot fired lasers at the window, and the glass
turned into a swirling fog that Alex flew through.
Alex slowed outside the room ship, and his feet floated
back to the ground. There were bizarre creatures and
spacecraft all around, but the dome enclosing the area
perplexed him most. Dozens of swirling portals lined the
dome, each labeled with strange symbols. An alien
resembling a reptilian polar bear wiggled her nose at Alex
and asked him where he was headed. He squinted at the
whirling portals and shrugged. He didn't know where they
went, but something about them pulled him closer.
Ships and aliens exited through the portals, disappearing on
the other side of the dome, but the entryway in front of
Alex didn't swirl like the rest. It was static, gray, and closed
tight like a fist. No one knew where it led, but the scaly
white bear explained that all the portals used to be closed
and opened one by one for a certain traveler at a certain
time.
Dot rolled over to the pair with Alex's fingerprints glowing
gold on its surface, and the ancient portal began to open.
Alex scooped up the robot and slowly carried it to the entry.
The closer they were, the brighter his fingerprints glowed
on Dot, and the wider the portal became. With every step,
Alex's special genetics opened the universe to him, and the
aliens gazed upon the new traveler in awe.
 Chapter 4

Alex's roomship was the only one allowed to enter the

portal. It was exciting, but doubt chilled his bones as he and
the robot gazed out the window. The fingerprints flared on
Dot's exterior, and the stars on Alex's ceiling swirled above
them. They told stories, as they have for millennia, but this
was a story about the future. The stars told him to go home.
Not to Earth where he lived as a boy, but to a place where
he'd live someday.
Glimpses of Alex's past and future bloomed in the galactic
portal until the roomship halted with a squeal. The
glittering barrier before him enclosed the ship like a giant
soap bubble, separating him from a platform where an old
man in a lab coat waited patiently. Dot beeped at Alex until
he opened the window, and the robot floated out of the
roomship. It easily penetrated the bubble, but Alex couldn't.
He watched from the window as Dot rolled to the scientist.
As Dot and the scientist reunited with gleeful cheers and
beeps, Alex's fingerprints flared on the robot's surface. With
a grin, the scientist aligned his hand on the marks, and Dot
whirred happily. It was a perfect match. The scientist
thanked Alex for helping with his experiment and
apologized that he couldn't explain anymore. Now that Dot
had returned, it was time for Alex to go home.
The boy's heart sunk. He was going to miss his robot friend.
When tears filled his eyes, the scientist smiled in sympathy.
He promised that if Alex remained curious and bright, he
would see Dot again. Alex believed him with all his heart,
and as he aged, he recalled the secrets in the stars and
worked hard to return. He would one day, but he had a long
way to go before traveling through space and time again.
First, he had to build a robot named Dot.