yelled Zoog's dad.

"Your grandmother is sick.

She has a fever and purple spots.

Take your pogo stick and fetch Doctor P721."

The obedient Zoog bounced off to the doctor's house as fast as his pogo stick would carry

him.

The doctor and his four assistants came and carried Zoog's fragile grandmother away on

a special bed to make her better.

Fortunately, people always got better on planet Sin Rota, where illness rarely lasted more

than 15 hours.

Zoog was tired.

Earlier, he'd taken his pogo stick and hopped to school and back, a distance of 5.36 kilometers

each way.

He went up to his bedroom and looked through the brand-new telescope he'd received for

his birthday the previous week.

Zoog's life was tedious.

His planet had no books, no clocks, no computers, and no TV.

Far away in another settlement, Zoog had cousins, but there was no mail, so he couldn't communicate

with them.

Although he longed for a more exciting life, he felt fortunate that

he had good friends and no serious problems.

It was dark 17.7 hours a day on SinRota.

Zoog searched the night sky.

He was determined to find the magical planet he'd seen many nights in a row.

Suddenly, there it was!

The blue planet!

Zoog gazed at it.

The picture was blurry, but he could se areas of water, distant mountains, and patches of

bright light.

"Who lives there," " he wondered, "and what do they do?"

If he looked hard at one spot for a long time, he occasionally glimpsed small figures with

strange, circular objects propelling them along.

Not only did Zoog have to go to school on a pogo stick, but it was also his job to do

the shopping for his parents every evening.

This meant dragging a heavy sled behind him to and from the store.

At the store, he stacked up delicious orange munchballs and green yumsters

on the sled and pulled it home before darkness fell.

Everything he bought was grown in his settlement because it was too risky to bring food from

other parts of Planet SinRota.

Nobody could drag sleds further than a few kilometers, and the food would be spoiled

long before it could reach another settlement.

Even the animoogs couldn't drag sleds very far, so it was foolish to attempt long journeys.

Zoog had never left the area he lived in: 5.36 kilometers was his limit, but he was

courageous, and dreamed of exploring further.

Zoog looked through his telescope again.

He adjusted it slightly, and he was fascinated to see activity on the blue planet.

The blurry figures he'd seen before suddenly came into sharp focus!

There were figures driving around in vehicles of all shapes, sizes, and colors.

There were figures riding bicycles.

There were huge airplanes zooming fast up runways and flying into the air.

It was thrilling!

He also saw figures sitting on buses and trains, moving fast from one city to another.

In a park, he could see small figures, children, playing on skateboards and in-line skates.

They were leaping through the air.

It looked incredibly daring.

It was then that he had his big idea.

"I know what I'm going to do!" said Zoog.

He began to draw pictures of everything he could see, these wonderful machines with circles

that made them move!

Trains, planes, bicycles, skateboards, cars, buses, wheelchairs, ambulances, taxis, carts,

wheelbarrows, motorcycles, trucks, roller coasters, Ferris wheels, helicopters, strollers,

windmills ... Zoog drew all night long.

In the morning, Zoog ran downstairs and showed his parents the pictures.

And in just a few short days, the history of SinRota changed completely and forever.

Thanks to Zoog and his telescope, planet SinRota now has wheels!

Things will never be the same again.