moving objects,” said Hal. “He’s never done anything else.”
Danny looked at the gate he had just made, the mouth and tail of it, and couldn’t figure out what Hal meant.
“The surface of the Earth is spinning one complete revolution per day,” said Hal. “At the equator, that means it’s moving at a thousand miles an hour. Here, it’s about eight hundred miles an hour. The Earth is also moving around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour. So when Danny’s gates seem to stay in the same place, they’re really moving incredibly fast—so they’re attached to something .”
“You said ‘small moving objects,’” said Laurette.
“Compared to the Sun, Earth is a small moving object,” said Hal. “Compared to the galaxy, Earth is a blip. The only reason we think it’s big is because we’re even smaller.”
“Thanks for the info, Science Boy,” said Xena.
“Like he said, everybody knows that,” said Wheeler.
“Oh, you had sixty-seven thousand and eight hundred miles an hour sitting there in your brain?” said Pat.
“No, but I knew that the Earth spins completely around once a day,” said Wheeler. “And I knew it went all the way around the Sun once a year. That means it’s a seriously fast-moving object. Duh.”
“If you’re so smart, how fast is the solar system moving around the center of the galaxy?” Pat asked Hal.
“Four hundred eighty-three thousand miles an hour,” said Hal.
“And how fast is the Milky Way moving toward Andromeda?”
“That’s impossible to say,” said Hal, “because they’re moving toward each other and there’s no stationary point of reference.”
“The whole galaxy is moving one point three million miles an hour, compared to the CBR,” said Pat triumphantly.
“What’s the CBR?” asked Sin.
“Cosmic Background Radiation,” said Hal, “and that’s not what you asked, Pat, you asked about how fast the Milky Way was moving toward Andromeda.”
“This is all so sad,” said Sin. “While other boys were memorizing football players’ stats, Hal was memorizing the stats of astronomical objects.”
“I wonder if Earth will make the playoffs this year,” said Laurette.
“And you girls memorize what George Clooney eats for breakfast,” said Wheeler.
“That walking fossil?” said Xena.
“The cast of Twilight , then,” said Wheeler.
Apparently the girls couldn’t argue with that one.
It was no secret that Hal was smart. And Pat was the smartest of the girls. And Danny knew all this stuff too—he knew everything he had ever read. The difference was that Hal had realized it applied to this situation.
“I get the point,” said Danny. “I’m attaching the gates to a point on the surface of a spinning, moving object, so there’s no reason I can’t attach it to a pebble except that the pebble is smaller.” Danny gazed steadily at the stone, trying to figure out how to attach a gate to it the way he had attached the gate to a spot in the air above the stone.
Meanwhile, Sin had a question. “How do you wizards or whatever you are, how do you know we don’t have magic?”
“Don’t talk to him, he’s making gates,” said Laurette.
“We don’t know you don’t have magic,” said Danny. “Our blood has been mixing with the rest of the human race for thousands of years, so you probably have some Mithermage ancestry.” He tried to hold the image of the stone in his mind and create a gate solely in relation to the stone, not distracted by any other surrounding feature.
“So send us to Westil,” said Sin. “Maybe we’ll come back with superpowers.”
“Yeah,” said Hal.
“Cool,” said Wheeler.
Danny’s concentration broke. He was impatient with himself, but they only saw that he was annoyed.
“Sorry,” said Laurette.
“Stop distracting him!” said Xena protectively.
“Why don’t you hold it in your hand and really focus on it?” asked Pat. “Disconnect it from the ground.”
Laurette handed
Danny looked at the gate he had just made, the mouth and tail of it, and couldn’t figure out what Hal meant.
“The surface of the Earth is spinning one complete revolution per day,” said Hal. “At the equator, that means it’s moving at a thousand miles an hour. Here, it’s about eight hundred miles an hour. The Earth is also moving around the sun at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour. So when Danny’s gates seem to stay in the same place, they’re really moving incredibly fast—so they’re attached to something .”
“You said ‘small moving objects,’” said Laurette.
“Compared to the Sun, Earth is a small moving object,” said Hal. “Compared to the galaxy, Earth is a blip. The only reason we think it’s big is because we’re even smaller.”
“Thanks for the info, Science Boy,” said Xena.
“Like he said, everybody knows that,” said Wheeler.
“Oh, you had sixty-seven thousand and eight hundred miles an hour sitting there in your brain?” said Pat.
“No, but I knew that the Earth spins completely around once a day,” said Wheeler. “And I knew it went all the way around the Sun once a year. That means it’s a seriously fast-moving object. Duh.”
“If you’re so smart, how fast is the solar system moving around the center of the galaxy?” Pat asked Hal.
“Four hundred eighty-three thousand miles an hour,” said Hal.
“And how fast is the Milky Way moving toward Andromeda?”
“That’s impossible to say,” said Hal, “because they’re moving toward each other and there’s no stationary point of reference.”
“The whole galaxy is moving one point three million miles an hour, compared to the CBR,” said Pat triumphantly.
“What’s the CBR?” asked Sin.
“Cosmic Background Radiation,” said Hal, “and that’s not what you asked, Pat, you asked about how fast the Milky Way was moving toward Andromeda.”
“This is all so sad,” said Sin. “While other boys were memorizing football players’ stats, Hal was memorizing the stats of astronomical objects.”
“I wonder if Earth will make the playoffs this year,” said Laurette.
“And you girls memorize what George Clooney eats for breakfast,” said Wheeler.
“That walking fossil?” said Xena.
“The cast of Twilight , then,” said Wheeler.
Apparently the girls couldn’t argue with that one.
It was no secret that Hal was smart. And Pat was the smartest of the girls. And Danny knew all this stuff too—he knew everything he had ever read. The difference was that Hal had realized it applied to this situation.
“I get the point,” said Danny. “I’m attaching the gates to a point on the surface of a spinning, moving object, so there’s no reason I can’t attach it to a pebble except that the pebble is smaller.” Danny gazed steadily at the stone, trying to figure out how to attach a gate to it the way he had attached the gate to a spot in the air above the stone.
Meanwhile, Sin had a question. “How do you wizards or whatever you are, how do you know we don’t have magic?”
“Don’t talk to him, he’s making gates,” said Laurette.
“We don’t know you don’t have magic,” said Danny. “Our blood has been mixing with the rest of the human race for thousands of years, so you probably have some Mithermage ancestry.” He tried to hold the image of the stone in his mind and create a gate solely in relation to the stone, not distracted by any other surrounding feature.
“So send us to Westil,” said Sin. “Maybe we’ll come back with superpowers.”
“Yeah,” said Hal.
“Cool,” said Wheeler.
Danny’s concentration broke. He was impatient with himself, but they only saw that he was annoyed.
“Sorry,” said Laurette.
“Stop distracting him!” said Xena protectively.
“Why don’t you hold it in your hand and really focus on it?” asked Pat. “Disconnect it from the ground.”
Laurette handed
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