Historia: A Cosmic Misunderstanding

Clare was a dedicated astronomer, but she was never the first to discover something. Then, one night, she spotted a huge meteor that seemed to be getting closer to the Earth.

“It’s coming right at us!” she exclaimed.

She emailed her colleagues about it, but none of them responded. So she started phoning them, but the calls all went to voicemail, and no one called back. Eventually, after calling fifty times, one of her colleagues picked up the phone.

“You’re always saying things like this,” said the other astronomer. “And you’re always wrong. We don’t believe you.”

But Clare knew she was right. And if no one believed her, the Earth would be destroyed.

Clare decided to build a rocket. “I’ll save everyone!” she declared. “Even if they don’t believe me!”

During the day she worked on her rocket. At night, she planned her mission. She would fly to the meteor and destroy it.

Finally, it was the day of the launch. Trembling, Clare climbed into her rocket and soared into space.

She flew towards the meteor. It was exactly where she had predicted.

“Wait a minute,” she said, looking closely through her window.

She felt very foolish. It wasn’t a meteor. It was the Space Guard, a famous satellite that had stopped working years ago.

“Well, now that I’m here, at least I can do something useful,” she said.

Clare put on her suit and went into space with her tools. She flew over to the satellite, and began to work. Eventually, she managed to fix the satellite.

Feeling embarrassed, she started flying back to Earth. She had pestered all her colleagues, and flown to space, but she was wrong. She didn’t look forward to admitting it.

When she landed, all her colleagues were there.

“I’m back,” she said with a sigh. “I have to apologise. I thought there was a meteor, but —”

“We’re sorry for not listening to you,” said the astronomer she’d spoken to on the phone. “We’re lucky that you didn’t give up, and you fixed the Space Guard. The satellite immediately identified the meteor you told us about. It was only one hour away!”

“Fixing the satellite was an excellent plan,” said another astronomer. “Its automatic systems destroyed the meteor quickly. You saved everyone!”

Clare had crossed her arms. “Next time, pick up the phone!” she snapped.