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Today is a very historical day. Today was the day the 

dolphins bargained for their rights.

The dolphins fought long and hard for this meeting, 

and they knew that if they aren't getting their rights, 

Otatop wouldn't be leaving with his potato-meat 

intact.

Both sides argued. The battle was intense, but it was 

clear that the potatoes weren’t willing to stop hunting 

dolphins just for the life of one fellow Potatizen. The 

dolphins were furious, but they knew that the potatoes 

wouldn't give if they killed Otatop. Thus, they went with 

their backup plan, which was to blow up everything 

with a bazooka. 

Everything exploded. 

Things went flying. 

Suddenly, Otatop found himself flying 

very, very high. The potato shot up, 

through several clouds, and into oblivion.

Otatop flew for so long that he fell asleep.

After who knows how long, Otatop woke

 up with a fish bowl over his head. 

¨Where am I?¨

¨Why, you’re in outer space, of course!¨

 said a voice.

Otatop looked around in fright and he 

finally located the voice. It was a really 

big and bright cheese! ¨Hey, cheese-face! Tone 

down the light, would ya?¨

The cheese chuckled. “Alright, first of 

all, I am not a cheese. I am a moon; 

you can call me Noom. Second, I can’t 

“tone down the light”. This is all a 

reflection from the sun, so if you want 

someone to blame, blame Nus.”

"Earth? I've never heard of Earth..," Otatop 

exclaimed.

“Well, you know.. Your home?” explained 

Noom.

“Oh! You mean Htrae! How do I go back?” 

asked Otatop.

“Well, currently, I am around 384 400 km  

away from it, so… It’s going to take you a 

while kid.”

“Hmmm… That doesn’t sound so bad… 

Where is Htrae? I can’t even see it?!?”

“Well, currently, I am blocking your view. You 

know, having a diameter of 3474 km,” brags 

Noom.

“You’re actually a pretty chilled.. Thing…,” 

states Otatop.

“Thanks! I don’t have any winds or other 

weather like Htrae because I don’t have an 

atmosphere. No atmosphere means no 

trapped heat,” explained the moon.

“Haha, an atmosphere sounds like an oven,” 

joked the potato.

The moon did not laugh.

Insulted, Otatop pressed the moon on. “Since 

you’re explaining everything, tell me about your 

hole-y face.”

“My holy face? Oh! My craters. These are caused 

by objects like meteors that fly into me. Those 

rowdy things… Hopefully, you don’t meet them or 

any like its kind anytime soon. Now anything else 

that may seem “hole-y” to you could just be my 

mountains and rilles. You know, I have a pretty 

rock solid surface.”

“Right, whatever… Do you think you could 

show me the way to Htrae?”

“Bored of me already, eh? Just behind me. 

Have fun going around me! You know, there 

was this Nail Elbowstrong human that once 

stepped on me and -”

Otatop floated away before Noom could finish.

Otatop traveled for a very long time. Finally, at long 

last, he reached the famous Blue Planet! 

“Woah, bro, you’re one weird looking asteroid,” the 

earth commented when it saw Otatop. “I’m not an 

asteroid, I’m a potato,” Otatop grumbled. Now he 

could see why Noom didn’t like being called a 

cheese. 

“I was talking with Noom, your only moon, 

sometime earlier and he pointed me in this 

direction. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll be going 

back home.” 

Otatop flew closer to Htrae, but the planet cut 

him off. 

“Woah, dude! You can’t just come and go in 

and out as you please! Unlike Noom, I have 

an atmosphere, consisting of 78% nitrogen, 

21% oxygen, and 1% other gasses. Try to 

power through that unprotected, and you’re 

going to be a burnt potato,” Htrae warned. 

“Oh...okay,” Otatop sighed. “I guess I’ll have 

to find another planet to live on, then. Maybe 

Noom could support me.” 

“Not a good idea either, bro,” Htrae said. “There’s a 

reason why I’m the only known planet with life 

forms. What would you eat if you lived on Noom? 

The dust of Elbowstrong’s footprints? I’ll tell you 

some reasons why I’m a good planet, bro. I was 

born around 4.5 billion years ago, with one of my 

years being 365 days. I’m the third planet from our 

sun, but at just the right distance of approximately 

one Astronomical Unit. I’m the densest planet in 

this solar system! Though, I’m a rocky planet, most 

of my surface is mainly water.” 

“Yeah, alright. News flash: I already knew all that! I 

mean, I was born from your soil! I’m not surprised 

that you’re the densest planet,” retorted Otatop.

“Oh, yeah? Did you know that I have a diameter of 

about 12 756.3 km?” questioned Htrae.

“Uhhhh… Errrrr… Yeah??” Otatop lied.

“Hmmph. A load of baloney you are!” sniffed the 

planet.

As Otatop was preparing his comeback, a 

sound interrupted him.

“Wwwwaaaahhhhhh!!!!”

Before Otatop could blink, some screaming 

thing crashed into him and rocketed him away 

from his home.

‘Oh, no!’ thought Otatop. This was probably 

one of those rowdy meateaters Noom was 

talking about.

“Hey, you! Bring me back home!” Otatop 

yelled at his ride.

The thing shook in surprise which resulted in 

Otatop spinning off the rock.

“Wait! You forgot me!” Otatop hollered at it. 

It was no use. His ride was long gone.

“Oh, no. What do I do now?” pondered Otatop.

“Hmmm, maybe I could help,” a sphere said to 

Otatop.

“You must be a planet!” Otatop observed.

“That’s right, young lad! I’m Venus, but I prefer 

the name Sunev. Now, what seems to be the 

problem?” asked Sunev.

“Oh, I’m from Earth, but an explosion 

happened and I got blasted right out here. I’ve 

already talked to Htrae and Noom, his moon, 

but it looks like I can’t go back unless I have 

something to protect myself while entering the 

atmosphere.” Otatop grumbled. 

“Well, that sounds like a tricky predicament 

indeed,” Sunev nodded. “I’m afraid that I can’t 

help you with going back home, but I can offer 

you some knowledge.” 

“Okay, sure,” Otatop agreed. 

Sunev cleared his throat. “Well, as you know, I 

am Venus, the second closest planet to the 

sun, at a distance of 0.72 AU. Like Mercury, I 

have no moons. In space, some planets are 

gaseous and some are rocky, and I am one of 

the latter. One interesting thing about me, 

though, is that I have retrograde rotation.”

“Gatorawhat?” Otatop stuttered, confused. 

“Oh, that means that I spin backwards. Take 

this, for example. When you lived on Earth, to 

you, the sun rose on the East, right? Well, if 

you lived on me, one year would be 225 Earth 

days, but the sun would seem to rise in the 

West.” 

“Oh, well that doesn’t seem like much of a 

deal,” Otatop pshhawed. “You seem like an 

okay planet to live on so far either way.”

“And then there’s my atmosphere, which is thick, 

hot, poisonous, and mostly carbon dioxide and 

nitrogen.”

Otatop went wide-eyed. 

“In fact, I have the hottest planet surface 

temperatures in this solar system, at over 880 

degrees fahrenheit! Some if it is due to the thick 

clouds in my atmosphere, which contain sulfuric 

acid droplets and help trap the sun’s heat.” 

“Wow, compared to that, Earth’s atmosphere 

sounds pretty nice,” Otatop commented. 

“That’s right, young lad. And I wouldn’t 

recommend you live on me either, because my 

solid surface has many craters and volcanoes. 

And I’m talking about volcanoes with diameters 

over 12 miles and numbered over a thousand. 

One day on Venus is 243 Earth days too, and 

young potatolings need their sleep.” 

Otatop tried to remember all of that, and failed. 

“Now, onto the next step in your journey of 

obtaining the secrets of the Universe!” Sunev 

suddenly shouted.

“Wait, what?! I thought I told you that I was trying 

to go back hOME-AAAAHH!” 

Otatop started to protest, but Sunev gave him a 

big push. Now, this wouldn’t have been that much 

of a problem, but Venus had a 6051.8 km radius 

and greatly outsized Otatop, which resulted in the 

young potato flying very fast through outer space.

Again, Otatop found himself flying into an 

unknown direction. Unable to stop, he simply 

waited...

And waited...

And waited and waited, until he miraculously 

bumped into a greyish sphere.

“Excuse me, are you a planet?” Otatop asked. 

“Yes, you’re right! I’m Mercury, but you can call 

me Yrucrem,” introduced the planet.

“My name’s Otatop,” Otatop responded.

“What a strange name! Almost as strange me!” 

Yrucrem commented. 

“Strange? But you seem to be a rocky planet like Earth. 

What’s so different about you?” Otatop wondered.

“Well, for one, I have no moons! I’m okay with that 

though, because I have Nus to keep me company. I’m 

not as big as Earth either, or any of the planets in this 

solar system. I’m the smallest one, with a 2 497.3 km 

radius, only slightly larger than Noom. My atmosphere 

doesn’t allow any weather. It’s composed mostly of 

oxygen, sodium, helium, potassium, and hydrogen,” the 

planet lectured.

“Okay. Whew...why is it so hot here?” Otatop shivered. 

“Oh, that’s because I’m the closest planet to Nus, our 

sun! Right now, we’re only around 0.39 AU from him. 

It does get pretty hot here. My temperature can reach 

up to 800 degrees fahrenheit during the day! But then 

later, the temperature can drop to -290 degrees 

fahrenheit because my atmosphere can’t trap heat 

that well,” Yrucrem explained.

“Wow...it must be tough,” Otatop said. 

Yrucrem chuckled. “Well, although I already have 

several craters on my surface from asteroid impacts, 

I’m sure my iron core and I will handle everything 

fine.” 

“Say, Yrucrem, do you have anything that can 

protect me so I can travel through Earth’s 

atmosphere?” Otatop asked.

“Hmmm...sorry, nope. I think you’d want to 

ask Mars for that. He might be able to help. I 

can just give you a push here, and-”

“Uhh, no, that’s fine-WAIT-”

Otatop, once again, sailed through his solar 

system. He found himself flying even faster this 

time, passing Sunev, Htrae, and Noom. 

Time passed by, and slowly, Otatop started to 

wonder about his life. He was once just an 

innocent potato, proud of his home and 

country. But then, after- 

“Unknown object sighted! Security breach 

imminent! Man the walls! Guard your planet 

with your life!”, a voice shouted. 

And suddenly, Otatop found himself being beat 

up by two moons. 

“Ahahahaha! Strange yellow rock with a face, 

you may have successfully attacked all my 

other fellow inner planets, but you’ll never get 

through my two moons, Phobos and Deimos!” 

Another voice laughed, looming over them. “I 

am the great and powerful Sram! Radius of 

338.5 km, 1.52 AU from the almighty sun, and 

your worst nightmare!” 

“Wait, no! This is a misunder-” Otatop tried to 

protest, but got another punch to the face. 

“Shut it, rock! You don’t stand a chance against 

us! Hahahahahahahaha!” 

Otatop tried to struggle away from his 

attackers. “Wait, I’ve heard of you!” He 

shouted. “You’re Mars, the red planet! You’re 

the one that scientists believed to once have 

rivers and a climate like Htrae, but now you’re 

all dried up!” 

Phobos and Deimos suddenly stopped attacking. 

The three of them looked back at Sram, who looked 

like it was about to blow up or cry. 

“That’s not entirely true!” Phobos interjected. “Mars 

still has water underground, and polar icecaps!” 

“Yea! He also has a thin atmosphere of mostly 

carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and oxygen, and a cool red 

colour because of the rusted iron oxide in his soil!” 

Deimos added. 

“Uhh...you have nice...dust storms?” Otatop 

shrugged, deciding to try to fit in. 

“But it wasn’t enough!” Sram cried. Phobos and 

Deimos backed away. 

“I mean, just because I’m the inner planet furthest from the 

sun doesn’t mean Mercury, Venus and Earth can leave me 

out of their inner planet club! I’m an inner planet too!” 

Sram weeped. 

“I’m a rocky planet just like them, and my crust has also 

been affected by impacts, volcanoes, and movements of 

itself! One Mars day is even just over 24 hours, which is 

close to Htrae!”

Otatop started to slowly back away too. “Uhh...that’s nice, 

dude. I mean, having one orbit around the sun every 687 

Earth days is...fantastic.” 

The potato quickly fled the scene. 

Otatop was getting tired of floating around in this 

ever expanding universe. 

‘When is this going to stop?’, wondered Otatop.

As if reading his mind, a voice spoke.

“Don’t sweat it, root. You’ve still got, like, the rest of 

the outer planets to explore.”

“OH MY QWERTYKEYBOARD!!!” Otatop 

shrieked. “Please, tell you and your space 

friends to stop sneaking up on me!”

“Dude, I’m, like, 142 800 km in diameter. Kind 

of hard to miss,” the voice calmly replied.

“Alright, who are you?” Otatop asked, still frazzled.

“I’m, like, Jupiter. Duh. I’m totally-” Jupiter was interrupted.

“Wait, wait, wait. Let me guess. You want me to call you 

Retipuj?” Otatop blurted.

“What? Like, man, where’d you get that idea? Just call me 

Jupiter. I was going to say that I’m totally the awesomest 

planet here ‘cause check out this red spot on me.” 

“A pimple? You think you’re cool because of a 

pimple?” Otatop asked, bewildered.

“Nah, nah, dude! Don’t say that!” Jupiter said, 

obviously hurt. In a hushed tone, Jupiter comforted 

his red spot. “Hey, buddy. It’s, like, totally cool. Like, 

he didn’t mean it.” Turning back to the potato, “Root, 

this is my Great Red Spot. Since you’re, like, so rude 

to it, you only get to call it GRS.”

“Alright, let me just say, I’m a tuber. Next, what’s so 

special about your grrrrs?”

“Well, duh. It’s, like, this humongous, hurricane-like 

storm that’s pretty special to me.”

“Ohhhh, a storm!! How impressive!!” Otatop mocked. 

“Is that really all you’ve got?”

“Well.. Like, man, I’m, like, -145oC.. And… Uhhh… 

I’m around 5.2 Astronomical, like, Units away from 

the Sun…. And I… Umm… One year on me is, like, 

12 Htrae years... Made out of hydrogen and helium 

gas… Like Nus..,” Jupiter mumbled. “Oh! Look, 

dude! I’ve got these, like, thick, white, red-ish, yellow-

ish, brown-looking clouds on me!”

“Umm.. Right.. That’s great,” Otatop said. “Now, a 

while before, you said that I had to explore the rest of 

the outer planets? Do you know where I can find the 

next one?”

“Yeah, yeah, tube boy. That way..,” Jupiter nodded, 

distractedly. “I got, like…. Auroras… I mean, like, 

that’s cool, right?”

Otatop slowly shook his head as he continued in the 

way he was shown.

mn

After a very long time, Otatop reached a planet with 

seven rings around it.

“Hey? Planet thing! What’s with these rings?”, Otatop 

shouted.

“Uh-mph.. Whaa? Who’s disturbing my ‘me-time’? 

Huh? Huh? HUH?!?”, the planet growled.

“Umm, sorry? I was just wondering… Are you an 

outer planet?”, Otatop asked.

mn

“You bet I am! Now, what are you? A potato?!? 

AHAHAHHAHAHA!”, the planet laughed.

“Yes, as a matter of fact, I am a potato,” Otatop 

replied, indignantly. 

The planet was silent. Then it burst out laughing.

“Well, now that you know what I am, what are you?”, 

Otatop huffed.

mn

“The one and only!!! INTRODUCING!! 

SATUURRRNNN!!! Or Nrutas..,” Nrutas said.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but why are you so 

hyper?”, Otatop questioned.

“How could you not be with all these charged particles 

and lightning in my environment?!?! Not to mention the 

strong winds!! Wahooo!!”, Nrutas cheered.

“You know, after looking at you for a while.. You have 

similar characteristics as Jupiter,” Otatop exclaimed.

mn

Nrutas’ eyes widened. “Excuuussee me??”

“I mean, you also have grrrs…. And those auroras and 

clouds….” Otatop pointed out.

“Grrs? These red spots? They’re called anticyclonic cells 

which are caused by my internal heat. Also, my auroras 

are SOOO much better than Jupiter’s! Though these 

clouds… Meh. They’re cloud decks made of ammonia, 

ammonia hydro-sulfide, and water. You know, most of 

me is made up of hydrogen and little bits of helium and 

methane,” the planet replied.

mn

“You know… You actually seem a bit smaller, though,” 

said Otatop.

“HEY! My diameter’s 120 660 km!! BIG DEAL!!”

“Hmmm… How far away from the Sun are you?”, 

Otatop asked.

“9.537 Astronomomomomical Units. I make one cycle 

around Nus in about 29.46 Htrae years! Ain’t that 

fantastical?!?!?”, the planet replied, enthusiastically.

mn

“Yeah.. Okay, you know what? I have this feeling that I 

should move on…,” Otatop mumbled.

“Yeah, just go straight, turn left, turn left again, turn 

right, then do the hokey pokey and that should get 

you to your destination. Wooohhooo!! More ‘me-time’ 

for me!!”, Nrutas sang.

Otatop sighed. ‘And more travelling time for me,’ he 

thought.

After realizing he did the macarena instead of the 

hokey pokey, Otatop finally reached his assumed 

“destination”. Another planet.

“Hello there, outer planet. Let’s skip the small talk 

and show me the way to my next stop,’ Otatop 

rushed.

“Hmm? No manners, eh? My name is Sunaru, the 

planet, Uranus,” the planet said.

“Sorry..,” Otatop offered. 

Guilty of his words, Otatop asked the planet about 

itself.

“How kind of you,” Sunaru sarcastically replied. 

“What shall I tell you about myself? Well.. As you can 

see, I have a plain aquamarine surface that’s covered 

in clouds. The reason for this colour is because the 

methane gas in my atmosphere traps red light. 

Speaking of light… Did you know that I’m about 

9.529 AU away from the Sun? Being so far gives me 

a revolution period of 84 planet Earth years.”

“Ohh, um, yeah.. Please, do go on,” Otatop 

prompted, though he was immensely bored. 

“Really?”, the planet was surprised that anyone 

would want to know so much about it. “I have a 

diameter of 120 000 km, which I guess, isn’t that 

bad… I also have many storms and an average 

temperature of -214oC.”

The planet began feeling awkward for talking about 

itself for so long.

“So.. Where are you off to?” Sunaru asked.

Glad that the attention was back on him, the potato 

replied, “I don’t even know. I’m hoping that if I talk to 

all the planets in the solar system, I might find a way 

back to Htrae.”

“Which planets haven’t you talked to yet?” Sunaru 

questioned.

The planet listed a bunch of names to the potato.

“Have you chatted with Neptune yet?”

“Mmm.. No, I can’t say I have…”

After getting directions and taking selfies together, 

Otatop was once again, on his way.

“Yooo, my boy!! Otatop is it? It’s me, Enutpen! I heard you've 

talked to my outer planet siblings, Jupiter, Saturn,and Uranus. 

I am the last of the outer planets,” Neptune called at the 

potato long before he arrived.

“Hey there! How’d you know about me?” Otatop asked, 

confused.

“Man… Word travels quickly with them technology, ya know?”

“Oh.. Okay?..”, Otatop replied.

“Also, I’m Sunaru’s twin..,” whispered the planet, “But 

don’t tell anyone.”

“Does that mean that you guys have the same 

characteristics?”, Otatop wondered.

“Ya, man.. Pretty much. I mean, our average 

temperature is the same.. I’ve got those swirly wirly 

clouds… Our storms and winds are real wild, too. 

Hmmmm.. We’re blue.. What are some of our 

differences? Yo, I’m smaller. About 55 528 km, I 

think. My distance from Nus is also larger, like 30. 07 

AU. This makes my revolution period about 164.79 

Htrae years. Hey, dude? D’ya know that I’m made of 

hydrogen, helium, methane, and ammonia?” the 

planet said.

“No… No I did not..,” the potato replied.

There was a long silence between them.

“So….” Otatop started.

“Uhh, ya, man. Good talk, good talk,” Enutpen 

answered.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you around,” Otatop said as he 

began to glide away.

“Later, man.”

After saying goodbye to the last outer planet, Otatop 

was at a loss. He had finished talking to all of the 

planets in the solar system, and still didn’t know how 

to get home. But then, the potato realized something. 

There was one astral body the planets continuously 

mentioned, but he never visited!

Calling in a few favors from his new acquaintances 

(those meateaters), Otatop was able to quickly soar 

back to the center of the solar system. 

Finally, Otatop reached his destination. He looked 

up, and squinted. It was big. It was glowing. It was 

the sun.

Otatop instantly became a baked potato. 

“Greetings, Otatop from Earth. My planets have told 

me about your predicament.” Nus’ voice boomed. 

“Y-you’re Nus?!” Otatop stammered. “You’re huge!”

“Oh, no. I’m actually just a middle sized star.” Nus 

laughed. “Although, yes, I am the biggest body in 

this solar system by far, with a 695 508 km radius!”

“Hmm..a star? So far, I’ve only been talking with 

planets and moons. Could you tell me a bit about 

yourself?” Otatop inquired.

“Ahaha, I knew you would ask that, young one! I’ve 

already prepared a whole speech for you!” 

“Uhhh...I’m not sure how to respond to that.” Otatop 

raised an eyebrow. 

“I am Nus, the extremely hot ball of glowing gas at 

the center of this solar system! How hot, you ask? A 

surface temperature of approximately 10 000 degrees 

fahrenheit and a core of around 27 million degrees 

fahrenheit!” Nus bellowed. “I have a huge gravity 

compared to the others. Those eight planets you’ve 

met all orbit around me, including at least five more 

dwarf planets, many thousands of asteroids, and up 

to 3 trillion icy bodies and comets!”

Otatop’s head spun at the big numbers, but he 

pressed on. “So...what are you made of?”

“Why, 92.1% hydrogen and 7.8% helium, of course! 

Now, I do realize that I’m completely made of gases, 

and gases...aren’t solid. I have to rely on my own 

gravity to hold myself together.”

“Wow...,” Otatop muttered. “What else does that 

mean for you?”

“Well, since I’m not solid, when I rotate, different 

parts of me rotate at different speeds. My equator will 

make a full spin every 25 Earth days or so, but my 

poles will make a full rotation every 36 days or so. 

But even though I’m made of gas, I still make up 

99.8% of the mass in the solar system,” Nus finished 

off. 

“Hmm, pretty impressive,” Otatop nodded. “But I also 

came here to ask a more important question-”

“Yes, yes. The planets were gossiping about that 

too,” Nus cut in. “Unfortunately, that area is not my 

forte. I can give you a lead though, young potato, 

and that is to ask the other stars out there.” 

“Right now, many potato scientists on Earth are 

studying the secrets of outer space. A star’s birth, life 

and death are a big subject in their studies. Stars are 

pretty important, because they manufacture elements 

like oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon. When potatoes 

want to find the history, dynamics, and evolution of a 

galaxy, they can look at the age, distribution, and 

composition of the stars in that galaxy. Stars 

themselves are born in Nebulae, from dust and gas. 

They produce heat, light, x-rays, ultraviolet rays, along 

with other radiation. The common ones are around my 

size, although there are stars smaller than Earth.”

“Wait...stars can die?” Otatop asked.

“That’s right. A star can start to run out of hydrogen 

powering its nuclear fusion, making it cool down. This 

eventually leads to its death, making it go out in an 

explosion.”

“Oh...wow. I hope I won’t be around when you kick 

the bucket, then.”

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