Malik and the Class Trip to Saturn's Rings

In a year far in the future, children went on school trips to space the way children today go to the zoo. At the Shining Stars School, Malik had been waiting all year for this trip: the third grade's journey to the planet Saturn. Malik loved the planets dearly. His room was full of models hanging from the ceiling, and the most beautiful of all, to him, was his model of Saturn with its shining rings. The night before the trip he was too excited to sleep and kept reading his book: Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun. It is a giant planet made mostly of gas, and around it are wide rings made of pieces of ice and rock.

In the morning the children climbed aboard the white school shuttle. It was called the Flying Whale, because it looked like a big smiling whale. Each child sat in a seat, fastened the seatbelt and put on a silver bracelet that measured heartbeat and temperature. A soft voice spoke from the shuttle's ceiling: "Hello, my friends. I'm Sana, the smart assistant for this trip. I'll answer your questions and look after your safety." Their teacher, Miss Hind, smiled and said, "Our mission today is to collect a small sample of ice from Saturn's rings and examine it in the shuttle's lab. Are you ready?" The children shouted, "Ready!"

The shuttle lifted off smoothly and rose above the clouds, then above the blue sky, until everything around them was black and studded with stars. The children pressed against the round windows and watched the Earth shrink behind them like a blue and white ball. The shuttle had a very fast light engine, so they passed red Mars, then huge Jupiter with its red storm. "Jupiter is the biggest planet in our solar system," Sana explained. "If it were a bag, it could hold more than a thousand Earths!" The children laughed and clapped.

Malik asked lots of questions: "Why is Saturn so light? Is it true it would float if we put it in a giant tub of water? How many rings does it have?" Sana answered patiently: "Yes, Malik. For its size, Saturn is lighter than water, so if there were a tub of water big enough, it would float. And it has many rings. From far away they look like a few big rings, but really they're hundreds of thin ringlets." Malik wrote every answer in his electronic notebook and drew a little picture beside it.

Next to Malik sat Jana, a quiet girl who loved drawing and didn't talk much. Malik noticed that she wasn't looking out of the window like the others. She was gripping the edge of her seat with both hands and keeping her eyes shut. Then he saw her silver bracelet glow orange and heard Sana say quietly, "Jana, your heartbeat is a little fast. Are you all right?" Jana shook her head quickly and said, "I'm fine." But Malik saw that her hands were trembling.

At that moment Sana announced, "Attention, friends! We're approaching Saturn! Look out of the right-hand window!" All the children jumped towards the window and shouted, "Wooow!" Saturn was right in front of them, enormous and golden yellow with caramel-colored stripes, and its rings stretched around it like a shining road of silver and snow. Malik wanted to run to the window to see the rings he had dreamed about for years; this was the most important moment of his life. But he turned and saw Jana, still with her eyes closed, all alone, a tear running down her cheek.

Malik stood still for a moment, thinking. He wanted very badly to see Saturn. But he remembered how scared he had been at his first swimming lesson, and how the coach had held his hand and he had felt safe. So he sat down again beside Jana and said gently, "Are you scared of space?" Jana opened her eyes and said in a shaky voice, "I'm scared we'll get lost. Space is so big and dark, and we're so small." "I understand," said Malik. "I used to think it was scary too. But do you know what Sana said? The shuttle knows its way exactly, like birds know the way to their nests. Sana, can you show Jana the route map?"

"With pleasure!" said Sana. A small glowing screen appeared in front of Jana, with a green line that started at Earth, passed the planets, ended at Saturn and then went back to Earth. Above the line was a tiny picture of a smiling whale. "That's us," said Sana. "We're on the right route, and we'll be home before dinner." Jana looked at the map for a long time, then took a deep breath. "Let's look at Saturn together," said Malik. "I'll be right next to you, and if you get scared, hold my hand." The two of them held hands and walked to the window. When Jana saw Saturn she gasped. "It's more beautiful than all my drawings!"

Now it was time for the mission. "The shuttle will stretch its robotic arm to the edge of the outer ring to collect a small piece of ice," said Miss Hind. "We need two volunteers to work the arm from the control panel." Lots of children raised their hands, and so did Malik. Then he said, "I suggest Jana comes with me. She's the best in our class at drawing and noticing details." The teacher smiled and agreed. The two of them sat at the panel, and Jana guided: "A little to the right... now forward... stop! There's a piece that sparkles like a diamond!" Malik pressed the button, and the robotic arm picked up a small, clear piece of ice and brought it gently back to the lab box.

In the little lab they put the sample under the big microscope, and its picture appeared on the screen. The piece of ice was full of tiny bubbles and had dark specks of dust in it. "The rings are made of billions of pieces like this," said Sana. "Some are the size of a grain of sand, and some are as big as a whole house, and they've all been circling Saturn for a very long time." Jana took her pencil and carefully drew the sample in her notebook, with Saturn and its rings around it. "That's the most beautiful scientific drawing I've ever seen!" said Miss Hind. "We'll put it in the trip report."

On the way home Jana no longer gripped her seat. She looked out of the window and asked Sana about every star she saw. Then she turned to Malik and said, "Thank you for sitting with me. I know you wanted to run to the window before everyone else." Malik laughed. "I really did want to. But I saw Saturn in the end, and I saw it with a friend, and that's even better." And Sana said from the ceiling, "Malik, did you know that great scientists always work in teams? Nobody explores space alone."

The Flying Whale landed on Earth before dinner, just as Sana had promised. The next day Malik and Jana presented their report to the whole school: Malik explained the facts about Saturn and its rings and how they had collected the sample, and Jana showed her careful drawings. Everyone clapped for a long time. Miss Hind hung the drawing in the school corridor and wrote underneath it: A discovery by the Flying Whale team.

Malik learned that loving science is wonderful, but a true scientist doesn't race alone towards a discovery. A true scientist pays attention to the people around them, helps a frightened teammate and gives everyone on the team their chance. And Jana learned that fear grows smaller when we understand what is around us and find a friend to hold our hand, and that the wide universe is full of beauty for anyone brave enough to open their eyes.