Pluto

by Ellen Morton

A long time ago, almost a lifetime ago it seems, I was part of the Planet Club.

It was brilliant. Just us: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and me. I was the very smallest. I was best friends with Jupiter, the biggest, though, so nobody dared tease me or Jupiter practically exploded. We spent most of our time throwing asteroids at the dwarf planets. They were so annoying with those big, moonish eyes. Always looking in at us, watching us.

Sometimes Earth would tell us stories. They were boring, but we let her because she's ill. She has global warming. We chatted and teased the dwarf planets and had fun. Happy times. Little did I know that was all about to change...

A Planet Club meeting was called. Saturn called out, "Notices?" Only Earth came forward. She smiled smugly and started speaking. I will never forget the words she uttered.

"My people have decided that Pluto is too small to be a planet. He is now a dwarf planet."

There was a collective gasp. Nobody could quite believe it. But the problem was, everybody did. Then the first asteroid hit me. It struck my side and ached. I turned around and realised Jupiter had thrown it. Horror penetrated my ice and fell down, down, to my rocky core.

"Go back to where you and your moons come from, dwarf planet!" yelled Neptune, the last two words horribly emphasised. Then a hurricane of asteroids fell on me, spinning round and round, making me feel dizzy. Worse than the pain of the asteroids was the pain inside.

I spun round too and stared; there were three planets around me. Only they weren't planets; they were much smaller, not anything like even Mercury, the second smallest. Or the smallest, I supposed, now I'd left the Planet Club. I wondered if she'd already teamed up with Jupiter. I imagined them talking together, laughing together... The thought made my ice shift across my surface. I must've looked pained because the nearest dwarf planet said, "We're being terribly impolite. Let us introduce ourselves."

Suddenly I was transported back in time. I remembered throwing my first asteroid, Jupiter helping me aim at a dwarf planet - the very same one who had stood, unmoving, all those aeons ago now spoke to me. "I'm Eris. This is Haumea, and this is Makemake." She gestured around in the place I hadn't noticed. "And this is our hideout. Where we go when we don't want them to get us. Although we do come out occasionally to let those babies have a bit of fun." I laughed at the careless way she addressed the huge, young planets. Then she pointed into the apparent darkness. Only it wasn't darkness. There, shining with a million stars, was an entire new galaxy, calling to me and my moons...

I'd been so wrong. The dwarf planets weren't looking in at us; they were looking out at galaxies we could never have imagined.