Carl was the most unusual kid in the history of the planet Earth.

He was only seven years old, and already he was hailed as the greatest inventor of his time, after he invented the universal warning label (which said "THINK" and was to be applied to the forehead); the garbage sorter, which melted glass, aluminum and tin into ingots which could be traded at the supermarket for money; Instant Old Growth Forest Fertilizer; Weight-Reducing Chocolates; and the electric coin feeder for vending, slot and change machines.

But even though all of those things had made him and his parents fabulously rich, right now Carl had forgotten all about them. Right now he was polishing the last spot on his Planet-Hopping Chair.

Through his Pop's observatory on the hill of their estate, Carl had spotted five planets he wanted to visit. After carefully writing down their coordinates, so that he knew exactly how far away they were and in which direction, Carl fed the coordinates into his Planet-Hopping Chair.

The Planet-Hopping Chair was another revolutionary invention, of course, especially since it ran on pennies. Carl had discovered that the copper in one penny had enough sub-atomic energy to make the chair hop in the flash of an eye to another planet! Each trip, therefore, cost one penny.

Carl loaded a whole roll of pennies into a coin slot with his electric coin feeder. Then he put on his bicycling helmet and sat in the chair.

Pop put his head in and asked if Carl would like a sandwich, but Carl said, "No, Pop. I'm going to give the chair a whirl. I'll take the sandwich with me."

Then he looked at the arm of the chair, which had six buttons on it. Now on the verge of his new adventure, he wondered which planet he should visit:

Hi, kids, push those buttons! Carl's machine is starting to work! Check out the various planets. Keep trying the buttons and see if you and Carl can find your way back to planet Earth. Be careful, though ... some of those buttons may not work right!