Caterpillar

The Date

"So this is how an interstellar map looks like!" Wonder Woman said.

On the large screen of the supercomputer in the control room, there were countless clusters of stars crammed in together. She did not know where to look.

"It's a rough map of the 28 galaxies of the known Universe. There are countless galaxies out there but the Green Lantern Corps operates only in 2 large galaxies - Milky Way and Andromeda - and the dwarf galaxies in their proximity. So when you hear your Green Lantern teammate talking about the 3600 sectors of the known Universe, that's what he's referring to: Milky Way, Andromeda and their satellites." Naruto explained.

When he zoomed in the map on the spiral of the Milky Way galaxy on which Sol System was located, she said startled:

"Wait, all those tiny dots were solar systems?! I thought they were planets!"

"Of course not, dummy." he snickered and chided her but in an endearing manner. "They're planetary systems. Or, as you would call them, solar systems. Milky Way alone has hundreds of billions of stars and for every star, there are at least 2-3 planets. Can you imagine what it would be like to have a map with all the planets?"

"How are the Green Lanterns capable of protecting such an immense area? There are only 7200 of them!" she asked. She had been blessed by goddess Athena with wisdom but she had not exactly taken any astronomy classes on the Paradise Island. In regards to cosmic awareness, she was not much different than other people.

"There may be trillions of stars in these 28 galaxies but there are extremely few systems with planets that can sustain life. Most of the sentient species in the Universe require similar conditions to live as the Earthlings: a not too high gravity, oxygen, water and a gentle climate. Of course, there are plenty of exceptions too but, generally, that is the case. There aren't that many inhabited planets. Most planetary systems don't have even 1 planet that could support life in them. But it's true that the Green Lanterns are stretched too thin for them to have any real impact in preserving the peace. Otherwise, intergalactic wars like the one between the Thanagarians and the Gordonians would not exist. The most that the Lanterns can do is to just oversee their home planets - like John Stewart does - and band together against threats that could potentially harm the well-being of entire galaxies. Against someone like Darkseid for example."

Wonder Woman was listening to his words with rapt attention, practically drinking the information. She had been outside of Earth on several occasions before so she was not a complete greenhorn, but she still lacked essential knowledge about the Universe at large.

"Look at you, teaching others about the universe. I almost can't believe you were the dead last in the Academy." Kyuubi said teasingly from the side.

Naruto chuckled and rubbed the back of his head.

"True, I was never good with theory and all that stuff."

"But you seem to know what you're talking about." Wonder Woman pointed out.

"Well, how else could I search for my homeworld without learning the shape of this world? I was forced by the situation to learn. But it took me a long time to learn how to handle technology and interstellar travel."

He zoomed out the map back to normal and asked her:

"Well then, where would you like to go?"

The lost look on her face made both Naruto and Kyuubi laugh.

"Hm, maybe the question you asked her was wrong." Kyuubi said and then asked Wonder Woman: "What would you like to do? We can go anywhere and do anything. We can visit ancient civilisations, we can go gambling or we can have life-threatening trips through deadly environments too if you want something spicier."