The picturesque village nestled atop a high mountain, in the midst of an evergreen pine wood.Though it was called a village it had just a handful of houses. The homes were made of stones and clay and laid thick, to keep the bitter winter out as much as possible. The roofs were made of straw and branches and slate tiles. Sometimes small animals found their way into these warm homes through these cosy roofs.
The most imposing house belonged to Bittoo’s family. His father was the village mukhiya. Before that it was his grandfather and before that his great-grandfather. It was like the hukka in their hall, a family heirloom. Next to the haveli (for want of a better word) was Sonu’s house. Much smaller, but akin to Bittoo’s house. Then there were the homes of Ayesha, Rabia and Manju. All these children were friends. They would go to the school in the valley, some ten kilometres away, most days. Some days they would go herd their motley herd of cattle or work on their parents’ small fields as harvest times and planting season needed all hands at home.
It was a tough life. But they enjoyed running up and down the mountains free as the breeze, their cheeks ruddy and eyes sparkling. In the short summer season they would merrily go dipping in the cold mountain stream gurgling through the woods.
One day when they were getting back from school after a strenuous day of learning tables, poems and which Mughal king preceded whom, their tired minds steadily became refreshed with every step they took to ascend their mountain trail. Their cattle came running up, the bells around their necks ringing, as if to greet their long lost friends. The mountainside echoed with pleasant laughter, tinkling bells and an odd moo, or bleat, now and then.The grown ups never understood this, for they would be winded from their trek up the mountain, quite the opposite to their children.
The sun was setting in the west amidst beautiful hues of pink, amber and tangerine! But there was something strange. Why were the birds not twittering and chittering as they flew to roost in the trees? Wait… where were the flocks of birds that turned in for the night? The cattle were also silent, as if threatened by the teachers at school to hold the rooster pose.Strange!
‘Help! Help!’
Shrieks for help sounded from the woods behind the village. The children looked at each other and all ran towards the sound, feeling the urgency. The thundering of the running feet echoed in the eerie silence. Twilight wrapped its shawl tightly around the mountain top as the brilliance of the sun and the vibrant colours of the sky were masked by a dull haze. The children reached a glade and looked around to find the person in need. Silence dropped from Heaven along with a cold breeze. Bittoo whispered, “Stay quiet and stay calm!” They needlessly nodded in the dark. The dark sky soon glowed with a million stars shining brilliantly. The moon was not missed even though absent.
“Look,” said Ayesha and pointed up.
The children gaped as a bright star slowly floated to the earth as if trying to land… Bittoo hissed “Run behind the trees,” as they scattered in twos and threes, out of vision. Barely managing to duck into hiding as a spherical aircraft landed, giving off some strange blue and white light. A door slowly opened and out stepped some kids in odd clothes. On a closer look, they were not kids. They had strange faces, yet they were not faces… aliens!
They held some devices in their hands. In no time two more of them appeared from nowhere holding Bishen chacha between them. Manju’s father. His hands were tucked behind him and he looked terrified. He had called for help.
All the strange little people stood close to Bishen Chacha and then turned towards their strange aircraft. Between them they were pushing him forward, but without touching! The children watched in fear and trepidation. At last Manju could not control herself any more. “Baba!” she yelled. “Baba I am coming, don’t worry, I will save you!”
The door opened. All but one little creature vanished like magic. While the remaining guy somehow turned on some powerful torch in the sky which shone precisely on the kids. One, two, three, four, five… Only five of them were visible. Huddled together! While the UFO launched heavenwards in a blaze of blue light!
“Where is Manju?” Bittoo asked once the UFO had vanished. The children looked at each other, stunned and speechless. Sonu, Ayesha, Rabia were wondering what to do next, torn between the sound yelling they would receive from their parents back home for getting late and looking for their lost friend.
“Well, there’s nothing we can do here, let’s go home and sleep on it,” Bittoo said wisely.
Each one of them got a strong warning. Bittoo tried telling his father about the UFO and the abduction of Bishen Chacha and Manju but all he got was, “Good imagination and story! Get on with your studies.”
Next day on the way to school, the friends had a worried look. “What will happen now?” wondered Rabia aloud. “Do you think we can rescue Manju and Chachaji?” asked Sonu. “I wonder why they came to our village? Why did they take Chacha?”
All day their minds were preoccupied, leading them to be scolded by all their teachers and even being thrown out of class a couple of times.
Bishen Chacha had been working with a secret agency for some time now. The Ministry for Space Studies and Extraterrestrial creatures. He had a secret workshop in the woods. He had created a special instrument to track sounds and light from the universe, beyond the atmosphere of the earth and beyond the planets of the Solar system.
“Lets go to Manju’s house and see if we can find any clues there. Tonight, slip out after dinner.” Bittoo instructed everyone. “Don’t forget to bring a torch.”
Everyone nodded, in agreement.
Torches beamed intermittently that night around Bishen’s house at first, then inside. In the muffled light, the children whispered loudly when Bittoo came across a map of the woods behind their village. In neat handwriting some numbers were written, and a clear path was indicated. Excitement was palpable among the young children. As they proceeded to the door, Sonu knocked against the table and fell, knocking the waste paper basket. Muttering indignantly, Rabia rushed to put the papers back. She gasped in alarm, as she stared at the paper in her hand. There in front of her was a diagram of the UFO, that had landed in the woods. “Oh come on,” whispered Bittoo as loudly as he dared. “Loo…. look, the UFO!” stammered she.
Everyone rushed to see. “Lets go!” Sonu yelled and away he went. Cautiously they followed the pathway marked. Then it suddenly veered off up the mountainside, seldom used by people. Only few bears and mountain goats had been spotted there.
In the starlight, they quietly followed the trail on the map, sticking close to each other. It ended at the edge of a precipice near a large boulder. An ancient knobbly Pine, quite crooked at its base grew right next to it. Something about it indicated that the things were not normal here. By then Ayesha was tired and sat close to the boulder. She leaned back to make herself comfortable, but the boulder swivelled and Ayesha vanished. Rabia shrieked, while Bittoo tried to push the boulder, to no avail. Sonu tried to go over the entire sequence of events and repeated Ayesha’s actions. As he leaned back, the boulder swivelled and he too disappeared. Bittoo and Rabia were besides themselves with fear.
Keeping his cool, Bittoo pushed the lower part, and jumped back in time to see the boulder swivel and present their lost friends… Ayesha and Sonu. They were smiling.
“This is fun, like a revolving stage. Come!” they urged.
“Just a minute, what did you see? What is hidden there?” asked Bittoo cautiously.
“We will have to go see.”
As they entered again, they took a while to get used to the darkness. There was a strange greenish glow in one corner. A collection of different gadgets were neatly arranged. There were scores of dials and metres. Humming comfortably, they stood apparently harmless. The friends looked on, speechless.
“Wow! A lab!” mumbled Sonu softly at last.
“What is it for, I wonder!” said Ayesha.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
The big console in the centre started beeping, and the various dials started glowing one by one. Then, a screen lit up eerily with a loud static. There were some sounds emanating, though nothing was clear. Alongside a device was recording some wave like lines on graph paper rather like a ECG monitor. The children slowly crowded around it, fascinated.
A mike cackled to life.
All looked at each other. Excitement, trepidation, and a sense of lurking danger captivated them.
“Hello Bittoo!” The voice of Manju came across, loud and clear.
He nearly jumped out of his skin.
“What? Where are you? Stop spooking us. Cmon come out!” Bittoo said, mustering up his most I-am-annoyed, voice.
“I am far away. Listen carefully. My father has been kidnapped by the creatures from Pluto. We saw you all on his watch.”
“Then are you too kidnapped? How can we help?”
“No silly, I am just helping him to escape. The Plutotians will be making another landing tonight in the woods. They want to take my father’s gadgets and research. I overheard them, rather sensed it telepathically. We will try to stow away.”
“Whee!” was all, that the kids could manage.
And then the screen went blank, with lot of snowing and static.
Everyone turned to Bittoo. He tried to muster up all his knowledge and bravado and realised, the spaceship may already be in the woods.
“Sonu and Rabia, stay here. Just in case. Rest of us need to go the woods. We will have to play it by the ear. Be ready to help Manju and Chachaji.” Bittoo outlined the plan. “No,” disagreed Sonu, “whatever would we do? We all together can still prevent mischief.”
Others nodded and they all moved towards the entrance of the cave.
They trickled out of the cave one by one. The night sky seemed to have become darker as the cool breeze blew away all their weariness of the day. Running at a steady pace on the narrow trail hugging the mountain on one side and screened by tall pines on the other, they made for the place the UFO had been sighted previously.
Slowly their eyes became accustomed to the darkness and they could easily find their way around. In the clearing there stood the uniquely shaped spaceship. Tiny lights twinkling around its edges revealed its unique top hat shape. The twinkling stars in the sky seemed to have fallen in the woods that night. A few of them descended from the UFO and seemed to spread out. The friends quickly hid behind the wide bases of a few trees, nearly holding their breath.
A row of twinkling lights made their way towards the top of the mountain. They were headed towards the secret lab, no doubt.
They were wondering what to do… should they go and search the spaceship, or follow the aliens? That’s when they heard strange sounds. Coming from the spaceship!
Bittoo indicated they should stay there as he moved ahead to investigate. Moving ahead slowly and surreptitiously, taking refuge behind one tree, after the other, he reached close to the UFO. The strange sounds were coming from the doorway, “Psst, Bittoo, come and get us!” Then he moved forward, murmuring a silent prayer to Hanumanji to guide him. In a trice he was over the steps and inside.
There was a big deck, similar to the secret lab! He was stunned! How was it possible? The sound… there it was again! He looked around. Nothing! He looked up and down. Nothing! And then he realised it was coming from the rear. For a moment his mind cautioned him but his heart said… save your friends! With all his might he pulled the door and there stood Manju, bound and gagged along with Chacha. Quickly he ripped off their gags and fumbled with their bound hands.
A low whistle, warned them. Rushing out at once, the trio had nearly slipped out of the door, but saw the aliens coming towards them. Oh no! Manju moaned! They quickly hid behind the door. After a while the short aliens came on board lugging pieces of equipment from the secret lab. Huffing and puffing they clambered up, dumped their loads and ran off again.
That was the moment. The trio jumped off too and ran towards their tree. “Whats going on?” Bittoo asked.
“They want my devices, then we will not be able to communicate with any aliens, but they can.”
“Should we save them?”
“No! It works only when I use the special key. Here it is!” and he flashed a golden key hanging on a chain around his neck.
“Now, you all go on home. I just have one small task before they return.” Chacha said.
He ran to the UFO. Everyone waited with bated breath and their hearts in their mouth. Nobody dared to breathe. Soon, he was back with a smile.
“Let’s wait,” said Sonu, emboldened with a scientist alongside. There was no way they could do anything else for the floating lights indicating the aliens, were up ahead, meandering among the Pines.
The last of the aliens embarked and the UFO took off in a swathe of blue light, till it was swallowed in the darkness of the universe.
Everyone looked at Chacha for explanations.
“They wont come back again! I wiped out the travel logs of the spaceship and set their destination to the farthest galaxy known till date.”
“Hurrah!” shouted the children with glee.
“Please tell us about your secret lab,” Manju begged.
“Oh that! I am an astrophysicist and had come here because I feared my project would fall into wrong hands. None but the Director of the Ministry of Space Affairs, knows about it.”
Everyone was suitably impressed.
Manju was literally glowing with pride.
“That’s our secret now. Right children?”
“Yes Chacha!” they all shouted in unison, while walking back to the village in the middle of the night.
Image : Courtesy Unsplash, andre-ouellet-smovnjeyh_u-unsplash.jpg
