The Diary of a Space Traveller

Professor Shonku, a Bengali scientist, has built a rocket and set off to Mars. His companions are his servant Prahlad, his cat Newton, and a robot he has built,called Bhidhushekher. Read on to find out about their experiences....

We landed on Mars two hours ago. I am writing my diary sitting on a soft yellow rocky mound. Everything here- the trees,the ground, stones and rocks-is kind of soft, and feels like rubber. A little distance away, a red River is flowing by. It took me a while to realise that it was a river, as it's water looked like guava jelly. The grass and trees are all blue, instead of green is the sky. Everything is the opposite of what we see on Earth. 

I haven't yet seen a living creature. Is there no life on Mars ? There is no noise at all, expert the slight gurgling of the river. Why is everything so quite?

At first, I was afraid to taste the water in the river. Then, when I saw Newton drinking it, I cupped my hand and drank a mouthful of water. It tasted absolutely wonderful. I had one sip and all my my tiredness vanished.

But I am worried about Bhidhushekher. I switched him on as soon as we landed, but he did not move.

"what's the matter? You do want to go out, don't you?" I asked him.

He shook his head.

"Why, what's wrong?"

This time, Bhidhushekher's voice sounded frightened . "Denghah!" he said. I have no problem in following his words. So I could guess instantly that he meant to say, 'danger'. 

"What danger? What are you afraid of?" I asked.

Bhidhushekher answered, "Denghah. Terril Denghah". Danger. Terrible danger.

He said nothing more, nor did he want to join us. So we had to leave him in the rocket. Only Prahlad, Newton and I set foot on Martian Soil.

We have had the most Terrifying experience on Mars.

As soon as the sun rose, I left the mound where I was sitting. I was Thinking of exploring further in bright daylight, when a strong fishy smell hit my nostrils, and I heard a strange sound. It sounded as if a large cricket was chirping loudly : 'Tintiri ! Tintiri ! Tintiri ! ' I looked around, trying to understand where the sound was coming from. But, at that very movement, a terrible scream Froze My blood.

Then I saw Prahlad. His eyes were wide open with fear, his right arm was wrapped around Newton, and he was running towards the rocket.

The creature that was chasing him was not human, nor an animal or a fish.Yet it had something in common in all three. It is about four feet high. It had legs and feet, but instead of arms there were huge fins, like fish. It's head was very big. There was a single, large green eye in the centre of the head. The mouth was wide open, but there were no teeth. It's whole body was covered by fish scales, shining in the sun.

I ran after the creature. I was still about Twenty yards away from it when Prahlad climbed into the rocket quite safely. Bhidhushekher jumped. out of the rocket and stood in the creature's way. 

A sudden gust of wind rose at that movement, bringing with it the same fishy samell. I turned around and saw that at least there hundred similar creatures were coming towards us. They were all making that horrible noice, 'Tintiri'! 'Tintiri'! 'Tintiri'!

Bhidhushekher swung his arm and brought it down on the creature he was facing. It flapped its fins and fell to the ground. Bhidhushekher began moving towards the other creatures. He was not going to try and fight the entire Martian army on his own, was he? Desperately, I pressed the switch on his left shoulder. Bhidhushekher fell down and stopped moving. 

The Martian army was now within a hundred yards. Their smell and noise were getting stronger. How could I lift and remove a 90-kg robot? I called out to Prahlad, but got not reply.

I began loosening the screws on Bhidhushekher's waist. The creature's were getting closer. There were now about a thousand of them. I managed to separate Bhidhushekher's top half from his legs, and dragged it back to the rocket. Then I began pulling at his legs, and dragged it back to the rocket. Then I began pulling at his legs. The army was within fifty yards.

when I went back to the open door of the rocket, pulling Bhidhushekher's legs I saw that Prahlad had lifted the top half of Bhidhushekher's body into the main cabin.

I pushed up the rest and climbed into the rocket myself.

we had managed to escape from our Martian hosts.