A thrilling sci-fi adventure by Arical Mandal, class 6, Epic Public School, where a mysterious dream about a packet turns into a chilling reality. As a young student faces a world where humans are transformed into robots by a mad scientist, she must uncover hidden formulas, escape danger, and save humanity. Will she succeed in stopping the robotic apocalypse?
A knock on the front door, I rushed to open it, and to my surprise it I find my best friend standing there with a packet in her hand. I was surprised at this unexpected arrival as she is unaware of my address and never ever did she visit me earlier. I realized she must have gathered my address from someone.
After the initial shock and surprise I asked, “What is there in this packet?”
She did not respond, a suspicious silence continued for a while. Finally she said “My mother is ailing, I need some money for her treatment.”
I quickly went inside to fetch my piggy bank and gave her whatever she needed and she left for her home, leaving me in a state of confusion about the packet. Soon a rotten smell diverted my thoughts. I started following it like a sniffer dog and reached the kitchen.
Not finding anything there I called my mother. But as my mother appeared from the back I turned and found that she held a knife and was cutting human flesh. I was scared to death, I closed my eyes and screamed. When I opened them again I found everything was normal and I am lying on my bed. I realized it was just a bad dream. I felt relaxed, I laughed.
I went to the wash room, freshened-up brushed my teeth, took a shower and in no time I was ready for school. I went to the dining room. My mother was there, she served me some breakfast, but could not help notice that her behavior was somewhat surprising. She spoke very little and went on murmuring something which I could not comprehend. I ignored and left for school.
As I reached the school, I found the main gate closed, I went to the other side and entered through the back gate. But the series of surprises were not over. I found that not a single person was present at the school. I slowly walked up to my classroom. Same thing no one was there in the class. I was just about to leave when I noticed someone seating inside. I checked again and realized it was Shaborni, my friend, who had come in my dreams.
I approached her, but she too was behaving in a strange manner. She told me everything what I saw in the dream, as if it was just a repetition, a déjà vu.
Finally she asked me for some money for her mother, I ignored it, and asked her about the rest of our classmates, she ignored and went on asking for money.
I finally said “I am just a kid, where will I get money?”
But Shaborni went on insisting again and again. I was quite irritated, but then she did something that startled me. She opened her bag and took out a knife.
Realizing the danger I jumped out and started running until I reached the store room. I went inside and locked the door, but she was there knocking the door hard. I looked around and saw many boxes all around.
One such box which was open had the same packet which I saw in my dreams. I opened it and what I saw left me flabbergasted. It was a formula of a chemical that had the ability to convert a human to a robot. ‘So Shaborni has been converted to a robot?’ I asked myself.
After the initial shock I started looking around the other boxes. It was then to my relief I found another packet that had a formula to change robots back to human. I took the paper and managed to slip out through the window of the store room.
With my fresh found freedom I rushed back home. But a fresh set of surprises awaited me. I found my sister seating in the living room, I went up to her to narrate the incidents and the danger that lay ahead, and also the fact that I have found the formula which is a solution to the situation. But then as she looked at me I found she is not my sister but it was Shaborni.
I ran out from my house, but there they were, many robots who looked like Shabornis were standing all around looking at me. I fainted….
When I woke up, I found myself lying in a bed, my feet and hands were tied. A scientist was standing in the room with his back towards me. I tried to move but I could not, I realized it is this scientist who is trying to take control of the world by transforming all of us to robots. I quickly checked if I had the formula which I carried from the store room. ‘Yes I have it, but how do I come out of this bond.’ I thought.
The scientist turned towards me, I closed my eyes. He came near me, I pretended to be senseless. I realized he left after sometime as I could hear the door close. I opened my eyes with all my effort I tried to unbind me. I failed. I tried again. Same result. The knots were too strong.
I almost gave up when I could hear someone calleg me. It was Shaborni, she said “Are you all right?”
“You are not Shaborni, you are a robot.” I replied.
“No, I am not, what you saw earlier were all robots, who were cloned from me. This scientist is mad, he wants to control the world. He has captured all our classmates, your family, my family, everyone. He did not covert me to a robot as he need to clone more from me, I somehow managed to escape.”
“Oh thank god,” I expressed my relief, “I totally forgot I have the formula to convert the robots back to humans.”
“Really, thank god, let me untie you.” Saying this Shaborni cut the knots. We quickly locked the doors, and using the formula we made the chemical to convert back the robots to humans. We also ensured we took one bottle that contained the chemical to convert humans to robots.
We opened the door, and started looking for the scientist. He was there in another lab, we jumped inside and pushed the chemical. He shouted, but it was too late. The chemical started reacting and soon we found the scientist was converting to a robot, but this time it was for good.
We then instructed him to go to all the rooms and convert all the robots back to human. He did that, and finally I we saved the world from being robotized.
“Science is a beautiful gift to humanity; we should not distort it.”
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
