Saviors of Plutonon

Ticktock, Ticktock. 

Susan gazed at the clock with disbelief. It's just 1:30 in the afternoon and the day seemed to be passing at snail's pace. She missed hostel where life starts past 12 in the noon and day just flies by. Nothing could calm her restless soul. She flipped few channels and then switched off the TV. She thought of taking a nap and strolled towards her room and spotted the keys of her dad's latest car. A wicked smile flashed on her dull face and with almost a jerk she took the keys from the hook and darted in her room only to come back with a packed bag of clothes.

'Going to explore the world on Dad's Safari Storme. Don't worry, will be back soon,' she left this note on the dinning table and zipped on to the unknown adventures the journey has to offer. Driving out of town, she hit the highway and the woods started to thicken. The scenery was breathtaking, it was calm but there was some mystic in the air. Compelled to unleash the thrill side of serene plateaus, she turned the car on the muddy road off the highway. Little did she know that she had stepped into the world of thrill and adventure.

Susan was maneuvering the car on the dirt road when she heard a thud. She applied brakes and chased the trail of the sound. She heard it again…then again and within seconds it was like hammer pounding the ground. What she saw next was unbelievable. Elephants were running fast and chasing leopards. She rubbed her eyes to make sure of what she was looking at. Her jaw dropped in disbelief. It was happening, elephants were chasing leopards and were about the catch them. She turned on the engine and started following them. How could she miss this!

She switched on the GPS to track her location but it showed no result. She left the phone and concentrated on the wilderness. Just when the elephants were about to catch the leopards, they climbed on the trees and reached on top of the adjacent hill. Breathless with a long run, the herd of elephants didn't give up. They looked at different directions and seemed to work on some strategy. They turned and took the path along the river. 

By this time, Susan's adrenaline was pumping high and her curiosity skyrocketed. She looked at the backpack on the back seat of the car and took out her stole, dupatta, woolen scarf and pajamas, knotted all together to form a rope. 'I have to see what's happening in this jungle. Why the world is upside down here?' she murmured it to herself while taking her backpack. She tied one end of her temporary rope on the branch of a tree and scaled up and up, juggling through the branches, but it was not that easy. Till now she was a mute spectator but now she had become a part of it, an active participant of this wild-wild jungle.

'Ouch!' she screamed as if something bit her but when she turned to have a look at it, she almost fell in shock. It was a giant lizard. Just when Susan attempted to break a thin branch to scare the lizard and to protect herself, lizard started speaking. 'I was calling you from past 5 minutes and when you didn't respond, I bit to gain attention.' Either I am sleeping or this is a wonderland, Susan thought. 'Sorry, I didn't hear,' was all she replied. 'No problem,' the giant lizard continued. 'I was saying, if you want to climb up and your rope is falling short, you can use my tail.' 'Oh! Thanks but I think I can manage.' 'No, you won't. You are clearly running out of support. Use my tail,' giant lizard moved herself without even waiting for a nod from Susan. Left with no other option, Susan placed her hands tightly on the tail and scaled up the hill. She thanked and waved at the giant lizard before pulling up her make-shift rope.

She nearly flipped at the sight on top of the hill, it was laid with thorns. There were animals she had never seen before, tiny yet friendly looking monsters, group of leopards resting under the tree and a quaint river flowing in the distance. Before she could take her phone out to click some pictures, a yellow animal pushed her and she fell on the ground facing a mushroom which had a face. 'Now who are you?' she said in an irritated tone. 'Who are you and what are you doing here?' mushroom demanded. 'I am Susan.' '…Shhh…how you managed to enter Plutonon?, mushroom interrupted her. 'You have no right to be here. And now you have nowhere to go. You can't walk on these thorns, even with shoes and trees have gone to land. They are off for the day. You can't go back.' Mushroom's words fell on Susan's ears like a thunderstorm.

'But there must be a way out,' she lowered her voice and added a smile to please the angry mushroom. 'There is a way but for that you have to help me,' mushroom too reverted a smile. 'You see, I am upside down from many centuries, if you pluck me and flip me over, I can float in the river and go to greener pastures with less thorns. You do that, I will tell Fluffy to carry you from this thorny land,' he pointed towards the yellow animal. 'Deal!' Susan replied.

Fluffy carried Susan and she plucked the mushroom, packed him in her backpack and placed Mushroom on grass when she reached on safer land. She bid adieu to both of them and went straight away towards the resting leopards. Then she heard a screeching sound, two funny looking creatures were coming out of her Dad's Safari Storme and they handed her car keys. 'Awesome car and never forget to lock your car,' advised the visibly happy blue creature. 'Yeah, sure but why were the elephants running after leopards in this jungle?' Susan asked. 'Hmmm…you see Humans are notorious creatures, first they come to explore, then they inhabit the place and eventually destroy it for their mean motives. So, we don't allow them here. Leopards are assigned to watch all the entrances of Plutonon, that's our place, so that no human enters our beautiful land and they missed their shift last night. Got it,' blue creature asked. 'Yeah!'  she nodded. 

'Look, you have to get out of here fast. If elephants spot you, they won't let you out. And don't tell about this place, we don't want humans to pollute our habitat. Head south and you'll be out of here,' he advised. Susan nodded again and took out her phone to use the direction app. She sat in the car and started driving south. She hardly drove a mile in the tough rocky terrain when she spotted a big elephant in the middle of the path with a dragon flying in the sky. She stopped the car and was told to come out of it by the flying dragon.

'What are you doing here?' asked elephant with authority. 'I'm going out of here,' Susan replied. 'No, you can't. We all are the saviors of this land and if we let you go, you'll tell other humans and they will pollute our land, like they do with their own surroundings. Look at the mess few of your species created many years ago,' he pointed at a heap of plastic trash. 'I'm sorry. I am just an explorer. I promise, I won't tell anyone. If you let me go, I'll take all this trash with me. Please let me go,' Susan pleaded. Elephant didn't like the idea of letting her go but her offer sounded tempting. 'Alright!' he said. 

Susan emptied her backpack, took out all the polythenes from it and also her raincoat. She made a bag out of it and asked animals to help her put all the garbage in it. She drove her car close to the garbage pile, started filling the bags and loading it up in the trunk of her dad's car. She was amazed to see so many wild-weird-funny creatures working together to protect and clean their habitat. She vowed to save her part of the world. 'I would clean my neighborhood and plant trees,' she made a promise to herself there. Elephant was overlooking the work, he came forward to thank Susan for removing the trash and advised her to do the same in her city. 'This planet needs people like you Susan,' he said. 'I would, I came to explore these woods but now I feel I have a bigger responsibility. Thanks for teaching me a lesson. I will pass it on. I vow to protect my land, my Mother Earth,' she replied.

Susan reversed her car, passing through many bumpy trails along the river, she hit the main road. She stopped for a minute to look at the dense woods that had made an explorer into a savior. When she entered back into her city, she dumped all the garbage at the Trash Processing Facility and bought plants before driving back to her home. 'How was your day? What did you explore?' asked her father as she entered the living room.' 'I explored the way to payback Mother Earth,' she smiled looking at her father. Next morning, she called many of her friends and without disclosing details of her journey asked them to clean the neighborhood and plant trees. 

…And that's how on an exploration into the wild terrain of Plutonon on her Dad's Safari Storme, Susan not only conquered the hearts of its inhabitants but also became a savior of her own land. 

**************
*This story is written for 'I am Explorer' contest on Indiblogger sponsored by Tata Safari.

Comments

  1. Oh wow post saru.Very well written fiction.

    ReplyDelete
  2. 'Susan in Plutonon' is a nice sequel to 'Alice in Wonderland' and no less mesmerizing, Saru!Lovely imagination :) Best of luck for the contest!

    ReplyDelete
  3. May you win the contest. you wrote this in the best way possible.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Best of luck to the contest, That great piece of story.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Beutiful! A very nice story and I enjoyed it.

    You deserve to win this contest! All the best for the contest and keep rocking! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you liked the story. Thanks for your wishes.

      Delete
  6. Very interesting story. Loved reading it. All the best for the contest.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Interesting creatures... loved the speaking lizard, the angry mushroom, and the authoritative elephants... but most of all I loved the way your characters responded to the Safari Storme! :)

    Arvind Passey
    www.passey.info

    ReplyDelete
  8. Oh wonderful topic Saru..Loved the way you narrated it and the underlying message in it. Have a gut feeling that this is gonna be the winner.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, humbled with your comment. *Fingers Crossed!*

      Delete
  9. Loved Susan's adventure... All the best Ma'am :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Very creative. I liked the clean environment twist. Best of luck.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Very gud post n great theme. But i wud say again that ur proses lack the infallibility of ur poems. Still it is a winning post

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll take that as a compliment. Thanks for reading, Ritesh.

      Delete
  12. wow lovely!!
    http://eyeswantstosee.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  13. you are good at photoshop ¿

    ReplyDelete
  14. Saru, Cute post with a message!
    Much-needed Garbage Clean-up & Tree-Plantation to save Planet Earth!
    I like the cartoon characters! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, we do need that and glad you liked it, Anita.

      Delete
  15. This story throws you for lots of adventures.. I love it... All the very best Saru. I know you gonna make it :-)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Susan's adventurous spirit is commendable indeed. Her concern for the environment is correctly voiced. Nicely written.

    ReplyDelete
  17. lovely adventure of susan's .. nice story along with capture all the best for contest :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Brilliant Saru and very inspiring! One of the best posts written for this contest! A fine mix of fun, fantasy, adventure and a lesson in environment education!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Happy to read your feedback Ragini. Thanks a ton for reading.

      Delete
  19. Wonderful adventure. Hope U win Saru.. Mushroom's words :)

    ReplyDelete
  20. You have let your imagination go wild :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. This made me a child again. I could imagine the mushroom talking, the elephants chasing the leopards, and I am smiling :) Lovely post Saru.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good old carefree days, Pooja. Thanks for reading and for a sweet comment. :)

      Delete
  22. fiction wid a message :) u gave it a new dimension

    ReplyDelete
  23. Wonderful Saru :) I thoroughly loved reading this and the message was eloquently written <3 Thanks for choosing this topic and I hope this awareness spreads all over :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope so too, it's high time we payback Mother Nature. Thanks for a lovely comment Sushmitha.

      Delete
  24. Wow...wonderful fiction...all the best.

    ReplyDelete
  25. Nice fiction story Saru, best of luck for the contest

    ReplyDelete
  26. Looks like Alice in wonderland riding a Safari Storme! But, with a scold to the human settlements.

    Nice read,
    Blasphemous Aesthete

    ReplyDelete
  27. Cute story with a power ful message. It looked like a short animation when I imagined enjoyed :)
    Saving mother earth is a realisation every one shd have ! Its high time to clear the mess created by us :(

    ReplyDelete
  28. OH, what a great story!

    ReplyDelete
  29. Wah..wat a post! Interesting :) Wish u luck :)

    ReplyDelete
  30. Hey Saru. :)

    I love the genre. As much as it delights the reader, it tests the imagination of the writer while attempting it. And in you, Plutonan certainly had a masterful imaginative creator. To conclude such a story in one post, with all the details, surroundings, and more importantly, emotions intact was an uphill task, one that you completed with tremendous ease. And the pictures you doctored just enriched the experience.

    In short, totally loved it. I think you should give us a few more fantasies. Thanks for the treat pal. Seeya again. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Seriously, you make a tad piece look great with your comments, Deepak. Feeling really encouraged to read your feedback. Thanks a ton for motivating me. :)

      Delete
  31. Susan in wonderland? With a message? Great Saru!

    ReplyDelete
  32. Very interesting Saru. Well done. All the best :)

    ReplyDelete
  33. Absolutely brilliant Saru! You are gonna win this contest hands down! :) You are gifted.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ah! Winning is a very tricky thing. Humbled with your comment, Namrata. Thanks :)

      Delete
  34. Susan saved the planet. I loved the plot, idea and the pictures to back the idea.. Really a great post. Keep writing..

    Someone is Special

    ReplyDelete
  35. loved the story :) good creatures you made Saru :) loved the cartoons as well. All the best for the contest :) wonderful creativity :)

    ReplyDelete
  36. Loved the way you wrote the story Saru.. Great! I feeling like wishing the other contestants all the best. I don't think you need a "Best of luck" here.. One of the top posts in my opinion Saru.. Great going :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I want all the wishes, winning is a matter of luck you see. Always spare some wishes for me and thanks for a lovely comment.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Bricks, brickbats, applause - say it in comments!

Popular posts from this blog

यूँ दो चार घंटे के लिए नहीं

Rewind - September 2023

Death of a Nation