проект КРУУТ "КОСМОС ТВОЕГО ДЕТСТВА"

Chapter 1: What an Evening Brings…

Planet Earth, the Solar System

It was a typical mid-August evening. The children were lying, bored, on a hammock in the farthest part of their garden.

There was half a month left, and then, like it or not, the next year of school study would begin. Kolya would move up to the fourth year in primary school, and Masha would move into the senior group in nursery. But even with half of August left it seemed that summer was already over. So both felt a little sad.

‘Kolya, do you think that there are miruncles in summer?’ Masha asked dreamily.

‘Not miruncles, but miracles!’ Kolya always corrected his sister’s mistakes as she learnt new words or phrases. ‘And why are you asking about summer?

‘Well, everyone knows that miruncles, that is, miracles, happen in winter: New Year, Santa Claus, gifts, but in the summer, I wonder, are there any too?’

The boy thought about it. Not about miracles (no, he hadn’t believed in them for a long time), he wondered whether it was worth telling his sister what he knew about Santa Claus…

‘You know, Masha…’

‘Look!’ his sister suddenly shouted. ‘Do you see how strangely that star is flying? In curlicues’.

‘Not in curlicues, but in a spiral,’ her brother corrected.

They both stared up at the sky.

‘It’s probably people from other planets!’ she said excitedly. Masha was worried now.

‘They are called Aliens, not people, but of course it’s not them… It’s just a satellite, which some also call a Sputnik,’ Kolya said reassuringly.

The sputnik was growing in size and clearly approaching. Bit by bit it came closer until they could see that it was round, sparkling and shimmering with different colours.

‘Kolya, quick, let’s run home!’ Masha tugged hard on her brother’s sleeve.

‘No way! If it falls into our garden, I have to find it! Then all the other kids will be sooooo jealous!’

The ball was indeed already circling over gardens and rapidly descending. The children leapt to their feet.

‘Not to the neighbours, not to the neighbours!’ Kolya repeated like a mantra: his hands were pressed to his chest, his eyes were burning.

There was an electric crackle in the air. The sputnik slowed down over a huge apple tree, flew over it, froze over a currant. Brother and sister watched, with gaping mouths (one with delight, the other with fear), as it rounded the bush and skimmed over the ground. Then it hovered for a second and — pok! — it plonked itself firmly on its three small, metal legs not far from the children.

Close up, the sputnik was bigger than they’d originally thought. Its surface was smooth and silvery. Coloured lights were running around the middle of the hull and antennae stuck out in different directions and sparkled. It resembled a festive Christmas tree. Kolya had always imagined satellites to be exactly like this.

The object did not move. The children were also afraid to move.

Then suddenly — creep-creep! — a creaking noise came from inside, and it became clear to them that there was someone, or something, in it.

Chapter 2. Who is Inside the Sputnik?

Planet Earth, the Solar System

The hair on Kolya’s head began to stand up on end in fright, but Masha, who was usually a little scaredy-cat, suddenly asked loudly:

‘Who’s there?’ and made Kolya jump.

The sputnik seemed to respond. The lights blinked rapidly, the antennas sparkled like sparklers, and the round door slowly slid open to the side. The children held their breath.

Creep-creep! — a head the size of a football popped out and looked around, two wide eyes blinked. And then a real male robot stepped out completely! He was bright, and colourful. When he moved, he made funny creaking noises: creep-creep. He was slightly shorter than Masha. His squarish head looked like it had been screwed onto his body, and his face was friendly in appearance.

The robot stared quizzically at the currant bush, then switched his gaze to the huge apple tree, examined the cherries, plums and was even more amazed

Then he bent down and stroked the grass. Finally, he straightened up.

‘Namaste, mera naam Croot hai!’ the robot smiled happily.

‘What?’ Masha and Kolya were totally confused.

‘Oops, wrong language. Hello, I am Croot,’ the robot corrected himself and smiled again.

‘I am Masha,’ the girl reacted quickly, but Kolya did not answer.

Are there really aliens? Why is he plastic? How does he know our language? Will the others believe me when I tell them?… Questions were running around the boy’s head bumping into each other. Masha nudged her brother in the side.

‘And I’m Kolya!’ he blurted out.

‘It’s very beautiful here!’ the robot was full of admiration and bounced up and down with delight. ‘There are plants, and the trees are so tall! Like on my planet!’

‘Are you from another planet?’ the children said in unison.

‘Yes, I came from far, far away’.

‘From Neptune?’ Kolya was pleased to show that he knew the name of the planet farthest from Earth.

‘No, I’m from another star system’.

‘Oh!’ Masha gasped: she listened but could not believe that this was actually happening.

‘How do you understand our language if you are from another star system?’ doubted Kolya, who was no longer scared of the visitor.

‘Us robots are very smart. Eight hundred languages are loaded into my memory’.

Masha gasped, Kolya whistled.

‘Believe me, it’s not many at all. My friend understands three thousand languages! Knowing them is very useful. I even can talk to you, Earthies’.

The children laughed.

‘We’re Terrestrials,’ they corrected.

‘Croot, let’s go to the pergola!’ Kolya suggested. ‘We can drink some juice, and you can tell us about yourself’.

Creep-creep! — the robot strode along the path and the children looked at each other enthusiastically behind his back.