Olga Golubyatnikova
A Beautiful Planet. Book one. Series: Robot Croot – The Greatest Constructor

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.

Chapter 3
A Special Guest From Outer Space

Planet Earth, the Solar System

The children fussed around Croot: they sat around the table, offered him juice and biscuits. It’s not every day that a special guest arrives from outer space! Finally, he began to tell his story.

‘My home planet is called Kurutura. It is so bright and very beautiful. There is water on it, and plants too, but their leaves are blue’.

The robot was talking, and as he did so he was twirling plastic juice lids in his hands.

‘Your Earth is in the Solar Star System, and Kurutura is in the Roborumb Star System. It’s on the other side of the Galaxy. Only robots live there. We have nine planets, they are all completely different. We fly between them all the time’.

‘Really?!’ Kolya was surprised. ‘Do you travel between planets like we travel between cities?’

‘Yes. Robots fly to visit each other, to work and on business. It’s convenient and simple. To fly between planets, you need planeskats. Everyone has them’.

‘So your planeskats are like our cars! Everyone has them too, and it’s convenient to ride in them. And what other technology things do you have?’

‘A large amount of things. For example, zvezdokats. They are much more powerful, there is a plasma core in them. They are needed to fly between the stars’.

‘Like starships!’ Kolya was excited. ‘Is it possible to travel around the Milky Way on them?’

‘Yes!’ Croot clapped his hands. ‘You can travel along the Milky Way on zvezdokats! You understand everything correctly. You’re very smart too!’

Masha looked from one to the other and did not have time to follow the conversation. All the things they were talking about now were too complicated for her. As soon as there was a pause, she butted in to the conversation.

‘Does the sun shine there?’

Kolya grinned because he thought it was a stupid question, but Croot politely and quite seriously replied:

‘No, the rays of the Sun do not reach us. We’re too far away. We have our own star, Robus. It gives light and warmth. Our planets are very similar…’ Then the robot stopped and stuck his head out from under the pergola. ‘Only we don’t have any flying creatures’.

Masha looked up and giggled.

‘We have no flying creatures either,’ said Kolya smiling. ‘That’s a bird’.

‘Bird!’ Croot repeated with delight. ‘I like the bird very much! I’ve never seen a bird before’.

The children looked at each other cheerfully, Kolya winked at Masha.

‘Then come on, Croot, we’ll show you something else!’

They ran to the fence and climbed through the little gate. A pony was grazing behind the garden, a cow and goats were in the meadow in the distance. The robot jumped for joy and walked up to the pony.

‘Hi, I’m Croot! Are you a bird?’

The children laughed loudly.

‘Don’t you have any animals on your planet, Croot?’ Kolya surmised.

‘We have little creatures just like yours here,’ he pointed to an ant. ‘But why are they needed, animals?’

Masha and Kolya rushed to tell him lots of things and kept interrupting each other:

‘You can ride ponies and horses; cows and goats give milk; sheep give wool; dogs protect us or are kept as pets; cats catch mice, and if there are no mice in the house, then cats just lie on the sofa and purr!’

Croot listened, wondered, smiled, frowned, laughed. So many new and incomprehensible things! They reached the cow, stroked her on the head. The robot was really interested in everything the children told him and wanted to ask so much more! But then the silver sputnik beeped.

Chapter 4
Miracles Do Happen

Planet Earth, the Solar System

'I have to go back. The Black Hole will close the way soon, and it’s too far to fly around it’.

‘A Black Hole?!’ Kolya was dumbstruck because he knew exactly what it was.

‘What is it?’ Masha had no idea. ‘A hole in space?’

‘No, it’s a type of star,’ Croot explained. ‘Its gravitational attraction is very, very strong. If you get too close, it will pull you inwards, and you will never be able to get out’.

‘Then we must hurry!’ The children were even more worried now.

‘Don’t be afraid, my friend on Kurutura calculated the time with a margin of error just in case I had a problem on Earth or the journey home takes longer than expected’.

All three reluctantly trudged back to the sputnik.

‘So this is a zvezdokat to fly between stars?’ Kolya asked and stroked its round side which still felt warm to the touch.

‘No. Zvezdokats are massive, they are issued to space scientists only. This is my little planeskat to fly between planets. I put a plasma core in it,’ Croot explained.

‘So you turned a planeskat into a zvezdokat?’ Kolya’s hand froze in the air. ‘Just like that?’

‘Everyone says it’s impossible,’ the robot replied modestly, ‘but I tried, and I succeeded’.

‘What?!’ Kolya jumped up suddenly. His eyes lit up: ‘Croot, are you serious?’

The robot was embarrassed. Masha didn’t understand what was wrong with that.

‘What’s wrong with that? What’s the matter?’ she asked.

‘Masha! It’s like me turning Grandpa’s car into a rocket and we fly off in it into space! You, Croot, are a fantastic inventor and constructor! Well done!’

Kolya patted his new friend on the shoulder. The robot broke into a wide smile.

The sputnik beeped again.

‘Are you coming back?’ Masha asked hopefully.

‘To be honest… Well…’ Croot was confused, and stammered his reply. ‘You see, the plasma core… I wasn’t really allowed to fly with it’.

Masha gasped, Kolya frowned, Croot sighed.

‘I wanted to look at the Earth very much. Now I have to return the core and confess everything. But you two are so kind, I want to fly to you again! I’ll try to assemble a real zvezdokat. If I can, I will definitely visit you’.

He reached an arm inside the planeskat and brought out a box with antennas.

‘In the meantime, take this! It’s a receiver of cosmic signals, called a cosmophone. If we manage to establish a connection, we can use it to talk’.

‘I’m going to miss you,’ Masha hugged Croot and snuffled.

‘Don’t be sad, Masha! Be cool!’ he said.

The robot picked her up and spun her around above his head. He was small, but very strong. Masha screamed with delight. Kolya came up smiling and held out his hand in an adult way. Croot stared at the palm.

‘We need to shake our hands together. This

is how real men greet and say goodbye,’ he repeated what his Dad always said.

Their goodbyes said, the robot climbed into the planeskat, the door closed behind him. Creep-creep! – creaked inside.

‘Oh, I wanted to ask so much more,’ sighed Kolya.

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