Science fiction

Planet Cacti        By Hannah

Deep in space 8930 million miles away from Earth's sun is a planet
called Cacti. Long green vines twist around the big kapok trees like a hug.

In the trees are big tree huts, a deep brown like the dark underearth.

Long rope bridges sway slightly in the cool breeze.

Standing happily  on the grass is a girl called Millicent.

Millicent’s  pale pink skin and thick turquoise hair shines in the sunlight.

Her rich green eyes looked silently up at the big kapok trees.

“ Your turn to give the trees acid,”  called out someone.

The type of acid that the trees need to live is hydrofluoric acid.

To get to the acid Millicent had to go down a damp, dark tunnel that leads
underground to the acid springs.

She picked up a bright red bucket and filled it with acid then walked back up
the tunnel with a bucket full of acid to tip on the strong

and sturdy roots of the kapok trees.

Millicent decided to walk down to Triton lake.

She took a narrow path down to the lake walking slowly.

Scattered over the path were cherry blossom flowers, each petal  

a different colour of the rainbow.

Millicent bent down to pick up a flower but the delicate petals

broke with the soft touch of her fingers.

As Millicent neared the lake she could hear the sploshing sound of the
waterfall hitting the saturated  grey rocks below.

Millicent looked happily at Triton lake. She saw the sun shining on it,
making the surface of the water reflect like a mirror.

“ Over here! “ shouted the boat driver.

Near the water's edge there was a dark blue boat.

The boat driver was Millicent’s friend, Harmony.

“ Where do you need to go?” asked Harmony.

“ To the crystal house on the other side of the lake,” replied Millicent.

The crystal house was where the scientists

kept the crystals they needed to unlock time travel.

At the moment they were still building the time machine.

It was a silent ride across the lake.

As they neared the dock on the other side of the lake the crystal house
came into view.

The walls were made of solid grey concrete and the roof was as orange
as a sunset.

Once they had tied the boat up at the dock they walked across the soft,
moist grass.

“ Do you have the key?” Millicent asked Harmony

“ Yes,” replied Harmony.

Millicent stood quietly as Harmony unlocked the door.

As they entered into the room the smell of the musty

air hit them in the face like a wave.

Millicent followed Harmony as they walked through the winding corridors
that led to the room where the crystals were kept.

There were four crystals, each was a different colour.  

But when the two of them walked into the room they got a huge shock.

“ The crystals are gone!” cried Millicent.

“Who could have took them,” wondered Harmony.

“I don’t know,” replied Millicent thinking hard.

“ We should look for clues in the room,” suggested Harmony.

Millicent agreed and they started hunting for clues.

“Look, over here,” shouted Millicent excitedly.

“What is it?” called Harmony.

“It looks like some sort of chest,” said Millicent.

Harmony ran over and they opened up the chest.

The soft red velvet looked as ripe as a strawberry

and caught the eyes of Millicent and Harmony.

They very carefully lifted an old crinkled map out of the chest.

The map had stains all over it making it hard for

Millicent and Harmony to read.

The map had thick black lines that twisted and entwined

with each other over the piece of paper.

There were symbols scattered over the page, some the girls knew but some looked very strange indeed.

It was difficult to study the map because the only light was

from a dim light on ceiling.   

Millicent and Harmony walked slowly out of the room and

out the front door thinking hard.

Once they were outside in the sunshine they could see

the map more clearly.

Harmony took the map from Millicent and explained that

each of the little lines stood for one step.

The map told them that they had to around Triton Lake to

where they keep submarines.

They walked around to the submarines and were greeted

by the owner of the building.

A big garage door stood in front of them and the

owner opened up and straight away,

the submarines metal was shining in the sun making it hard to see

it clearly.

They walked in and they could see the submarines clearly.

“Hi,” Harmony called out to the owner.

“Hi I’m Rusty,” replied Rusty.

“I’m Harmony and this is my friend Millicent,” Harmony said cheerfully.

“What can I do for you?” Rusty asked.

“We need to borrow a submarine,” MIllicent said kindly.  

“What for?” asked Rusty.

“ Oh, well the crystals are gone from the crystal house,

we found a map in the room and we need to go under Triton Lake,” said
Millicent out of breath.

“What kind of submarine do you need?” asked Rusty

“Just a small one,” replied Harmony.

“Ok,” Rusty said as he got a submarine ready for the girls.

Rusty took the submarine down to the water’s edge.
He told Millicent and Harmony how to work the it,
and then both the girls submerged under the water.
Once the girls were under the clear blue water they took another look
at the map. Something special about the lake is that it is like the ocean, because it has colourful coral reefs and vibrant fish.
By looking at the map Millicent and Harmony could see where they needed
to go. They needed to find cave surrounded by neon pink and purple coral.
 It took

about half and hour of searching to find the cave.
The cave had huge, stone walls, that had a thick layer of dark green
algae growing on them.

Harmony steered the submarine into the cave,
Millicent turned on the bright head lights on the front of the boat.
There were bits of discarded metal that were reflecting in the bright light.
At the back of the cave there was a big door. It opened when the submarine
came near and the Harmony steered the it into the door,
that slammed shut once they went through.

The other side of the cave had no water in it so Millicent and
Harmony got out of the submarine and started to walk around and explore.

“Is anybody here?” called out Harmony rather loud.

“I’m here,”  replied a deep voice.

“Show yourself,” said Millicent trying not to sound scared.

“It is me, Luka,” said Luka in his deep voice.

“We know that you stole the crystals,” Harmony called out bravely.

“I did indeed,” snapped back Luka.

“Why did you do it?” asked Millicent.

“I did it because I don’t want your scientists to be the first to discover time travel,
I want to,” Luka replied scornfully.

“I am also building a time machine and I need the crystals to power it,”

Millicent and Harmony were standing quiet far away from Luka so they took two
big steps forward. Both girls thought that Luka looked rather intimidating,
all his clothes were pitch black. He also had a cape that flowed slightly
as he also took some steps forward.

“Why did you steal the crystals?” asked Millicent with curiosity.

“I stole them because of something that happened a long time ago.  

“What happened?” asked Harmony.

“When I was younger I wanted to join the group of scientists in your village,
when I had joined something went missing and I got blamed and kicked of
the group,” said Luka feeling sad.

“Why did you get the blame someone could have taken it!” Millicent exclaimed.

“I know,” said Luka in a sad voice,”

“I stole the crystals to get revenge on the scientists,” Luka added scornfully.

“What if Harmony and I convinced the scientists to let you join them and
help building the time machine?”  asked Millicent.

“Why would do something like that for me?” said Luka sounding very
surprised.

“I just thought that you might want to help build the time machine that
our scientists,” began Harmony.

“I guess you could give it a try,” added Luka sounding cheerful.

All three of them hopped into the submarine (plus the crystals)
and were on their way back up to the surface.
When the submarine surfaced there was a gushing sound and lots
of clear bubbles bubbling on the emerald water. Harmony went off to
find Rusty to tell him that they were back. Millicent took Luka to the crystal
house on the boat. When they got to the crystal house Millicent lead Luka
through the door and into the lab, where the scientists were working hard.
Luka had a dark red bag that contained the crystals.

“I think you might need these,” said Luka taking they crystals carefully out
of the bag and handing them to the scientists.

“How did you get them!” cried the head scientist.

“Hey aren’t you Luka,” exclaimed someone.

“Yes it is me Luka and I took them to get revenge on you for kicking me out,”
yelled Luka.

“I was hoping that you let would let him help you build the time machine,”
Millicent said hopefully.

The scientists thought very carefully but finally gave in and let Luka join.

Two weeks later the time machine was finished and all they had to do
was put in the crystals. One by one the crystals were placed in the time
machine and it was ready to go.