Green Planet

by Anthony E. Southby

  He hovered slowly to the ground, boasting proudly to himself about what he hoped to achieve like a blind man bragging about flying an aeroplane for the first time.

  Standing firmly on the ground, he scattered all the fallen leaves by the large pepper tree to one side with his foot. First removing the lid, ,he leaned over and emptied the contents of the ant flask onto the cleared area below. Standing about five paces back, he began chanting a string of destructive rhymes. The wicked wizard rattled off his perverse chant in a foreign pagan language which, translated, read as follows:

  ‘Though they may only be little black helpers

  Transform their pincers into large sharp callipers

  Once a tiny worker ant, now a hundred times their size

  Becomes a vicious new breed, destruction on the rise

  Summoning the forces of darkness into my herbal green slime

  Combine your powers with the little black ones, to create a terrible crime.’

  He stood back, holding his pistol with both hands; his face displayed an element of craziness. Without any further hesitation, he fired the pistol in the direction of the little garden ants. The spray shot forward in an even circular jet of green mist, and thoroughly soaked the area where the ants had been released. Mathias took off into the air like a thief dashing from the scene of a crime, and hovered above his wicked experiment in safety. The view from the top was like watching popcorn kernels popping in hot oil, with hundreds of tiny ants exploding into large bodied creatures with pincers the size of sheep shears. The ants had large black abdomens, which shone like rough polished steel. Their eyes appeared glazed, like a robot programmed for destruction, and make no mistake these boys were destructive with a capital “D”. The little black ants quickly transformed into large snapping monsters, exploding into an enormous ant stack about twelve feet high. Slowly they dispersed, spreading out over a wide area of land. Leaves, trees, flowers, grass, insects, bugs, snakes – the beastly ants marched forward like an army troop, devouring everything in sight. Hovering at a safe distance, the wizard breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the beasts cause mass destruction. ‘I sure am glad to be flying up here where it’s safe; I didn’t realize that these creatures were quite so destructive,’ he thought, watching every single thing in sight being devoured. He soon broke into a cold sweat, having second thoughts about his wicked scheme. He gazed towards the pepper tree supporting Chimzen’s house and couldn’t help smiling as he watched at least fifteen of the devilish ants hard at work, snapping their way through the large trunk like a high powered chainsaw. Within ten minutes the trunk was reduced to the thickness of a pencil, evenly chewed from top to bottom. He gazed on in anticipation, expecting the house to come crashing down at any moment. Soon, the pencil thin trunk started bending near its base and the entire tree came splintering down into a large pile of sticks, leaves and sawdust.

  Mathias gazed up in feeble anticipation, knowing it wouldn’t be long to go. You see this was where he made a rather unfortunate mistake. The laser protection surrounding Chimzen’s house not only protected it from burglars, but it also held it perfectly suspended in the air. The wizard knew that Mathias would go straight for the tree trunk, although he had no idea that his wicked cousin would take such extreme measures; a simple axe would have done the job.

  Mathias stared up at his cousin’s suspended abode in horror.

  ‘Damn you Chimzen! Damn you!’ he roared, ripping out tufts of blue hair in frustration.

  The ants scattered in all directions, guzzling everything in sight. The woods would soon be levelled, leaving nothing untouched other than sand and rocks. What made the situation far worse was that Mathias had no clue on how to transform the greedy munchers back to ordinary garden ants. His wicked nature only made him capable of clever destruction and completely hopeless when it came to doing anything good.

  He hovered over the woods with a look of dismal sorrow displayed on his face. Squidget the squirrel sat on a branch in the distance; his little body quivered as he watched over the destruction. Fortunately he was capable of moving at an incredible speed and bounced off to a place of safety. Mathias never even noticed him; he was far too preoccupied with the dilemma at hand.

  ‘What on earth am I going to do? Soon these wretched chewing beasts will eat me out of house and home.’

  * * * * * * * *

  The wicked wizard hovered like a rag doll, feeling completely helpless as he watched the mutant ants spread in all directions, rapidly reducing the once plush green woods to a rapidly expanding circle of desolate destruction. The ant beasts were never content; the more they ate the more they wanted. The woods became the petrol like they were a fire, spreading devastation in all directions.

  Mathias was far too stubborn to actually admit that Chimzen was the only person who could sort out a mess of this magnitude. And even if he had decided to rely on his cousin for help, it would have been of no use. The good wizard was unfortunately millennia away at that point in time.

  Chapter 10

  The Malco trio plummeted down through the sky, slowly transforming from solid gold to balls of liquid fire as they entered Floran’s atmosphere and gradually cooled down. After a while they were back to their bright shiny silvery selves, heading towards a vast expanse of green. Zen veered slightly to the left and the others followed suit, making sure that he chose a suitable landing area on large open terrain. The trio rocketed forward like a space shuttle approaching earth. After a while, the large green expanse of land came into clear perspective, with large dense forests appearing very dark green in colour as apposed to the lighter green textures of the open fields. Shortly afterwards, the three balls landed on a very large expanse of tall green grass, extending in all directions as far as the eye could see, with absolutely no sign of life in sight.

  The Malco balls landed in absolute silence, without making a single squeak. A mission like this was very draining and they needed time to recharge, which they did at an incredible rate. They hovered slightly above the ground, and projected coloured beams towards each other. The colourful triangle was formed and the trio gently lowered themselves to the ground. The projection of radiant light formed a large pyramid to accommodate the wizard and his friends. The teleport pyramid transported the three space travellers to Floran in an instant. The brilliant light soon faded, leaving the small group standing in the large open field. The two boys looked around in amazement; were they really on a foreign planet? It appeared to them more like they were standing in the middle of an endless overgrown sports field, nothing at all unusual.

  * * * * * * * *

  ‘Well my friends, I hope you are ready for a most unusual journey,’ Chimzen said, stretching out his hand to receive the Malco trio. The three balls flew into his hand, rattling with excitement. The wizard beamed at his faithful friends, rolling them gently in his hand. ‘Well done Malcos! I know I can always depend on your services.’

  The group stared out across the grassy plain for a short while, with the boys feeling somewhat restless and unsure. Returning his gaze to the trio, the wizard suddenly shouted, ‘Okay Malcos, I think it’s time to fly!’ and tossed them into the air. The trio spun off, criss-crossing each other like three little birds having a game. In a moment they returned, giggling like schoolchildren out on break. They grew silent, and hovered slightly above the ground in a triangular formation.

  Being the leader of the three, Zen positioned himself as the front point of the triangle, and the other two trailed behind as the two back points. Zen fired a thick yellow beam across to Zip and Zet. In response, Zet fired the same type of beam across to Zip. The three balls formed a solid yellow triangular band, which spread out across the inside of the triangle, making a nice solid triangular platform. Chimzen beckoned the boys to step onto the solid yellow platform.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Frank asked, staring at the triangular object in confusion.

  ‘Well, you don’t expect us to walk, do you?’ Chimzen asked, laughing at
the surprised look on Frank’s face. Philip scratched his head, a bit hesitant to step on. ‘This looks very strange indeed,’ he thought to himself. ‘It’s like a giant hovering surfboard.’

  Chimzen stepped on, reluctantly followed by the two. Frank and Philip stepped on nervously, unsure of the platform’s stability. Checking to see if everyone was safely on board, Chimzen yelled out, ‘Let’s go Malcos! Straight ahead!’ The wizard wasn’t all that sure of which direction to take, so straight ahead seemed as good as any. The Malcos hovered forward, gradually increasing their speed. Frank and Philip sat clutching Chimzen’s leg firmly.

  ‘Wow wee, this is amazing!’ Philip cried. The boys sat looking at each other with big smiles, not quite believing the whole experience. Chimzen glanced back to see how the boys were doing. Seeing them both shaking in their shoes, he tilted his head back and roared with laugher.

  ‘I guess you boys have never had a ride like this before, hey?’

  They both sat slowly shaking their heads, at a complete loss for words. Chimzen was really enjoying their reactions, holding a few more surprises up his sleeves for later. Monitoring the stability of the three passengers, the Malcos accelerated, gradually increasing their flying speed. The boys tightened their grip on Chimzen’s leg, petrified of falling off.

  The grass plain stretched on for miles and it would have taken them months to get anywhere if they had gone on foot. Frank and Philip released their grip on Chimzen’s leg, feeling more confident now with this new form of transport. Frank moved closer to the platform edge and gazed over the endless stretch of grass passing beneath. Philip lay on his back, while a strong breeze rushed over his little hairy body as he looked up at the cloudy sky. Chimzen turned his head, and called to the boys,‘Frank and Philip, sit closer, we need to lift off!’

  ‘Lift off! Does this mean we are going to fly?’ Philip asked, grabbing onto Chimzen’s leg. The noise of the wind rushing past was so loud that Philip’s question went completely unheard.

  Chimzen needed a good aerial view of the land to give him an idea of their progress. The wizard spread his legs further apart as if he was about to surf an enormous wave.

  ‘Malcos, prepare to lift off!’ he bellowed, standing firmly in position.

  Gradually the trio reduced their speed and gently lifted into the air. The platform remained perfectly horizontal as they climbed, making a very smooth ride. Frank and Philip could feel their hearts jump into their mouths; the rising sensation felt unusually strange. Frank had been in an aeroplane before, the time he had flown to America for the international high school boxing championships. This felt somehow quite different to a conventional aircraft. Frank had made it as far as the semi finals and thought he had been judged very unfairly, believing that he should have at least made it to the finals. Well at least that’s what he tells everyone back home. No one really knows for sure, and if you think you know better, just try telling Frank that he’s a sore loser.

  Up and up they climbed; Chimzen gazed over the horizon with his left hand in line with his forehead. Eventually the Malcos stopped climbing and continued forward at a fair speed. Chimzen noticed vast clumps of trees and green life scattered in the distance, spread out like an endless Amazon.

  ‘Well that’s a relief; it looks like we’ll be looking for that precious Frego flower soon.’

  Frank and Philip didn’t hear a word; they were both lying with their heads hanging over the edge of the platform, staring at the endless stretch of green grass. Chimzen smiled, watching them chat excitedly to each other while pointing their little monkey fingers into the air. Getting the boys’ attention, the wizard told them to take a look on his side; it was far more exciting than plain grass. Carefully, the boys crawled across the platform and plonked themselves in front. They sat gazing at the endless rows of trees and the enormous green stretch of land below, amazed by its incredible vastness. Frank and Philip remained at Chimzen’s feet, gazing ahead as the board hovered closer and closer.

  Chimzen looked ahead, now seeing things in clear perspective. He noticed a particularly large clump of trees growing in a perfect circle, surrounding a large stretch of open grass, unlike the other clumps of trees which had no open land at all. Chimzen ordered the trio to head towards the dense vegetation within the open enclosure. He explained to the boys that the Frego flower was particularly fond of partial light and that they would most likely find dozens of them along the inside of the vegetation ring. The boys nodded, putting their faith in his better judgement. The Malco trio hovered above the large enclosure of trees and vegetation. Chimzen scanned the area below carefully, making sure that it was safe to land. After receiving an okay, the Malcos lowered their precious cargo to the ground.

  * * * * * * * *

  There was a slight breeze blowing through the trees; other than that, the place was deadly quiet. Frank and Philip gazed up towards the trees, feeling a bit uneasy about the place. The silence was profound with not a sound from a bird or a bee. No ants walking through the grass. No flies buzzing past. No butterflies with colourful wings flapping in the air. The boys stepped off the hovering platform feeling scared, but filled with a sense of relief at having Chimzen by their side. They couldn’t see the dense vegetation very clearly from where they stood and they didn’t really care to either. This place gave them the absolute creeps.

  ‘Now remember what I’ve told you before.’ Chimzen addressed the boys sternly, waving his index finger. ‘Make sure that you never leave my side. If you see something interesting, just ignore it. If you stay with me nothing can go wrong.’

  ‘Yes sir!’ they yelled, nodding in agreement. They most certainly wouldn’t be taking any chances; that was for sure! The Malco trio disengaged their yellow beams and spun off, hovering above their master.

  The group had been walking across the open field for a while, and the Floran sun shone brilliantly across the grass enclosure. Frank ambled along on all fours staring closely at the ground, and noticed the grass growing beneath looked quite unusual. In fact it didn’t seem like grass at all! The ground looked as if it was covered with a large velvet sheet, with an almost furry, leaf-like texture. It was very hard to notice at first because of all the leaves and other dead plant foliage lying scattered everywhere. A short distance away, to the right of the boys, a funny looking green spike protruded from the ground.

  ‘Frank, what’s that funny green thing over there?’ Philip asked, pointing to the funny spike. Being in monkey form, the boys possessed a strong element of curiosity, so without a second thought, they both scuttled off to investigate. Frank stood next to the strange green spike which seemed to form part of the velvet sheet, and curiously gazed up and down its length. He started shuffling back and forth, lashing out at the spike with his little monkey fists as if it were some kind of a floral punching bag.

  ‘What is it Frank?’ Philip asked for the second time. Deliberately disobeying Chimzen’s orders, he grabbed the end of its green length firmly with both monkey hands. The boys leapt into the air, startled, as the ground shook beneath them. At first they thought it was an earthquake. Then they saw an enormous sheet of thick velvety leaf rise up and surround them. Chimzen fell backwards, sliding down the enormous leaf, desperately trying to grab onto something. The plant was spread out across the entire opening like an enormous lily pad; now triggered off, it enfolded its unsuspecting victims with a thick layer of velvet leaf. The enormous lily had been triggered like a Venus flytrap, a plant that restricts its prey, sucking the very life from its unsuspecting victim. Soon the thick velvet killer had its enormous circular leaf pointed straight up in the air. It folded inwards, suffocating the three victims with constricting pressure. The poor boys desperately struggled to free themselves, but the harder they fought; the tighter the deadly leaf gripped them. ‘This is the most terrible thing that could possibly happen to us,’ Frank thought to himself, desperately trying to breathe. Using his last breath, Philip cried out to Chimzen for help, and unfortunately there was no re
ply.

  The plant didn’t really have much of a stem, only a very long taproot which allowed it to blend nicely with its environment. Normally it would settle for a large helping of leaves and sticks for dinner, but today it was in for a special treat.

  Chimzen called upon the Malco trio before being completely enfolded by a suffocating sheet of leaf.

  Taken by complete surprise, the Malcos spun into action and transformed instantly into blazing fireballs. In a desperate attempt to free their master they sliced through the thick leaf like a hot knife through butter. They carefully spun from left to right, checking out the exact location of their master. The trio were in a very dangerous form and they had to be certain that they didn’t cause their master any harm. In seconds, the three balls stood lined up across the length of the leaf-encased body, shining brightly, with thick smoke belching into the air. Like a bullet, they weaved around their master several times, shredding the thick velvet covering. The gigantic leaf seemed to shrink back in pain from the intense heat, a shock wave surging all the way to its root. Chimzen quickly flung the remains of the shredded leaf enfolding him to one side and gasped for air. Without having a chance to regain his balance properly, he slid down the gigantic leaf and landed on the ground with a thump.

  The trio wasted no time waiting for their master to give further orders; Frank and Philip were close to suffocation by now, possibly even dead. The Malcos desperately scanned the surface of the gigantic leaf in search of the boys. There were many areas where they may have been potentially trapped. Unfortunately there was just no time to check each one, and there was also the risk of accidentally hurting one of them as well. The problem was that the poor creatures were just too small to spot; a human being would have been a lot more visible enfolded in the giant leaf. Zen grew frustrated and desperate, not knowing what to do; the Malcos never let their master down.