By Advay Vivek (Agni, 4B)

Characters:
Ant- Advay
Old scientist - Hrishikesh
King - Prajapati
Robber - Akshaj
Robber 2 - Prajapati
Old Scientist’s daughter - Geethika
Commander - Akshaj
Narrator - Advay

Act 1 Scene 1
[In the King’s Palace]

(The King is sitting on his throne)

NARRATOR: Once upon a time, there was a great king who had a great reign for a long time, and his capital was in Varanasi. His kingdom was wealthy, and his subjects donated a lot of money to him making him very lazy and greedy. Soon, he had twenty chests full of treasure.

One time, all of his treasure chests were stolen by a large gang of robbers who had been planning the attack on the lazy king for a long time. The King was very sad.

KING: (Wailing) Oh noooooo! All is lost. My treasure is all gone. How will I retrieve it? Maybe my commander will know.

(Shouting) COMMANDER!!

COMMANDER: Yes, your majesty?

KING: (Angrily) All of my chests have been stolen from right under your nose. Do something about it.

COMMANDER: Gather all the soldiers and look for the chests. The robbers cannot have gone far.

Narrator: The soldiers search and search, but they cannot find even a trace of the chests. Dejected and scared of the king’s wrath, they report back to the Commander.

Act 1 Scene 2
[In the Commander’s chambers]
(Commander pacing back and forth, talking to his soldiers)

COMMANDER: (Worried) Call for the old Scientist, I have heard he is very clever. He is our last hope!

(A few minutes later)

NARRATOR: An old man wearing a stethoscope and a white lab coat walks in. He looks lost and is wondering why he was asked to rush to the palace from his lab.

OLD SCIENTIST: (To the commander) What am I doing here?

COMMANDER: (Explaining) The king has lost all his chests and there is no sign of the robbers anywhere in the city. He said that if I don’t find the chests, my head will roll. Please help me find them!

OLD SCIENTIST: I will do my best.

Act 1 Scene 3
[In the Old Scientist’s lab]

(The Old scientist is thinking hard about what he can do)

OLD SCIENTIST: (Thinking aloud) Hmmm, I think two brains are better than one to solve this mystery. So I shall first make my pet ant, human-sized, so that we can think together.

(The old scientist Tinkers with some nuts and bolts on a crazy looking box of metal. Then, he takes his pet ant off his shoulder, puts him in the box, and turns a few switches on. In a blinding flash of light, a human-sized ant is standing where the metal box once was!)

OLD SCIENTIST: (Happy) Hah! My machines are always perfect. This one is an example of my brilliance! Now my dear ant friend, tell me, what should I do about the mystery of the missing chests?

ANT: (In a high-pitched ant voice) You can make a time-machine and go back in time to prevent the robbery.

OLD SCIENTIST: (mimicking the ant’s voice) How should I do this?

ANT: Simple, Google it!

OLD SCIENTIST: (hitting his head with his hand) Arrey, nothing good will come from Google. This is too complicated for that!

ANT: Okay hold on, I will come up with the instructions for the time machine and give it to you

NARRATOR: The ant takes out his ant phone and quickly types for a few seconds. He then plugs in a small USB drive into his phone, copies it and gives it to the scientist. The scientist puts it in his computer to look at the file.

OLD SCIENTIST: (Perplexed) What is this blippety bloppity bleepe boo? I don’t understand a thing!

ANT: Oops, I forgot to translate it to english! Give it back to me.

(Few minutes later, Ant fixes something and hands the USB drive back)

OLD SCIENTIST: ‘SEARCH GOOGLE’. Seriously, ant? All this time to repeat what you said? What a waste of time!

ANT: (Hits his head) Just click on that. It is hyperlinked. It will take you to the page with instructions.

NARRATOR: The Scientist clicks on it and pages filled with instructions fall out of the printer

OLD SCIENTIST: Smart Ant, looks like I trained you well. Who needs all these pages anyway? All of the good stuff is on the first and last page so let’s get rid of the rest. (Throws most of the pages into the trash)

NARRATOR: The Old Scientist starts the huge project of making a time machine in his watch. A few days later…

Act 2 Scene 1
[In the King’s Palace]

(The scientist and the ant walk in with the Commander)

COMMANDER: Your Majesty, these two great beings, the Scientist and his human-sized ant, (The King laughs when he see the ant) have an idea to get your treasure back.

OLD SCIENTIST: We have made a complex time machine built into my watch, using which we will go back in time and prevent the robbery, getting your treasure back.

ANT: We will make it like it never even happened (smiles)

KING: Go at once and do it. But remember, if you do not get my treasure back, your heads will be lost just like my treasure.

Act 2 Scene 2
[In the lab]

NARRATOR: The Scientist and the Ant are just about to press the switch on the time machine when the scientist’s daughter walks in. Looking at the human sized ant, she stumbles onto the scientist and they all get zapped back in time.

Act 2 Scene 3
[One week ago, inside the palace]

OLD SCIENTIST: (Whispering) We are exactly where the robbery is about to take place. The robbers will be here any minute.

(The robbers arrive)

ROBBER: Hurry, no one is around. Let’s get the chests. (Seeing the three newcomers) Aah! Who are you? Where did you come from?

ANT: From a week in the future. Now, hands up! (Pointing a gun) To jail, walk.

DAUGHTER: (Doing the Floss and singing in tune) We got this, we got this, we got this!!

NARRATOR: Meanwhile, the other robber quietly sneaks one chest out and throws it out the out window where his friends are waiting. The scientist and his friends do not notice and zap back to current time with the robbers. The land right in front of the king, very pleased with themselves.

KING: (Counting his chests) Thank you very much, Old Scientist. (Suddenly realizes one chest missing) But wait, what happened to one chest? (Furious) You idiots! You got all of these and forgot the most important chest? Go find it right away, or else your head WILL ROLL!

SCIENTIST AND ANT: Uh-oh!

Act 3 Scene 1
[Back in the lab]

ANT: We cannot use the time machine again because it works well only for one pair of travels. What do we do?

DAUGHTER: Let’s go to the robber’s cave. I am sure that’s where they must have hidden the chest.

OLD SCIENTIST: It will be quite dangerous. Are you sure we should do it? Anyhow, daughter, you stay here and be safe. We both will go.

DAUGHTER: No I am coming because this was my idea.
(All three of them start on a journey to the robbers’ cave)

Act 3 Scene 2
[At the robbers’ cave a few hours before the Scientist and friends arrive]

ROBBER 1: We managed to save only one chest. Let’s hope it has something good.

ROBBER 2: (Opens the chest) Whaaaaaat? Only a loaf of bread? That too stale? Are you kidding me?

ROBBER 3: Let me see - maybe there are hidden gems or diamonds! (Frantically tearing the bread to pieces) Nooooo, nothing. Just bread.

ALL THREE: AAARRRGHHHHH (Running away bemoaning their bad luck, leaving the chest behind)

Act 3 Scene 3
(Few hours later: The scientist and friends stroll in casually to find the chest lying in front of their eyes)

DAUGHTER: Aha! Found it. See, I told you. Let’s take the chest back.

OLD SCIENTIST: Something is fishy. Why is the chest open? (Taking a look inside and gasping) What is this? Only bread? We are soooo dead.

ANT: Yes definitely dead. But let’s not die hungry. Let’s eat the bread.

NARRATOR: All three grab a few crumbs of bread. Little do they know that this bread is the King’s most prized possession because whoever eats it immediately becomes immortal and can never be killed.

Act 3 Scene 4
[Back in the King’s Palace]

(Scientist and company come back empty handed)

KING: You losers, you did not find my chest? Hand me my sword.

NARRATOR: The King rushes toward the three of them and slices their heads off in one swoop. A second later, lo and behold! All three heads are back! The King does it again, and they come back again. And again, and again...