An Alien Hand
Comprehension Check (Page 69)
Question 1. How does Tilloo manage to find his way to the
‘forbidden passage’?
Answer: Tilloo managed to find his way to the ‘forbidden
passage’ one day while his father was taking a nap. He
used his father’s security card to enter the passage.
Question 2. What did Tilloo hope to see once he emerged
from his underground home?
Answer: Tilloo had hoped that he would be able to see the
sun (if it was day) or stars (if it was night) once he emerged
from his underground home.
Question 3. Why did Tilloo’s father advise him not to try to
reach the surface of the planet?
Answer: Tilloo’s father advised him not to try to reach the
surface of the planet because the surface had very thin air,
which was hard to breathe and it had a very low
temperature, which Tilloo would not be able to withstand.
Question 4. What changes had occurred, which forced
people to live in underground homes?
Answer: The sun became way too cold and hostile. The
birds became extinct. Then the animals and fish followed
too. The air grew thinner and the temperature fell
extremely low. These were the changes that occurred
which forced people to live in underground houses.
Comprehension Check (page -71)
Question 1. Why was everyone in the Control Room greatly
excited?
Answer: Everyone in the Control Room was greatly excited
because they got to know that two spacecrafts were
approaching their planet.
Question 2. Was the spacecraft manned or unmanned?
How do you know it?
Answer: As per the reports of the Central Bureau, the
spacecraft was unmanned. It only had instruments.
Question 3. What did Number One and Number Two
suggest should be done about the alien spacecraft?
Answer: Number One suggested that they should let the
spacecraft land and then it would be easy for them to make
it ineffective.
Number Two suggested that they just wait and watch as it
would not be wise to reveal about their existence.
Fortunately, the surface of their planet gave no signs of life
anyway.
Comprehension Check (page -73)
Question 1. What do you think the mechanical hand was
trying to do?
Answer: The mechanical hand was trying to collect soil
samples of Mars in order to understand if there was life on
the planet.
Question 2. Tilloo pressed the red button and “the damage
was done”. What was the damage?
Answer: The damage was that due to the press of the red
button, the mechanical hand stopped working and it
became inactive.
Question 3. Where had the spacecraft come from?
Answer: The spacecraft had come from the planet Earth.
Question 4. On which planet do Tilloo and his parents live?
Answer: Tilloo and his parents lived underground on the
planet Mars.
Exercises (Page-73) Discuss the following topics in
groups.
Question 1:If you had to live in a home like Tilloo’s ,
what parts of life would you find most difficult? What
compensations might there be?
Answer:Living underground in artificial conditions
without the light/warmth of the stars and the sun,
must be very troublesome and dull. The only
compensation of such a home is safety and security,
controlled light and heat.
Question 2:What, if anything, might drive mankind to
make their homes underground?
Answer:If the Sun grows cold, life on earth would be in
danger of extinction. The temperature will go below
freezing point. People will be forced to live
underground with assured supply of oxygen, light and
heat.
Question 3:Do you think there is life on other planets?
Can you guess what kind of people there may be on
them? In what ways are they likely to be different from
us?
Answer:Scientists are trying hard to find out if there is
any form of life on planets around the sun. So far they
have sent spacecraft to the moon and Mars, collected
samples of soil and taken snapshots. But they have
not found definite proof of life on them.The kind of
people, if they exist at all on any other planet, would be
quite different from us. They must have adjusted
themselves to the strange and unfriendly environment
there.
