After camping overnight on a hill top in the western ghats, in the summer holidays of 3030 AD (we used a time travel machine), three of my friends and I was eager to cross one of the thickest and dense jungles on our path. Walking along the stream, we find a neat and clean place to have our breakfast.
We lay our backpacks down, remove our shoes & socks, and dip our legs in the chill water. Our breakfast is palm sized with highly nutritious tablets in various flavors and minerals mixed water. The morning mist, dense forest, scattered morning sunrays and stunning views of the mountains from the bottom of the valleys makes us huddle together for selfies.
After our breakfast, as we resume our journey, when we suddenly come across a board hanging on a tree with the words “Help! Missing!!”. As we go closer to the board, we are shocked to find out that it was not written long ago – the blood was warm and dripping; attracting flies.
Swiftly thinking we pull out the thermal cameras in our backpack and mount the cameras onto our drones to locate the person through the body heat. We set up our spectacles to send them in four different directions and use it to guide the drone as well as receive the images. Since the blood was warm, we are sure that the person should be nearby.
Guiding the drones through the dense forest is getting harder. Despite the chillness of the early morning and the cool breeze because of the stream, we were beginning to sweat. As the search was getting longer, our heart begins to beat harder and we are literally hearing other’s heart beat too.
The sudden ruffling of the shrubs almost simultaneously shakes us. From the depth of the valley, as we look up, we see 100s of blood thirsty hyenas coming towards us. We realize the trap that we were in. (In 3030 AD, animals use Artificial Intelligence to read and write like humans).
The saliva dripping from the hyenas’ mouths and the loud gruntling sounds tells us the feast they want to make out of us. Smartly using sign language, instead of voice, we quickly draw an escape plan - get the drones back, meanwhile deflect the attention of the hyenas and escape in a jiffy.
Quickly we press the return button on the drones. After few minutes, from the backpack we take our fetchy ball (remote controlled ball – pressing the blue button would make it go forward with a screeching sound and upon pressing the pink button, it would come back). The balls surprised and pushed them back.
With one hand we control the fetchy balls and with the other hand we begin to secure ourselves to the drones which arrives in the nick of time. As the drones ascend; we press the pink button and retrieve the balls. The puzzled look on the hyenas faces makes us laugh hysterically.
Back at home, as I share my story with my family members, my grandma as usual begins to curse technology and scolds us for undertaking such near-death adventures. Well, I remain thankful to technology as it helps us not only escape from near-death yet again, but also gives this tale for me to share with you all.