Question 1:
How does Tilloo manage to find his way to the ‘forbidden passage’?
Answer:
While his father was enjoying a short rest at home, Tilloo managed to get hold of his security card.
Then, evading his watchful mother’s eye, he made his way to the forbidden passage. A metal door barred his entry.
However, he had watched his father slip the magic card into a slot. He did the same and the door opened noiselessly.
He saw a well-lit passage. Snatching the card which had come out of another slot in the wall,
Tilloo started his march along a gentle upward slope.
Question 2:
What did Tilloo hope to see once he emerged from his underground home?
Answer:
Once he emerged from his underground home, Tilloo hoped to see the sun if it was day time or the stars, if it was night.
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 reach the surface of the planet as an ordinary person could not survive there. The reason for this was that the air at the surface was too thin to breathe and the temperature was so low that one could freeze to death.
Question 4:
What changes had occurred, which forced people to live in underground homes?
Answer:
People were forced to live in underground homes because the sun, which had provided them with sustenance, had turned hostile. It changed only slightly, but the change was sufficient to upset the balance of nature on the planet. First the birds became extinct, then the animals and finally the fishes. The superior technology of human beings enabled them to survive underground.
Question 5:
Why was everyone in the Control Room greatly excited?
Answer:
Everyone in the control room was greatly excited as they had spotted a dot, in an otherwise clear background, on the big TV screen. They thought it was a spacecraft, but decided that it required watching.
Question 6:
Was the spacecraft manned or unmanned? How do you know it?
Answer:
The spacecraft was unmanned. Number One told the President that according to their reports the spacecraft did not contain living beings. They only had instruments.
Question 7:
What did Number One and Number Two suggest should be done about the alien spacecraft?
Answer:
Number One suggested that they could totally destroy the spacecrafts with their missiles, but they did not have the capacity to render those crafts un-operational in space. However, if they landed, they could render them ineffective anytime they chose.
Number Two suggested non-interference and passive observation. He said that they did not know anything about the power or the intentions of the senders of the spacecrafts. Thus, they should not reveal their existence. If they destroyed the spaceships or rendered them ineffective, they might risk revealing their existence.
Question 8:
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:
This question requires you to use your own perspective as well as your analytical skills. The answer to the question would vary from one person to another. It is suggested that you read the text carefully and try attempting it on your own.
Question 9:
What, if anything, might drive mankind to make their homes underground?
Answer:
This question requires you to use your own perspective as well as your analytical skills. The answer to the question would vary from one person to another. It is suggested that you read the text carefully and try attempting it on your own.
Question 10:
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:
This question requires you to use your own perspective as well as your analytical skills. The answer to the question would vary from one person to another. It is suggested that you read the text carefully and try attempting it on your own.
Question 11:
What do you think the mechanical hand was trying to do?
Answer:
The mechanical hand was trying to dig out the soil from the surface of the planet for examination.
Question 12:
Tilloo pressed the red button and “the damage was done”. What was the damage?
Answer:
By pressing the red button, Tilloo made the mechanical hand from the spacecraft cease to work.
Question 13:
Where had the spacecraft come from?
Answer:
The spacecraft had come from Earth.
Question 14:
On which planet do Tilloo and his parents live?
Answer:
Tilloo and his parents lived on Mars.
