ZOAR 621 (Evelyn Manyatta)

ZOAR 621

Evelyn Manyatta

September 27th, 2079

“I have to stop this research and go look for your Zoar Therto,” Ezah said as she quickly stuffed books into her backpack. Therto was standing motionless as usual, waiting for the next command from his savior and best friend. Ezah had found Therto ten years ago amid the Malus forest on one of her morning jogs. Therto was different from anyone Ezah had ever met. He had a body made of metal though his physical features mimicked those of man. Ezah did not know that Therto was a robot given the time she was living in. Out of curiosity, she picked the robot up and took him back to her laboratory. She had so many questions and she was not sure where to begin or if she would ever get the answers. Therto had a few malfunctions but fortunately, Ezah was an expert on electrochemical cells which was what powered him. It took Ezah almost a whole year before she got Therto fully functioning and all the memory restored. A few months after she had found Therto, Ezah started her research on how to harness electric power from the Malus tree sap and was excited about the great potential the electric source seemed to have. She was also convinced Therto would be a source of a breakthrough in her research.

June 6th, 2046

Everyone in Zoar was panicking. Millions of people were dying by the minute and there was no way out. Anything powered by Malus Sap electricity was releasing a poisonous gas so lethal that once inhaled thickened the thin alveoli lining inside the lungs, prevented air exchange which led to permanent brain damage and hence death in less than 5 minutes. This was a very tragic event that would lead to the destruction of planet Zoar and no one saw this end. Streets were full of dead bodies. These were people who had inhaled the poison released by any electronic device they had switched on. It was so easy for the heavy amounts of the gas to kill all the people since life in Zoar was heavily dependent on Malus Sap electricity. From the street lights to the cookers, machines in the hospitals, the electric cars to the children's toys, almost everything was powered by MSE.

Just three decades prior, Zoar used hydro and geothermal electric power until Rone King, a famous and very intelligent scientist discovered the potential of harnessing electricity from the sap of the Malus trees, which could produce electric currents. Given that it was cheaper to produce electricity from the Malus sap as there was an entire forest of Malus trees, almost everyone had transitioned to this new electric source. There had been theories on the potential effect of transitioning to the Malus Sap but popular opinion was in favor of the new electric source. People who spread these negative theories were shut down. Most people thought they were mere environmentalists who were worried about the deforestation catastrophe and climate change. Luckily Zoar had adopted a strict reafforestation policy which meant deforestation wasn’t the concern. What they didn’t anticipate though, was the production of this harmful poison which would kill them all.

June 6th, 2046

By 11 pm, there wasn’t a single living human in Zoar. That was it. It was the end. Rone King had died in his laboratory trying to find a way to switch the major MSE (Malus Sap Electricity) power plant off. His lab was unfortunately heavily powered by MSE and it didn’t take long for the gas to take him down. One thing in Rone’s lab wasn’t powered by MSE though and that was his best friend, Therto the robot. Rone had created Therto when he was 23 years old and since MSE had not been invented, he powered the robot with electrochemical cells. Therto had helped him with most tasks in the lab but unfortunately couldn’t help him escape the gas. He watched Rone fight for his life until his final breath. As Therto wasn’t human he didn’t have alveoli, or the oxygen powered human brain and hence unaffected by the poison. He walked out of the lab to the streets where it was chaos everywhere. Cars and planes were all crashing because the drivers were dying from the poison released by the MSE powering the cars and planes. He started walking away from the city and into the great Malus forest.

March 07th, 2047

Therto’s batteries were almost dying. He had used up all the spare ones and the grease he needed to keep his parts moving. Rone had programmed him to walk towards the forest and to a faraway town. But he was slowly dying down. During the last few weeks of Rone’s life, he had a feeling the MSE catastrophe was going to happen. His lab detectors had detected the initial stages of the formation of a foreign poisonous gas. Though not sure, he anticipated that if the poisonous gas was produced by MSE, then the only people that would be spared would be the small town on the other side of the Malus forest that had still not adopted the MSE. Given the tall Malus trees in the forest created interlocking canopies on the top, the town would naturally be protected from the gas and hence the sole survivors. Rone was not wrong. The town was not affected at all and held the very small remaining population of Zoar.

Therto’s battery life had gone down to zero. He fell just a few inches from the river in the Malus forest. He had still not gotten to the town. Fortunate for him since if he fell into the river, he would have been destroyed. It had been almost a whole year since the destruction of Zoar and the MSE shutting down completely. The poisonous gas was no longer leaking. But Therto was far deep into the Malus forest to detect any of that. At this point, he had completely shut down and would be off for a long time.

June 6th, 2069

Ezah woke up that morning feeling very low. Her alarm had been snoozing for fifteen minutes but she couldn’t get her body off the bed. She looked at the calendar across the room. It was the day, circled in red and with a huge black cross on top of it. She pressed her pillow strongly against her face and made a scream. Her cries were all over the scream, she was bitter. There wasn’t a day Ezah hated her birthday. It always reminded her that she was the reason for her family’s destruction. Her mother had passed away while giving birth to her and her father committed suicide one year after. He didn’t leave a note or anything so people always thought it was the depression caused by the death of his wife. Ezah wasn’t planning for this day to be different from any of her birthdays. She never celebrated any of them but instead put all her mind and soul to reading books and conducting research. Although she had just turned twenty-three, Ezah had already completed college and was working at the most prestigious physics lab in Zoar.

She finally gathered the courage to leave her bed and went to the bathroom to wash up. Her leggings were lying down on the left of her nightstand. “I need to clean this room,” she said as she put them on and headed for the door. She entered the kitchen, ate a banana and drank a glass of water. After a whole minute of just standing still, Ezah stared at her watch. She was half an hour late. After tying the laces of her trainers, she left through the back door and started her morning jog. It was 6:30 am. Ezah usually jogged for an hour into the Malus forest and back. But this day was different. The atmosphere seemed stifling and she felt like crying her eyes out. Acknowledging she was already late for work, Ezah decided to not pay attention to the time anymore. After all, her supervisor never went to the lab on Thursdays.

After 3 hours of jogging into the forest with very short water breaks, she decided to take a longer break. The trees were beautiful. For a moment, the chirping of the birds, the smell of the Malus leaves and the soothing sound of the flowing river made her feel at peace. It was so calm. This beautiful moment was interrupted when she felt a water droplet on her head. She looked up but it was all so dry. Using her index finger, she touched the liquid on her head. It wasn’t water. The liquid had a viscous texture and a very pungent odor. Ezah quickly realized it was the sap from the tree. “Nature”, she said with a grin. She had always been fascinated by nature. Her immediate instinct was to collect some samples of the sap and take it back to the lab. As she began to extract the sap, she suddenly got distracted by the sound of banging metal. It sounded as though a rock had fallen on an iron sheet, which was impossible, it’s a forest.

Ezah started to follow the direction from which the sound came from. It was too loud to have come from very distant. A few steps away, by the riverbank, Ezah was amazed by what she saw. Therto was different from anyone Ezah had ever met. He had a body made of metal though his physical features mimicked those of man. Ezah did not know that Therto was a robot ...

October 1st, 2079

The sun was starting to set. Ezah gazed around and it looked like a good place to set her tent. She laid the tarp down and gave Therto some instructions to help with the pitching. They were done in no time. Since she hated making fire, Ezah had brought her portable gas cooker for the journey. Boiled pasta, some ketchup, and soda were more than enough for dinner, she wasn’t much of an eater anyway.

Ezah had drawn out the map Rone had programmed Therto to follow to get to her town. She was going to follow the same route back to where Therto came from. It had been 3 days since they left town for the forest. Studying the map, the journey was going to take around nine months. It made sense, they were going to the other side of the planet anyway. The robot had constantly mentioned Rone, and Ezah figured that must have been its creator. Therto could only speak when asked questions by Ezah or when repeating the instructions given. This was a challenge for Ezah. To get the answers she needed, she always had to ask the right questions. That’s how she learned of Therto’s name. From her many questions, she had also learned that Therto came from the other side of the forest, very far away. His town was also called Zoar.

Back when she was fixing him, she had noticed a tag on his back written

“He is my only best friend
6.6.2033HBD
R.K”

Ezah discovered that R.K stood for Rone King and he had made Therto as his birthday present. Rone’s birthday was June 6th and that was the same date, thirty-three years ago, he had programmed Therto to start his journey.

But that very same day, June 6th, 2046, was when Ezah was born. She also didn’t have many friends and she first found Therto on her birthday, June 6th. Ezah always wondered if this was mere coincidence. She also had so many other questions like, “Why would he send his best friend away on his birthday? Why program him to come to my town? Where is Rone King?” Every time she asked Therto where Rone King was, Therto would pause for a while, look down and head for the door. She never understood why. Therto would also make aggressive noises each time she would take him to her lab where she was working on the Malus Sap Electricity project. At some point, she started leaving him in her office whenever she went to the lab. This bothered her a lot, mostly because she had fixed him in hopes of getting help on her project.

 

13th August 2080

Ezah couldn’t believe her eyes. There was no life in Therto’s Zoar. Skulls were everywhere. Buildings were destroyed by the planes that crashed on top of them, the roads were blocked by the remains of all the dead bodies, vehicles miserably crashed into one another and it was such a traumatizing scenery. “Take me to Rone’s place”, Ezah said to Therto as she placed the handkerchief on her wet eyes. “When did this happen Therto, how long ago was it, wait, what happened here!?” her last question was more of a scream. She was now walking behind Therto who was leading her to Rone’s place. Therto’s screen on his chest started to display images and dates. “All this happened June 6th, 2046. It was thirty-three years ago. People were dying” Therto went silent after giving Ezah the answers to her questions. It hit her that it was the same day she was born. More reasons to hate her birthday, she thought to herself. “This was also when Therto started to leave this place. Rone must have sent him away because he was also dying!” Ezah spoke out loud. “Rone is dying” Therto said as a video of Rone’s death started to display on his screen. Ezah felt sick to her stomach. They were now walking to a building that had giant MSES letter blocks in front of the entrance. The place looked like a laboratory on the inside. “Of course he was a scientist” Ezah whispered as they walked in.

“What does MSE stand for Therto”, Ezah asked as they were climbing up the stairs. “MSE stands for Malus Sap Electricity Supply”. This wasn’t an answer she wanted to hear although she had a feeling that was what it stood for. “So, in this Zoar, did everyone use the Malus Sap Electricity?”. “Yes Ezah, everyone in Zoar used Malus Sap Electricity. It was the only source of electricity used”. She was impressed but also disappointed that she wasn’t the first to discover MSE and couldn’t understand why the mixed feelings.

They had gotten to Rone’s office. Ezah noticed the R.K initials on the door. He was the owner of MSES, impressive she thought. After opening the doorknob, she immediately ran to the trash can and threw up. Behind Rone’s desk was a skeleton on his chair. His hands seemed to have been holding his neck as if he was trying to choke himself or gasp for air. “Rone was being stifled,

Therto. Was that how everyone else died?”. “Yes, Ezah”. Therto’s screen started to display videos of people dying. They were all being choked. She looked closer. She saw some gas leaking out of the cars, phones and even street lights. She went behind Rone’s desk and opened the drawers. She took out Rone’s journal. It’s like he had recorded almost every day of his life. “Did Rone record every day of his life?” Ezah asked as she skimmed through the pages of the journal. “Only events he thought were important to record” Therto replied. Ezah stopped at a page.

June 6th, 2033

Dear diary,

It’s my birthday today! I’m turning 23 and finally finished making my robot. I’ll call him Therto. It’s short for Hitherto. Funny right! Well because I’ve made him, until now. He’ll be my best friend…

Ezah froze. She was twenty-three when she first saw Therto. She took a deep breath and kept reading.

December 25th, 2036

Merry Christmas diary,

Speaking of Christmas, today I learned that my name is an anagram of the name Nero. Given my initial is King, I think my name is a version of the name “Emperor Nero”. Wasn’t that whom some people believed was the 666 beast? Oh wait, I was born on 6.6.2013. ( 2 +0+1 +3 = 6). 666! Am I the beast? Am I another Emperor Nero? Will I cause the apocalypse. How though? No, I’m a scientist. I don’t believe in those things ...

Therto watched Ezah read the journal. She was reading it with brooding eyes. Ezah was a regular church attender but never believed in the apocalypse. She went to church as a way to distract her from the loneliness and anger she felt inside. Reading that page got her worried. She was also born on 6.6.2046 (2 + 0 + 4 + 6 = 12, a multiple of 6. She was also the first to discover MSE in her town. But her name Ezah, Esezah for full, was a Lugandan version of the name Esther. She tried to recall her bible knowledge. Esther was a Queen, she saved her people. Esther wasn’t the beast. Was she the savior of Zoar, what would she save it from? she wondered as she felt a cold rush through her body.

March 20th, 2041

Dear diary,

I am so sad today. I always thought I was the first to discover the Malus Sap Electricity. I even built this very successful company and got the government to make MSES the sole supplier of electricity in Zoar. But some anti - MSE are saying there is some evidence that some town elsewhere had already discovered MSE and that it was potentially dangerous…

June 1st, 2046

Dear diary,

The detectors have sensed a poisonous gas being formed. I’m worried the anti-MSE were right. I think the MSE is eventually producing the leaking gas. I am not sure what the gas can do to us, humans. I hope it’s not that toxic…

Ezah felt week. She was sweating. Therto was standing still by the corner. His screen was repeatedly showing the last few minutes of Rone’s life and how he was struggling to breathe. “The poisonous gas produced by the MSE is what killed everyone isn’t Therto” she gazed at him with a tear falling off her face. “Yes, That is what Rone said before he died” Ezah opened the last entry.

June 6th, 2046

Dear diary,

It’s my 36th birthday today, probably my death day too. Last night I learned that Malus means evil. Some people believe that’s the tree God told Adam and Eve to not touch in the garden of Eden. Was this revealed to me so I repent before I die for touching the forbidden tree? The gas is leaking so fast, I have no time. I programmed Therto to go to the town on the other side of the forest. I’m sure they haven’t adopted MSE. I hope he finds a better owner there…

She couldn’t finish reading that entry. “ Therto, what does Zoar mean?” Therto’s screen displayed a long description. “It was one of the five cities located on the lower Jordan Valley and mentioned in the Bible in the book of Genesis. It was the city that was spared from the fire that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah”. Ezah had figured it out! Rones city was called Zoar because it was the only city that wasn’t destroyed when everyone was killed by the MSE gas many years before. After producing MSE, it also got destroyed. The person who discovered MSE, Rone, was born on 6/6 and gas leaking began on 6/6/2046. She figured that her Zoar was the next spared city and because of her, her city would be destroyed. She had to find a way to cure that would protect the people from the gas leak since her lab back home had already started to supply some amounts of MSE. She looked around Rone’s lab. It was still well equipped so she figured she would camp there with Therto until she found the cure.

6th June 2082

Ezah was both disappointed and excited to be back home. She had not managed to get the cure for the poisonous gas produced by MSE but had gathered enough evidence to prove that MSE was indeed a bad idea. They were an hour away from leaving the forest and entering Ezah’s Zoar when the gas detectors Therto was carrying started to go off. “The gas leaking has started hasn’t it?” Ezah said as she weakly sat on a log next to her. She then sent Therto to go into the town, record what was happening and come back to her. She started to pitch her tent for the night, it was 9 pm. Therto came back around 11 pm, Ezah was beginning to fall asleep. “This is what I found” Therto spoke as a video started to play on his screen. Everyone was dead, buildings were ruined. It was over. Ezah eyes were filled with tears.

“What’s today’s date?” “June 6th, 2082”. Therto said as he moved closer to where Ezah was. He could now sense when she was sad. “You are grieving,” he said. Ezah wiped her tears and looked at Therto “ We start our journey East tomorrow, we’ll look for the next Zoar. There is a city that doesn’t even know what electricity is. We will go there. '' Therto sat next to her and closed his eyes. It was Ezah’s 36th birthday. She remembered that’s how old Rone was when his Zoar was destroyed. She went inside her tent.

Ezah pressed her pillow strongly against her face and made a scream. Her cries were all over the scream, she was bitter. There wasn’t a day Ezah hated her birthday. It always reminded her that she was the reason for her family’s destruction, and now, her Zoar’s destruction” Little did she know, this was the sixth hundred and twenty-first time a Zoar was being destroyed.

Comments:

I wanted my short story to highlight the following things.

Cyclical Conception of time - Just like the Buddhist Eschatology which speaks of the universe cyclically going through the stages of destruction – renovation – manifestation – destruction again and so forth, Zoar (the spared city) was my version of the universe. The story highlights it being the 621st cycle with each Zoar starting by being spared because they had not adopted the MSE, started renovations and advancements by adopting the MSE then the manifestation that MSE is bad but it’s too late and hence destruction. One of the differences from the Buddhist Eschatology is that instead of each cycle being different, in my story each cycle is the same.

The beast (666) and the destruction - This is also one of the reasons my story is very different from the Buddhist Eschatology. It partly resembles the Christian apocalypse. During each cycle, the pioneer of the destruction is the one who discovers MSE and this person is always born on June 6th and their year of birth sums up to a 6 or a multiple of 6. Rone King’s name even resembles Emperor Nero, who was believed to be the beast (666). However, instead of using a fire, wind or water apocalypse, I wanted to link the apocalypse to the bible in a different way.

The Malus tree, also the forbidden tree from the bible is what eventually causes destruction after man uses it to make electricity. My goal was to establish one of the Christian belief that God’s laws are usually for our own good, so that we are delivered from self destruction. I used electricity to also show how things man heavily depends on could be detrimental and thus the towns that didn’t depend on electricity survived.

Although I used a robot, it was not as a means for destruction. I left out the idea of a robot apocalypse and instead used the robot as man’s best friend and helper. This was purposely to show that technological advancements can have great importance to man too.