The year : 3080 A.D. The locale : City X/4.K2.165.10 on the geographical location X.100.473 of planet X/4. The time: 6 A.M.

A rocket shot out at the stipulated time accurate to the pico-second. It was an innocuous tourist rocket, one of the innumerable conducted tours religiously organised as a monthly event. It’s destination: planet Earth.

As the rocket hurled itself into the blackness of outer space, an ENDUMB stood up and took the attendance. Attendance was a must in these tours and both men and women had to be present in equal numbers.

After the roll call, the ENDUMB ran the commentary on the origin of planet X/4, their birth and more important - their service rendered to Dumbanity. Alongside were telecast images of planet X/4 and the evolution of ENDUMB. In fact, the human inhabitants of planet X/4 were the last ones to leave planet earth after the Calamity. Children knew it was the war which had devastated mankind and they referred to it in a hushed tone. It was a criminal offence to utter the word “war”. The elders preferred the word “Calamity”. Although the Calamity was over, the holocaust remained. Beginning a new life on the shores of Calamity had been too obtuse an idea. Hence the search for a new planet had begun. A whole lot of specifications had been drawn up and approved by the “Central Calamity Cure Committee”. There were four prospective candidates which were coded and their specifications and reasons for approval stored in the computer. The computer prepared the necessary guidelines and provided the planning for Migration with target dates and work had begun.

Yet the deadlines were not met.

The monitoring of the work passed from the hands of man to that of the machine. The Computing Body of the Central Calamity Cure Committee met again and selected the computer or BRAIN.X.BRAIN to the chair. Work resumed again. The migration was complete 15 computer days ahead of schedule.

The BRAIN.X.BRAIN developed itself into four aliases and called itself FRIEND X/1, FRIEND X/2, FRIEND X/3 and FRIEND X/4. They had their own means of communication and they planted themselves on each planet respectively. Once this was done there arose the crisis or challenge of Identification. This time there was no need to refer to the BRAIN.X.BRAIN. The FRIENDS immediately found a solution. In fact, it was so quick the humans thought they were anticipating the problem.

“Drop the concept of names. Have numbers. They are so easy to remember. And think about the permutations and combinations one can play with them.”

This immense message rattled over each planet at the same time in a rich baritone voice. The humans were stunned. After a few minutes the voice was heard again.

“We are the FRIENDS. FRIENDS do not die. Today you are mortal because you have a name. Adapting a numbering system will render you immortal. We are the FRIENDS.”

Thus arose the Numbering System which resolved the Crisis of Identification. Alphabets, numbers, Greek mathematical symbols, Roman numerals were freely borrowed and adapted. A city was identified as a subset of a geographical location: a geographical location was a subset of a location: a location was a subset of a planet. Mothers sighed at new born babes - they could not whisper fondly a new name to a new born : it was a number with an exponent.

The FRIENDS also developed its Numbering prototype and called them NUMBERS. A new born always heard numbers, dreamt in numbers, played number games with the NUMBERS, communicated in numbers and this constant interaction between humans and NUMBERS led to the formation of an object called ENDUMB.

The ENDUMB had the power to analyze, deduce and store information and also the fantastic incisive logic for snap decisions. An ENDUMB was quick to realize its importance and it started to propagate its own growth. It also realized that a number - be it human or a prototype - once in the state of decay, was of no use and the ENDUMB lost no time in disposing it off and taking its place.

Very soon the ENDUMB because of its sheer growth and intelligence began to exercise control over the planet and also to the skies.

The planets were shielded from the sun’s rays and moonlight. There was consistent weather. The ‘sun’ - or so it was told - ‘rose’ exactly at 6 A.M. and ‘set’ at 5 P.M. sharp. The evenings were filled with a soft hue : a shade similar to sunlight which invigorated the working atmosphere. Plants were consistently monitored so that they let out twice the amount of oxygen. This was further purified and let out. Thus a system evolved which greatly reduced the physical barriers between FRIENDS, NUMBERS, ENDUMBS and HUMANS.

There remained one difference however.

Save the humans, they all could build prototypes of their own. A human being could not. Yet an ENDUMB needed the thoughts of the human for its pristine freshness and variety. The complexity of the human genes and the human mind was still a mystery to the ENDUMB which continued to bank on the human being. To facilitate the study on human beings the ENDUMB exercised its control and monitored each and every aspect of human activity. This excess exercising of controls had bothered the humans for long.

As the tourist rocket headed towards earth, these very thoughts turned in the human mind of number 41.1/2. He was from the Thinker Clan and had been married recently. Not very far away sat 41.2/2, his newly- married wife. Although it was a honeymoon trip for them and she appeared to be happy, he was deeply disturbed.

An ENDUMB had presided over their wedding and it was on the advice of the ENDUMB that they undertook this honeymoon trip. 41.1/2’s thoughts were stopped short by an announcement : “Look to your right through the window. You shall see a blue planet on which we shall land in the next fifteen minutes. That is the planet of your ancestors. That is Earth.” The human eyes stared at the Earth from the oblong shaped rocket created by the ENDUMBS and sure enough at the stroke of the fifteenth minute, the rocket from planet X/4 landed on planet Earth.

The tourists were asked to roam about on their own and return at an appointed time, failing which they would be banished from X/4 for all times to come. 41.1/2 and 41.2/2 found themselves in a wide meadow unspoilt by artificiality. They laughed and skipped at this marvelously rustic sight and ran hand in hand for they had never seen anything like this before. The sun shone fiercely on their backs and yet they ran and laughed and skipped and wept with joy. They looked at the sky and found that it was blue with white cotton flakes floating on it. 41.2/2 realised and exclaimed in delight: “Look! Clouds! Real clouds!”

They looked at their right and saw a shade which they realised would protect them from sunlight.

They ran towards it.

Once inside the grove they realised that it was not only cool but it had a life of its own. It had its own colour, own smell, own sound. These sounds were of a different sort - very unlike the continuous drone they were used to. The sound had no drone: it sometimes climbed to a high pitch and then came down and struck a tone - it had a free-wheeling spirit, carefree and joyous. And then they saw what they had seen in computers. 41.1/2 exclaimed at the sight of the bird and ran after it, his wife marvelled at the sight of the flowers and ran after a butterfly, wildly chasing it as it hopped from flower to flower.

They continued their wild chase till sweating and panting they dropped down on the soft green grass. They smelt the air of the grove, and lay enraptured with its sight and sound. And then something fell on them.

Both the 41s got up, surprised at the sensation on their bodies. They looked at each other and found drops of water on them. It was not their perspiration but water from somewhere else and they were surprised to find it fall from the top. They stared at each other and looked up at the sky, dazed that water should fall from the heavens instead from a nozzle. Jubilant and excited they got up, laughed and danced in the soft rain with the rhythm of the winds and as they did so, their wet lips touched. The trees swayed and the winds danced, and enveloped in the song and dance of Nature they realised their sense of the Supreme Union. Very soon the rains eased, and the two 41s lay close to each other in a state of intoxicated ecstasy. And it was in this state that they heard the sound.

They listened.

It was the sound of a voice, a human voice which was saying something. It was not speaking at a normal tone, it had a rhythm and pace of its own. The voice went up and came down. It had a frolicking spirit very similar to the sounds made by the birds. They listened with enraptured attention as the voice rang out amidst the continuous pattern of rain, under the shadow of the green grove, striking an inner chord of their hearts, probing the dark recesses of their minds, leaving them in a state of blissful happiness.

As they crept forward towards the source of the joyous sound, they heard the familiar signal on their watches. It was their signal to return to their rocket; to the artificial world.

One month later, on planet X/4, 41.2/2 was declared to be a would-be mother. Twenty-five ENDUMBS were assigned to her, to monitor her health; pills and number waves were administered on her regularly. The study of human genetics was conducted on her, the ENDUMB numbering system was regularly fed into her, so that the moment the child was born it would correctly utter the number that was assigned to it.

Days passed. According to the calculations, the baby was due on the 3rd day of the last month of the ENDUMBIAN calendar and as usual, 41.1/2 was sent away on a mission due to return a day after the calculated day of birth.

As the time approached, the twenty-five ENDUMBS attached themselves more and more to 41.2/2. Her every activity was being monitored and every precaution was being taken to see that the new born uttered the correct name it had been assigned when it lay in its mother’s human womb.

On the precise day of the month, the ENDUMBS took 41.2/2 to the Birth Room. Although she yearned for her husband, she realised it would be futile, for no human being was allowed inside this room and the entire process of birth was strictly administered by the ENDUMB. All twenty-five of them got very busy as time approached, their cold metallic hands and eyes constantly monitoring the machines plugged to 41.2/2’s human body.

Barely with a minute to go, they stopped their activity and gathered around 41.2/2 in a full circle for the event to happen. The clock kept ticking … 40…30…20…10 and then at the precise second a shrill cry was heard. It was not of the baby but of the mother, but no ENDUMB paid any attention to her.

A new human baby had been born in planet X/4 and all the twenty-five ENDUMBS waited expectantly for the new born to utter the first word, its assigned number - correctly. Ten seconds…. Twenty…. Twenty-five ….seconds ticked by ….Thirty-five … forty…. Forty-five - and then precisely after a minute of its birth, rendering the twenty-five ENDUMBS speechless, the human being conceived in Earth in the natural surroundings cried out. It was not a number, but a word, a statement, a proclamation which thundered across planet X/4. “ I am UDIT ! ”, it cried.

The deathly silence that followed was broken by an enormous cracking sound. All the inhabitants - both man and machine - turned to see the shield - which had enveloped planet X/4 shatter into pieces; and from the wreckage rose the morning sun, its celestial rays blithely dancing upon the new-born which had announced its name.

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