Math City Read online

  Chapter 5

  _______________________

  After a few months’ training, one hot summer afternoon, the Horizontal Line group attacked Math City from all sides. The women fighters slowly came down on Math City like millions of grains of sand. The Vertical. H. Line’s group began to scream bloody murder.

  “They are attacking us,” Professor Six shouted.

  Mr. Two loudly said, “The Horizontal Line and his army have come.”

  The battle began. The machine guns and artillery started shooting toward the mountains, but who could fight against those numbers? They boldly entered the city, like millions and millions of insects, and were shooting everywhere. The number One gun-women were innumerable; they easily surrounded the city and spread out in alleys and on roofs so that they could kill the enemy. My father was surprised and frightened by the invasion of that massive army, “Get back! Get back!” he shouted as he guided his group to the mountains.

  My father quickly took me under his arm and as we climbed the mountain, he gasped for breath. There were many numbers who could not find a place of safety and were killed in that violent conflict.

  Some of my father’s group, who could not come up with us, were trampled underfoot, or were shot as they hit the ground.

  During fight, some streets were burned for revenge, and many people were covered with bloody wounds. Math City became even more mournful and silent than before.

  The Horizontal Line was so happy to see this; we could hear him laughing loudly from the top of the mountains. Some people believed that he was the greatest savior of the numbers, such as had never been seen before. They were ready to sacrifice their life for the Horizontal Line; but his horselaughs, the strange silence after the bloody war, and that deep sadness were enough for me to comprehend the Horizontal Line was a complete charlatan, like my father.

  In the mountains, we learned that the Horizontal Line had ordered, “Nobody must be in touch with our family.” If someone tried to contact us, troops would capture him. Only my father and I had escaped. My mother, brother, and little sisters were left in the city. That made my father was suffering. The pain was so great; he did not know what to do.

  The Horizontal Line’s group then celebrated their victory, which lasted for three days. Shortly after, Physics City’s people came to Math City. All numbers expected the foreigners to solve problems and work free of charge. The foreigners’ presence certainly had the potential to develop Math City into a great city, but they wanted to be paid for working, and announced, “We want to get a lot of money; and without money, we never work anywhere.” The numbers got angry about this, and for this same reason, thousands of Ladies One blocked the main street of Math City, protesting against the foreigners who were demanding money. They shouted, “Math City has been colonized by Physics City.”

  Sergeant One shouted from the crowd, “Folks, please be quiet… We all believe our leader, right?”

  Someone shouted, “Yes, we believe…”

  Another woman with long hair loudly said, “We have a problem with foreigners, not with our leader.”

  Sergeant One continued, “Well, please let me meet with our leader. I promise you I will try to solve this problem.”

  Soon after this, the Horizontal Line came appeared before the crowd and shouted, “Dear Ladies, we all fought for our freedom…” All numbers knew his voice and turned toward him.

  “Oh, my God, our leader is among us…”

  A woman with curly hair said, “See here, our leader…”

  “I had the faith he would come.”

  Yet another woman loudly said, “We do not need anybody to talk with our leader” meaning Sergeant One.

  “Really! What profit did we get from the boss of the Seven Million?” one of the women angrily said.

  “Nothing… Except misery,” a lady with blue eyes said.

  Their comments were directed to Sergeant One, who was abashed and fixed her eyes on the ground.

  In fact, the Horizontal Line intentionally had ordered some Lady Ones to defame Sergeant One, so that she could not acquire a position of political power. Nevertheless, she had gotten a social power among numbers. Little by little, Sergeant One found out that the Horizontal Line was a liar.

  The Horizontal Line continued, “Thank you so much for all your sagacity, but you did not have much information about the free trade agreement. This agreement does not mean that foreigners must work for all people. We have agreed about doing only the government tasks for free, not personal problems.”

  Sergeant One cleverly asked, “Sir, I do not understand what you mean. The government tasks! What does that mean?”

  This made the Horizontal Line angry, but he smartly answered, “Unfortunately, you are uninformed about the new world. In the new world, a person of the people governs a city. This leader nationalizes large industries, such as water, oil, gold, and even railways for the people.”

  “What a surprise!” a tall woman said.

  A woman with red hair said, “Great, our leader has so much knowledge about the new world!”

  The Horizontal Line continued, “I am your government, and very soon I will nationalize all things. I promise you I will even nationalize using makeup, which nobody has ever done, even in this new world.”

  A lady with white skin said, “Oh, my god! I think that our leader can fix all the problems of the world, too.”

  “With this leader, we can conquer the whole world,” another lady said.

  Someone shouted, “Yes, of course… Bravo, my leader…”

  “Hip, hip, hurray… hip, hip, hurray…” all joined in.

  The Horizontal Line continued, “Yes, of course… Now you understand why foreigners do not do simple jobs. Yes, they work for your government, for me! I promise you all problems will be solved in the near future.”

  “Hip, hip, hurray… hip, hip, hurray…” all repeated.

  However, Sergeant One became suspicious of his words because this situation did not look good, and she could not do anything.

  After this, and learning that the Horizontal Line was dominating the whole city, many of Ladies One again went to meet Sergeant One.

  A lady with black skin said, “Now the whole city is ours. Yet to be One never is enough.”

  “I don’t like to become a Zero,” another Lady One said it as she was shaking with fear

  All of the Ladies said, “We want to increase!”

  Sergeant One, who was like an eye and watchfully noted everything, said, “You are right. Until the end of our lives, we have a short space, for becoming Zero is equal to death. Do you know why he changed us into number One, and not five, or ten? In order to make it so we cannot oppose his decisions.”

  A lady with blue eyes said, “Oh yes, you are right because to be One means to be in need forever.”

  A tall woman said, “Dear friend, I think it is easy to criticize, but managing a city can be an extremely difficult job. We should go to him and ask for a number raise.”

  Someone among the numbers said, “I second that, as well. Let’s go.”

  A million Ladies One went to meet with the Horizontal Line. As the delegate of all the Ladies, Sergeant One said, “All of us were made from One Million, the previous dentist of the city. We have helped you win in the war, and now you can change us to our original number, which was One Million.”

  The Horizontal Line said, “You are right, but I still have not captured the Vertical. H. Line. How can I change you back to number One Million?"

  Sergeant One answered, “You can force a member of the plus family to add us again.”

  “But for the security of the city, I cannot change you unless I capture the Vertical. H. Line and his group,” the Horizontal Line said.

  Sergeant One continued, “But, you promised that you would do it after…”

  “No, you must understand the dangerous situation in the city,” the Horizontal Line said. “We reorganized ourselves in the mountain, and I am sure
this same mountain shelters our enemy. My city would be very dangerous without One soldiers.”

  I do not know why, but I never forget this important point: Most people fight for their own, not for freedom. Also, people who get their wishes by war will strongly resist any limitation of their power. I read many books, and I know that most liberals have become terrible dictators, because they fought for their own needs, in the name of freedom, but not for freedom.

  Once I read that a creature called ManMandelaMan fought for freedom. I wish it to be true; of course, I do not know whether this creature was man or woman, surely it was not a number. The myth says it was a Mankindman, but I do not yet know this creature, Mankindman, either! From the books I have learned that the Mankindman is a strange creature. It seems to be a man from both sides; maybe all sides are man!

  Oh, I forgot to mention ManLincolnMan, who has often been forgotten by many freedom lovers, even by ManMandelaMan. Many people make a mistake about him; ManLincolnMan did not fight for the emancipation of slaves, he fought for a union that valued freedom in the world of the Mankindman. A union in which the emancipation of slaves was only one of its great achievements. Oh, my God, how can we so easily forget him?! I think ManLincolnMan become the victim of the poor’s hate. Also, I must say that, on the other hand, the freedom lover is sacrificed by the rich to mislead the poor.

  ManLincolnMan was not killed once but he is killed every day by both the poor and the rich. For this reason: Hate + Abuse = Forgetting him and his legacy.

  Anyway, the Horizontal Line again emphasized, “I never allow anyone to threaten my city with ideas…”

  Sergeant One said, “But sir, I do not want to be a soldier, I want to be a…”

  “What?! What were you before?!” the Horizontal Line said.

  Sergeant One answered, “I was an eye!”

  The Horizontal Line laughed and said, “Dear stupid, now what are you?! You still are the same eye!”

  "But now I am the eye of Sergeant One, and have seen a lot of guns and military! I miss being the eye of the dentist because then I saw a lot of scientific studies.”

  “Scientific studies?!” the Horizontal Line sneeringly said. "Do you miss seeing the scientific studies, or is it seeing the torturing of numbers that you miss?”

  Sergeant One was embarrassed and said, “Sir, we only expect you to increase our size, just a bit.”

  The Horizontal Line shouted, “I do not want to hear any more about this. I will arrest anyone who is against my rules. I am your government, understand?”

  All Ladies realized that their government did not want to promote them, even a little.

  However, the Horizontal Line thought about his words after the Ladies left his building. He said to himself, “I had to talk angrily…No, no, I did not do a bad thing. I am the one who helped them escape from the devil, the Vertical. H. Line. Now what do they want me to do?”

  Next, he thought hard about his past life. “Oh, my God, I once lived in the streets. Then I was a poor man and fought to control my city. God helped me to attain this unique, enviable position. True, I have gained a little money, but I helped the people of Math City, so I have the right to deem this city mine. I will not allow anybody to oppose me. I will never let anybody threaten my city. Surely, my enemy has hidden in the mountains. I must give the order to set the entire mountain on fire.”

  Of course, I should say that some Ones backed up the Horizontal Line in any circumstances; they always flattered him by praising his power and bravery. Therefore, he felt strong and considered himself the savior of the numbers; even if he made a terrible mistake. It was never important because the Horizontal Line himself and some other people thought that he was a savior supported by God. Finally, the entire mountain was reduced to ashes in order to destroy us. But like always, it was the earth that suffered. The earth was what was destroyed, not us.