My story that won me the Writer's Cup last year.

A Peaceful World?

Dr Phil put the last finishing touches to robot number 3013 and said, with an exhausted sigh, “All done!” Before him on the desk, stood a little army of Light bulb statues, each one beautifully unique. This one had fuzzy brown hair, that one had ears like wings. You name an accessory, and it was there! The doctor was incredibly proud of his inventions, but had no idea what to do with them. His first thought was to make them slaves, but that would be an awfully clever invention gone to waste. So, on the back of each programming board, he quietly pressed the button labelled ‘Free Will’ under the heading ‘Jobs’ and pressed the button ‘Whenever The World Needs you Most’ under the heading ‘What Time?’ So, now they were set, Dr Phil only used them to show off to guests. A few were so impressed that they even offered to buy them, but Phil said no every time.

The light-bots were popular, however, until the dreaded flu. It all happened about two weeks later, when an anxious mother hurried into the lab, holding a small toddler - both wailing. The toddler, however, looked more like a toad than anything else - he had bulging eyes, a green complexion, and a croaky voice that filled the room. The poor mother pleaded woefully with the doctor, making all sorts of prices, so Phil said that he would keep the toddler overnight, to see if he could discover the cause. That evening, one could hear the most terrible screams coming from the lab and, if you were brave enough, you would see the doctor in a full surgeon’s suit, bending over the boy, and trying to force water into the tortured human being’s mouth.

The next morning, Phil made a sad phone call to the mother, using as much flowery language as he could. Eventually, the mother drew up in her smart limousine, and climbed out wearing black all over. She seemed too choked up to speak as she entered the house, but as soon as she saw the cold, motionless body lying on the table, she let it all out. Screaming hysterically, she fled the house, crying and cursing the doctor for not finding a cure, and leaving Phil coughing on the doorstep. That cough, however, was the start of some thing very serious, very contagious, and very, very deadly.

More and more people came to the doctor with the “Toad Flu” but with him having it himself, could do nothing but try to force water into their mouths. Then, about a week later, the dreaded day came. The doctor, instead of trying to force water into other people, had other people forcing water into him. On his lab bench he struggled, hanging on a thread between life and death. There was no one to give him a kind word, as they were all down with the flu. With a last choke, all his breath left him and his brilliant mind finally stopped, ending the life of a very great person.

Let us now look at the world population. Around the time when the toddler caught the flu (from eating a tadpole), 40% of the world’s living mammals had been wiped out by the flu, (it’s proper name being the Yourius Deadius Influenza). Then, a little while after the doctor had been left coughing on the doorstep, 70% of the animals (this includes fish, mammals and reptiles) had become extinct. And, finally, by the time Dr Phil had uttered his last choke, 98% of all the remaining animals (this includes most humans) were dead and gone. The remaining 2 %, however, was a marvellous species on a remote island that the Yourius Deadius Influenza would never spread to.

So, there the little army stayed, in the old scientist’s lab, gathering dust and waiting for the time when the world needed them most. Then, about 1000 years later, one tiny figure stirred quietly from it’s blanket of dust. It’s partner next to it muttered in a thick voice “What? Is it time yet?” “No.” said the first one. “It’s…………that.” It raised one spindly arm and pointed at some hazy sun shining through a newly broken window. The two scrawny robots were entranced. But suddenly, they were awoken from their daydream as they heard a scratchy voice sounding like nails being dragged down a chalkboard saying “Wake up, you lazy lumps, you half witted piles of junk, you pointless sluggish layabouts, you!” The first two robots clung to each other and shook. When the scary looking light-bot came towards them, they tried to hide behind each other, but only ended up doing a backwards roll. “Oh, you’re already up.” said the horrible voice. When the two had gathered the courage to look up, they found an old granny-bot staring down at them. Now, you might think of grannies as kind and caring, but whoa, you’re way off the mark for this one. Tough arms, tough legs, gosh, even her hair looked strong! And, as for the eyes………well, there was no explaining it. The closest thing that we could relate it to would be a snake about to devour it’s next meal, but this woman’s eyes could out-stare a snake any day.

“Hmmm, I need to name you two.” the woman cackled. “But, since you were the first up, I might give you the pleasure of naming yourselves. That is, if you can actually find a name!” She swaggered off, laughing. “That was freaky.” whispered the first one. “Yeah.” agreed the second. “Is she related to a snake or something?” “No, she isn’t.” said a melodic voice from behind them. Both the robots turned to see a middle aged light-bot walking towards them. “The scientist who created all of us made her. Probably to set a challenge for us.” “But, that’s so unfair!” spluttered the first one. “Life is full of unfair things.” came the reply. “You just have to get used to it. Now, since you two seem too mind-boggled to find yourselves a name, I may as well give you one. You,” she said, pointing to the first robot “can be Light. And you, you can be Bulb.” “Wow!” exclaimed both, delighted with their new names. “But who’s that?” asked Light, pointing at the retreating figure, harassing others as it went. “That’s Granny Flicker.” said the lady. “Does everybody have a name?” asked Bulb. “Yes.” she said. “Well then, what’s yours?” “Hmmmmm…………….” She pondered this for a while. After a couple minute’s silence, she said “Well, since you asked, I may as well be your something.” “Your something?” came the confused echo. “You know, like Bulb’s-well, Bulb’s something.” “I know!” interrupted Light. “You can be Bulb’s MUM!” “Alright.” Bulb’s Mum replied. So, the little robots, happy with their new names, set off to wake the others - but nicely, of course.

Time passed with that bossy know it all (Granny Flicker), and everyone doing what that bossy know it all (Granny Flicker) told them to do, and everybody doing stuff for that bossy know it all (also known as Granny Flicker). At first, nearly everybody saw no harm in it, apart from Bulb, Light, and Bulb’s Mum. But, gradually, the little army began to mutter among them selves. “Gosh, I really need a good oiling.” complained one, a month later. “But no, she needs it for her hair! I never knew that those little strands could be so delicate!” “Ssshhh, she’ll hear you!” hushed the other one. “She’s got spies everywhere!”

So, now we leave them grumbling and go over to that remote island that I mentioned a couple paragraphs back. We journey to the land of the Zebturdiles, where a Mrs Zebster is trying to convince her son, Zebby, to eat his salad. “No!” whined little Zebby, “I want to have meat tonight!” “But,” his exasperated mother began, “you had meat last night, and the night before that!” Just then, Big Daddy Zeb waddled along, swallowed up Zebby’s dinner, and sat (causing big cracks in the earth). “Now, now then, Zebby,” he said heartily, “time for a bedtime story!” “Ooooh, goody!” squealed the baby, scrambling into his father’s lap. “Tell me my favourite one, daddy, tell me!” he demanded happily. The big Zebturdile took a deep breath and started:

“Once upon a time, there was a little human baby, found in a crate, and washed up on the shore of Zebturdile Island. He was found by the great Granddad Zeb Zeb. Zeb Zeb saw brilliance in the tiny infant, so decided to raise it as his own. He named it Valde Rex Rgis, meaning Great King in Latin. Little Valde Rex grew up fast, and cared for his foster father in turn. And, when the Great Zeb-Zeb finally passed away…” “Valde Rex Rgis became king, and still is now!” squeaked the little youngster, unable to contain his excitement. “Yes,” the great Zebturdile said, bowing his head. “And now it’s time for you to go to bed, my little one.”

Fifty billion miles away, the little light-bots were still working for Granny Flicker. Bulb, Light and Bulbs Mum were fed up, right down to their little feet. So, the three of them, just the three of them, decided to go on an adventure. While Granny Flicker was diverted by her oil (it was missing!) they snuck out the window and into the world beyond.

“Wow!” breathed Bulb. They were looking at a world full of junk, old and decaying. What was originally a happy world, full of bright green, ultramarine blue, and soft dappled sunlight was now a dark, polluted country, full of utter boringness. As the three explorers ventured on, they thought they could hear someone ahead, bashing and crashing away. As they stumbled over an old telephone, Bulb suddenly saw who the noise-maker was. A thin, scrawny but beautiful human girl was rooting around in the junk, and muttering to herself angrily. Light wanted to see who this intruder was, and, as he crept forwards, he accidently stood on a thin twig of metal. Crick! The girl whipped around. “Who’s there?” she asked. She had a clear, carrying voice, and the light-bots winced as it washed over them. Light hurriedly backed away again, but this time tripped over his own feet, making an echoing clang as he smashed against an old oven. This time the girl spotted them. She edged warily towards them, holding a rusty saucepan. “Who are you and what are you doing?” she hissed. Bulb replied in a shaky voice “We’re adventurers and we just wanted to see who was making all that noise.” “You don’t mean any harm?” asked the girl. The threesome shook their heads. “Oh, OK then, good.” the girl said happily. “Now, since you’re small, you can help me look through all this junk. She unnecessarily waved an arm to show mountains of it. “I’m looking for a piece like a wheel, with hand grips on it. I think that ages ago, people used it to steer things.” “Is it grey, and soft, with a squishy bit in the middle?” asked Light innocently, who was sitting on the thing he’d just described. “Yes!” the girl exclaimed, and finally spotting the thing, seized it and crashed off into the tin undergrowth, calling behind her “Come on! You guys are going to be the first people to see this!” They scrambled hurriedly after her, and when they got to a small clearing, found her pointing proudly to a broken down little craft on wheels. “I found this little beauty ages ago, half buried in some rubble. Of course, she was in a much worse state than this, so for the past three months I’ve been shaping her up a bit. I still have a whole lot more to do, but you robots seem very nice, so can you please help?” she was saying. They promised, but the Bulb’s Mum accidently mentioned Granny Flicker. Light and Bulb suddenly remembered in a flash what they were doing -sneaking out of work. They quickly told the girl their names, and where and when to meet next time. Then they ran back to camp, before Granny Flicker found out their absence.

It was a hard life, especially now that Bulb, Light, and Bulb’s Mum realised what Granny Flicker was up to. She was making a robot, exactly like the light-bots in every way, apart from the fact that it was 100 times bigger than a normal one. And Bulb’s Mum, who was the clever one, knew what their terrible leader was waiting for. There was a legend, that electricity (the Spark of Life) would generate anything to life. And all that evil villain was waiting for was a stormy forecast, then she would wait for the lightning, then let her monster take over the world. (Not that there was very much to take over).

The only happy thing about this enslavement was they (the whole army), got a lot of free breaks regularly. Bulb, Light, and Bulb’s Mum used this time to go and visit the girl, her proper name being Valde Regina. The ‘plane’ as Regina called it, was almost finished. Bulb was very good at finding things, Bulb’s Mum was really good at finding a use for them, and Light and Regina were excellent at putting them on the plane. There was just one bit missing - the name. Regina desperately needed some paint, but there was none to be found. However, when the robots returned to Granny Flicker’s workshop, they found that she had big tubs of different coloured paints. Bulb stole one pot of blue paint, one pot of red paint and one pot of varnish.

It was time to paint! The Missile was to be painted a light blue, to blend into the sky. Her name, The Missile, was painted in red. And, last of all, the varnish. After it was dry, the plane looked fabulous, despite its drab surroundings. But then, just to make sure that Granny Flicker’s robot didn’t come to life properly, they opened up the body of the robot in the middle of the night, stole a few cogs, then sealed up the panel again.

Finally, they were ready to go. The three little robots climbed into the boot of the cosy plane. Regina, wearing some goggles that she’d found in Mt Rubble, gave them the thumbs up. They, in turn, returned the gesture. And at last, they were off! It was an absolutely exhilarating experience, from what I could gather. When asked to describe it afterwards, Regina only said “After that, even hovering above the ground was dull. My only wish is to go back up there again.”

So, on The Missile flew, dodging grey clouds, it’s passengers looking up at the sun as if they’d not seen it before. At last, after 3 days of flying, Regina finally spotted a patch of green under a thin cloud. They swooped down silently and landed in a small clearing, looking around in amazement. They could see trees, grass and food galore! Regina was gobsmacked. She had a funny little problem - she never needed to eat. But she didn’t get any stronger, nor weaker. She just grew up slowly. But here were all kinds of fruits - pineapples, bananas, and oranges! All of them stood there, gawping.

Suddenly, six extremely odd creatures burst out from the leafy branches of a bush! “Come.” said one with humungous horns. He had a rough, gravelly voice, which sounded a bit like a horse. When his mouth opened, it revealed a gaping jaw of harsh, jagged teeth. :”Come.” the huge thing repeated. Not wanting to upset them, Regina, Light, Bulb, and Bulb’s Mum followed them, leaving The Missile behind. They walked steadily along a dusty track, with the extraordinary beasts walking in front, behind, and to the side of them. They plodded on for about half an hour, passing (what looked like) wooden tents, but each one as large as an elephant. Eventually, they reached the biggest wooden tent of all, decorated with flowers and leaves. The beasts bowed when they walked through the dark entrance, but the prisoners in front of them felt like they had entered a throne room, bedroom and forest rolled into one. Sitting on a handsomely carved chair at the far end of the ‘Hall’ was a figure, supposedly human, dressed entirely in green. He called out in a mellow voice to the lumbering beast in front, “What have you got there, Big Zeb?” Zeb called out in his husky voice, “Prisoners, sir. Found them in Zeb Zeb’s Clearing.” The prisoners were still slowly walking forwards, with Zeb in front. As a shaft of sunlight caught the man in the face, Regina gasped out loud. He was the most stunning, attractive man she had ever seen. (Not that she had seen many stunningly attractive men in her lifetime). As for him, her beauty outshone everything, even the sun. This was love at first sight. Now, I know that Love at First Sight only exists in fairy tales, but this could be a fairytale, apart from the fact that it is true.

The couple stood staring at one another for a while until Light, who was extremely arrogant, decided to poke the man in the ankle. The result was effective - he fell to the ground. At once, four of his guards rushed to help him. The other two stood over Bulb, Light, and Bulb’s Mum, growling. “Stop!” cried out the young man. “Leave us, please.” The huge creatures reluctantly walked to the entrance, with their backs to the people. “Sorry, I haven’t introduced myself.” he apologised. “I am King Valde Rex Rgis, but you can call me Rex. And, just wondering….how in the world did you get here?” “We flew in an aircraft.” said Regina. “We’ve just escaped from an evil robot, so we’re quite pleased to be here.” “Interesting.” said the king. “And who are you?” Regina said “I’m Valde Regina, this is Bulb, that’s Light, and this is Bulb’s Mum.” “Very pleased to meet you.” said the King. “And now, I’ll get my guards to give you a tour of the camp. It’s actually quite impressive, you know.”

In fact, it was impressive. There was plenty of room on the island and a lot of game. The game was amazing, because some how or other, giraffes, sheep, elephants, rabbits, turtles, zebras, crocodiles, horses, and goats had managed to swim across the water to make this place their habitat. There were also a lot of birds; hawks, eagles and peacocks. Next to see was the Nursery. Full of adorable cooing little baby Zebturdiles, it was a very warm, cosy tent. And last of all, the Hospital of Zebture. This too, was a warm place, but the silence was occasionally broken by the screams of patients, making everybody wince.

Then, they returned to the King’s room. There Regina, or Queen Regina as we should now call her, explained that she and Rex were married! The wedding had happened there and then, as Zebturdiles don’t believe in great big ceremonies. Rex invited the robots and Regina to stay on his island and live a life of luxury. But that didn’t last long, and Bulb, Light, and Bulb’s Mum started to get homesick. They persuaded Regina to take all of them, including Rex, to their country, and meet all their robot friends.
In the end they said yes, and everybody started to get the plane ready, like adding an extra seat and building a roof to keep the passengers cool. At last, they were ready to take off. All the Zebturdiles on the island waved and bid them good luck. And so the journey back home began.

It took another three days, and was still very enjoyable. Rex loved it as well, and he never got bored. At last they saw a familiar mountain looming out of the clouds - it was Mt Rubble! But, as they watched, it started collapsing. Bulb, Light, and Bulb’s Mum gasped in horror-they thought they knew what was creating the chaos. And they turned out to be right.

It was the robot that Granny Flicker had created - but, as they zoomed lower down, they saw that Dr Phil’s old lab had been destroyed. No, Granny Flicker wouldn’t destroy that building, it was too special to her. There was something wrong.

The huge robot was crashing around, demolishing everything in its path. Bulbs Mum spotted Granny Flicker and, pointing vigorously, the plane swooped down and picked her up. They pinned her arms to her sides, and Light started questioning her. “Do you know why the robot is doing this?” was his first enquiry. “No,” came the reply. “I programmed it to do whatever I told it to. The only possible thing that could have gone wrong with it is if someone took or changed around the machinery.” Bulb and Light looked at one another in horror. They had stolen those two cogs, and now it was their fault the thing was destroying practically the whole world.

Suddenly, a light-bot yelled “Look!” Everybody followed the direction of the finger and to their shock, found amazing beasts pounding across the junk filled wasteland. It was the Zebturdiles! As soon as The Missile had flown off, the Zebturdiles had used their turtle and crocodile instincts and were off, racing across the water and having a lot of fun.

“Zebturdiles!” yelled Rex. “CHARGE!” All the robots watched as all 100 of the beasts and hurtled straight at its legs.

Everyone watched as the massive light bulb figure halted and switched off where it stood. Then, with a creaking and a cracking, the great robot fell to earth. After that, it was all a little bit hazy. By some power of Rex’s, all the rubbish was lifted up into the sky, and hurtled into space.
The Zebturdiles swam back to their own island and were left in peace forever. Someone however, needed to put Granny Flicker right. Bulb’s Mum took care of that. On Granny Flickers programming board, the doctor had accidently pressed ‘Bad Temper’ under the heading, ‘Personality’. So, now Bulb’s Mum pressed the button ‘Good Temper’ and instantly Granny Flicker was like all grannies should be - kind and caring. But there was nothing for the robots to do now. What would happen to them? Rex gathered them up in his arms, and took them and Regina up into the clouds with him. There they worked as sort of gods, caring for people and helping them to forget their problems. Eventually, animals and plants who had survived the flu came out of hiding. The world started its timelines again, and now the only proof that this ever happened is that lump of rubbish and junk in space.

Tabetha Adams

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