The planet of the things

The planet Zunen was a middle class planet and a place where about one and a half million Zunenians lived in. I say it was, because it’s been a long time since my visit, and I don’t know what the situation of it according to the earth time right now. I had first met with the name of the Zunen planet in the Humok library. This planet, which has a rich source of mineral fluids, made its living by exporting it to other planets in its galaxy. Of course the rules of the Galactic Council are not allowed me to explain the coordinates of the planet in here. But it’s okay to say that Zunen is not in the same galaxy with the planet Earth.

According to what I’ve read about Zunen at the Humok library, perhaps the happiest living things in that galaxy lived in Zunen. Besides the task Galactic Council gave me, after reading these, I knew that I had to visit them. Because there is a serious chaos in the whole universe, and visiting such planets always raises hope.

I remember the day I arrived the planet like it happened yesterday. There’s only one country on the planet. When I came to the capital of the country, or maybe more accurate to say capital of the planet, I forgot my hard trip in the last three months. After three months, I was very impatient with the happiness of stepping on the ground for the first time. When the Zunenian who I’ll stay at his house as a guest took me to his house, I saw that the roads were like the flower garden. In fact, there were only two kind of flowers in Zunen; but it’s fine, the presence of those flowers everywhere was giving a distinct joy. Despite this interior refreshing image, Zunenian who would be my temporary host was quite quiet. I had begun to think that my presence might cause him stress in the coming days, and I decided to start a conversation to lighten the environment and I said:
– What I’ve read and heard about Zunen was right. It is a fact that these beautiful flowers, especially after my long journey, cheered me up and put me in a higher mood.

My host pulled over his car to the side of the road and then turned to me:
-Flowers are just flowers, the journey is also only journey, mood is … hmm, I don’t know what the mood is. Anyway, while you’re here, you should not to use adjectives. If you make your sentences in this way, it would be thing.

What was the mean of “it would be thing“? Then, as if this conversation was very normal, he started his vehicle and continued without waiting for me to respond. We were quiet until we got home. There was a daily newspaper in the vehicle and I’ve read it in those quiet moments. The following headline had been written in the newspaper front page:

“The statement about the economy is thing, relieved the markets!”
In these thing days, when our economy’s thing situation has reached the level of things, at the economic thing’s meeting, spokesman of the economy ministry said, “In order to do a thing, the next thing we will do is to keep them under the thing way”.

It was like a cipher headline. What was meant to be “the economy is thing“? The following explanation had been added under the news: “In the all merchandises exporting, we’ve lead of things on the level of things. The thing what caused of this result will contribute to our thing economy.”

I didn’t know what I needed to understand from this news. I was very confused. I’ve folded the paper and put it back. Our quiet journey continued. My host too should have been so much uncomfortable with the silence along the way, that as soon as we entered the house he turned to the kitchen and called me with a smile:

– Zunen’s foods are also thing. This planet is where Korazl is always thing cooked. If I don’t make Korazl to you, it means that I’m not a thing Zunenian.

I had started to understand more clearly at that moment. Every “thing” word he used was an adjective. If I think of all the things as positive adjectives, my visit to Zunen could be better. Or if I speak as a Zunenian, “my visit to Zunen could be thing“.

I’ve seen much better in the days ahead that this adjective ban, which I didn’t really know why, was really everywhere in Zunen. When we entered a shop, there was “thing” add on all of the products as label advertising. Even some of the products’ labels were as follows. “The thing of thing price is just for today”. They were talking about the lowest price. The lowest was a “thing of thing” or on another product you could see “you can’t find the thing price like that!”

I had the chance to see the names of the schools. They had found a method in the names of schools. For the smallest age groups in children they were using “school of thing“; for the middle age group “2 thing school“; for high age group, “3 thing school“. I didn’t see any college at there. I don’t know why even today. It was written on the signboard of the only hospital on planet we passed near by in the capital: “The thing’s thing hospital of the thing capital of Zunen.”

In fact, Zunen was literally the planet of the things. There was not any information about that in the Humok library in my last visit to Humok. Actually this was not surprising to me, because I knew that Humok’s drunkard librarian made the latest updates about 10 years ago. So it’s likely that Zunen had been transformed into the planet of the things in the last ten years.

My host took me showing around the capital of Zunen for the three days I stayed there. I had the chance to eat Zunen’s most favorite foods and to drink favorite drinks. We also visited a museum with historical artifacts of Zunen. We couldn’t stay inside too much that day, because the museum’s closing time was very close. However, as I understand from the short tour in “The thing museum of Zunen’s thing history“, the Zunenians did not have much to do with historical artifacts. It was surprising that Zunen which has the livings’ history up to 80,000 years had no old artifacts. All the museum artifacts I could see were maximum 50 years old. That was confusing. But I was going to learn the cause of this after a long time; like in the same way I will understand better the headline of the newspaper I’ve read at first day I came here.

The real reason I came to Zunen was, of course, because of a duty that the Galactic Council gave me. Three days later, I have left Zunen by completing my duty which I cannot explain what it was in here for certain reasons. After all, at the end of the three days I spent in a thing environment, it was not my job to interfere with some things other than my duty. However after I left Zunen, I’ve found the drunkard librarian on my 7th visit to the Humok library. I told him I wanted to see the last records of Zunen. Ultimately, he was supposed to have made the last update three years ago, according to my calculation at those days, and from library I was going to learn how Zunen turned into that thing anymore.

The librarian first laughed loudly. Then he asked me when I went to Zunen. “According to end-component time spectrum activity of Universe Time Adjustment Center, it was more than 3 years,” I’ve said. This was an explanation he could understand for the information what he had to give me. “The situation is understood,” he said. And he told me that it would take time for me to read the latest informations about Zunen, but he could explain it briefly. Of course in return of a bit of mercury. I had come Humok prepared. After he took a sip from 2 gr of mercury that I’ve given him, he started to speak straight away.

-Zunen planet rulers, who themselves were the richest of the planet, as long as there was a reaction against the administration on the planet, to prevent this, they first wanted to silence the press. They bought all the newspapers at first. They soon realized that buying newspapers was not a complete solution. Because after a while they saw that the newspapers that wrote the news they wanted, were unreadable. The broadcast channels they bought are likewise. Nobody began to follow the news of the lies. They also monopolized the single source of mineral fluid on the planet. And they gave it’s big share to a planet which was in the same galaxy and produced complete weapons also police robots. Zunen politicians said “With the police robots and weapons we will take in return of Zunen mineral’s share, Zunen would take control of public order and it would be a more peaceful place,” to the public of Zunen. Of course, it did not happen like that.

If Zunenians made a sound against power, they threw them in prison. Almost there was hardly any opposition political party remained. The public was uneasy. Even if the public doesn’t read, doesn’t watch, doesn’t follow any news, they were speaking about the situation and the conditions of the planet among themselves. Zunenians were saying that it’s bad, very bad. They were saying that it’s awful, very awful. With that, the power announced that all negative adjectives were banned as of that day. When the power of the planet was thinking it was a complete relief, a new problem came out. When good adjectives were used too, their opposite situation could be meaningful. For example, what would they do with “high” adjective. Such as high dept or high price. As soon as they realized this, they announced that all adjectives were banned without good or bad distinction. Zunenians would no longer use the adjectives; they would use “thing” instead of all adjectives. Of course, many of the Zunenians stood up against power. Even a short time uprising happened. The administration also charged them as “Adjective Terrorists” and sent them to jail. But, many Zunenians had to be sent to jail, so a new prison was built. Even on the planet, only the signboard of that building does not have the word “thing“. All adjectives and all related with adjectives were symbolized by that prison: “Adjectives penitentiary.” But a couple years later…

The librarian hesitated and asked me again:
-When you have been at there?
-More than 3 years ago.
He laughed again. He was really high. He added:
-So you probably don’t know what happened three years ago and what happened next?
-What happened to Zunenians? I wonder what it was!
-If you give me more mercury, I’ll tell you what happened after you left there.
Drunkard librarian gave me his last reply quizzaciously.

But I didn’t have more mercury. Already I was always falling in his hook, line, and sinker. I used the mercury for another informations on my next Humok library visits. I still don’t know what happened next in Zunen. However, I am sure that a thing result occured in a thing envoriment in that planet of the things.