The Last Question

“Somehow, I always knew that I wouldn’t die a natural death, but this- this transcends all stretches of my imagination. I have pictured myself getting hit by a bus, falling off a cliff, stepping on a snake & even biting my own tongue, but never could I have thought that my death would be adjudicated by God himself, along with all of humanity. ” Himanshu Shukla thought to himself.

And he was right, he couldn’t have. Nobody could have thought that they’ll live to see the day that God declares that he’ll descend to Earth.

It’s been two hours since He took over our screens - all laptops, mobile phones, television screens, movie theatres, desktops - each and every person in the entire world saw the same universal broadcast. It started off as an interruption to the playing media, then the screen went grey, with text appearing on the screens like an old typewriter.

‘It’s time. I gave you your chance, you’ve done your part. And you have failed - miserably. It’s time I take the matter back into my own hands.’

Some tried restarting their devices, some unplugged their internet routers, but it seemed like the grey screen could travel across dimensions, as if it wanted you to watch it.

‘In 2 hours, I’ll be choosing one of you- it can be anybody. The chosen one’s identity will be displayed on your screens in exactly 2 hours from now. He/She will represent all of humanity, and will be the subject of the ultimate assessment that will decide each and every human being’s fate. If they succeed, Earth will have peace. But if they fail, your world, which you take foregranted, which you feel entitled to destroy, will witness the angriest storms, the most violent earthquakes, the most devastating Tsunamis, & none of you will live to see the next day. ‘

Of course there were skeptics, anyone would roll their eyes & think that this was just another publicity stunt for Beta’s newly launched product. Something to do with AI agents. Or multiverses. Or a multiverse of AI agents. Beta was the single most powerful multinational technology company with no limits when it came to access, a mass digital intrusion was like shooting fish in the barrel for them.

‘If you think I’m lying, let me prove you wrong. In exactly 15 seconds from now, the air will have no oxygen.’

And it happened. For about ten seconds, every human around the world struggled to breathe. Some panicked, some fainted. Some just couldn’t bear the pain in their ears because of the sudden drop in air pressure. The sky darkened and concrete structures threatened to collapse. Those ten seconds were enough to prove the skeptics wrong. It was, in fact, God himself who was talking to them.

‘Now you might be wondering what the assessment will be- the chosen representative of humanity has to lie to me.’

Lie? To God?

‘For ages, humans have trained deception like a muscle. Lying to save themselves, even at the cost of others. This time though, you’ll lie to save not only yourself, but every single human being. There is nothing to gain, and everything to lose. Two hours. '

The broadcast ended. The YouTube videos, video games, zoom meetings that had been interrupted resumed. But chaos had erupted across the globe. With each passing second of the two hours that followed, there was utter confusion, panic, disbelief and most of all- fear.

Himanshu was the son of the head priest of the local temple in the small town of Bokaro, Jharkhand in India. People had stormed inside the temple, hurling questions at his father and other priests present at the temple. They wanted answers- how could God do this to them? Was there not a way we could invoke God, make offerings and beg for forgiveness? Why should we suffer for the sins of others?

Alas, his father didn’t have the answers to any of these questions.

Two hours later, the world was glued to their screens with anticipation. The grey screen appeared again. About a minute passed, and then it showed a picture of a girl. A name & an age.

“Ramya Semwal? That’s- that’s you bro, isn’t it?” Sana whispered to her roommate with wide eyes.

You would expect God to do better than to choose a 26 year old Software Engineer living in a rented apartment in Delhi as the representative of humanity. Someone with political prowess, or great spiritual inclination. Or someone extremely popular. But God had other plans.

For a minute Ramya refused to believe what she was seeing on her laptop screen. Her Passport photograph splashed across the screen.

“This is bullshit.” she gulped. “Absolute bullshit. Why me? It can’t be me.” She could feel her heart begin to race, her insides erupting. The screen went grey again.

‘Ramya, the assessment will be done at sharp 8 am tomorrow, your local time. Sit exactly where you are sitting right now, and prepare well.’

Ramya glanced at the clock. It was 10.30 pm in the night. “This has to be a mistake. This can’t be true. How on earth am I supposed to lie to God when I couldn't even lie to my own mother about my life here?” She was on the brink of tears. Sana couldn’t think of what to say. She embraced her roommate like it was the last night they were spending together in that apartment, the night before her roommate’s psychological battle with God.

Her phone wasn’t working anymore for some reason. Maybe it was God’s doing. At least He saved her from the torment of receiving calls from strangers from all over the world.

But she received letters, hundreds of them, over the span of those 9 hours. From the ruling party politicians, saying she’s secretly working for the opposition party and wants to take over people’s emotions and hence their votes. From the opposition party politicians, saying she’ll be a great fit in their team. From priests, saying that she’s a reincarnation of Goddess Shakti. From veteran Bollywood actors, giving her tips on how to lie from the eyes & body language. In those nine hours, she practised the answers to the most absurd psychological questions. She had to gather as much information as she could, about literally everything. She had to lie to the omniscient, after all. At last, at 6 am she passed out.

She woke up in a panic at 7.30 am. She couldn’t even feel anxiety in her body anymore, she was just numb. She washed her face, wiped it & placed herself in front of her laptop exactly as God had told her to do.

7.40 am. Her entire life was coming rushing back to her. How foolish she had been. Spent more than half of her life complaining about it. Now it’s the thought of losing it that had kept her up all night.

7.50 am. Mom. Dad. Their accident. The last argument I had with them before they left. I shouldn’t have yelled. I thought I had time, enough time to process their death. But I didn't.

8.00 am. Her screen turned grey. She stared at it as though her eyes would bore holes into the screen.

‘Hello, Ramya.’

Ramya neither nodded, nor said anything. Just stared.

‘Do you believe in God?’

Ramya thought this must be some kind of a joke. Maybe it wasn’t, but it was extremely funny. So funny that she had to burst out laughing.

“We’re all doomed, aren’t we? It’s over. We’re all dead.” she managed to say between laughter.

“There is no stopping the catastrophe. You never intended to give us a chance to save ourselves. You just wanted to play with our minds- give us the illusion of hope for the very last time.”

She paused for a few seconds. The screen flickered again.

‘Why do you say that? Please answer the assessment question- do you believe in God.’

“Both a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No’ will be the wrong answer, so it doesn’t matter.”

Silence. No movement on the screen. No noise outside. Ramya took a deep breath.

“Ever since I was a child, I have wanted to believe in you. Who doesn’t want to believe in the idea of a guardian angel watching over you, who’s supposed to protect you from all bad and awful things. But as I grew up, I couldn’t help but notice that God’s judgement of right and wrong seemed flawed. Good hearted and law-abiding people seem to be the subjects of all of God’s punishments, meanwhile men who have committed the most unspeakable crimes are running the most powerful nations. Turns out your actions have consequences only if you belong to a certain tax bracket. Moreover, I have seen people shame, torment and event murder in the name of God, more in the fear of God. I’ve seen cities burn in riots because of God. I’ve seen women getting raped because of God. I’ve seen my own parents die in a car crash, which happened while they were on the way to a temple, to offer prayers to God. I wanted to believe in God, until I just couldn’t anymore. So yes, up until now, I neither believed nor denied the existence of God. At the most, I was indifferent. “ Ramya stared straight ahead.

‘Do you realize what you have done?’

Ramya looked down at the floor. She knew. She had failed the final assessment of God, she had failed humanity. She couldn’t save them, she shouldn’t have believed that she could. It will only be a matter of time before the storm starts.

‘You have been honest with yourself for the first time in your life.’

Ramya looked up at the screen again. Honest?

‘All your life, I’ve seen people walk all over you. You say exactly what people want to hear, even if it hurts you in the long run. I’m pretty sure if I would’ve chosen anyone else, they would’ve said ‘Yes’ without a doubt. You didn’t. You had the courage to be brutally honest against God, in front of God. When was the last time you were this authentic?”

Ramya couldn’t believe what she was seeing on the screen.

‘There is no catastrophe. Human life is not a game for me to play, but an act for me to witness. I just wanted to witness you being honest. From where I am, it's difficult for me to make you understand what all this means, why the world isn't fair, why bad things seem to happen to the good people. There's an irreplaceable abstraction between my world and your world that even I can't disrespect. I need to respect the laws of the universe, even if I'm the one who created them. All I can say is this much - it will all make sense with time.’

Then the screen went dark. Say what you will about God, but He is definitely a person of few words, Ramya thought.

Did she actually do it? Did she win the battle against God?

Months have passed since that day. Everyone seems to have lost memory of the day (again, God’s doing), except for Ramya. Life went on as usual. But now, she has stopped blaming the universe. She has told herself trust the grand scheme of things, to believe that the universe is not out to get her. And maybe God doesn't hate her after all.

Now that she thinks about it, it never was a battle against God. It was a battle against herself.