"By the Waters of Babylon" (1)
In the narrator's village, who is allowed to go to the dead places?
Priests and sons of priests.
What job will the narrator someday inherit?
He will become a priest.
In this story, what has destroyed all of the surrounding houses?
A nuclear bomb.
What ultimately destroys the house?
A fire.
In what modern-day country did the Chernobyl incident occur?
Ukraine.
The fabled "Place of the Gods" is actually which real-life city?
New York City.
How was the Place of the Gods destroyed?
It was destroyed by a bomb.
Who returns to the house at twelve noon?
The family dog.
Who (or what) cleans the house every day?
Tiny robot mice.
After nuclear energy was discovered, what was it first used for?
It was used for warfare (the nuclear bomb).
At the end of the story, when the narrator sees the "dead God" sitting in his chair, what does he realize?
He realizes that the Gods were actually men.
After falling asleep in the Place of the Gods, the narrator has a vision. What does he see in this vision?
He sees the city as it once was, and sees it being destroyed.
How many people originally lived in the house?
Four (mother, father, and two kids).
What happens to the trash after it is collected?
It is deposited into the incinerator where it burns.
How long did it take officials to begin evacuating the area surrounding Chernobyl following the disaster?
It took them 36 hours to start evacuating.
After reaching the Place of the Gods, where does the narrator go to escape the dogs that are chasing him?
He enters a dead house (i.e. an apartment building) and closes the door behind him.
Name one thing that the narrator learns when training to take over his father's position.
He learns "chants and spells," "how to stop the running of blood from a wound," "how to read in the old books and how to make the old writings," and "many secrets."
In the house's daily routine, what happens in the nursery at 4:30 pm?
The walls glow and robotic animals move through the room.
How does the house protect itself from intruders?
The house has a voice recognition software and automatically locks itself down if it hears a voice it doesn't recognize.
According to the author, how many sieverts of radiation are said to be enough to kill a person?
What is the narrator's name?
His name is John.
How long does it take the narrator to reach the Place of the Gods?
It takes eight days.
In what year does this story take place?
It takes place in 2026. (More specifically, it takes place August 4, 2026 and August 5, 2026.)
In the poem that the house reads, how do the animals and the seasons (in other words, nature) respond to human wars?
They are unaffected/don't care.
How many years had passed between the Chernobyl Incident and the author's tour of the area?
Twenty-eight years had passed.