Three Stories One Middle East
Nader Habibi
(Story Three)
Part Five - Finale
Prince Jassem's Wish
A reporter was broadcasting
live from Washington, DC. Behind him several cars had crashed into each other.
Jassem and his family gathered in front of the television.
“Quiet!” shouted Jassem at
Princess Sara who was still crying.
“The U.S. capital is in a
state of complete chaos and disarray. It is a little after five in the morning
and, as you can see, it is still dark. Many people are out in the streets
trying to find out what has happened. Some people are looking for their relatives
who have suddenly disappeared. I spoke to a few people and based on what I have
gathered, it appears that only Americans have disappeared and nationals of
other countries who live in the city have not been affected.”
Prince Jassem and his relatives
looked at each other in shock.
“Uncle said that Americans
had gone missing in Manama too,” Said Hamed.
Then he ordered one of his
security guards to contact the pilot to prepare the family jet for flight.
“I have to return to Manama
immediately. I hope you understand brother,” he said to Jassem.
But Jassem was not paying any
attention. He was still trying to absorb the news that he had just seen. The
news program had shifted to live broadcast from London. The British government
had announced a state of emergency and Prime Minister Tony Blair had summoned
his cabinet for an emergency meeting.
“But this has nothing to do
with the disappearance of Mohammad or Sheikh Salmon’s children. Mohammad is not
American,” said Jassem as he stood up and walked towards the door. “I’m going
to the police station.” But before he had a chance to leave the building, he
heard Princess Sara scream. Jassem turned around. Sara screamed again and then
covered her face with both hands as she squatted down on the ground and began
sobbing.
“Oh my God!” said Sheikha
Lubna as she walked toward Sara to comfort her. She was herself crying. Sara’s
mother who had been crying quietly up to now began sobbing too as she
approached her daughter and sat next to her.
“Mother, take care of her. I
have to go to the police station. I can’t just sit here and do nothing,” said
Jassem.
“Wait!” shouted Sheikha Lubna
loudly. Prince Jassem turned around and looked at his mother.
“There is something you
should know!” said Sheikha Lubna. She still had one arm around Sara’s shoulder.
Jassem walked toward her and
squatted next to her. “What is it?”
Sheikha looked at her son
quietly. She was hesitant and was trying to stop crying first.
“What is it mother? Tell my
quickly. I have to go.” Sheikha wiped the tears off her face. Sara was still
crying.
“Your father got an American
birth certificate for Mohammad,” said Sheikha Lubna.
“What? What do you mean?”
“It’s true. Mohammad has
American citizenship,” sobbed Sara.
“But why? How come no one
told me about this?” shouted Jassem.
“Sheikh Hadi decided it was
good for Mohammad’s security in the future,” said Sara.
“Sara, why did you keep this
from me?”
“I asked her to. Because of
your anti-American ideas, your father decided to do this behind your back. He
knew you would not have allowed it,” said Sheikha Lubna.
“Of course I would not have
allowed it,” said Jassem as he held his head with both hands in anger.
Hamed was listening with
disbelief to this revelation when suddenly one of security guards gently tapped
him in the shoulder.
“What is it?”
“Your Highness, the pilot
just called. All airports in Oman have shut down. No planes can fly in or out
of Oman until further notice.”
Hamed did not respond for a
few seconds and just stared at the guard.
“Contact our embassy in
Musqat and ask them to get clearance for my plane. Actually, get me the
ambassador. I’ll talk to him myself. Call Sheikh Zayed and let him know about
this. Tell him I’ll be there as soon as we get permission to fly out of here.”
Prince Jassem was still
arguing with his wife and mother.
“How could father do this
behind my back? How could all of you do this? He is my son,” he said with rage.
“Answer me! How?”
“A lot of prominent families
in the Gulf do this,” said Sheikha Lubna. “Thousands of wealthy Khalijis, from
the Saudis to the Omanis to the Kuwaitis, take their pregnant wives to America
to give birth there so that their children can become American citizens.”
“But Mohammad was born in
Switzerland,” said Jassem.
“The American Ambassador used
his connections to get him a birth certificate at your father’s request,”
responded Sheikha Lubna.
Jassem looked at the ground
for a few seconds and then looked at his mother and Sara who were still crying.
“What a shame. What a betrayal,” said Jassem and then stood up and walked to
the other side of the living room.
“Do you know how many of your
distant nieces and nephews have obtained American citizenship this way? Most of
them,” said Sheikha Lubna. Jassem did not respond.
Sara’s mother, who was
quietly crying next to Sara, suddenly stood up. “Oh my God. Mona! Bring me a
phone quickly,” she yelled to one of the maids. Mona was her youngest child and
Princess Sara’s sixteen-year-old sister. She was delivered in a hospital in
Philadelphia and had an American birth certificate. Sara’s mother followed the
maid to the other room to call her daughter who was vacationing in Switzerland
along with the rest of the family.
Jassem was still overwhelmed
with rage over what he had just learned. He turned around and was looking at
various objects in the room in order to avoid eye contact with them. Suddenly,
he froze and gasped for air as he saw the magic lamp. He slowly walked toward
the lamp.
“No! It can’t be. This is just a stupid toy. No!
It’s impossible,” he mumbled as he picked up the lamp and stared at it.
“What is it?” asked Sheikha
Lubna.
Jassem’s hands were shaking
as he held the lamp up and carefully examined every part of it. “No way. This
is just a stupid toy.”
“What is it?” asked Sheikha
Lubna again.
Suddenly, they heard a loud
scream from the adjacent room. It was Sara’s mother. Princess Sara and Sheikha
Lubna quickly rushed to the other room.
Jassem was still staring at
the lamp. My wish! It must be just a coincidence. This is just a stupid toy,
he said to himself as he shook the lamp violently. Then he threw the lamp
towards the wall with as much force as he could muster. The lamp left a mark on
the wall at the point of impact and fell on the floor.
He could hear the women
crying in the other room but focused on the news coverage of the
disappearances.
For the next few hours,
Jassem and his family spent their time contacting relatives, grieving for their
missing loved ones and watching the news. All TV and satellite channels had
interrupted their normal programs to cover this development.
One reporter said that as
many as nine hundred planes had fallen from sky in various parts of the world
between 9:30 am and 10:30 am London time. By 12 pm, all European countries had
declared a state of emergency and European leaders were in communication with
each other. The only people still present in the United States were foreign
visitors and foreign residents. In many cities, there was total chaos and some
people were rushing to loot stores and empty houses.
On a European television
station, some experts were talking about America’s nuclear weapons and the
danger that some countries or groups would try to access these weapons. By 1:30
pm, a reporter announced that all major countries were sending planes and ships
to the United States. The Canadian Air Force had already begun transporting
troops to major American military bases. The reporter speculated that Russia
and China were also flying to Alaska and the West Coast of the United States.
These governments announced that they were sending troops and planes to protect
their citizens who were in the United States.
Another channel had a live
broadcast from Los Angeles. It was early morning but already thousands of
people were in the streets. They were all foreigners, mostly Hispanics and
Asians. There was no electricity in the city and the traffic signals were not
working. According to the reporter, Mexican military forces had crossed the
border and were driving along with thousands of civilians. Mexico had also
quickly landed paratroopers in the U.S. military bases in Arizona and Nevada.
Al-Jazeera announced that all
GCC countries had declared a state of emergency. One journalist was reporting
fire in several oil facilities in Saudi Arabia and Qatar because of the sudden
disappearances of thousands of American engineers and managers who operated
these facilities. There were also reports of thousands of Arab citizens who had
disappeared. One Al-Jazeera reporter, stationed in Qatar, reported that there
was total panic in the Saudi Royal family as hundreds of adults and well over
two thousand children had disappeared.
Jassem changed the station to
a Bahraini satellite channel. It showed his father speaking to reporters. “We
ask all brotherly Arab nations to come to our assistance. A few minutes ago,
Russia violated our airspace and landed paratroopers on the American military
base in Bahrain. Our troops are courageously battling the occupiers and we are
asking all Bahrani men to report to the nearest police stations or military
bases for immediate mobilization. We will fight to the last drop of our blood
and defend our country against all foreign enemies,” Sheikh Hadi left the room
immediately after this brief statement. Jassem could not believe what he was
seeing – first the loss of his son and now Bahrain was under attack. He put his
hands on his head in despair and nervously stood up. “Allah o Akbar,” he
whispered.
Jassem changed the channel to
Al-Jazeera again. The banner read, “Russian troops in Bahrain.” It was only
four hours after the disappearances and already foreign troops were on the move
in the region.
A reporter was talking to an
expert about Bahrain. “Do you know why the British and French forces in the
region did not come to Bahrain’s aid?” the reporter asked. “This move by Russia
was totally unexpected. Based on what I’ve heard, the British and French forces
in the area are busy securing the American naval ships that are floating without
any personnel in the Persian Gulf. They want to make sure Iranians don’t get a
hold of these, particularly the American aircraft career USS Nimitz. Other
European forces are trying to help navigate the American oil tankers safely to
the ports of friendly nations. At least, these tankers have some non-American
crew members that are still on board. There were no foreigners on American
naval ships so they are the most important priority for European forces now.
However, Russia’s advancements are the greatest tragedy for the Gulf countries.
Now, other countries will try to occupy these small sheikhdoms, which were
entirely dependent on the United States for their security.”
Before the expert had a
chance to complete his statement, the reporter interrupted him. “Sorry,
Professor! I have to stop you, because we have an important new development.
Suddenly, a banner in large letters appeared at the bottom of the screen:
“ISRAEL DECLARES ITSELF A NUCLEAR POWER. WILL RESPOND WITH NUCLEAR FORCE IF
ATTACKED.” The reporter talked about this announcement and asked the expert’s
opinion.
“We all knew that the
Israelis had nuclear weapons, so I don’t think this is anything new. Now that
Americans have disappeared, they are on their own and they want to send the
message that they are still strong and can defend themselves. I’m not surprised
that they have done this.”
“Bastards,” said Jassem as he
changed the channel back to the Bahrain station but, as soon as he noticed that
his mother was walking into the living room, he turned off the television. He
had not told her or Sara about what had happened in Bahrain. He stood up and
walked out of the building. Nidal and one of the security guards walked toward
him.
“Your Highness, did you hear
about the Russians?”
“Yes, but I have not told the
others yet,” said Jassem. “They don’t need to know for now. It is such a
tragedy.”
“How is Princess Sara?” asked
Nidal.
“How do you expect her to be?
Her child is missing. I don’t know what to say to her.”
“Your Highness, the Saudis
have hundreds of advanced American jet fighters and radars. Why didn’t they
stop the Russians?” asked the security guard.
“Half the al-Saud clan has
disappeared. Most of their military commanders are either missing or are
stunned by the disappearance of their children. They can barely defend
themselves right now. I don’t know what will happen to Bahrain now,” said
Jassem. They were quiet for a few seconds.
“I need to return to Bahrain
as soon as possible,” said Jassem with a strong voice. “I want to take the
family back. We must all be in Bahrain right now,” he continued.
“Your Highness, you cannot
return without Sheikh Hadi’s permission,” said the security guard.
“I’m sure he wants us all
back now. Has Hamed landed yet?”
“His flight departure from
Salalah airport was approved two hours ago, but I don’t know if his plane has
landed or not.”
“Contact Sheikh Zayed, and
tell him I want to come back. Actually, let me talk to him as soon as you get
him on the phone. We need a plane to return to Manama tonight,” said Jassem and
went back inside.
Princess Sara was holding one
of Mohammad’s toys in her hands. Her mother was crying while talking to someone
on the phone. Jassem tried to put his hands on Sara’s shoulder, but she pushed
his arm away. Sheikha Lubna had turned on the television and was watching an
update report about the Russian troops in Bahrain. She was not crying. She was
stunned and did not even turn her head or blink as Jassem sat next to her.
“We should go back,” she said
before breaking into a cry.
“I’m waiting to talk to Uncle
Zayed to ask for a plane,” said Jassem.
He looked at the oil lamp
that was lying on the floor near the television. No one had bothered to pick it
up.
Resolution
Location: Main campus of
Guilgamus Corporation
Galseri Technology City,
Planet Merno
Time: 2-3 [1]
Corporate CEO Martus
Kancherno’s flying car landed the on roof of the building after an unusually
high-speed descent. Doors rolled up on both sides of the car and Kancherno
quickly left the vehicle along with three other machuns. They quickly walked
toward the entrance of the ten-story building. A confused security guard who
had immediately recognized the President of the company opened the door to
greet him and his companions. This was the second time over the past three
Mernovian years of his service that the President had visited this building.
The headquarters of the Guilgamus Corporation was a ten-minute car flight away.
The President and his companions did not even look at him. They immediately
entered the roof access and proceeded to the senior manager’s office for the
Blue Planet simulation game project.
Hanukh Ipora jumped out of
his chair and his green face turned bluish when the door suddenly opened and
the President rushed toward him.
“Mr. Kancherno, sir,” said
Hanukh. There were two directors and three other programmers in his office
already and they all stood up.
“Did you find the source of
this malfunction?” asked Kancherno before Hanukh had a chance to say anything.
Kancherno was a tall and
heavyset machun and, as he stood in front of Hanukh, his dominating posture
made Hanukh more nervous than he already was.
“Eh ... yes, sir. We believe
that we have identified the source.”
“Well, what is it?” said the
President with an angry voice. “What could have caused such a massive character
omission?”
“Sir, a magic wish subroutine
was executed,” responded Hanukh.
“A magic what?” asked the
President.
Before Hanukh had a chance to
respond, one of the machuns that had accompanied Kancherno spoke.
“Was it the GENIE
subroutine?” said Zalid Hunad, one of the lead programmers of project Blue
Planet before Hanukh was hired. She was now the Corporate Vice President for
all evolutionary simulation games.
“Yes,” said Hanukh with a
blue face.
“What is GENIE?” asked the
President with a demanding and impatient voice.
Zalid Hunad did not give
Hanukh a chance to speak.
“Blue Planet has two magic
wish subroutines. One of them is GENIE, which appears in the game as a mythical
character trapped in an oil lamp. The lamp is deposited in a remote area with a
very low probability of being found. When a game character finds the lamp and
touches it, the GENIE appears and grants him three wishes. There is only one
magic oil lamp on the entire planet,” said Zalid and continued facing Hanukh
and his team.
“Did you verify that this was
done by a GENIE command? There are clear limitations on what wishes can be
granted by this command?”
“Yes, it was a GENIE
execution,” said Hanukh.
“But how can that be?” asked
Zalid. “There are restrictions on GENIE wishes.”
Hanukh was hesitant for a few
second as he looked at other members of his team.
“Speak up! We don’t have much
time,” shouted Kancherno.
“The restrictions were lifted
by mistake a few days ago,” Hanukh replied.
“What?” asked Kancherno.
“No one outside this control
room has authority to do such a thing,” continued Zalid.
Kancherno, who was clearly
shocked, sat behind the large round table. “Sit down!” he shouted at Hanukh. “All
of you, sit down!” he shouted again. They quickly sat around the table. Hanukh
sat directly in front of him with his team members around him.
Kancherno looked at him:
“Listen carefully. Seventeen billion machuns subscribe to the Blue Planet. It
is our most profitable simulation game. The most followed character tribe in
this mega game is the Americans. Now, suddenly all of the American characters
are deleted. Do you know how many financial lawsuits we might face because of
this? Blue Planet is a natural evolutionary game with no outside intervention.
This mistake of yours is the largest external intervention imaginable, short of
shutting down the entire game. The Guilgamus Corporation could go bankrupt
because of this.” He was still staring at Hanukh but stopped talking for a few
seconds.
Everyone was quietly looking
at him. Then, suddenly he banged both of his hands on the table and stood up.
“So open your mouths and give me a clear explanation of exactly what has
happened and how we can fix it. Don’t wait for questions and don’t stop until
you have given a full report. Understood?”
Hanukh’s hands were shaking
as he began to talk. “Yes, sir. After the disappearance of the American
characters, we immediately concluded that someone must have used a GENIE-like
subroutine. So we searched for the most recent access dates of the GENIE
subroutine. Two recent dates and locations came up. It was accessed externally
last month from my computer. The date corresponded to the time when my son was
here with me. I called my son immediately, and he admitted that it was he who
accessed GENIE and explained everything.
Last month during the school
break, like several other employees, I brought my son to spend some time in my
office. He is a teenager and an active Blue Planet player. He was using his own portable computer to
play the game but apparently when I left the office for a meeting he also
accessed my terminal before it had a chance switch to the sleep mode. When
searching my files, he found the documentation file for the GENIE subroutine
and read it. He used my access privilege to locate and invoke the GENIE. He
also used my privilege to lift the restrictions on what wishes could be
granted, because he wanted to play what he thought were some fun tricks on the
game characters.
Once the restrictions were
lifted, he used a GENIE wish to switch the brains of two young female human
characters, named Sara and Yasmin that lived in two distant regions of the Blue
Planet. In this process, Yasmin’s brain, which was planted in Sara’s body, went
into a sleep coma. My son did not know how to fix this and moved Sara’s body
onto the suspended characters depository, which is interpreted as a
disappearance in the game environment. As soon as we detected this brain
switch, we located these two characters and returned them to their original
bodies.
Every time the GENIE
subroutine is activated and up to three wishes are granted, it automatically
places the magic lamp in a cave in a remote, mountainous area with low human
traffic. After soliciting these two wishes, my son heard me opening the office
door and he quickly closed the GENIE program without restoring the default
limits on its wish granting powers. As a result, GENIE had unlimited wish
granting capacity for the next access. It was capable of granting any wish
short of shutting down the entire game.
Since it is deposited in a
remote location, the chances that the GENIE magic lamp is found by a human
character are once every six hundred human years on average. However, despite
this low probability, a human character named Jassem found the GENIE magic lamp
after only a few weeks.
Now as far as what can be
done, we...”
“Stop!” shouted Kancherno
before Hanukh was able to finish his sentence. He looked at his associates for
a few seconds and then at Hanukh. “You are the smartest game programmer in
Guilgamus and one of the highest paid directors managing the most popular
simulation game in the world. Yet, you let your kid access the most sensitive
codes of the Blue Planet game. Do you realize how much damage your negligence
has caused?”
Hanukh was looking down at
the table with a blue face and did not say anything.
“I’m putting Mrs. Zalid Hunad
in charge and all of you will fully cooperate with her until this crisis is over.
Understood?”
“Yes sir,” replied Hanukh as
he looked down.
“I have to return to
Headquarters for an emergency meeting with the Board of Directors. This is very
critical, and I need their approval for any decision that we make." He
then turned to Zalid. “I will videophone you into the meeting in four piets.
Send me your best recommendations quickly.
If we decide to rewind the game, every ties[2]
is crucial and we don’t have much time.”
Kancherno stood up and looked
at Hanukh with contempt for a second before leaving. The other two Machuns that
had followed him to the meeting left with him.
“Okay, what is our maximum
rewind capacity for Blue Planet?” asked Zalid as she stood up and took off her
black jacket.
***** ****
During his short flight to
Headquarters, Kancherno was continuously on videophone with Zalid and his other
associates. It was no easy task to summon the Board of Directors at such short
notice and in the early hours of the morning, but he had no other choice. He
already knew that there were no good options for Guilgamus in light of what had
happened.
The Blue Planet was a real
time game with thousands of sub-games. Its characters were subject to a natural
evolutionary process and occasional random mutations. In order to make the
historical data storage manageable, the game was set in a three dimensional
world. For the Machuns who lived in a five dimensional world, the game’s
graphics were unimpressive, but what attracted most people to this game was the
complex individual and collective nature of its human characters. Advances in
lie detection and brain scan technologies had made it virtually impossible for
Machuns to be deceitful or commit any serious crimes without being caught. So
they escaped the boredom of their safe lifestyles by participating in
simulation games like the Blue Planet in which characters were more prone to
crime, violence and deception.
The historical evolution of
the Blue Planet and its surrounding universe was created by a supercomputer up
until January 1, 1900 on the Blue Planet’s game calendar. Each round of the
game began at this date and continued until, through technological and
scientific advancements, one game character discovered the simulation matrix
(meaning that existence as experienced by plants, animals and humans was a
self-evolving computer game.)
It usually took two centuries
in Blue Planet time for such a discovery, which was approximately two years for
Machuns who played the game. Once this discovery was made, the game was over
and it was reset back to January 1, 1900. As a result, the cultural and
technological developments until January 1, 1900 varied from one round to the
next.
In some rounds, the Blue
Planet game ended not by the discovery of the simulation matrix but by the
large scale application of weapons of mass destruction. When a global war led
to environmental destruction and at least a forty percent reduction in the
population, the game was suspended and reset to January 1, 1900.
Aside from the billions of
Machuns who watched or gambled on the outcomes of the game, there were also
thousands of companies that organized avatar trips into various parts of the
Blue Planet at any moment.
“How many have showed up so
far?” Kancherno asked his assistant as he quickly walked toward the boardroom.
“Eight sir. One more will
arrive shortly.”
Kancherno opened the door and
was greeted by eight grim faces.
“Ladies and gentlemen, you
have all been informed about the situation already. We don’t have much time. My
best Blue Planet expert, Zalid Hunad, is in the main control room, and she is
ready to brief us on what can be done. I’m going to put her through.”
Zalid appeared on the large screen, with
Hanukh and two other software engineers behind her.
“Zalid, what can be done at
this stage?”
“Sir, there are three
options. The first option is to do nothing and to let the game continue until
this round is brought to its natural end. The second option is to stop this
round at this level and start a new round immediately. The third option is to
rewind the game to exactly three seconds before Jassem’s wish was executed and
overwrite the wish to make it harmless.”
“But can it be rewinded?”
asked one of the board members.
“Our rewind capacity is
limited, but we can do it if we initiate the reversal in the next four piets[3].
Technically, resetting the game is the easiest option and rewinding it is most
challenging. The last time we did a rewind was for the Planet Yellow game, and
it was reversed by only three piets. Now we have to rewind the Blue Planet game
to three ziep and four piets. The only problem is that rewinding it back for
such a long period is very risky. Billions of human and animal characters might
end up with emotional and memory damage. Besides, the sudden changes might open
up a wormhole and increase the risk that one or more characters discover the
simulation matrix prematurely. As you know, as soon as one character discovers
this, the game is over.”
“What are the financial costs
of each option? Obviously, we have to go with the least costly option,” said
one of the board members. Kancherno looked at the board members and then at his
watch. “Terminating the game will cost at least sixty billion parats in
financial damage claims. We will have to borrow a minimum of thirty billion to
stay afloat. We will lose an estimated
twenty three billion parats in future revenues as billions of people will
switch to our competitors,” he replied.
“Don’t we have legal
protection against game malfunction?” asked a female member of the board.
“It only applies to program
malfunctions. This was a case of human error on our side. We will be held fully
responsible. Since we are all subject to annual lie detection tests, it will be
impossible to blame it on software malfunction,” responded Kancherno and looked
at his watch again.
“What about the first option:
doing nothing?” asked the same board member.
“We estimate that all the
players who had placed bids on the Americans would sue to recover their losses.
There would be secondary and tertiary losses by others whose gambles are
affected by this sudden shock. The financial cost will be anywhere between
twenty to forty five billion parats. More significantly, a massive unnatural
event like this increases the likelihood that at least one other character
discovers the simulation matrix, which will stop the game, and we might get
sued for having caused a hasty end. This will cost another three billion
parats,” responded Kancherno.
“And the third option?”
“With the third option, we
will rewind the game to three seconds before the mass deletion. If we do it
now, it will cost approximately eight billion parats in financial damages,”
said Kancherno, “and it goes up by fifty five million parats every piet that
passes. We now have a little over three piets before this option is lost. But
there is a thirty percent risk that something could go wrong and, in that case,
the cost would be almost as high as shutting down the game.”
“We have to make a quick
decision,” said an older member of the board who was short of breath. “The way
I see it, there are only two choices: either to let the game continue with no
intervention or to rewind. Although rewinding is risky, I think it is better
than doing nothing,” he continued.
“We don’t have time for a
debate. If I have the support of the majority of the board, I also prefer to
try the rewind option,” said Kancherno.
There was a quick moment of
silence followed by the nodding of heads.
Kancherno turned to the
screen. “Zalid, initiate rewind immediately. I will make a quick media
announcement and will be there soon. We can’t waste any more time.”
“Yes sir,” responded Zalid
and quickly stood up along with those around him.
Kancherno immediately sent a
private message to Zalid: “Watch Hanukh carefully. As soon as the rewind is
complete and you are confident that you don’t need him anymore, call the
security guards. They are standing by to escort him out of the building. He is
fired.”
Zalid already knew that
Kancherno was going to sell the rewind option to the board and had prepared the
initial steps. The rewind was initiated shortly after the video call was over.
Instantly, the Blue Planet game froze on the 3-D screens of more than twelve
billion users who were connected to the game at that moment, and a statement by
Guilgamus’ President appeared on their screens. The statement apologized for
the mass deletion of the American characters and informed the community that
the Blue Planet game would be set back due to this illegal intervention. It
promised that a detailed explanation would be released soon and that Guilgamus
would offer full compensation for any financial damages caused by the event.
***
The Rewind and Beyond
Friday, July 13, 2001
Ronen
Ronen’s plane landed at the
Newark International Airport at 5:22 am. It was a smooth landing and, as the
plane approached the gate, Ronen tried imagining what his interaction with Omar
and his family would be like. Would it be similar to his meeting with Farha and
her family in Bahrain? Would Omar know more about the circumstances of his
adoption? Perhaps Karim and Zeinab revealed the truth to Omar but hid it from
Zeinab, because she was too young. He didn’t have much information about his
brother’s family other than the fact that Omar’s wife was a Professor of Literature
at Swarthmore College, and they had two children.
Since it was early morning,
the line at Passport Control was short, and Ronen was able to leave the
terminal after a few minutes. He rented a car at the airport and drove south on
the New Jersey Turnpike toward Philadelphia. He checked into a hotel near
Swarthmore. Then using his John Northon disguise, he contacted Omar and asked
to meet him. After learning that John had already met with Fahra and her
family, Omar gladly agreed.
The next day, Ronen visited
Omar, his wife Leyla and their two children Karim and Hoda at their house on
Princeton Avenue. Meeting Omar was just as emotional for him as meeting Farha,
but he managed to maintain his composure. It was a very warm meeting and Omar
gave him more information about Ferdous and the plight of their family during
those difficult days when the Israelis forced them to leave.
Before the meeting, Ronen was
hoping that he could direct the conversation to his own kidnaping as an infant
but, as they spoke and he felt the warmth of being close to Omar and his
family, it did not matter anymore. Omar and Leyla invited him to join them for
dinner two days later so that he could complete the interview about Ferdous.
Ronen returned to Israel the
next Friday, July 20th.
After a few weeks, he
realized that the discovery of his Palestinian roots and his contact with his
Palestinian siblings had changed his priorities in life. He decided that it was
too difficult for him to continue his duties in the Israeli intelligence. In
the summer of 2002, Ronen left the Mossad and accepted a position with a
private military company in the United States called the Dark Blue Water
Security Consulting. Although the company was located in North Carolina, Ronen
was often on overseas assignments, which also gave him a chance to visit Israel
once every two or three months. Ronen
used his John Northon disguise to visit Omar and his family once more but, as
of January 2003, he had not revealed his true identity to Omar and Farha.
Back in Israel, the police
arrested a nurse in Beit Urshalim Hospital in December 2002 and charged her
with the murder of eight elderly patients between February 2000 and August
2002. She confessed to having killed these patients by injecting a lethal substance,
which induced a heart attack. She told the police that she had targeted
patients who were hospitalized after a heart attack because suffering a second
heart attack was not unusual for such patients and did not arouse any
suspicion.
Sara and Zeinab were two of
her victims. When Ronen saw this nurse’s picture in an online news report, he
immediately recognized her. This was the same nurse who gave him Sara’s message
after her fatal second heart attack: “No one knows.” He also saw her in the
elevator the day that he went to Beit Urshalim to interview Zeinab.
The arrest of this nurse was
a huge embarrassment for Israel’s intelligence community. Yasmina Qasab was the
eldest daughter of General Elyas Qasab, the Director of the Collections
Department at the Mossad. It was also an embarrassment for the community of
Jewish Iranians in Israel, since General Qasab’s family had immigrated to
Israel from Iran when he was eight years old. When the police searched
Yasmina’s apartment, they did not find the lethal liquid that she claimed to
have used to kill her victims.
Sarah and Yasmin
It was a little before eight
o’clock in the morning when John Goldberg asked his wife to wake up Yasmin.
They had an appointment at the neurology department of the University of
Pennsylvania’s hospital at ten and had to pick up Yasmin’s parents at 9:15.
Jenifer gently knocked at the
door. There was no answer. She slowly opened the door and walked toward
Yasmin’s bed. Yasmin was still asleep lying face down on her belly. Jenifer was
not sure to call her Yasmin or Sarah.
“My dear,” she said gently,
“you need to wake up.”
Yasmin slowly turned around
and opened her eyes. Then she suddenly sat up and screamed. Jenifer stepped
back in shock. Yasmin was screaming and speaking in Urdu as she got out of bed
and ran to a corner of the room furthest away from Jennifer. John, who had
heard the noise, rushed upstairs and entered the room. As soon as Yasmin saw
him, she screamed louder and covered her head and body with a sheet and began
to cry as she continued to speak in Urdu.
From her behavior, it was
clear that she did not recognize them and did not know where she was. When
Yasmin realized that this couple was trying to speak to her in English, she
said, “Where am I?” in English with a Pakistani accent.
Jennifer asked John to go
call Dr. Khan as she tried to talk to her but Yasmin was still in shock and
crying. She sensed that Yasmin was no longer being Sarah. John came upstairs
after a couple of minutes. When Jennifer heard his footsteps, she asked him not
to come in.
“I have Dr. Khan on the
phone. Can you give the phone to her?” said John.
Jennifer took the cordless
phone from her husband, walked toward Yasmin and handed her the phone. Yasmin
took the phone with hesitation but, as soon as she heard her father’s voice,
she spoke in Urdu while crying.
John was still standing
outside Yasmin’s room when the doorbell rang. He came downstairs and, as he
walked towards the door he could tell that there was a police officer outside.
He walked faster and when he opened the door, he could not believe his eyes. It
was Sarah – covered by a thin blanket and being helped to stand up by a
policewoman. She appeared semi-conscious.
“Sarah! Oh my God!” said
John.
Then he stepped forward to
help bring her inside. Two police officers followed Sarah inside, while two
other police officers held back the growing circle of reporters that had
gathered in front of Goldberg house. John was overwhelmed with joy as he hugged
Sarah, but Sarah seemed so exhausted that she did not show any emotion.
John’s loud cry attracted Jennifer’s
attention. She was halfway down the stairs when she saw Sarah. She froze for a
second and let out a loud sigh. She reached for the stair rail to support
herself as she tried to move her shaking legs. One of the police officers
rushed toward her to help her come down without falling. Jennifer ran toward
Sarah and hugged her as hard as she could.
“Hi Mom, what is going on?”
said Sarah as she leaned on her mother and closed her eyes again.
“Thank God you are back,”
said Jennifer.
“What… what do you mean I’m
back?”
Jennifer and John helped
Sarah sit on the sofa, and they sat on both sides. Jennifer looked at her
clothes. She was wearing the same pajamas that she had worn the night she
disappeared.
“We need to take her to
hospital right away. Where did you find her?” said John to one of the police
officers.
“A jogger noticed her sitting
on the ground on the college campus about twenty minutes ago. He called 911 and
we picked her up ten minutes ago and brought her here. Don’t change her clothes
or anything until Detective Owen gets here. An ambulance is also on its way.”
After two minutes Sarah
seemed more conscious. She looked at her parents and the police officer. “What
is going on?” she asked.
“Oh dear, I’m so glad you are
back,” said John.
“From where?” she asked.
Then, she suddenly raised both of her hands and examined them carefully. She
struggled to stand up. Her parents asked her to sit down but she resisted and
got up. She walked toward the mirror on the wall. When she saw her face, she
froze and stared at herself for a few seconds. Her parents were standing next
to her. She began to shiver and her eyes filled with tears. She started crying
loudly as she turned toward her mother and hugged her tightly. It was only then
that Sarah realized that she was back in her own body.
A few minutes later the
doorbell rang. One of the policemen opened the door expecting it to be
Detective Owen. It was Dr. Khan and Shahrzad instead. John signaled them to
come in. As soon as they walked in, Sarah, who had finally calmed down, stood
up and nervously stared at them. She
started shaking again and held her mother’s hand as tightly as she could. The
Pakistani couple slowly stepped forward.
“Is this your daughter?”
asked Dr. Khan.
“I told you so many times,
but you didn’t believe me,” responded Sarah instead of John. “You didn’t
believe me!”
Dr. Khan and Shahrzad were
shocked. They silently looked at Sarah.
“Is Yasmin …” asked Shahrzad.
“She is upstairs. Go to her.”
As they walked upstairs,
Shahrzad called her daughter’s name. Yasmin, who had no idea what was
happening, ran towards the stairs as soon as she heard her mother’s voice. She reached her mother halfway up the
stairs. As she called to her parents in Urdu, Shahrzad started screaming and
tears of joy ran down on her face. Yasmin was relieved and glad to see her
parents, but she did not understand the meaning behind this burst of emotion
from them.
Sarah, who until now was
hiding her face in her mother’s arms, immediately recognized Yasmin’s voice. It
had been her own voice up until a few minutes ago. She began to shake again as
she slowly raised her face to look at Yasmin and her parents. Jennifer suddenly
realized how shocking it might be for her to see Yasmin, and she tried to put
Sarah’s head on her chest again but Sarah resisted.
She looked at Yasmin who was
talking to her parents in Urdu. John tried to stand in front of Sarah to block
her view.
“No!” screamed Sarah. “Let me
see her.”
She screamed again and pushed
back her mother’s hand as she tried to stand up. She became frantic. Yasmin and
her parents were looking at the struggle between Sarah and her parents.
Jennifer finally signaled John to move to the side fearing that Sarah might get
hurt. Sarah and Yasmin stared at each other. Yasmin did not know Sarah and
asked her parents in Urdu what was going on. Sarah was overwhelmed with rage
and was shaking hard as she looked at Yasmin. Then she suddenly fainted. Her
parents held her and lowered her onto the sofa. One of the policemen approached
Dr. Khan and signaled him and his family to follow him. Yasmin was holding her
mother’s hand, and they quickly walked out. Jennifer and John were so preoccupied
with Sarah that they did not notice. Just as Mr. Khan stepped out of the
Goldberg residence, an ambulance pulled into the driveway. A few minutes later,
Detective Owen arrived just as Sarah was being carried into the ambulance.
Fortunately, it was nothing
more than hysteria that caused Sarah to faint. She spent the night in the
hospital but was allowed to return home the next morning. Unlike Yasmin, who
had no memory of what happened to her since the body switch on June 15th, Sara
was fully aware of what she had experienced in Yasmin’s body.
Detective Owen forced the
Khan family to stay in the United States for one week as he extensively
questioned Yasmin and her parents. He waited for a few days before talking to
Sarah. His extensive investigations did not offer any evidence of kidnaping and
he was not able to come up with an explanation. Media interest in this strange
case continued until the September 11th attacks.
In Karachi, Yasmin had to
come to terms with the fact that she had no memory of her life between June
15th and July 13th. She was fascinated by the stories that her relatives told
her about her American accent and strange behavior during this month long
ordeal. Other than that, her life returned to normal and she started college in
the fall at a local university in Karachi.
Sarah’s emotional trauma, on
the other hand, continued for several months. Most nights she was afraid of
going to sleep for fear of waking up in another woman’s body again. Initially,
she avoided Joshua for a couple of weeks but gradually they were back together
again, and she also reconnected with Zoe and her other friends. In September, Joshua started his
undergraduate studies at Brown University but Sarah postponed her studies until
the spring semester. As expected, she went to Brown to be with Joshua.
Prince Jassem
Prince Jassem showed the
magic oil lamp that he had found in the cave to his brother. He teased Hamed
about how his prank did not fool him this time. But to his surprise, Hamed
repeatedly denied having anything to do with that strange oil lamp. Knowing
Hamed well, he was skeptical and assumed that this denial was also part of an
elaborate prank, but he did not insist anymore. He just prepared himself
mentally for whatever twisted prank Hamed might have planned for that evening.
When he and Hamed went for a walk in the garden, Jassem tried to direct their
conversation to politics and Hamed’s upcoming visit to Washington along with
their father. But Hamed was not interested and instead talked about the NASCAR
race in Florida that he was scheduled to attend after the formal diplomatic
meetings in Washington, DC were over. That afternoon, while Jassem and Hamed
were walking in the garden, Princess Sara broke into tears and begged Sheikha
Lubna to convince Sheikh Hadi to end their exile.
“I promise I will do
everything in my power to keep Jassem out of politics and make sure he will not
challenge Sheikh Hadi again. I can’t live like this much longer. Jassem is also
suffering,” she pleaded with her mother-in-law.
That evening, they had a
pleasant dinner and, contrary to what Jassem expected, he did not fall victim
to a new prank. The guests flew back to Manama after dinner and, the next
morning, Sheikh Hadi and Prince Hamed flew to Washington for their weeklong
visit. They held extensive trade talks with American officials in preparation
for a formal free-trade agreement between the two countries. Bahrain also
granted additional access rights to the United States to expand its military
facilities in the country. Throughout July and August, Princess Sara and Prince
Jassem were hopeful that Sheikh Hadi would end their exile but nothing changed.
It was finally after the
September 11th attacks that Sheikh Hadi decided to bring them home for security
reasons. There was too much uncertainty about how the United States would react
and how U.S. relations with Bahrain and other GCC countries might change.
Prince Jassem and Princess Sara were very glad to be back in Manama despite the
fact that Jassem’s movements and contacts were still restricted. Instead of
returning to the main palace compound, he was required to live in a family
mansion on the other side of the town. It was in late December that Sheikh Hadi
finally allowed Prince Jassem and Princess Sara to attend a formal family
gathering, and he saw his son for the first time since sending him into exile.
Jassem formally apologized to his father in front of the large group of
relatives that were present. Later that evening when the guests were gone,
Sheikh Hadi spoke to Prince Hamed about the need to choose a nice girl and get
married. Prince Hamed listened quietly and did not say anything. Prince Jassem
and Princess Sara looked at him and smiled.
“Ten thousand Dinars,” said Prince Jassem as he looked at his younger brother. He was
referring to the bet that he had made with Hamed a few months back in Oman over
the fact that he would be forced to choose a bride soon.
“No! No!” said Prince Hamed
as he shook his head.
“Yes! Yes!” said Sheikha
Lubna and Princess Sara simultaneously as they nodded their heads. Everyone laughed. In March of 2002, the Royal
Family announced the engagement of Crown Prince Hamed and Yasmine Obeidat.
Princess Yasmine was the daughter of a prominent Bahraini businessman.