Martin: Hold on Son.
***
Nachaat was careful he wasn’t followed. No one saw him leave the hideout. He walked five blocks until he came to a petrol station with a pay phone. He looked around him and only saw a large dog with a neckerchief lounging on the warm sidewalk a half block away. Nachaat was out of the sun and protected from overhead surveillance by a large tree. Quickly glancing up he only saw some birds, including some wild parrots, common in this region. Nachaat quickly made the phone call using the phone credit card he had purchased two weeks before – untraceable. Glancing around again no person was in sight.
The phone rang, Nachaat heard a voice, “Fasil? It is Nachaat.”
“Yes.”
“We are finally going to make contact with the infidel Haines tonight.”
He heard the man on the other end say, “Good, remember to collect as much money as you can before you kill them all. See if you can get the formula of their antigravity invention. Nothing is more important than stopping this plan by the West to weaken Islam. God is mighty. Allah Akbar.”
“Blessed be Him.”
One of the parrots, sitting on a tree limb within five feet of the phone, was watching Nachaat as he left the phone. In the bird’s talons was a round nickel-sized bauble, a very small camera. The dog’s eyes also followed Nachaat as he retreated back to the hideout.
***
The four terrorists hunched around the recently purchased cell phone. The speaker was tinny, but could be heard by all three.
“OK, I’m going to put on Charlie Haines. He invented the gravity reflector and other things. I’m going to warn you that he is a 100% honest man. He never lies.”
“All you American lie.”
“There are exceptions to all rules. Hold on.”
“Hello, this is Charlie.”
“You speak Sindhi?”
“I can speak all modern languages fluently. Including Sindhi, Arabic, and Najdi Arabic.”
The terrorist had a noticeable pause, “I don’t understand.”
“Of course you understand, my boy. As I said, my name is Charlie Haines. I consider it proper hospitality that you introduce yourself.”
“You will never know my name infidel. I am the mist in a moonless night”
“Okay Abu, there is no need to get upset. I won’t bring it up again. Let’s discuss terms.”
“You called me Abu?”
“I said I wouldn’t bring it up again. I’m prepared to give you and the other terrorists complete freedom. I will also give you ten thousand dollars each, for your time and good conduct. In addition, in each of your villages, I shall give the headman a three-megawatt generator and dig four wells. The electricity is enough for all your village’s needs and a number of light businesses. Enough for growth to three times your current population. The generator and electricity will be free for ten years. After ten years, I will charge them at 10% of the current electricity rate. I will also match half the money for the building of a school. The remainder must come from the village. The building must be designed and construction overseen by the village leader. I will also send ten people to college. Their stipends will be modest and they will need to work for spending money while going to school. If they stop school, their money will stop. They will be required to either pay me back or return to the villages to teach. As collateral, I will require the word of the headman and your village elders. While they are in school, I will pay half the cost of any teacher your headman hires. I already have the contract in writing.”
Nachaat screamed, “That is not what we require of you. If you do not follow our requests your two Americans will be killed.”
“I thought I was being nice and generous. This way we can all win. You win, we win, and your towns win. No one loses face. Your town retains its full honor. You can return as heroes. Your families will still be able to love you. You will hear some knocking soon. You will open the door for Hadji. Babu will recognize him, a neighbor’s boy. Just a warning, do not attempt to remove his necklace. You will lose a hand and he will lose his head. It is wired with explosives.”
A knock was heard at the door. Abu opened it. He saw an ashen-faced middle-eastern boy, about 8 years of age, on the steps. The boy’s hands were in the air, holding a cell phone above his head. Around his neck was a very heavy blanket.
The boy called out “Babu! Babu!” as he ran to Babu. The child started to cry. Between sobs he said, “They put a bomb around my neck and said they’d kill me and your family if you didn’t listen.”
The voice on the cell phone said, “Very carefully remove the blanket. You can see just enough C4 explosive to remove his head. I recommend you put the blanket back. It would protect you if there was to be an accident.”
Babu said, “My family?”
The boy was weeping openly, “Your mother, father, your grandmother, brother and his wife and their children. I think your sisters too. They each have bombs around their necks. The Americans have an army.”
Over the phone, they also heard, “We also have Abu’s Spanish girlfriend and his parents, Shahid and Melik. Oh yes, the Spanish engineer with his wife too. As Martin said, I never lie. I have ten thousand American dollars here, and my promise will be in writing. Do we all win? Or will you and your families be buried, defiled, among pig intestines? A pig butcher is three miles away. Just put your guns down and walk down the steps. I will give all who agree their money, and their families will be freed. Hadji, go down the stairs now.”
Abu asked, “Do they have my girlfriend and my parents?”
The boy nodded, “Mirasol, and your father has a bad heart?”
Abu turned ashen and looked at his friends, “Yes.”
The boy, still crying, turned and exited the kitchen and went down the back stairs.
The four terrorists stood in shocked silence as they heard the boy go down each of the stairs. Then there was silence for thirty seconds. Over the phone, Charlie said in Shindi, “Here is your mother Abu.”
Abu immediately recognized the voice of his mother, “Abu, Abu, they kidnapped us in the middle of the night in a police car that flies. They put this collar around my neck and said you can make them stop. Please, please. They will kill your father and a girl they said you know. They cut off two fingers of the Engineer’s wife, until he talked. In the name of Allah, I beg you. They are cold-blooded murderers, assassins. They WILL butcher us.”
They then heard Charlie’s voice, “Please take her back.” They heard in the background a woman sobbing. “Mohammed this is one of your three brothers.”
“Mo, they have me, my wife, Yuseff, and Domi. They will kill us. Sari is pregnant. You must listen to them.” The man’s voice radiated terror.
Charlie Haines’ calm voice replaced the prisoner’s, “Take him away and shoot them all, when I say. Nachaat we are hours from getting your family. But we will. Your entire family. We can be hideous murderers and defilers or wondrous benefactors, which do you choose? We have treated you honorably. We have no motivation to hurt you or the innocents. We would like to be known as philanthropists. Let us all agree to win. Your village will love you. Free electricity and water 24 hours each day. They will have festivals in your honor. Or we will kill your entire line and bury them in pig entrails. We will feed your manhood to the swine. The 72 houris will all laugh at you throughout all of eternity. I do not lie. Now exit the building with your hands above your head, fingers open.”
Abu looked at his companions. He left his mask and gun on the table. Walking to the open door, he put his hands behind his head as he descended.
After a few minutes, they heard Abu’s voice. “They removed Mirasol’s necklace and my mother’s and father’s necklace. They just handed me the contract and money.”
Charlie Haines voice echoed over the cheap phone. The tone was strident. “Next.”
Babu left next, followed shortly by Mohammed.
In Arabic, Charlie said, “Nachaat, you’re next. You gain nothing by
being the dog of Fasil Al-Ibsen. You lose, your town loses, Islam loses. Fasil is only interested in his company’s bonuses.”
Shouting, the last gunmen wailed, “Never infidel. I kill the boy. ALLAH AKBAR.” The man fled from the kitchen to the room David was chained in. David was curled in a ball facing the wall as far to the left of the window as he could get. The button on the back of the shirt was tilted to face Nachaat. The gunman raised his rifle as he heard something bounce behind him. He turned and saw what looked like a soda bottle. It had holes drilled around it. A grenade! He twisted away from the grenade but saw a strange sight. To the right of the window a giant silver bubble had silently appeared. The large perfectly reflecting bubble reflected the exploding flash-bang grenade. The light was the last thing he was able to see. The shock of the sound blast momentarily stunned him. He did not see the bubble wink out of existence as a circular section of the wall and window slid onto the street. His ears were deafened, so he did not hear the wall and window shatter below. Behind the fallen wall, a floating black Fiat was parked sideways. Nachaat couldn’t see the two sharpshooters at the car windows and another two lying on the hood and trunk with guns pointed at him. Nachaat tried to move his gun toward the location he had last seen the American boy. Each marksman fired a full clip of dumdum bullets at point-blank range. Nachaat’s gun never fired a shot.
***
Fasil Al-Ibsen sat at his summer home, listening to the news services. His phone was within quick reach. He had been waiting for word from that fool Nachaat for days. His calls to that stupid Spanish engineer also went unheeded. Something had happened, but he had no idea what. He had an agent drive past the room he had secretly sublet for the kidnappers. Their report about the perfectly round hole in the wall was curiously strange. They drove past that obvious trap.
Fasil took another sip of his Turkish coffee, hot, strong, thick and sweet. He enjoyed its aroma, one of his few vices. A bodyguard, there were a dozen guarding his mansion, had delivered it moments ago. He put the small cup back on the saucer when he heard the crash. His wife started screaming.
He was instantly on his feet as he ran upstairs to his bedroom. There was a four meter, perfectly round hole in the ceiling. He could see the night sky. The fallen ceiling now littered his bed and floor. Fasil ran to his wife to comfort her. She was pointing at something, a fallen ball amid a jumble of thick rope. He was trying to comfort her, she was screaming and pointing at it. Looking again he noticed that the ball had hair and the grayish-purple rope was slimy and had odd curves in it. He was reeling, not knowing why, he woodenly went to the ball and rope. His mind identified the rope as intestines. He recognized Nachaat’s face on the bodiless head.
***
Babu sat dejectedly in the back of the large closed truck. He, his family, and the neighbor boy were on the hard benches for the last 17 hours. He didn’t get any real rest. He was sure they were going to take all of them to some secret prison and perhaps torture them all about the kidnapping. He had heard Nachaat’s defiant shout, the explosion, and the machine gun fire. They all had seen the infidels decapitate Nachaat and put his head in a sack made from his shirt. He vomited when they cut off Nachaat’s penis. They said they were going to feed his body and manhood to the pigs and get their wastes to bury the head. They were obscene butchers. Murderers. Defilers. His life, as he knew it, was ended. There were four armed mercenaries seated at the other end, nearest the door. Their automatic guns were held facing them. Babu was half dozing when he felt the truck lurch. There was a crunch of dirt under the wheels. The truck landed. He and his family were instantly awake and huddled closer to one another. They all waited until the rear of the truck clanked and finally opened. The mercenaries never let their eyes move from Babu and his family. Each mercenary griped his automatic rifle closer. In American, one man issued a command and the mercenaries one-by-one left the truck. A solitary man stood at the opening. He gestured for Babu and his family to exit. Blinking in the sudden light, Babu noticed the old fig trees. It took him a moment to recognize that he was on a path within a two-minute walk to his parent’s home. The English speaking man reached into his pocket and took out two envelopes. Hesitantly Babu took and stared at them. In one envelope, Babu saw his name written in Najdi Arabic. Hesitantly he opened it and saw a thick stack of one-hundred American dollar bills. The second envelope had the name of the village headman. Babu and his parents spoke hurriedly to one another and left toward home, frequently looking behind them at the truck.
Babu had never learned English, so he couldn’t understand Murray when he said, “Stupid, stupid teenager. I would have lied.”
***
David and Phyllis visited the newly opened C H Electricity European Union branch office in Brussels Belgium. David and Phyllis recently hired the managers, salespeople and engineers primarily from the solar and wind energy community. The four guards and two dogs who accompanied them were discreet. So were the six guards who guarded the outside of the office. Staff training had been completed three weeks before, and sales were beyond the limited staff’s ability. They already purchased office space in London, Berlin, Oslo, and Rome.
The board of directors of C. H. Industries (David, Martin, and Phyllis) hired presidents for C H Electricity and C H Motors. On the other hand, David’s business card now read, David Klein, First Assistant to Phyllis Marks, Department of Special Projects and Head of Domestic Jewelry Security.
***
Although he was in Switzerland at the time, David directed his senses into a warehouse in Muncie Indiana. No humans were inside, only two crickets and a single field mouse. The warehouse housed his arsenal and ‘eyes’. On one side was production for special ‘dumb’ diamond computers and memories. He directed one hundred fifty of his new ‘eyes’ to focus on them. These computers were 0.000003 inch in size. Fortunately his ‘eyes’ had the sensitivity to appreciate them. Their memory was very limited, only five terabytes, but enough for his needs. Even after the operating system and encryption subroutines, each still contained enough ‘smarts’ to follow simple instructions and direct antigravity reflectors.
Willing his ‘eyes’ to travel down the ‘flying brick’ production line he saw where an induction rechargeable battery was added to one of these computers, which in turn was encased in a jolt resistant shell of foam rubber surrounded by a plastic shell. Then he saw a lead football-shape with a hole bored out. Machines were placing the computer/battery into the hole and filling the lead in. This lead was encased in an inch thick steel covering, which was finally encased in a stealth blanket. The blanket had optical sensors and a covering of colored led lights. Each side of the brick was capable of taking on the images from the other side, rendering it effectively invisible. They were silent, invisible missiles with a terminal velocity of up to two hundred sixteen miles per hour. David had plans to add a force field. He knew that when an oscillating force field was added, a half-dozen bricks could remove one side of an aircraft carrier in three minutes. David sighed, ‘if only I had time to figure out how to recharge them fast enough. Maybe one day.’
On the other side of the warehouse, he saw three foot tall robots making six inch robots. Further down the line the six inch robots constructed one inch robots. The tentacles were tapered into fibers barely perceptible by a person with a magnifying glass. His ‘eyes’ had no problem seeing the tips. Toward the far end of the warehouse was a clean room where he knew that the great-grandfathers of the one inch robots were constructing his new gnat/bee visual arrays, swarms of antigrav motes of dust containing microscopic lenses and computers. The bottom of the room was covered with tiny pyramidal ‘sacks’ each housing a single production cell, like a honey comb. More layers would be produced in the coming months. Each ‘eye’ was powered by a ring of constantly rotating magnets. He knew normal people couldn’t see individual members of the swarm, except as a mist in a bright light. A swarm could produce images of such clarity that even he couldn’t appreciate it, until he magnified the images
a million fold. Their simple computers were trained to hide on the floors, walls, ceilings, furniture, or even the bodies of humans. Elementary avoidance routines were installed. The current swarm numbered over one thousand ‘eyes’. By next month that number would triple. Two hundred were currently overseas.
***
Fasil was bent on planning for the destruction of Charlie Haines. The only problem was no one could locate him.
He went to speak to each of Nachaat’s men. When he visited Abu, the man was gracious in inviting him into his house. His mother made some mint tea and Abu told him of Nachaat’s desecration by the infidel and the words of that infidel, Charlie Haines, the American who didn’t lie. Reclining on some pillows he told Fasil that he was now a respected member of his village. He was eager to tell him of all the details of the kidnapping, but that was the end of his involvement. He went into detail on the dismemberment of Nachaat’s body, including the removal of his manhood. He also went over, in detail, the great things that Charlie Haines did as promised. Three members of the village were currently being trained as teachers. The American did not lie. The headman was trying to find seven more.
The Infinite when it was Two Digits Old Page 26