National Exile: A 21st Century Novel about Nobility, Poverty, and Cruelty

by Rusul A. Altaay

  Chapter 33

  Welcome to Orb

  “I do not even know where to begin. The whole idea behind all of this was to let the world know about our suffering. But what can you do if the world does not care. What can you do if we have been fighting the wrong enemy? For years, we thought that poverty, ignorance, and all of this killing were because of Lion’s administration… The government that we allowed to rule us… We never stopped for a second and thought about the real enemy inside each and every one of us. We kept looking outside and never bothered to look inside. We fought and fought and wondered why our prayers have not been answered. God is never going to change people if the people refuse to change themselves. You have no one to blame for your actions but yourselves. It is because of you that we have to live this life. The moment you gave your humanity away was the day you killed us all.

  Can we please for a second put our differences a side and start looking at what make us all the same? It is our humanity. It is our desires to live a better life. Why haven’t we united for once and agreed to change? Change is not always good, but it is much better than living in the same black hole for years. Why are we poor? Because we did not work hard enough... Because we did not allow the kids to go to schools and instead… we see them work on the streets.

  What was the first thing that Japan did after the nuclear attacks in the Second World War? They put chairs and tables on the wreckage and started teaching their kids. They taught them that war was never the answer. They told them that the only thing they had to defeat their enemies is knowledge. They did not sit down waiting to see what the government had to do for them. They were the government.

  Therefore, we have decided to let them rule a land with no people. We have decided to declare our independence from Estil. We publicly declare disobedience. We shall all be exiled. As a result, we declare Orb to be our National Exile”. Sidra concluded her speech.

  It was the day that changed Estil forever. In fact, it was the day that we all started thinking twice about our nation. What Aser and everyone else in Orb had planned needed years to put together.

  Let me explain what really happened. In fact, let me explain my part in all of it. You are probably wondering who I am in the first place. I happened to believe that you are a smart reader and can figure it out on your own.

  Remember the project that Rain was involved with? The one that allowed Dr. Shaheen, Rain’s uncle, to wipe out the capital entirely? Well, Rain was not the only one who did not know what was going on. I actually was there when the order of destroying the capital was given. There was nothing I could’ve done. Except that I did one small thing. I called Commander Hazeem, Rain’s father, and told him what was going on. And that’s when he ordered Rain, Sidra, and everyone else to leave the capital.

  After the capital was completely destroyed, Hazeem, Aser, and I had a plan. I was in NY when everything happened. So I flew back to Estil, which was such a long story. Anyhow, I had access to Orb. As soon as I got in, an emergency meeting was requested. Everyone who was involved with the Siwaar project was called from all over the world. I was terrified. I did not know how they were going to react to what we had planned.

  I slowly walked towards the main door of the conference room. I raised my shoulders, and looked at the sky through the outside windows. I could not stop my hands from shaking as I reached the doors’ handles. I quickly opened the double doors, and hid my fears deep inside. I put a nice smile on and pretended that everything was going just fine. Nearly fifteen men and women were surrounding a long-glassy table.

  “Ladies and gentlemen… Welcome to Orb.” I said proudly.

  “Who are you? And what’s going on in here?” One of the men asked.

  “Me? I’m just the messenger.” I replied, “And Orb is our National Exile.”

  “This is absurd, young lady. You can’t just exile an entire country?”

  “I’m sorry, but which planet have you been living on?” I said with an annoyed tone. “We’ve been exiled for the past years. You called that a living?”

  “No, but….” The man replied. “How do you think you can force them to stay away? Dr. Shaheen has full access to the satellite, Siwaar.”

  “Do you know what Siwaar stands for?” I asked. “SIWAAR, Super Intelligence, Wireless Accessible, Activated Remotely.”

  “Are you confident that you can regain full control over it?” The man asked.

  “Of course, I do. I designed the thing.”

  ---------------------------

  Let’s move forward in time. Few days before Sidra’s declaration of independence speech was aired, we were all called for a meeting at a secured room in the base.

  “We are going to aim the beam at Estil’s military bases. That way we can ensure they will not come near us.” Aser said.

  “Do you think that we can push the trigger if necessary?” Yazan asked.

  “They better be smart enough not to push us that far. Because yes, we will do that.” Aser replied.

  “You are willing to kill even more people?” Sidra asked.

  “We are talking about the soldiers who chose to stay and fight for Lion. What do you expect us to do?” Aser asked.

  “I expect us to at least give them a chance. Give them the choice of where they want to end up. Most of them, including us, joined the administration because it was our only option.” Sidra said.

  “We cannot just trust these people.” Rain said.

  “She’s right. We say that we come in peace and that’s what we are going to do. The final decision will be theirs. Now, since it’s your idea, Sidra, I think you should tell them yourself.” Aser said.

  “Who? me? Tell who? What?”

  “We have decided to make you the speaker of Orb. What do you think?”

  “The what? I only told the people what was on my mind few days ago. I did not mean to give a speech.”

  “We know that. It’s your chance to make the difference you always dreamed about.”

  And that was when the speech was aired.

  A week had passed since the big speech. Nothing significant happened. Even the local news stopped broadcasting the violence that was happening in many cities. People on the streets were just confused about what Orb was all about. No one knew what to think or make of it. On a Friday afternoon, the Orb logo appeared on all the screens in Estil. Everyone, almost everywhere, were very excited and looking at the screens hoping they hear anything good. Few minutes later, we got the speech that put everything in order. It was the starting point for the greater Orb.

  “In the name of God… It’s in my greatest honor to announce the birth of our new home… Orb. Starting today, we are no longer under the commands of Lion’s administration. We are an independent country that just diverged out of Estil. The entire northern region is now under our control. We have placed laser nodes around the entire area that we administrate. No one is to get in without approval. Please… Let it be known that our military advanced satellites have energetic beams directed towards the regions that are still under Lion’s administration. Any military movement towards our borders will not be tolerated. However, we do come in peace. As long as we are left to have the peace our hearts desired.

  We are not to attack other nations. We are not to allow other nations to attack us. We are not to be engage in conflicts of other nations. We are asking for your help to achieve the goal of rebuilding what was destroyed. We are welcoming anyone who shows interest in our values. Our gates are open to anyone who seeks refuge and looking to help us rebuild our homes. May peace be upon us all, and may God lead us to the straight path… Ladies and gentlemen, it’s in my greatest honor to present to you the temporary president of Orb. Dr. Aser.”

  “Thank you…Sidra. Thank you for sharing our thoughts with the public with such love and care. I know that you have a million questions. And I know that none of you even know who I am. I’m just one of you. For years, I was working behind the scenes to get to where we a
re today. As Sidra just said, I am just a temporary president. Your real president will be chosen by you…”

  The speech was not very long. It was just long enough for everyone to wrap their heads around what was happening. People were just hopeful that day. They were happy but scared at the same time. We had no idea what would happen. We just knew that Maki Lion would not leave us, or the people who remind outside Orb’s gates alone. Only few hours after the speech was aired, the International Peace Agency, IPA, held an emergency meeting. We were right. Lion did not leave us alone. On the other hand, a lot of presidents from all over the world released statements congratulating Orb on declaring its independency.

  At the base, a meeting was held where everyone who was involved in the operation of declaring Orb was present.

  Aser said, “Everyone, please listen, the IPA has ordered an emergency meeting in their headquarters. There is a high chance that they declare us terrorists. Maki Lion’s friends are all working with the IPA. They’re not going to leave us alone. But we knew this would happen anyway. The only question now is whether to show them what we are capable of and put the lives of thousands on the line.”

  “We’re not doing that. We are not like them. I say that we go interrupt their meeting, professionally.”

  “Agreed, then and only then, we can show them what we are capable of.”

  It was decided that Aser, his vice president, and few other people go to the IPA meeting personally. I was asked to stay in Orb to keep an eye on things. Rain and Jenna were invited to go as well.

  “I’m going too.” Sidra told Rain.

  “No, you are not. They need you here. There is so much work to do. You cannot just leave that. We’ll be back within a week anyway.” He explained.

  “Something does not feel right at all. It’s hard to explain, but I feel…..” Sidra said as Rain interrupted saying,

  “We have been through a lot. This is one of the final steps to put an end to this once and for all. Also, when I’m back, you better already have set up a date for our weeding.”

  She smiled and said,

  “A month from now it is.”

  “A month? That’s it? I was expecting you to say, a year or something?” Rain replied with a surprised face.

  “Hey, if you don’t want to get married next month, it’s fine. Nobody is forcing you to.” She said.

  “A month it is…” He said that smiling as he left her.

  He was called in for a final meeting before they had to leave. Jenna heard part of their conversation, and she found herself asking Sidra,

  “A month? You are spending just a month planning a wedding?”

  “Of course NOT. I only need two days. One to buy the dress and another to prepare some stuff.” Sidra answered.

  “You’re kidding, right?” Jenna said.

  Sidra continued, “We have a lot of work to do in the next coming weeks here after we declared our independency. We have to help the people find some shelters and we also need to call for help to do some clean up. We need to organize people to make sure we are as efficient as possible.”

  “We’re not talking about the wedding anymore, are we?” Jenna asked.

  “No, weren’t you listening, mom? I told you. I only need two days for that.” Sidra said then paused for few seconds before continuing, “If I don’t keep myself busy for at least the next week, my brain might explode from how worried I am about you and Rain. Something just does not feel right and I can’t wrap my head around it. I’m very worried.”

  “We will be fine. Have some faith and keep us in your prayers.” Jenna said.