Chapter 17

            The great sand sea of the Empty Quarter conceals many secrets. The immense dunes that ripple across the surface of Arabia cover ancient riverbeds, primordial lakes, volcanic cinder cones, some of the earliest human settlements, even entire cities that existed long ago but which have faded from memory. Some of the secrets are even stranger.

            A thousand feet beneath the surface of Aramco’s Hima field, in the remote southwestern sector of the Rub’ al-Khali, lies a geological anomaly that the oil company’s scientists cannot explain. From the outside, it resembles an enormous inverted pyramid. From the inside, it is something else entirely.

            Bamahfuz’s visitor, Abu Sameer, returned to the anomaly, to the underground city. Standing on one of its grand balconies at the very top level, he looked down into the great well before him, and as usual, the view stunned him and left him breathless. Level after level of the great city descended before him. Each level, slightly smaller in area than the one above, wrapped around the central well and was a city in itself.

Massive pillars supported the levels; each seemed to be made of titanic slabs of gemstone, of ruby and blue beryl, of emerald and amethyst. The walls of the buildings at each level were gleaming and metallic, as of gold or silver or even platinum. There were extensive plazas and mind-boggling sculptures, carved of marble and clear crystal and pure copper. Towering fountains shot jets of life-giving water and other fluids of a myriad colors into large pools. The amazing world inside the anomaly was washed by waves of opalescent light from unseen sources.

Throughout the levels, living beings moved, going about their normal day-to-day business. Many of these beings were humanoid, and just as many were not. Some, for their own amusement, took the forms of animals, like snakes and cats and goats. A few were monstrous in appearance – sometimes huge, horned and hulking – but seemingly docile. Others were somewhat difficult to see, and yet others were totally unseeable, producing merely shimmers in the air. Some of the beings walked, some flew, some rode in sleek, silent vehicles. Some vanished suddenly, and others just as suddenly appeared from nowhere. Enwrapping all was the hum of activity, the sounds of a living city. Abu Sameer found the complexity and color of this scene captivating. He marveled at his luck in being assigned to this important outpost between the two worlds.

            Abu Sameer looked upward, at the staggeringly vast, ribbed vault overhead. It was light blue, simulating the cloudless, daytime sky outside. He gripped the railing of the balcony as he renewed his personal commitment to protecting his City – his Iram of the Pillars – from invasion. Above all, he was determined that this magical place would not change, would not lose its baraka, its divine blessing. Invigorated, he turned and walked back to his living quarters.

            Bamahfuz, now seated in his office, dialed one of the contacts on his cell phone.  As he waited for the number to connect, he stared at the vast expanse of desk, highly polished and uncluttered.

            “Salamu alaikum,” he said, “just checking in. Everything is under control. The Americans will have problems, and will have to end their interference. I assure that you all will remain as it has been.”

            He listened for a moment, and replied: “Yes. What has been lost for ages will remain lost. May God’s will be done. Yes. Good-bye.”

            Bamahfuz turned off the call and stuffed his cell phone back in his pocket. He sat back, stared at distant, unseen landscapes, and for a moment visualized the Lost City of Iram of the Pillars. Its gleaming columns of beryl and amethyst rose to the heavens. He gasped at the vision – so rich and textured it was, so believable. He had never been there, but he felt he knew the city well. He saw himself as the city’s protector, and he swore silently that he would not let outsiders violate its sanctity.
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