Chapter 30

            While most of the jinn departed the Earth one by one, the leaders and a few others, including yours truly, boarded a special spacecraft of sorts that had been prepared for the occasion. A tall, gracefully tapered cone, several hundred feet high and glowing turquoise blue, had appeared unexpectedly on the plaza. A doorway had opened at ground level.         

            It was the most bittersweet feeling, walking into that spacecraft, holding the hand of my beloved Mubarak, preparing for the greatest adventure of my life, but at the same time leaving behind my companions, my life and my planet. Tears streamed down my cheeks, but I smiled and kept my gaze directed forward. Behind me, I knew, my every step was being watched by those wonderful people of my team, whom I would never see again.

            Inside, we glided like feathers up a spiral ramp. The jinn leaders were singing a melodious but plaintive song in some ancient tongue, which I convinced myself was a nostalgic tribute to Earth, their home for so many millennia.

            Before I knew what was happening, I was belted into a reclining chair of some soft leather-like substance that seemed to mold itself to my body as I shifted, accommodating my every squirming. Mubarak, beside me, pointed at the wall, and it became a window. I could see the plaza below, and my friends, huddled in a tight group.

            When all were aboard, the door of the spacecraft closed – shrank? disappeared? – and the cone rose slowly and silently into the air. I closed my eyes, as I often did during airplane takeoffs, and said a silent prayer that we would not crash. We didn’t. When I opened my eyes, we were far above the rusty sands of the Empty Quarter, and headed toward the inky heavens. There was no acceleration. We were not plastered to our seats. We just rose – quickly.

            I looked over at Mubarak beside me. He looked at me. He pursed his lips in a kiss. I kissed him back. We were on our way to our new life.

            All the jinn had left the City of Iram of the Pillars. The expedition members looked at each other, then glanced around at the immense, abandoned metropolis. The silence was all-encompassing. Dan Keller cleared his throat, and the sound echoed through the marble canyons of the city. Vanessa cuddled against him, waiting for some instructions from anyone.

            “So,” said Keller to Frank Devereaux. “What do we do now?”

            Frank sighed, and looked around him. His sigh took flight like a white bird.

THE END

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