3rd Episode
December 31, 1999
New Year’s Eve Party – Mt Lavinia Hotel
10.30 pm
Waitress: Drinks sir?
Dr. Nasim: Can I have sparkling water please. Thanks!
Waitress: Right away sir…
Colonel: Doctor? Doctor Nasim Azad? What a pleasant surprise!
Dr. Nasim: Oh, hello Colonel.
Colonel: What are you doing all the way here in Sri Lanka?
Dr. Nasim: Teheran was just getting too cold (laughs)
Colonel: (Squints eyes and smiles) I know why you are here. Honestly, I don’t mind if the world ends.
Dr. Nasim: Computers are not the problem…
Colonel: I’ve heard that before. But, I’m only a little worried about them. My niece got one of these laptops for Christmas. Cost her old man a fortune.
Dr. Nasim: IT has the potential of playing a huge role in our lives in the coming years, but computers themselves are not the problem.
Colonel: Cheer up doctor! You sound like one of those doom and gloom columnists I read in the papers.
Dr. Nasim: (Stares) Colonel, I’m serious. Society is inching, just inching on a chasm. I believe that countries around the world should be collaborating to prepare for the inevitable.
Colonel: Go on.
Dr. Nasim: We are living in a globalised world Colonel. Everything is interconnected; the world economy, supply chains. The Y2K scare just showed on how much of a tightrope humanity is on. Forget a computer bug, an actual virus can cause havoc given how much air traffic has increased in the last decade.
Colonel: (Jokingly) Shhhhhhhhh. My dear boy! Have a drink?
Dr. Nasim: You know I don’t drink Colonel.
Colonel: Tonight is a night for celebration with an old friend. Let’s go out to the terrace for the countdown shall we?
11:58 PM
Dr. Nasim: I’m just anxious about everything Colonel.
Colonel: (Smiles and puts an arm around Dr. Nasim) we will soon find out if the world is going to end. (Looks at his watch) Just a minute from now!
Nine! Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One….
Dr. Nasim: (Sighs) Happy New Year Colonel!
Colonel: Happy New Year and welcome back to Sri Lanka doctor!
———————————-
Nasim sat on a loan swivel chair. The 85th floor has seen better days, but the views were still breathtaking.
The morning sun rose over the dunes with bravado.
This was once an oil-rich state that made the desert bloom with skyscrapers, superhighways and public parks with exotic trees.
“This was once,” Nasim continued his internal monologue and sighed. He took another long swing from a bottle of Jameson and slumped back on the chair.
He switched the recorder off. Years ago the 85th floor hosted discussions and symposiums with some of the world’s greatest minds. Nasim was one of those minds.
The bottle slipped through his fingers and tipped over when it hit the plush Turkish rug.
The contents gurgled out.
“We warned them,” Nasim choked. “We warned them this would happen”.
Hundreds of hours of research, groundbreaking theses, and carefully crafted models-none of it mattered in the end.
“A solar storm. All it took was a solar storm?” the statement reverberated in the once-grand space.
Like a vampire, he squirmed as sunlight filled the dark room around him.
Nasim’s voice reverberated many times before on the 85th floor. He used to enthrall attendees about a sustainable future for humanity; through mutual aid networks and long-term planning. The speeches got standing ovations, and in most cases, bank cheques with a lot of zeros in the end.
The chair swivelled again. The conference hall was a mess of dirty clothes, empty bottles, food wrappers and cans. This was a penthouse living in the post-apocalypse.
The room was also occupied by several shopping carts and trolleys overflowing with stacks of dollar bills.
Nasim smiled and drunkenly gestured at the money. “Contingencies!” He exclaimed.
The chair swivelled again.
The morning sun had now cast long needle-like shadows across the landscape.
Lamborghinis and BMWs lay half sunken in sand; paint stripped bare after years of sandstorms.
And there in the middle of a once-busy intersection, a camel caravan crossed nonchalantly led by a group of Bedouins.
A nomad paused, shading his eyes against the sun as he gazed up at the skeletal building. He lingered for a moment before raising a hand in silent recognition and continued on.
