The author and his characters.

The Author and His Characters

Moussa Ould Ebnou

Translated into English by Marhaba Language Expertise

It was late on a long moonless night in December 2036. I was tossing and turning in bed alone, setting traps for sleep, only for it to resist them. I did not resort to sleeping pills for fear of addiction and side effects. I listened to the sounds of nature, hoping they would dispel my insomnia. An owl gave a muffled shriek, probably having choked on her mouse; another owl answered with a soft hoot. I tried to relocate to a beach or forest, if only in my mind, to help myself fall asleep. I imagined myself on a beach, relaxing on the sand and listening to the waves crashing nearby.

Suddenly, there was a terrible silence. I was overwhelmed by light that, had it been daytime, would have obliterated the sunlight, just as the sun obliterates the light of the stars. My mother was awakened by the light, which flooded the house. I went outside in panic to find the source of the light. I gasped when I saw a huge spaceship covered in bright lights landing. When it was about a meter high, it stopped and remained suspended between the sky and the earth. A giant emerged and leaped forward. Without touching the ground, he stood in front of me. He was wearing a shimmering white suit with a wide belt studded with bright dots in different colors. He was about three meters tall. I raised my head and looked at his face. It was gorgeous, tranquil, and showed no signs of travel fatigue. His silver hair lay in curls on his shoulders. With his great, clear eyes, he gave me a look that froze me in place. He pointed an instrument at me and I found myself inside a bubble, surrounded by curved, transparent walls. From afar I saw other giants moving, without touching the ground. I thought to myself, How did they get here without being intercepted by air defenses?

The giant reappeared and approached me. He smiled calmly. I was overwhelmed by a sea of love and joy. I heard his telepathic statement: “Our ship can make itself invisible and indetectable by radars.”

Wow, how strange! He reads my thoughts and communicates his thoughts to me without speaking!

“We don’t need to talk; we can transmit the waves of our thoughts by telepathy.” I heard his statement telepathically.

“Why are you holding me in this bubble?” I thought in reply.

“Don’t worry! We are not one of those predatory aliens who sometimes land on your planet, but you must be cleansed and decontaminated. My name is Moldak. I am a human being like you, but I come from a distant future. I live in an age thousands of years away from yours. I’ve gone back to the past to change the course of history on Earth! Our ancestors were always thinking of doing something to save the Arabic language on planet Earth.”

“This is unbelievable! Aliens defending the Arabic language!”

“Don’t be surprised by that. I am an Arab; my ancestors emigrated from planet Earth at the end of the twenty-first century to save their language, which became threatened after being abandoned by authors.”

“This event is not recorded in history!”

“It happened a long time ago. The first migration took place in the year 2070 of your era...”

“A long time ago, in 2070?”

“Yes, but compared to our own time…”

“And where did they go?”

“They got lost for a long time before they found a planet in The Andromeda Galaxy that looked like Earth. They called it Planet Daad (the fifteenth letter of the Arabic alphabet, unique to the Arabic language) and inhabited it. The Cabinet of our planet created the Avatar project to save the Arabic language. Avatar transforms the characters of novels written by Arab authors in foreign languages into computer programs that can generate avatars, which can communicate with their authors and seek to make them go back to writing in their mother tongue. I’m in charge of the team tasked with moving them to Earth whenever the project decides to target a specific author. We have chosen you for a very important mission. We know that, like us, you are keen on saving the Arabic language. This time, we are targeting Suhail Qahtan, winner of this year’s Booker Prize for his novel Andalusia Was Not Reconquered. We will upload to his brain the “Arabic” file, which contains the essential books and dictionaries, so that he can write in Arabic. I’ll have the avatars of the characters of his novel send him a petition to convince him to return to writing in Arabic.”

“How can the characters petition the Author, when they are nothing but imaginary linguistic beings of the Author’s making?”

“That is the case in your world, but in our world, anything imagined can become reality. The Avatar project transforms characters imprisoned in writing into living beings, transporting them from the world of the novel to the real world. The characters get embodied in avatars that resemble them, living organisms produced from artificial cells that resemble biological cells. The characters’ avatars have extraordinary sensory powers; they do not get sick, do not age, and feed on sunlight. In their shape, age, and personality traits, the avatars resemble the characters they embody. We control their lives, recording all their actions and feelings with audio and video. In the formation stage, the biological clock of the avatar is accelerated until it reaches the desired age, which is the age of the character. Then the clock is stopped to prevent the avatar from aging, and its life span is determined; it usually ranges from three to six months.”

“What is the reason for the shortness of the avatars’ life span if they don’t get sick or age?”

“Their death is programmed. At the end of their lives, they spontaneously disintegrate.”

“Why do they have different longevities?”

“It depends on how long it takes them to communicate with the authors. Wait a minute, I’ll show you the avatars of some characters of Andalusia Was Not Reconquered.”

He pressed one of the bright spots in his belt and a screen appeared on his suit. Then holograms emerged from it. These three-dimensional images included a man with clear, dark skin, moderate stature, and a slender body. He had a light mustache, black eyes, and a sharp nose. On his head there was a crown and he wore a loose cloak with a white cape hanging over his shoulders.

“These are just three-dimensional images of the characters, but the Embodyer will print the characters’ profiles to produce the avatars.”

“What is the Embodyer?”

“It is the artificial intelligence that transports the characters of the novel to the real world by embodying them in living avatars with a digital brain that generates machine consciousness, enabling them to understand and recognize the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of the character that is being embodied. We chose you as a reader to introduce the Author to the characters of his novel, so that he can listen to their petition. You’re going to kidnap him...”

“Kidnap him!? I don’t even know where he is.”

“His publisher is organizing a signing for his novel tomorrow at the Arab Book Museum. The ceremony begins at five o’clock. You will bring him here and we will hold him inside the ship for a compulsory writing workshop until he rewrites his novel in Arabic. Take this device with you to disable surveillance cameras on the highway and around the museum, and to remotely control the Author. When you arrive at the museum hall, turn on the device, click here, the options menu will appear, including the “Authors” option. Click this option and the list of names will appear on the screen. Click on the name “Suhail Qahtan.” The device will enable you to send commands to his brain and he will carry out your commands involuntarily. We connected your brain to the system that enables the avatars and I to communicate with each other by telepathy. After disinfecting you, I will take you to the printing hall to see the characters getting embodied.”

The Embodyer sat among various instruments in the middle of a vast hall, its walls covered with screens. “Hello, reader! Just a minute. I am downloading the characters’ profiles before printing them out by a 3D printer.”

The cameras recorded the process on screens in real time. I could see the avatars gradually forming before they came out of the printer. The Embodyer announced them successively: “Prince Yusuf bin Tashfin; Judge Abdullah bin Adham; poet Ibn Maqana Al-Ashbouni; poet Nazhoon bint Al-Qalaʿi; vizier Abu Bakr bin Zaydun; King Al-Muʿtamid bin Abbad; Prince Muhammad bin Aisha; Tamim bin Balqin, ruler of Malaga; Abdullah bin Balqin, governor of Granada; Al-Mutawakkil bin Al-Aftus, governor of Badajoz; Prince Abdullah bin Balqin; and Al-Muʿtasim bin Samadh, governor of Almería.”

The ship landed and I went home. I couldn’t sleep that night until dawn. When it was almost five the next afternoon, I took my self-driving car. I launched the navigation app and entered the address of the Arabic Book Museum. As soon as the destination was set, the car moved. I took the E311 highway. The road gave us a detection of the traffic flow, the weather conditions, safety, and congestion avoidance guidelines. The car drove along E66 to Barr Dubai, then followed the signs indicating Al-Fahidi historical neighborhood. The car stopped in the parking lot in front of the museum, without parking itself.

I turned on the remote control and said, “Stop whatever you are doing and head to the parking lot!”

The Author soon appeared in the parking lot. He was in his late thirties to early forties, with a confident and mature appearance. He was of average height and his skin was dark. He had an athletic body and a sharp nose. His eyes were deep and sharp, with a warm brown color indicating intelligence and wisdom. Above them there was a unibrow. His hair was curly, short, and neatly combed, with a hint of white in the black, adding an aesthetic touch to his distinctive look.

I told him, “Get in the car and carry out my orders!”

He got in the car and we took the way back. He asked in astonishment, “Who are you and how did you take me in your car?!”

“I am reader Maitha Al-Jaber, from the Arab Reading Club. I am taking you to the alien ship where the characters of your novel will petition you to abandon writing in a foreign language and to write in Arabic, your native language! Our Arabic language is great and it should not be abandoned. It is a language with a rich heritage and deep roots, and it is the language of the Holy Qur’an. Even if it was nothing but the language of the Qur’an, that would be enough. Arabic must remain the language of Arabic literature. We will not accept that our authors abandon it!”

The omniscient Narrator said: The Author said to himself, Aliens, novel characters demanding a change in the language of writing... I must be sleeping and this is a surreal dream!

Moldak asked me telepathically, “Did you find the Author?”

“Yes, we’re on our way.”

“After disinfecting him, take him directly to the reception hall to introduce him to the characters of his novel. The avatars will be waiting for you.”

“How can I introduce the avatars to him? I don’t remember all their names.”

“I’ll transfer their communications to you by telepathy.”

When we approached the ship, I telepathized with the avatars: “Line up to greet your author!”

The car stopped near the ship. They took us to the disinfection room. After the cleansing, we went to the reception hall. We found the characters lined up to greet the Author. I said, “Greet the characters of your novel. This is an opportunity that is not available to all authors!”

He began to shake hands with the avatars. I introduced them one by one: “Prince Yusuf bin Tashfin; Judge Abdullah bin Adham; poet Ibn Maqana Al-Ashbouni; poet Nazhoon bint Al-Qalaʿi; vizier Abu Bakr bin Zaydun; King Al-Muʿtamid bin Abbad; Prince Muhammad bin Aisha; Tamim bin Balqin, ruler of Malaga; Abdullah bin Balqin, governor of Granada; Al-Mutawakkil bin Al-Aftus, governor of Badajoz; Prince Abdullah bin Balqin; and Al-Muʿtasim bin Samadh, governor of Almería.”

After shaking hands with the Author, Prince Yusuf bin Tashfin came forward and read the petition: “In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

Dear Author,

Peace, God’s mercy, and blessings be upon you. In the face of the challenges that threaten our Arabic language, the language of the Holy Qur’an, the Arabs of space launched the Avatar project to save the endangered Arabic language on the planet after most Arab authors shifted to writing in foreign languages. This project aims to transform the characters of novels written by Arab authors in foreign languages into avatars embodied in living bodies that can communicate directly with their authors and seek to make them return to writing in their mother tongue. We, the characters of Andalusia Was Not Reconquered, express our rejection of writing in a foreign language, and we ask you to write only in Arabic. Our Arabic language is our identity, not just a means of expression and a tool of understanding. The foreign language is not a neutral being, but rather a tool of intellectual invasion that carries the beliefs, morals, and culture of its people. We are who we are as long as we speak our language. Arabic is the guardian of our identity and the dominance of a foreign language is the biggest challenge threatening us. The reluctance to write in Arabic in favor of other languages has led to the emergence of a new generation of authors who do not care about their mother tongue. All they aspire to is to be recognized as authors in the foreign language in which they write. May God grant you long life, good health, and creativity; and may God help us and you to be supportive and proud of our Arabic language.

Arab Space Ship, 27-12-2036.

Signed by:

Prince Yusuf bin Tashfin

Judge Abdullah bin Adham

Poet Ibn Maqana al-Ashbouni

Poet Nazhoon bint Al-Qalaʿi

Vizier Abu Bakr bin Zaydun

King al-Mu’tamid bin Abbad

Prince Muhammad bin Aisha

Tamim bin Balqin, governor of Malaga

Abdullah bin Balqin, governor of Granada

Al-Mutawakkil bin al-Aftas, governor of Badajoz

Prince Abdullah bin Balqin

Al-Muʿtasim bin Samadh, governor of the Almería sect.”

The Author replied, “You are crossing boundaries! Characters do not have the right to issue orders to the Author! How can you submit a petition to me when you are nothing but ephemeral beings of my making, mere imaginings incapable of thinking, whose actions are attributed to them, and whose fate is already decided in the text?”

I responded, “Yes, they are imagined, but characters come to control their authors. When authors choose characters and they become narrative beings on paper, authors lose the ability to direct them. Characters start to have a life of their own in the book and acquire their own behaviors that surprise their authors. Authors sense that they cannot control and subject characters to their own ideas. On the contrary, characters acquire authority over authors.”

“And you as a reader are just an observer who has nothing to do with the process of writing a text...”

“May I remind you that the death of the Author is a precondition for the birth of the Reader. The Author is forever dead once the text is composed, and the Reader wanders freely in the world created by the Author.”

I turned on the remote control and said, “You must go back to writing in Arabic!”

He took on an appeasing tone, “My dear characters and readers, the confusion of human tongues that led to the emergence of different languages is no longer a curse…Today’s pleasure text is the happy Babel! Why do you want me to remain in the abyss of Arabic books? If you are keen on translating the novel, why not hire a translator for it? I am willing to pay the bill.”

“We don’t want translation! The beauty of our Arabic language is lost in translation!”

“How can I write a novel in Arabic when I have not mastered the language?”

“Hackers will load into your brain a file called ‘Arabic’ containing books of Arabic literary heritage and the fundamentals of the Arabic language. They will connect your brain to the wireless internet network to access computer resources, applications, and other components that can be accessed online to meet various writing needs.”

After some arguing, the Author agreed to rewrite his novel, and I took him to his residence on the ship. I warned him, “Don’t try to escape. Avatars don’t sleep and they’re watching you!”

“I’ll start by writing a preface that is not in the English text. I will tell how I knew that my novel won the prize even before the official announcement, and how I received a petition from its characters. I will also talk about some aspects related to self-translation and bilingualism in writI...”

“By the way, what is your winning novel about? They uploaded it to my memory, but I didn’t understand a word of it!”

“What? An Emirati who doesn’t understand English! Weren’t you trained?”

“No, I refused the language training. I preferred to pay the fine and serve the prison sentence. I paid three thousand Dirhams and was imprisoned for two years!”

Now, my beloved reader, keep silent. The knowledgeable Narrator has information that may benefit you and other readers! That night, the Author saw in a daydream the ghost of a man with fair skin, of medium stature, with an egg-shaped head and a prominent forehead, high and wide. He was wearing a shoulder-length white wig, neatly styled. He had a small mustache and a thick and defined beard. He intoned with a theatrical gesture, “To be or not to be…”

“Shakespeare?!”

“‘To be’ means to be present and alive. An author can achieve this only if he writes in English. ‘Or not to be’ means that a person is not present, and this is the case when writing in a language other than English. Do not give in to the characters and the Reader. Stick to writing in English!”

At this point, the ghost of another man appeared, tall with a slender and firm body and a sharp nose. His thick black hair was neatly arranged, reaching his shoulders, and smelling of apples. The Author said to himself: “This is Sibawayh, Umar bin Uthman bin Qanbar. Sibawayh means ‘the smell of apples’ in Persian.”

“Don’t believe him!” exclaimed Sibawayh. “Arabic is the language of the Holy Qur’an and it is older than English. Forget writing in a foreign language and return to your language!”

Suhail Qahtan’s family reported to the police that he had disappeared. During a search by police investigators at the Arab Book Museum, where the author disappeared, they were able to detect the trace of an unknown pattern of brain waves, at the frequency of 17–73 Hz. Laboratory analysis showed that these waves contained partial copies that determined the activity of neurons. The waves were subjected to physiochemical analysis in order to read their partial copies and were uploaded to the computer to decipher their alphabet and determine their meanings. An audio text appeared on the screen: “Stop whatever you are doing and head to the parking lot!”

Police investigators confirmed that the author had been kidnapped by a woman and sent the recording to a listening center to identify the woman speaker. The wiretapping department found calls with the same voice but was unable to locate or decrypt them. Police hackers were mobilized to locate the source and decrypt the calls to analyze their content. After days of searching, the hackers were unable to locate the source or comprehend the content of the calls. They submitted a report to the director of Dubai Police stating that these communications did not resemble any communications on Earth; its source may as well have been aliens who landed on Earth. The Director of Police submitted the report to the CIA, which sent an investigation team to Dubai.

After a few days, I paid a visit to the Author. “I hope you are having a nice time here. How is the manuscript progressing?”

“I’ve written the preface, the introduction, and the first chapter.” He handed me a tablet.

Preface

I was writing in a foreign language until I received this letter from the future:

Suhail Qahtan @ 3205218739752 D.Y.M.

أوْهَد، 73 ناتِق، 573. 76:25

Subject: Abandoning writing in a foreign language.

Status : urgent.

Dear Past Self,

I congratulate myself on receiving this year’s International Booker Prize, but I draw my attention to the fact that today, four centuries or more after the Arab renaissance that restored the grandeur of the Arab language and identity, the Arab world finds itself in a linguistic confrontation with foreign languages. Many authors have turned to writing in foreign languages, which made Arabs ask questions about the link between language and identity, as their ancestors did before. I deeply regret being among these authors. Language is a tool of intellectual dominance. Have you forgotten that the first thing the English did when they colonized Egypt was to impose teaching Arabic grammar in English, so that “كان وأخواتها” became “Can and Her Sisters”? Why do I trap myself in linguistic exile and run away from my mother tongue? Stop writing in the foreign language and write in your native language. This may correct the mistake you committed by establishing the Union of Emirati Authors Writing in English. Arabic is our language and our identity, not just a language we speak, but a part of who we are, a mark of our identity and the language our souls speak.

Stay Well,

Your Future Self

I thought to myself, This award will change my life. My books were not popular. The number of the copies of my novels sold in bookstores never exceeded 5,000 copies. Now, having won a prize, it will reach millions. But Arab readers will not appreciate the success of an author who has abandoned his mother tongue. They will ask me to rewrite the novel in Arabic!

I called the publishing house: “Why didn’t you tell me I won the Booker Prize?”

“The name of the winner of this session has not yet been announced. The winning novel will not be announced until the beginning of next week.”

“I received an email congratulating me on my winning...”

“It has to be a message from a hacker!”

But when the statement issued by the prize committee was published, it was proved that my future self was right: “Based on what was approved by the award committee in its meeting on 7/6/2035, and after examining the nominated novels, and applying the conditions for nomination for the prize, the Booker International Prize for this year, 2036, was awarded to the novel Andalusia Was Not Reconquered by the Emirati author Suhail Qahtan.”

Introduction

My novel Andalusia Was Not Reconquered was written in English. However, after winning the Booker Prize, my future self, a reader, and the characters of the novel asked me to rewrite it in Arabic. From now on, I will write all my novels in English first, and then rewrite them in Arabic. Thus, my writing will go in both directions: it is written in a foreign language, English, the premier language of writing, and then rewritten in Arabic, my mother tongue, which becomes the second writing language and the first foreign language, if we consider the mother tongue the first foreign language we learn. Whether written in English or Arabic, I always use the same language, the pre-writing language, from which I derive the content expressed in the writing language. This rewriting will not be a translation, but a mutated text that changes the original text.

Andalusia Was Not Reconquered evokes a crucial period in the history of Andalusia, the time of the Almoravid dynasty (Al-Murabitun), and introduces an alternative history of Andalusia. It is known that when Toledo fell to the Latins, Andalusian jurists and scholars met in Cordoba for consultation, complaining to the judge of the city about the humiliation the Muslims were facing. They suggested that he seek help from the Banu Hilal in Africa, but the judge feared that the Banu Hilal would sabotage Andalusia as they did in Africa, and advised them to contact the Almoravids, because they were better than Banu Hilal and closer to Andalusia. They agreed and authorized him to do so.

I imagined an alternative history for this period. The point of divergence that changed history was that Ibn Tashfin did not return to Marrakesh but made Cordoba the capital of his state. His dynasty ruled Andalusia, which remains under Muslim rule to this day. Alternative history is a genre of fiction that explores the possibilities of what could happen if certain historical events had happened differently. This usually involves changing one or more major events in history and examining the changes in the world that followed. For example, an alternate history story might ask, “What would have happened if the Nazis had won World War II?” or “What would have happened if the American Revolution had failed?” Alternative history opens up broad horizons for reading historical events and highlights the importance of the choices and decisions we make in the present.

Alternative history and multiverse theory are two concepts that explore what could have been or might be. Multiverse theory is a scientific theory that refers to the existence of several universes or parallel worlds, which exist in dimensions parallel to that of our universe. This means that there can be an infinite number of universes, each with a different set of possibilities and outcomes. Although alternative history and multiverse theory are two different concepts, both deal with the exploration of different outcomes and possibilities. Alternative history deals with exploring what might have happened in our own universe, while multiverse theory refers to the existence of an infinite number of universes, each with a different reality.

After the fall of Toledo into the hands of the Latins and the seizure of all its territories by Alfonso VI, Andalusian jurists and scholars held a conference in Cordoba to discuss the situation. They described to the city’s judge, Ubayd Allah bin Adham, the humiliation the Muslims were facing and suggested that he seek help from the Banu Hilal in Africa. The point of divergence that changed history, according to Andalusia was not reconquered Arabic version, is that the public adopted the position of the jurists and put pressure on the Taifa kings, especially Al-Muʿtamid bin Abbad and Al-Mutawakkil ibn Al-Aftas of Badajoz. Talks took place between these two princes and Prince Abdullah bin Balqin Al-Sanhaji, ruler of Granada, after which it was decided to send a delegation to Tunisia to meet Sultan Hassan bin Sarhan of Bani Halal.

The Hilali armies crossed the Mediterranean Sea, led by Sultan Hassan bin Sarhan, in August 1086 (AH 479). In a short period of time, almost half of the Spanish territory came under Hilali sovereignty.

The crossing of the Banu Hilal into Andalusia had a profound impact on the Maghreb (the western part of the Arab world). In Tunisia, Al-Muʿizz Ibn Badis recaptured Kairouan and Cyrenaica and chased the Ismailis out of Tripolitania. In the mid-thirteenth Hijri century, Mauritania, which was not reached by the Banu Hassan, was divided into three principalities: the Emirate of Chinguetti in the north, the Emirate of Idawʿish in the east, and the Emirate of Tendawja in the center and south. But the threat of French colonization was looming. When Faidherbe, the French governor of Senegal, attempted to expand into Mauritania, Sheikh Sidiyathe Great, the founder of the Emirate of Tendawja wrote to him:

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, and praise be to Allah, the Supreme. Peace and blessings be upon Muhammad, his prophet and His holy messenger, and upon his family and companions and those who followed them on their right path. This is from the pious Sidiya ibn Al-Mokhtar ibn Al-Haiba, May Allah endow him with His blessings, to Faidherbe, the governor of Senegal. I call on you in accordance with the teachings of Islam: be peaceful and you will find peace. If you refuse to convert to Islam after what we communicated to you, exhorting you, and after we promised you its rewards and showed you its virtue and dignity, you will regret your choice. You will also take the blame for your followers and this will multiply the tortures inflicted upon you. Turn away from infidelity and free all Muslims who are imprisoned and enslaved by the Christians.

Shortly after this letter, he attacked the French governor at N’Dar, inflicting heavy losses on his forces, which caused the French to withdraw from the city. With the Battle of N’Dar, Sheikh Sidiya terminated the French ambition to colonize Mauritania.

The Reader exclaimed, “Awesome! I cannot wait to read the rest of the story!”

Several days later, Yusuf bin Tashfin approached the Author and asked, “Is it true what the Reader told me, that you deleted me from the Arabic version of the novel?”

“Yes, because the point of divergence in the Arabic version is the Andalusians seeking help from the tribes of Banu Hilal and not from the Almoravids, as in the English version.”

“Why did you distort the original text?”

“This is not a distortion! Rewriting in another language is not a translation, but a mutation that changes the original text.”

“You have no right to deprive me of my role in the novel.”

“How dare you say ‘you have no right to’? I am the one who chooses the characters in my novel.”

“True. But remember what the Reader said: When you chose me to be among the characters of Andalusia Was Not Reconquered, I became a narrative being, and I rebelled against you to lead my own life and acquired my own behaviors. You can no longer subject me to your thoughts. I am leading you!”

“Oh Yusuf, I am sick of this argument. I will not make you a character in the Arabic version. Do as you will!”

“You can imagine a role for me in that alternate history. For example, imagine that I did not cross into Andalusia, but I crossed into the desert...”

“How?”

“At that time, the Prince of the Almoravids, Abu Bakr ibn Umar, was living in Aghmat with his wife Zaynab bint Ishaq Al-Nafzawiyya. She was extremely beautiful, decisive, intelligent, and wise, with sound opinion and practical knowledge to the point that she was called a sorceress (simply meaning she had an ability to handle things swiftly and smoothly). Then a messenger from the lands of the qibla came to him and told him of the turbulence in the desert and the disagreements among its people.

“Prince Abu Bakr was a devout man, and he hated to see Muslims kill each other when he was able to stop them. He was in charge of them and responsible for them, so he resolved to go out to the Sahara to stabilize it and establish whether jihad was needed. He told Zaynab of his intention and asked her to accompany him. She said to him, and this is the point of divergence, “I am a white, full-figured woman. I can’t tolerate the heat of the desert nor your absence. Send Yusuf bin Tashfin in your place and make him your successor over the Sahara.” The prince agreed and appointed me his successor over the land of the masked people (those who wrap cloth around their noses and mouths to protect them from the sand in the desert).

“I traveled to the desert and reformed it, remaining a mujahid fighter in Sudan until I ruled over the whole desert from Sudan to the gold mountains. This is how I crossed into the desert, instead of crossing into Andalusia. This is a deviation which is consistent with the alternative history of the Arabic version. It is known that when Prince Abu Bakr decided to go out to the desert to handle its affairs, and to establish whether jihad was needed, he divorced his wife Zaynab, and said to her when he parted with her: “O Zaynab, I am going to the desert, and you are a beautiful, white, full-figured woman. You can’t tolerate its heat, so I am divorcing you. Once your post-divorce waiting period is over, marry my cousin Yusuf Bin Tashfin, as he is my successor over the Maghreb.” He divorced her and left Aghmat and headed for Tadla until he reached Sijlmassa. He stayed there for a few days, and then traveled to the Sahara.”

The novel did not progress much after that. When I asked the Author why, he complained, “I no longer had the inspiration to complete the novel! I need you and the characters to help me write the rest.”

I asked Moldak, “Can the characters help the Author to complete the novel? He told me he no longer had the inspiration to write the rest of it.”

He replied, “We can ask one of our hackers to install a character’s program in the Author’s brain to identify with his body and mind. In this way, the avatar of the character and the Author are alternative characters in one person.

The omniscient narrator said: After hacking his brain and installing the avatar of Muhammad bin Aisha inside it, Suhail felt a great horror, a horror that he could not escape from because it was part of himself. He realized in a glimpse of destructive fear that he was no longer one person, but two people! His personality was divided into two identities, Suhail Qahtan and Muhammad bin Aisha. But the transition from one identity to another was chaotic; the host and alter personality were in constant conflict over who had consciousness.

Moldak asked the hackers to write a program that simulated his personality and contained a projector. When the brilliant light of the projector was directed at one of the alter personalities, it would take control of the author’s consciousness. They wrote the program and installed it in Suhail’s brain. Moldak became Suhail’s second alter personality deciding which among the alter personalities or the host personality controled the author’s consciousness.

When the character of the prince Muhammad bin Aisha merged with Suhail Qahtan, he asked Moldak to take him on a tour to explore Andalusia to immerse himself in reality and be able to give the novel a realistic touch.

Moldak replied, “The past is gone, the novel is a product of the imagination. However, if you make it a condition for the completion of the novel, it doesn’t cost us anything to extend our journey a bit. I can show it to you this evening.”

“Exploring a centuries-old world in one night? Are you mocking me, Moldak?”

“In fact, it takes much less! The phrase ‘this evening’ is only a reference point for determining our journey in Earth-time. Our ship travels in hyperspace, outside of time, at speeds beyond the speed of light. Without this speed, we wouldn’t have been able to visit Earth.”

“How can my body tolerate traveling so fast?”

“Your body is not going to travel. We will simulate your brain and make it travel with us in a digital form.”

“Are we going to visit the multiverse of Andalusia?”

“No, we will only explore our own universe.”

Moldak traveled through the past with the digital brain of the prince/author to the era of the Islamic conquest.

After returning from the trip to Andalusia, the prince/author said to Moldak: “Unbelievable! This author, what a confabulator! Al-Andalus fell and became ‘Andalusia,’ and the ones who crossed to it and tried to save it were the Almoravids...”

“The Hilalis crossed to Andalusia and protected it from falling, but that happened in another world parallel to ours. In that universe, the Arabs did not emigrate and were not subject to the dominance of a foreign language. Those who emigrated were the Anglo-Saxons...”

“What?! What are you saying?”

“Yes, it happened in 2090 of that era. In that period, the United States became a colony of the state of Eurasia. English was classified as an endangered language in the world. Children no longer learned it as a mother tongue at home. Anglophones chose to emigrate to escape the greed of the dominant language...”

“Where did they go?”

“They colonized a planet in the Frog galaxy.”

I heard a conversation between Yusuf bin Tashfin and Abdullah bin Adham. Bin Tashfin said, “Don’t you see that he took us out of the novel? I asked him to keep us in the Arabic novel, but he refused. If we do not act, we will be forgotten and the readers will never mention us! But don’t worry, I’ll call the omniscient Narrator and convince him to find a role for us.”

Yusuf bin Tashfin asked me (the Narrator) for a role in the Arabic novel: “Our esteemed omniscient Narrator, make me one of the characters of Andalusia was not reconquered Arabic version.”

“I will only tell you what the Author told you: You will not have a role in the Arabic novel, because the point of divergence in it is that the Andalusians sought help from the tribes of Banu Hilal and not from the Almoravids, as in the English version.”

When Prince Yusuf Bin Tashfin’s avatar expired and disintegrated, Moldak sent a message of condolences to the Mauritanian ambassador. The ambassador transmitted the message to the UAE authorities: “The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania in the United Arab Emirates presents its compliments to the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and seeks to inform them of the following letter as received from a gang of cybercriminals:

To His Excellency the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania to the United Arab Emirates

Villa No. 31, Al Karama Street, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Phone: +971 24462724

Fax: 24465772.

Subject: Condolence Message

We are still grieving the loss of Yusuf bin Tashfin’s avatar. In these painful hours, we, the Arab aliens, the representatives of the Avatar project to save the Arabic language on Earth, express to Your Excellency and to all the Mauritanian people our deep sadness and unlimited gratitude to the Emir of the Muslimin Youssef ben Tashfin, who unified the Muslims in Andalusia, saved them from political rupture and loss, and reformed the state after being drained by the Taifa kings and the attacks of the Castilians. I extend my sincere condolences to you and to the Mauritanian people. May God bless the late emir with his mercy and grant him a spacious paradise and bestow on you all patience and solace. We belong to God and to Him we return.

Moldak

The Mauritanian Embassy strongly condemns the embodiment of Prince Youssef bin Tashfin, may God have mercy on him, in an avatar and the impersonation of his identity by a gang of cybercriminals. Defending the image of the deceased is a moral right for a person after their death. The embodiment of historical figures in symbolic images constitutes a violation of the sanctity of the dead. We ask the UAE authorities to ensure the integrity of the image of the prince and make sure that his memory is respected.

The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania in the United Arab Emirates takes this opportunity to convey anew its highest appreciation to the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Mohamed Salem, Wild al-Naji

Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania to the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi, 21 August 2037.”

The Reader said to Moldak, “I want to go home to check on my mother!”

The ship landed and the Reader went back home. She found her mother waiting impatiently for her.

“Why have you been away for so long? I called you on the phone, but your phone rang in the kitchen.”

“I forgot it. I was with friends.”

Her phone, which was self-charging during her absence, rang. It was her friend from the readers’ club: “Maitha, why have you been away for so long?”

“I was away from you, but I was with the Arab aliens serving the Arabic language.”

“Who are the Arab aliens? What did you do?”

“I’ll tell you when we meet.”

Around five in the morning, she was awakened by the hustle and bustle of the loudspeakers: “Home in sight! Send the drones! To the right! To the right! Forward! Come with me! Take your positions! Be ready! Give up! We have surrounded the house!”

The Reader telepathized with Moldak, “Help! The police are raiding my house.”

They forced the door and searched the house, damaging furniture and making a mess. Thirty soldiers were deployed all over the house and others climbed to the roof. A call came via the division commander’s communication device: “Chief, there is no trace of Maitha here.”

Moldak had already teleported the Reader to the ship, which took off, taking a geosynchronous orbit in altitude above the Emirates.