To The Stars

“Please indulge me a moment longer, Jan Kulozik. Everything that I say is relevant. We cultivated our back garden you might say. Encouraged food and light manufacturing suitable to this part of the world, cured disease and built hospitals, trained doctors. Nor did we forget our own defense. We made peace on all sides, since peace is the best form of security. I don’t think you realize what that means, historically speaking. The oldest written records, including the Old Testament of the Bible, are records of warfare. Unending warfare. It is over now. So when a measure of stability returned and other nations once again became aware of the Near East it was settled and peaceful and ready to supply them with year-round supplies of agricultural products. I won’t say that they exactly fell into our arms with happiness, in fact a few overtures were made for more direct control. This was when our atomic missiles, most of them located outside of Israel, became important. We will never start an atomic war, if for no other reason other than the inescapable fact that we are small enough to be eliminated by a few well-placed hydrogen bombs. But the others know that even when dead we would fight back. The price for an atomic war then became such a high one that no country in the world was willing to pay it. So an arrangement was worked out, which has continued happily for hundreds of years. We stay in and they stay out. It means that we Jews, at one time the most cosmopolitan people in the world, have become the most insular. Of course in order to maintain this carefully balanced relationship we do have governmental liaison at a high level. We also rely a good deal on intelligence agents.”

“Spies?”

“Another word for them. The other countries have theirs, too. We know because we capture them regularly. Unfortunately they capture some of ours as well. To return to your question. By the time we discovered that Sara’s cover had been penetrated it was effectively too late to do anything to help her…”

“Excuse my interrupting again, Mr. Ben-Haim, but I think you are just waffling. That may be taken as an insult to a man of your age and position, but it’s true. You have yet to answer my question.”

“Patience, young man,” Ben-Haim said, raising his hand palm outward. “I am almost there. Thurgood-Smythe told us he was going to capture Sara and wanted to exchange her for three of his own agents that we had in custody. I of course agreed. So we did know that Sara was in danger of capture, and yes, I was in contact with Thurgood-Smythe.”

“He told me that you had informed on Sara and told him as well of the presence of all your younger agents in Britain who were working on their own.”

“He lied to you. We never had any such arrangement. None of our agents work on their own, no matter what Thurgood-Smythe or the agents themselves have told you.”

Jan sat back, exasperated.

“Then one of you is lying,” he said.

“Exactly. Now you see why I forced you to listen to a boring history of our country’s problems. So you might be able to judge who is the biggest liar. Myself, or Thurgood-Smythe.”

“You both could be. He from the most selfish of motives, you from the most noble. All I know is that Sara is dead.”

“She is,” Ben-Haim said, and the words were a sigh. “I did not know it was going to happen and I would have done anything to prevent it. Anything else is a lie, a filthy, filthy lie.”

“And Thurgood-Smythe is the world’s dirtiest liar. We are all stuck in his web. Myself in particular. I have come here as Cassius, the one who provided you with the top-secret information for the past two years.”

“Thank you, Cassius. We are most grateful.”

“If you like I can tell you all about that information, as proof of my authenticity. I memorized that information about a week ago. Would you like to know who Cassius really is?”

Ben-Haim nodded. “Verification would help. We have been sure from the start that it could only be Thurgood-Smythe. That was why we were so intrigued when you appeared.”

“He’s playing with us,” Jan said with sudden realization. “Playing games with us all.”

“Yes,” Ben-Haim nodded, “I am sure that is a part of it. Though not all. He could have prepared the Cassius role for a number of reasons. But when you returned to Earth so suddenly, out of the blue so to speak, he seized upon your arrival as an opportunity not to be refused. Now we will just have to find out for ourselves what he is up to. I believe you have a package there?”

Jan put the metal box on the table.

“It has a combination lock,” he said. “And explosives that will be detonated by the wrong combination. At least that is what a very slippery cab driver told me.”

“I am sure that you are informed correctly. I have a seven-digit number given me by Cassius when this affair began. Could that be the combination?”

“I don’t know.” Jan stared at the smooth case. “I have no idea what the combination is.”

“Then we will have to try mine.” Ben-Haim reached for the box, but Dvora leaned over and took it first.