The Harvard Conference

August 19th, 2007

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The Announcement

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We wandered around 'downtown' Nijima for a while before finding Rameses Lane, and then walked forever down Rameses Lane before finding M'boke's. It turned out to be a fairly modest two-story building of reddish stone and a few ornate carvings of old Egyptian gods. We walked in, and the lobby looked as plain as the outside, except for a very nice-looking cedar desk standing in front of a living mummy of a woman.

"May I find you a room, sir?" She offered Patrice a pen and book to sign in on. Some things are universal.

"I'll need a place for my boy to sleep, as well," he told her. Damn nice of him. I was sure he was going to forget that. "Could you tell me, mother, whose pyramid that is in the center of the city?"

The old lady looked strangely at Patrice. "You must have come from very far away, Lumumba, not to have heard of the pyramid of Malik El-Shabazz."

Patrice looked like he'd been slapped for a second, but then smiled at her. "Of course, the El-Shabazz pyramid. I knew there was a great attraction in Nijima, it has simply been so long that I forgot what it was." She handed him a key and he snapped his fingers at me. "Come, Gabriel." He trotted up the stairs and I had to jog to keep up with him. Once we were in the room, he locked the door and lodged a chair under the doorknob.

"Is there a reason we're acting like spies, now?"

"I've found the reason for my discomfort." He projected another image on the wall. It was a man of African descent, but with light, reddish-brown hair, indicating some European ancestry. He wore glasses, and looked quite thoughtful. "Do you know who this man is?"

He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn't quite place him. "No. From a post-industrial period, obviously, but I don't think I've been to his plane."

"His name varies across the planes, but he's usually known as Malcolm X, and often takes the name of Malik El-Shabazz."

"Our pyramid builder?"

"Not quite." The image morphed from a man of mainly African descent with some European features to a man of mainly European descent with some African features, but it was still the same man. "This is the Malik El-Shabazz that the pyramid is named for." He was processing more of the download he'd gotten earlier, zeroing in on this one person. "In the European planes, particularly the slavery-based European planes, that first Malik is an important figure in the African rights movements. He's a personal hero of mine." He pointed at the European version of Malik. "This man apparently carries much of the same character. His father had been one of the Europeans in China who had been free. When the Chinese took that land back, he led a group of those Europeans here, to Nijima, and then died. Malik took over the city, fighting off the Africans his entire life, and agitating among Europeans throughout the globe. When he was assassinated, the European community here built this pyramid to him, before being conquered about ten years ago."

"So, you think the Europeans here have designs on freedom?" The glum look on his face made me laugh. "Paradise so close, and just a tiny freedom movement has to spoil it. Pity about that ol' indomitable human spirit and all, Patrice, but I guess we're out of here, huh?"

But, he was studying a timeline of this plane's history, and he had that scheming look on his face. "They've had a Muslim rise, but Christianity didn't, probably through lack of the Roman involvement. Hmmmm." He looked over at me and now I knew he was going to make me sign in blood.



I don't know how he talked me into it.

I mean, I have the conversation preserved in memory somewhere, and I could probably replay it, but I still cannot believe that I agreed to do the Archangel bit again, and this time to enslave people.

But, I was going to do it.

Patrice and I went out to the pyramid and reconnoitered for a while. It was a pretty safe bet that the pyramid was where the slave rebellion had its headquarters; where else in Nijima could you hide hundreds of people without being found out? So, we went a-scanning and bingo, found about sixteen hidden entrances through the base of the pyramid and a few tunnels leading throughout the city. We found about two thousand people inside the pyramid itself, and several dozen moving around its maze.

No wonder Patrice felt uncomfortable. The people inside the pyramid outnumbered the overlords outside it.

"What are they waiting for?" Patrice wondered.

"Well, they're surrounded by a hostile power, for one thing. They probably can only use the pyramid as a base for getting people out into the jungle, or hiding out to make plans, or stockpiling supplies. It's not like they're in darkest Europe, here. They're on the Nile, just south of the entire Egyptian army." I was feeling weird about the whole thing, and I tried to squirm out. "It's only a matter of time before these guys are found out, Patrice. Why not let them have their little hiding place?"

"I'm not going to stay here if there's a chance the whole dream will come crumbling down around my ears."

"Have I told you lately what a jerk you are, Patrice?"

"Sticks and stones, Gabriel." We had been monitoring the population level inside the pyramid, and it was getting larger. There was some sort of meeting going on in there. "It must be Friday night. It's amazing what they're going through to keep the faith."

"Sympathy for the enemy?" I jabbed him in the ribs. "That's not like you."

"I recall enough European atrocities to keep my tears in check, never fear, Gabriel." He shot a calibration beam into the pyramid, pinpointing a spot directly above where the main body of the people inside stood. "I'll handle the teleportation and levitation, you concentrate on the illusion and sound. And, be a little more convincing than you were with the Mayans, all right?"

"Can I help it if Quetzlcoatl isn't my best deity?"

Patrice grunted his opinion of my excuse. "Let's go." He transported us along his calibration beam and we materialized above a group of about a thousand kneeling Europeans, going through prayers to Allah. We were in a gigantic chamber inside the pyramid, almost a hundred feet high, the only light coming from torches and candles set along the walls. I activated my Archangel program, light burst from our bodies, and I sprouted wings.

"Lost children of Nijima!" There was both joy and trepidation in the faces that turned up to us. They could see that I was a European, but the larger, more majestic figure behind me was African. "You have prayed to Allah for deliverance from your station in life; but you serve in Allah's great plan. Hear his words for yourselves." I flew to the side and augmented Patrice's voice to the point where it shook the whole pyramid.

"My children, I have come to you to tell you to forbear; to bow before he who is your rightful master. I have created you as a servant to your brothers of Africa and Asia. Those who resist the will of Africa resist also the will of Allah, and they shall be punished in the next life with everlasting torture. Those who live the life of obedience shall come to be with me in paradise. As a symbol of my promise, this house of worship and remembrance shall be open to the heavens above, so that I may always see within to your hearts."

We linked together then, and opened a shaft straight to the top of the pyramid, knocking off the top fifty feet of the structure while we were at it. Just for effect, I shot a shaft of light from 'above' down into the pyramid.

"Go, children of Nijima, and sin no more!"

Centurions	In 2007, in Archona, five former security officials of Centurion rank were sentenced to death for plotting to kill an anti-domination activist. Attempting a plea bargain, all five admitted trying to kill prominent black activist Frank Chikane in 1989 by lacing his underwear with a nerve toxin.
Rev Chikane, who is now a director in the president's office, has said he did not want to see the men go to prison. Vlok sought forgiveness from Rev Chikane last year by washing his feet. The Alliance for Democracy's representative Peter Greste, at the court in Archona, says the case has threatened to reopen Draka-era divisions.
~ variant by Steve Payne from extensive use of original content has been used to celebrate the author's genius.

In 2006, just before midnight on this day at GMT-5 the new account spiritual_denali_doods@aol.com was created. Selected interests included mysticism, aboriginal cultures and mountaineering.

"Enola Gay, you should have stayed at home yesterday Oho it can't describe the feeling and the way you lied These games you play, they're gonna end it all in tears someday Oho Enola Gay, it shouldn't ever have to end this way It's 8:15, that's the time that it's always been We got your message on the radio, condition's normal and you're coming home Enola Gay, is mother proud of little boy today Oho, this kiss you give, it's never ever gonna fade away
Paul Humphreys	Enola Gay, it shouldn't ever have to end this way. Oho Enola Gay, it should've faded our dreams away" ~ Lyrics to “Enola Gay” (Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark) - Click to Watch Sample
Andy McCluskey

In Harry Truman's broadcast of 9 August 1945 the President said “The world will note that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, a military base. That was because we wished in the first attack to avoid insofar as possible, the killing of civilians”. The lyrics are available at at Poem Hunter

~ quotation by Co-Historian Steve Payne from Counter-history – You're the Judge!

In 2002, contemporary hot heads Custer and Patton clash with the Red Army on the Russian-Polish border. In a heroic but foolish Last Stand, Custer dies, his Tarnished Glory threatening a Third World War.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

In 2002, RM Muleuch published Twelve Legions of Angels in which disgraced Air Marshall Hugh Dowding reflects on his dismissal for failing to mirror Churchill's aggression. Shortly thereafter, the incoming Halifax Government signed a Carthaginian peace with the Nazis. This proved disastrous when the absence of western front forces gifted Europe to the conquering Red Army in April 1946.

~ variant from Steve Payne: extensive use of original content has been made to celebrate the author's genius.

Castle Bonny	In 1943, Castle Bonny premièred on this day in Broadway. The film was directed by Michael Curtiz, and starred Cary Grant as Dick Blaine and Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund. The rekindled romance between Blaine and Lund was set during Great War II in the Nigerian city of Port Harcourt, off the Bight of Bonny – then controlled ..
.. by the Nazi Protectorate of Britain. The keynote scene is the interchange between Dick and Ilsa at his cafe after seeing each other for the first time in years "But of course, that was the day the Germans marched into London." "Not an easy day to forget. I remember every detail - the Germans wore gray, you wore blue." A dramatic ending is sealed when Blaine, having but two letters of transit, has a choice between love and doing the right thing. He does the right thing by helping Lund and her resistance leader husband Victor Laszlo to escape Port Harcourt. They disappear into the fog with one of the most memorable exit lines in movie history: "Mate, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." Later, there were plans for a further scene, showing Dick, Laszlo and a detachment of Free British soldiers on a ship, to incorporate the Allies' 1943 invasion of England; however it proved too difficult to get Cary Grant for the shoot, and the scene was finally abandoned after David O. Selznick judged that "it would be a terrible mistake to change the ending”.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 2007, heterophobic America was starting to suspect the truth of revelations made on episode two of the documentary “All the President's women”. Official footage was shown of Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice committing a gaffe by calling President George Bush “my husband”. At a dinner party while ..	George Bush
.. Rice was National Security Advisor, she referred to President George W. Bush as "my husband" before abruptly correcting herself. First man Dick Cheney was seen to be shaking with controlled anger during the footage.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

Schlieffen	In 1914, on this night Kaiser Wilhelm II suffered a dreadful nightmare in which he witnessed the defeat and fall of the Second Reich. At the end of the dream, Field Marshal Alfred, Graf von Schlieffen had urged him to “keep the right wing strong”.
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

In 1976, following the censorship of “Roots: The Saga of an American Family” by President George Wallace, professor Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. held a press conference at Harvard University. One of the general editors of the Norton Anthology of African-American Literature, Gate's endorsement of “Roots” was to ..	Alex Haley
.. be considered a litmus test for the book's credibility. Roots would not be included in the anthology announced the professor, though he denied that the controversies surrounding Haley's works were the reason for this exclusion. Nonetheless, Dr. Gates acknowledged the doubts about Haley's claims with regard to “Roots”, saying, "Most of us feel it's highly unlikely that Alex actually found the village whence his ancestors sprang. Roots is a work of the imagination rather than strict historical scholarship."
~ entry by Steve Payne from Counter History in Context - You're the Judge!

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