Pa'an

In a converted soccer stadium in Pyongchou Park there were 25,000 soldiers drawn up in regiments. The nearby streets of Pyongyang and the adjacent railway tracks were crowded with more troops, tanks, armored vehicles, mobile heavy artillery and mobile rocket launchers. On either side of the field, the soccer goals had been replaced with Pa’an reflectors. The bullseye platform was easily capable of holding a company.

News services translated into English reported that the North Korean Government, motivated by a desire to protect its people from an obvious attempt to abduct them in large numbers for slavery to Western powers, had decided to pre-empt the situation by going to war against them. Therefore, the leaders of the DPRK were calling the bluff. They would send their massed troops through the gate and bring back a great victory to the people.

The first contingent lined up on the stage, weapons ready. The automatic reflector controls detected them, began to draw power and the slight shimmering that indicated an active gate appeared a few seconds before the company vanished.

The routine went on 24 hours a day for several weeks. Armored vehicles and helicopters went through. They even sent a nuclear missile through the gate. With great fanfare they announced their success at invading the falsely advertised new home of the Western devils, and waited for reports of victory. The few remaining generals postured for the press. Big letter posters with “Victory over the Pa’an conspiracy” were plastered on walls.

Weeks passed. No one returned. The rhetoric became one of tremendous adversity against heavy resistance, but still expecting a wonderful victory.

A month passed. The rhetoric died.

South Korea, who had yearned for decades to unite the country, finally understood that the DPRK had fatally decimated its own military. They offered to take over and unite the country, provide some solace for the missing troops and a plan of integration.

While they were negotiating with the dispirited but still feisty leaders of the DPRK, China simply walked in over their Northern border and took over. In less than two months North Korea was another Chinese province.

*****

Imam Ali Abu Zahid, the mujtahid, had not forgotten the fatwa he had issued against the golem, the abomination that called itself Aura. It called for every righteous Muslim to raise their hand against those godless AI abominations and, specifically, Aura. His followers did not forget the fatwah either. Since it was known that Aura conspired with the Pa’an, the Pa’an must also be aligned with Satan. Therefore, the hand of the faithful must be raised against the Pa’an.

But how to get there? After much deliberation and some argument, several pots of tea and some prayers, a dozen men agreed that the situation called for martyrs, if they must be, to traverse the gate and strike at the Pa’an through the only means available. So they approached a willing sheikh for funding and purchased a pair of small Pa’an reflectors. The reflectors were set up in an empty warehouse, of which there were a growing number since the start of the exodus.

The martyrs duly recorded their blessings on their families, assuring them that their male relatives would be greeted in Heaven by the usual retinue of houris and angels because of the sacrifices made by the martyrs, and for their relatives to be happy for them.

Ten heavily armed men occupied the stage and the automatic shimmer appeared. Ten men vanished. Ten families rejoiced at the martyring.

The Imam never even knew of it. No one told him.

*****

Over a million souls a day opted for exodus as soon as the major reflectors began operation, and that number was increasing daily. The Cone of Transfer defining the open window for exodus was only in its second week with fourteen weeks to go.

Aura projected gate capacity at a million an hour.

Some left with their pets and prized possessions. An Argentine vacquero took his horse. Some came alone in the middle of the night with nothing but their pajamas. The automatic mechanism operated, the platform just shimmered and they vanished, one and all.

Exit Clubs sprouted all over the U.S. People met and decided to form new communities together in the new universe. They chose leaders and collected dues in case of an unplanned contingency in the new settlement. At their agreed time they conducted their Club’s Exit ceremony and disappeared from this universe, the same as everyone else.