A complete silence fell over the hall, and astonishment, shock, and even fear filled the faces of everyone present. The beating of their hearts and their breaths became the only rhythm audible in the room.
From a distance, one might think they all looked alike, that they all reacted in the same way.
But as you get closer, you sense their true emotions, because they were all asking the same question:
Who are we? And what is our true time?
Are we the past of the past?
Or the future of the past?
Or just a plan to revive the past?
Then they ask again: What is the past, then?
Is the time of the ancient Egyptians the true future, and we are merely a civilization broken from the past?
Or are we the actual future of that era, and what we discover today is simply a natural evolution, a written fate?
Or are we truly just tools in a plan set by our ancestors to revive ancient Egyptian civilization?
So… who are we?
You might think these are philosophical questions about existence, but unfortunately, they are not.
This is their reality.
They see themselves as part of a plan laid by their ancestors long ago, not knowing whether it is good or not.
Yet, they trust their ancestors… Is it blind faith? Or have their minds been programmed?
The answer is no, it is not.
Egyptians, by nature, want to protect their land—Egypt—and their people.
Thus, their genes, hearts, and minds move in a single line, toward a single decision.
Everyone was lost in their thoughts until the President of Egypt clapped, and they suddenly snapped out of their daydreams.
They felt embarrassed, but no one spoke.
The President looked at them calmly and said:
"What? Are you afraid?
Are you just ordinary humans? You are the elite of this world, the ones who control everything in it now.
You must understand that influence, power, and knowledge come with responsibility.
No one told you that you would gain all this and then sleep peacefully in your homes, as if everything would naturally be fine.
You are now accountable before Allah, and every decision, every plan, we will be judged for."
Everyone listened to his words, then exchanged glances, seeing determination, shame, relief, and courage in each other's eyes.
The President continued, looking into the eyes of each member of the council:
"What will we do if we are truly tools in the plan of the ancient Egyptians?
Does it matter if the plan was laid long ago?
Does anyone have a solution? A hand in this matter?"
Silence fell again; no one spoke.
The President smiled lightly:
"No, no one has a hand in it.
The difference between the ancient Egyptians and us today is that they were simply born before us; that is their only advantage.
They used their time well and built that great civilization.
We are the continuation of that civilization, whether we like it or not.
We were born today, and this is our reality and our time.
I am the President of Egypt now, and you are responsible for Egypt today.
So we must do everything we can for its future, its children, and its people."
Then the President turned to Minister Hussein and said:
"Thank you for these discoveries and your hard work. I hope you continue, and in the upcoming meetings, I want to see new findings."
He then asked him:
"Do you have anything else you want to tell us, Hussein?"
The minister replied: "No, Mr. President."
The President nodded:
"Well done, Hussein, and thank you for your efforts. Please, have a seat."
Minister Hussein sat down, and a light silence settled over the hall.
The President's gaze moved across the attendees before he said:
"Show us your report, Mustafa."
Mustafa was surprised but did not show it; he calmly stood and moved toward the giant screen.
He stood in front of it quietly, observing everyone with his eyes:
"as-salaam alaikum" (Peace be upon you)
Everyone responded:"Wa Alaykumu As-salam" (And upon you be peace)
Then he looked at the screen and spoke firmly, one hand in his pocket as if unconcerned:
"You know that the world has changed, and therefore we had to change to cope with it.
And since the world has become like fiction, sci-fi, battles, and all those things…
Everyone thought that the most important thing in this new world would be fighting, focusing on wars, competition, and betrayal.
And that everyone's dream would be to become a hero, a hunter, a knight, or even a Mujahid."
He paused slightly, watching their faces, then took steady steps, his eyes still tracking them as he said:
"But the Economic Organization, which I lead, thought differently.
We humans are different by nature and also very lazy, so we focused on two things:
One: Entertainment.
Gaming worlds, streaming platforms, media, sports in all forms,
films and series, songs, Egyptian museums and monuments—which are the most important now because of the new world—
and finally, global competitions for Heka users.
We let China and America focus on fighting and competition, training their children to be stronger, without caring to make them enjoy life even a little.
They tried to weaken the Economic Organization and reduce its influence in the world,
but I was happy with that, letting them do what they wanted, unconcerned.
Then we focused on the second most important thing in this world: human systems.
We thought about implanting a chip in the human body connected to the internet, analyzing and monitoring the body.
Then he smiled as he continued:
"But one of the scientists discovered that we could connect artificial intelligence with Heka and the human body,
and that was humanity's greatest achievement."
He went on:
"The ultimate goal was to connect the world to humans.
To enable a person to do everything—communicate, know their health, play, socialize,
and make entertainment the number one priority in life.
But after achieving this, everyone thought that even if we did all this, ignoring fighting and strengthening humans would lead to losing all the organization's investments when the monsters appear.
So China and America allied and created the first alliance of its kind:
An alliance combining capitalism and socialism.
America funded, China produced, and indeed many products emerged from this cooperation.
All of this was to overthrow the Economic Organization and take its place."
Mustafa paused and looked at them, smiling.
They knew most of what he said, yet they listened attentively.
"All of this," Mustafa said calmly,
"was part of my plan from the beginning.
I made China and America focus on fighting while we focused on the true future.
And it worked exactly as planned.
The Economic Organization controlled the alliance and came to dominate everything.
And we also proved that we were working to strengthen humans, but in our own way.
And today, the Economic Organization controls the entire global economy,
and no one can even challenge it a little."
Then he smiled confidently and said:
"And I… Mustafa, am the head of the Economic Organization.
Shall we start with the achievements?"
Next stop: The Achievements of the Economic Organization
----
"If you liked the chapter, tell me what you think! What are your thoughts on these events, and what do you believe will happen next? What do you think about the President of Egypt—this is literally the first time he's spoken since the beginning of the novel? And Mustafa has returned!
All of this is truly for you.
Also, I've noticed while reading works by other authors, and I understand how they encourage you to rate novels and leave comments. I noticed that when a novel becomes bad, you speak up and share your opinions, saying it has become bad. So, is my novel so good that you don't feel the need to rate or comment? Should I make it worse? Just kidding! I will keep going, and I hope that one day you will truly share your opinions with me."